By Mark Harrison

Change is so ubiquitous and pervasive that we ought to be familiar with it, and yet we continually fail to respond well to change. Often, this is a result of our not having thought carefully about the nature of change, and our tendency to accept common beliefs about it.

Myth #1: You can change other people, given time.

Reality: Other people cannot be forced to change under any circumstances. To try to change another person by force is a waste of time and energy. A wise man once observed that you shouldn’t try to teach a pig how to sing: it doesn’t get you anywhere and it annoys the pig.

Application: William Glasser, in his book Choice Theory, builds on the essential truth that we are only fully in control of our own behavior and that we cannot force change in other people. Even a man with a gun to his head cannot be forced to comply, as many people have demonstrated through history, preferring to die over behaving in a way which goes against their beliefs.

Once we accept this basic limitation, we are much freer to operate.  Instead of wasting energy trying to force change in others, we can start to relax, focus on changing ourselves and stop worrying about other people. In so doing, we actually become more likely to influence others by setting an example of proactivity and self-reliance.

Myth #2: Crisis leads to change.

Reality: People often think change can be precipitated by a crisis or a shock. We might think, for example, that if a heavy smoker or an obese person has a heart attack or is diagnosed with a serious illness, that he will be shocked into changing him lifestyle. This is not the case. Research shows that 90% of all coronary bypass patients do not significantly change their lifestyles to improve their health in any sustained and meaningful way.

We are so good at playing mind games with ourselves that it is all too easy to justify our own inertia and resistance.  If we are in our comfort zone, we will come up with any number of reasons to avoid moving out of it. The truth is that we don’t like change and we will literally risk our lives to avoid it.

Application: Change comes from the inside. External events do not force change. If you’re serious about change, only you can make it happen. A crisis might throw you off equilibrium for a while, but your mind is such a devious and slippery thing that you might be surprised at how quickly you settle back into the old routine. Being aware of this tendency can put you on your guard – forewarned is forearmed!

Myth #3: Fear leads to change.

Reality: Most of the fear we feel is maladaptive. Fear is an essential biological response adapted for our physical survival, but in our modern environment, fear pops up as a response to many non life threatening situations. The best thing to do with this kind of fear is to face it and see it dissolve.  But people do not usually respond in this way to fear, falling instead into avoidance patterns. This avoidance often manifests as a resistance to change, which is often perceived as threatening.

Using fear to force people into change is usually counterproductive. All the health warnings and graphic photographs on cigarette packets, for example, have not been shown to reduce the incidence of smoking. People simply stop looking.

Application: People will generally respond better to positive feedback. People can be inspired to change if they can see some tangible benefit to themselves or people they care about. The best way to encourage change is to paint a compelling and positive picture of the future, spelling out clearly the benefits of the change. The ‘carrot’ does not guarantee results, but will be far more effective than the ’stick.’

Myth #4: Change can be avoided

Reality: We have a natural tendency to resist change, but this is not the same as avoiding change. We can resist getting older, but obviously our resistance is not going to be effective. Change is coming, ready or not. We can ride the wave of change or be submerged by it. This is essentially our only choice.

Application: To demonstrate his inability to resist the natural cycles of nature, King Cnut ordered his retinue to carry a throne onto the beach so that he could command the tide to turn back. Cnut’s courtiers were amazed when the tide failed to respond to the king’s order and the water started lapping around his feet.

The only sensible option is to be observant, notice how change is happening, and work with it, learning how to adapt and turn the natural course of things to our advantage. Call it ‘going with the flow,’ the old Taoists were masters of this art. In nature, the adaptable survive; those unable or unwilling to change go to the wall.

Myth #5: Change is always the answer

Reality: Some people (a minority!) love change and they seek to promote it at every opportunity, thinking that change is always the best course of action. Perhaps you’ve worked with or for someone like this. A manager who constantly tries to change everything can produce a chaotic, unstable and unproductive environment. We are often tempted to meddle, but sometimes, the best thing is to leave things alone.

Application: Don’t assume change is the best thing. Find out about the situation. Make sure you really understand what is happening and why, as far as you can. Change is sometimes called for, but not always. Remember the wise old saying – if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

Do you agree that these are myths? Have you noticed other myths about change? Please share your thoughts in the comments below.

Author bio: Mark Harrison writes at Effortless Abundance. Check out his latest book, Thirty Days to Change Your Life.

By Vlad Dolezal

“Mediocrity is the worst enemy of greatness.” – Icelandic proverb

Imagine you sit down on a hot radiator. In a few seconds, you will feel intense heat on your bum, jump up, curse, then go sit down somewhere else. And you’ll be ok.

Now imagine you’re in an uncomfortably hot room. But you’re feeling lazy, and the discomfort isn’t quite enough to make you get up and open the window or turn down the heating. So you stay, uncomfortable, for hours…

A lot of people live their life like that. Doing alright, not entirely comfortable… but not bothered enough to do anything about it.

And just like in the above example, that usually leads to more discomfort in the long run than the sharp painful situation. Because unless you know a few clever tricks (covered below), mediocrity will make you complacent.

A simple test to see how your life is right now

How you’re doing can be lumped in three basic categories:

• awful
• mediocre
• great

(Yes, that’s a pretty obvious and arbitrary lumping, but you’ll see in a second how it’s useful.)

And as we saw at the beginning… mediocre can sometimes be worse than awful, because it doesn’t compel you to take action. It’s not great, but it’s not painful enough to make you get up and do something about it.

Okay, here’s the test:

When somebody asks you “How are you?”, what do you usually answer?

A friend of mine brought this to my attention recently. She pointed out that every time we meet and she asks how I am, I answer “Awesome!”.

So I gave it some thought, and I realized it’s because I AM doing awesome every time we meet!

There’s always something exciting going on in my life. Maybe I’ve been fire-breathing with my friends recently, or I took on a new batch of life coaching clients, or I went to a great swing dancing party…

I don’t mean to brag about how awesome my life is. I just want to see that how you’re doing will fundamentally affect how you answer the “how are you?” question. (And conversely, the words you use will affect how you feel)

Here are some typical answers I get from people for different zones:

Have some fun with this! One day, notice how many people answer in each zone (and keep a tally). You might be surprised by the results.

How to escape mediocrity

So you’re doing alright, chugging along. Your life isn’t awful, but it’s not that great either.

How do you give yourself that kick on the bum to get motivated to make your life great?

It comes down to the pain and pleasure principle, (which I’ll sum up for you in a moment).

Mediocrity is a horrible insidious trap, because it doesn’t quite give you the discomfort to get you moving and changing.

Sitting down on a radiator will get you moving in a few seconds, because of the intense pain which motivates you to change your circumstances. And a minute or two later you’re doing just fine. Yet you can sit in an uncomfortably hot room for hours.

Same with a mediocre life – you can get trapped for years, living an alright existence. It’s not something that will get you to jump up excited out of bed at 5 in the morning, but at the same time it’s not painful enough to make you jump up and shout “I WILL CHANGE!”

So let’s get you motivated to live the life you really want!

It’s all about the emotional motivation

You can think about the logical reasons for changing all day long. But motivation comes from deep in your gut – from your emotions.

As I discuss in more detail in How to Conquer Fear, the emotional part of your brain doesn’t respond to logical reasons. It responds to vivid images and movies you make in your head.

The key to kicking up your motivation isn’t to find more logical reasons. The key is to start imagining how great your life will be if you change, and how horrible it will be if you keep going the way you’re going, until you jump up and shout “I WILL CHANGE!”

Kick up the relative pain and pleasure (don’t skip this)

Take a few moments to answer the following questions, and really imagine the answers. This alone will give you a mighty motivational kick on the bum to move you towards greatness. And doing it right now will drive this principle deep into your subconscious, so you can benefit from it later. (I want you take away something real from reading this article.)

Okay, let’s get started:

…

What would change give you? What would your “great” life look like?

Take a few moments to imagine it. Earning money doing something you love. Spending free time doing something you love. Being with people you will love hanging out with.

Imagine it now.

…

Okay, come back.

Now take a few moments to imagine what your life will be like if you keep living in mediocrity. Keeping an “alright” job. Living an “alright” life.

Where will you be in 20 years, if you keep living like that?

…

Now image being on your death bed, thinking about your life behind you. How will you feel if you live a life in alignment with your core values? What will you have achieved?

How about a mediocre life. What will you see when you reach your deathbed? What will your life have been like? Would you be happy with it?

Escaping mediocrity is about what you want

Living a great life doesn’t mean influencing millions of people or being famous or being super-rich. At least not for everyone.

Living a great life is about living in alignment with your values. Doing something you love.

A great life is when you wake up excited every morning, and go to sleep content every night. A great life is when you know you’ve done a great job each day, each week… and that you’re truly living the life you want.

Isn’t that worth changing for? Facing a bit of discomfort?

That’s up to you to answer. Because in the end, your life won’t change until you want it to change.

Author bio: Vlad Dolezal writes a blog about making personal development fun. Check it out to improve your life while having fun, or follow Vlad on twitter.

By Ali Hale

Do you have a teen who just won’t get off his backside and do anything? Is your brother deeply in debt? Have you got a friend whose romantic life is a series of disasters which she never seems to learn from? Are your parents severely overweight? Is your partner a smoker?

The chances are, there’s someone in your life who you believe is in need of change … but they’re not making any progress. If you’ve devoted yourself to change, perhaps making great strides in your personal and professional life, then it can be frustrating to see others – friends and loved ones – remaining stagnant.

So what can you do about it?

In one sense, nothing. You can’t force other people to change. Sure, you can nag, threaten or cajole someone … but if they’re really going to change in the long-term, that impulse has to come from within them.

The first thing, then, is to recognize that this person is an individual and, unless they are your own child, an individual with responsibility for their own life. You can’t tell them how to live their life.

Let Them Know You Value Them

However much your friend, relative or colleague’s behavior might frustrate you, focus on what you do value about them. When we feel unappreciated and unloved by the world, it’s easy to fall into apathy or despair – feeling that nothing will really make a difference.

Those kind words to your friend over lunch (even if it means biting your tongue when she tells you the latest disaster story), or that note to your parents saying how much you love them, can have far more effect than any number of discussions or rows about what you perceive to be their problem.

Listen to What They Want

Sometimes in the personal development sphere, I see people getting hooked on their own experience of change – and promptly evangelizing about it to everyone in earshot. Great, you lost 30lbs and got fit and toned: that doesn’t give you any reason to look down your nose at people who are perfectly happy with a different body shape. Or perhaps you work on your small business every weekend – don’t knock those who prefer to spend that time partying with friends, or simply enjoying a non-paying hobby. Keep your own agenda out of it.

If you are committed to helping someone make positive change in their life, you’ll need to listen to what they really want. Don’t project your own ideas onto them: they may be enjoying what is, to you, a “dead end” job because it gives them the time and energy to paint at the weekends.

When a friend or loved one expresses a wish to change – perhaps making comments about their physical fitness, their financial situation or their family life – then be supportive. Encourage them to talk more, and always proceed with the assumption that they will be capable of making the changes that they want to. This should be obvious, but it’s never going to help to say things like “Well, the last five diets you went on were a complete failure…”

Ask How You Can Help

When someone does open up to you, perhaps confiding a dream or goal that you’d never realized they had, don’t start offering advice straight away. Ask “What can I do to help?” Give them control over their own change. If it’s a situation that you’ve had personal experience of, and you want to share that, tell them your story – but offer this simply as an example, rather than telling them “So you should do it just like this…”

In many cases, what might be helpful for you won’t necessarily help someone with a very different temperament. Perhaps you get spurred on by competition, whereas your friend needs gentle encouragement. Maybe you like to be enthused and supported, whereas your brother prefers someone who’ll keep him firmly accountable.

When we’re committed to changing our own lives, it’s easy to get carried away into trying to change the lives of those around us. Of course there’s nothing wrong in being moved by someone else’s struggles – but ultimately, the greatest kindness we can do is to accept other people for who they are, and to accept that their path in life is not going to be the same as ours.

Let your children, your siblings, your parents and your friends find their own way. Your role isn’t to be a tour guide, it’s to be a companion on the route, perhaps pointing out dangers and helping them over rough spots – but ultimately letting them choose their own direction.

About the author: Ali writes about personal growth and development on her blog, Aliventures. As well as blogging, she writes fiction, and is studying for an MA in Creative Writing.

By Ali Hale

Broadly speaking, there are two political outlooks on change. Reactionaries see change as a bad thing, something to be treated with caution. Revolutionaries celebrate and embrace change.

Take, for instance, attitudes towards the rapid changes in society due to technology. A reactionary would voice concerns about children playing video games, about the short attention spans caused by the internet, and about security and privacy risks. A revolutionary would talk about the new possibilities created – new ways of working, new art forms, and new connections with people all around the world.

Who’s right? Neither. Sometimes, we need change in order to get rid of things which aren’t working. And sometimes, we need to recognize the value of what we already have.

Are You Reactionary or Revolutionary?

I suspect that you’ll find your attitudes towards personal change tend towards one end of the spectrum or the other. Maybe you’re very cautious about change and you feel very anxious at the thought of leaving your job, or moving to a new city or even country. Or maybe you get bored if you stick in one place too long, and you want to always be on the move.

I think the healthiest attitude of change blends both the reactionary and the revolutionary outlooks. It’s a flexible way of looking at change and making the best of each situation.

Advantages of the Reactionary Mindset

Adopting a reactionary viewpoint lets you celebrate the achievements of the past. It means you can look at the times when things have worked for you – and you can learn from these. I find that a good way to do this is to keep up my achievements book and to look at what’s already going well.

A reactionary mindset can help you avoid making unnecessary changes. Sometimes, we end up wanting change for its own sake – whether or not it’s really going to make things better for us. We can end up wasting a lot of time on this. Being reactionary can help keep us on track, especially with long-term goals and projects. Sticking with what worked yesterday or last week may actually be the best way to reach towards many of our goals.

Advantages of the Revolutionary Mindset

When you take a revolutionary viewpoint, you don’t limit yourself by what seems easy or comfortable – or even necessarily possible. You might write out your dream for the future – even if it looks very different to how your life is today. This can help create the motivation that you need to move forwards.

Sometimes, our life does need sweeping change, and there’s no half-way house. When Peter gave up playing online poker, that was a revolutionary change – he recognized that it was not working for him, and he didn’t just cut back, he stopped altogether.

Blending the Two

So how do you know which way to approach change? I’d suggest that a good place to start is with your usual bias. For me, I know that I get itchy feet easily and I sometimes think that I need to make big, sweeping changes – when actually, I just need to make some small adjustments. Consciously taking a reactionary approach can help me stay balanced.

It’s also often useful to get an outside opinion. You probably have a family member or close friend who’s the polar opposite to you: my fiancé, for instance, tends to be more cautious about change than I am. Having someone to balance your excesses can help you avoid blind spots and potential mistakes.

I find that these are useful questions to ask myself, especially when faced with big changes (we’ve got a lot coming up this year!)

Reactionary

• How can I make small changes now to improve things?
• Where is life going well at the moment?
• Which relationships do I want to foster – and which do I want to let quietly fade?
• How can I build on the successes of the past year?

Revolutionary

• What would my ideal day look like?
• What would I like to do which isn’t easily possible in my current circumstances?
• Where do I need a fresh start, and how can I get it?
• Is there a U-turn that I need to make?

Best of luck in all the changes that you choose to make this year – but also in all the things which you decide to keep the same!

About the author: Ali writes about personal growth and development on her blog, Aliventures. As well as blogging, she writes fiction, and is studying for an MA in Creative Writing.

By Henri Junttila

Poker is a tricky game. If you aren’t familiar with the game it can seem like a game of random events, when in reality the game has intricate patterns and a culture of its own. Poker has a large degree of luck, which means that it will take longer for the true results to converge.

In case you haven’t read my story, I was a professional online poker player for almost five years until I jumped over to making money online with websites. I stopped playing because it was destroying my soul (more on this later).

While I’m no longer a professional poker player, I do appreciate the positives ways in which poker transformed my life:

Discipline

In poker, if you do not have discipline, you’re dead. You have to care for your bankroll (your money). You have to be strategic about everything you do. The risk and reward has to be constantly calculated. Not with a calculator, in your head.

This requires brutal honesty. You have to know your strengths and your weaknesses. If you don’t, you will eventually go broke. As they say, poker is a hard way to make an easy living.

Hard Work

When I first started playing poker during a hot summer day in 2004, it was August and I had just bought my first book on poker. I thought I was entitled to win just because I knew the basics. I quickly realized that it wasn’t as easy as I thought, so I gave it up (temporarily) and blamed it on luck—this game could not be beat.

This is how a lot of people approach life. They act like life owes them something. When they don’t succeed after 6 weeks, they give up.

After a few weeks of feeling like a victim and blaming bad luck, I was suddenly struck by a new-found determination. I studied the game day and night. I failed over and over again, until one day, it clicked.

Patience

Patience and discipline go hand in hand. In poker, if you’re playing a normal game with 9-10 people, the large majority of hands you get have to be folded. If you’re playing too many hands you’re going to lose money in the long-run. The number of hands you can play differs depending on talent, the amount of players on the table and what you want to accomplish.

The same applies to real life. I’m a very impatient kind of guy, so I know what it’s like to want things to manifest right away. There’s a reason why almost all sales letters talk about making $65,341 within 24 hours of pushing a button, it makes sales.

In life and in business, you have to work hard, be disciplined, have focus and be patient.

Strategy

Poker is a lot like chess, but with incomplete information. In chess, you have all the information you need, but in poker, you do not get to see what cards your opponents holds and there are a lot of other factors that come into play.

We cannot predict the future. We can only do our best. Sometimes we miscalculate, but that is a part of life. As long as we learn all is well. It’s all about the process.

Objectivity

In poker you have to be objective, but at the same time you have to listen to your instinct. It is an extremely hard thing to do, because your emotions can easily get the best of you.

The same applies to life. You have to be objective about your decisions, but you still have to listen to your heart and let it guide you.

Intuition

The more you can apply your intuition in poker, the better you’ll do. Intuition comes partly from experience (your brain recognizing patterns) and partly from other unknown places. Sometimes you just know.

Listening to your heart and following your feelings is one of the best things you can do in life. Working on something you love makes you feel good, right? Why wouldn’t you want to do that all of the time?

Why I Quit

I quit poker because I had gradually lost my enthusiasm for the game. I started playing poker mainly to make money and when I had made enough, the reasons for me playing weren’t there anymore. On top of this, I really didn’t enjoy the strategic aspect either. It had become a job and I had created my own 9-5 without even knowing it.

The last two years of poker were gruelling, because poker can be tough psychologically, especially when it is your sole income. Why did it take me two years to quit? Because I was afraid, I didn’t know if I would be able to make money anywhere else. An illogical fear, but we all carry them around without noticing.

Wanna Try Poker?

If you’re interested in trying poker, I have to caution you that it can be very addictive. I never had that problem, but it sucks most people in. Be aware of what’s going on when you start playing. Keep it fun, light and play within your means.

About the author: written by Henri Junttila of The Wake Up Cloud.

By Peter Clemens

Prior to 2009 I had very little experience with gambling. This changed, however, when one night in early 2009 I was invited to play Texas hold’em poker with some friends. I had no idea what I was doing, and unsurprisingly came away little bit poorer (say $20). Despite this small loss my interest in poker was sparked.

In the middle of 2009 I was invited to celebrate my brother-in-law’s birthday in Las Vegas. While I had now read a couple of books on Texas hold’em, I had very little experience actually playing the game (just two subsequent occasions with the same friends). Not wanting to be seen as a donkey (that’s a poker term for a bad player) in Vegas, I decided to gain some experience by playing online.

While you can play online poker with pretend money, it is basically a waste of time because people don’t act as they do when real money is at stake. This hints at the major reason I enjoy poker – there is a good deal of psychology involved. Because poker is a game of incomplete information, players must make educated guesses as to what will happen next and what their opponents are holding.

After a month or two of regularly playing online poker, the time finally came to head to Vegas. I was the only person in our group interested in poker, so most of the gambling I did in the first night/ day was at the blackjack table. I didn’t have much luck playing blackjack, but I found it a fun and sociable game to play. On the second night I decided to split from my group and hit the poker tables solo.

The first sit-and-go tournament (that’s a one table tournament) I played was fairly uneventful and I was knocked out early on. The second tournament, however, was an experience I will never forget. I received some good hands, and every decision I made just seemed to turn out right. Gradually other people at the table were knocked out, until finally it was just myself and one other guy remaining. At this stage I was unbelievably excited; even if I didn’t win I was guaranteed a nice pay-out for second place. After a few hands of limited action I received Ace-Queen off-suit, a strong hand in heads up hold’em. My opponent liked his hand as well and we both ended up all-in pre-flop. When he turned over his cards I sighed; he had Ace-King off-suit meaning I was dominated and my chances of winning the hand were only around 24%. Thankfully, however, I caught a Queen on the flop and this was enough to win the hand. I had handed my opponent a bad beat, but I didn’t care; I had won in Vegas!

Initially I had started playing online poker to prepare for Vegas, but on returning home I found the game hard to give up. Almost every night after the kids had gone to bed I would play for 1-2 hours. While I was enjoying myself, I became aware that playing this much was having some negative consequences:

1. It was annoying my wife (and as they say, “happy wife, happy life”).
2. It was distracting me from activities I consider to have lasting value (eg maintaining this blog).
3. While I was only playing after the kids were had gone to bed, I was so keen to start playing in the evening that I was less tolerant with the kids as I put them to bed. My older son Xavier (at the time around 2.5 years) could be particularly difficult, and I found myself frequently losing my cool with him.
4. As I was going to bed later than normal, I was tired the next day and my work performance suffered.

I was aware of these negatives for awhile, but still I found it hard to stop playing. What finally did it was one night when I found myself back at a point where I had neither won nor lost money playing online poker over the preceding months. I realized I had nothing to show for all those nights I had stayed up late, staring at the computer screen. I subsequently cashed out (the site sent me a cheque in the mail) and then uninstalled the poker software from my computer.

Thoughts On Online Poker

I experienced the high of winning in Vegas and the low of a mild online poker addiction that was interfering with my life. So what do I think of gambling and, in particular, online poker? The following are some of my thoughts:

1. Online poker can be fun and exciting.

“The urge to gamble is so universal and its practice so pleasurable that I assume it must be evil.” ~ Heywood Hale Broun

It is human nature to feel excited when taking risks and the positive feeling gained from gambling is no different. The sense of anticipation creates a natural high, an adrenalin rush, a feeling that very many of us seek when looking for fun and entertainment. Also, gambling provides an escape from everyday life.

2. Online poker can be addictive.

“You don’t gamble to win. You gamble so you can gamble the next day.” ~ Bert Ambrose

For many people gambling gets out of hand, resulting in a compulsive gambling problem. Compulsive gamblers are characterized by their inability to control their gambling urges to the point that all they think about is gambling and ways to support this habit.

Interestingly, as I was writing this article my blogging friend Daniel Richard sent me a copy of his first e-book, Breaking the Gambling Addiction. In the book Daniel tells of how winning his very first bet at the age of 16 led to a 5-year gambling addiction. This addiction escalated to the point where he was stealing from his employer to support his habit.

3. Online poker can cost you a lot of money.

“There is a very easy way to return from a casino with a small fortune: go there with a large one.” ~ Jack Yelton

This is not a problem I personally experienced, but it is obvious that gambling costs some people a lot of money. If gamblers start to losing they may keep spending more and more money in the hope that they will win again soon. Often this can result in them getting into debt in an attempt to win back the money they have lost.

4. Online poker can give you false hope.

“A gambler is nothing but a man who makes his living out of hope.”  ~ William Bolitho

In 2003 Chris Moneymaker won the World Series of Poker. According to Wikipedia, this win “revolutionized poker because he was the first person to become a world champion by qualifying at an online poker site.” Since Chris’ win there have others just as Peter Eastgate (2008) and Joe Cada (2009) who have won the World Series of Poker after learning to play poker online. For their wins, Eastgate (22 at the time) and Cada (21 at the time) pocketed $9,152,416 and $8,546,435 respectively.

This clearly shows that some people make good money, strike it rich even, from gambling. However, such people are in the minority (just think, those millions have to come from somewhere). It follows, then, that for most people a hope to strike it rich playing poker will go unfulfilled.

5. Online poker can interfere with the important things in life.

“By gaming we lose both our time and treasure – two things most precious to the life of man.”  ~ Owen Felltham

The other day I was talking to a co-worker who plays online poker. He mentioned that many of his friends no longer play online. “Why?” I asked. “I guess they just have better things to do” he replied.

“Exactly” I thought.

Given that poker can be fun and exciting I’m ok with it playing it on the odd occasion. But it’s not an activity that nourishes (in fact, after a couple hours playing online I would often feel a certain emptiness). It doesn’t provide any lasting value (unless you win some serious coin, of course, but see my previous point about false hope). Instead I could be devoting my time to a legacy project – that is, creating something that will outlast me.  Doing something amazing. Something EPIC (as Daniel says in his e-book).

* * *

Epilogue: it’s now approximately 4 months since I uninstalled the poker software on my computer. Having not played for 3 months, a month ago I decided to re-install the software and play some poker. I was bored, and I guess I figured I was over my addiction. I played for a few hours over two nights, but I suffered some bad beats and just didn’t have the patience required to do well. I uninstalled the software again and decided to get on with my life.

These are my thoughts of online poker/ gambling. What are yours? I would be interested to hear your experiences and stories.

Further reading:

• Breaking the Gambling Addiction by Daniel Richard. Recommended for anyone who is addicted to gambling, or who has a friend or loved one who is.