Many individuals find solace and enjoyment in various activities such as cooking, playing or performing music, meditating, dancing, and knitting. These pursuits are often touted as healthy, effective, and enjoyable ways to unwind after a challenging day. In fact, some enthusiasts go so far as to describe them as positive addictions, emphasizing their profound impact. On today’s episode, host John Laurito explores the concept of positive addictions. He invites you to think about your own healthy addictions, providing insight into the activities that bring you immense pleasure and fulfillment.
[0:00] Intro
[1:18] A quick thought: addiction
[2:45] What are your good and bad addictions?
[5:58] So think about it…
[9:02] What in your life do you have positive addiction for?
[10:17] Outro
Get a copy of “Tomorrow’s Leader” on Amazon.
John: Over the last two decades, I’ve been in an insatiable quest to learn everything I can about leadership, what makes the best leaders so good after running companies small and large over the last 20 years. Today, I speak on stages all across the world to audiences who are interested in that same question.
John: My name’s John Laurito. I’m your host, and I invite you to join me on this journey as we explore this very topic and what makes the best leader so good. Welcome to Tomorrow’s leader. All right. Welcome back to the show. I’ve got another one for you today. This is gonna be a short one, and you know why I know and how I know it’s gonna be a short one because I’ve got something in the oven right now.
John: So it has to be got salmon cooking right now. For those of you who have not just gone into the world of salmon, I have perfected how to make it in an air fryer. I’ve perfected how to make it in an oven. I’m making it in an oven tonight. I’ve perfected how to grill it. Uh, and I’ve, I’ve just learned from some of the best out there, and I love salmon, so.
John: My salmon is cooking. Uh, and, uh, whoop. My little reminder, my little alarm telling me that, uh, I’ve only got a little bit of time to go. So, uh, I wanted to share with you a, uh, a quick thought here because. I, I, and I think it’s something that can help, it’s helped me to think this way and think about things this way.
John: You know, we, we think about the word addiction. Addiction has a really negative connotation, that word, because when we think about addiction, we think about addiction to negative things. It could be, uh, alcohol, it could be, uh, drugs. It could be. Uh, bad habits or things that are not good for us gambling. It could be things that just generally are not good for our life, for our health, for our life, for our wellbeing, finances, whatever the case may be.
John: But in reality, the word addiction just simply means you have some need. Physiologically, psych psychologically, physically, whatever it might be to continue doing something and you truly have a tough time, stop stopping doing that or discontinuing that behavior. So I think about it. You know what? What can you do to create a positive addiction?
John: There’s things in our lives that we oftentimes get addicted to that are actually really, really good. We almost become obsessed with certain things that are really, really healthy habits. Now, obsession may take it too far in some cases, but. I’d much rather be obsessed and addicted to things that are really, really positive in my lifestyle.
John: So I think about those things, good habits, bad habits, and this is an interesting exercise to write them down, Hey, what are the things that I really just have this addiction to that are not good? Whatever it might be. What are the things I have addictions to our habits that are really good that I have to do every single day?
John: And just break down your day specifically. What are the things that you do? You know, there’s a period of time in my life that I was absolutely addicted to, and really consumed by and obsessed with. Physical fitness, working out every day, eating well for a period of time, for like five years of my life, I did not have a single piece of chocolate or candy or anything that wasn’t good for me.
John: I was truly like obsessed with it. Now, for me, that didn’t work and at some point you have to have some more balance in your life, but at that point in my life, that really, really worked. Now, What I’ve also developed are different addictions for things in my life. Some are better than others, but I look at those as positive things.
John: I’m addicted to the outdoors. I need to be outside. If there’s a day that goes by and I am not outside for a period of time. It affects me physically and mentally. I truly feel that way. So I will do everything I can to spend even a little bit of time, even in bad weather, just sit out, back under my covered area and just whatever, enjoy the outside.
John: There’s something about that that helps me, me better, happier, and a better day. Um, I remember periods of time where, You know, I was driving to the office every day, and in the morning I would get my news fixed. Like I’d have like a 45 minute drive to the office. And, and that was like my, my time to, you know, drive with my cup of coffee.
John: And that was another addiction. And it was, um, and that was my time to get totally up to speed on what was going on in the world and, and the markets and the economy, whatever. That was my current event time and it was peaceful and I loved it. Now I don’t drive to an office every day, so that’s changed. So now you know I need to do other things to get that consistency of the news.
John: But you know what’s interesting is can you do things? Can you put yourself on a path to getting addicted to something that’s very positive? And what I think about is, You just, it’s like a habit, like anything else. If you do it consistently for a period of time, it not only becomes second nature, but you start to need to do it right?
John: So if you, if you take a span of time and, and even if it’s something like working out and you say, Hey, listen. I’m going to do this for the next 30 days. I’m gonna work out every single day and whatever, vary the workouts and do cardio one day, working out with weights, another bike riding another day, walking another day, but something that’s physical that gets me feeling good and breaking a sweat, and I’m gonna do that for 30 days.
John: I can almost tell you you’re going to get addicted to the feeling that you get. The immediate high that you get from that. But then also the, the kind of the long-term, you know, you get intoxicated by it, like the feeling of you’re, you’re feeling better, looking better, getting in better shape, and it just propels you to keep going.
John: Um, so just think about those little things. Can you put, and I’m interested to hear from you on this cuz I’m, I’m interested to hear from you. Have you been able to kind of develop this healthy addiction to something that’s made a big improvement in your life? Um, listen, sometimes that could be, could be anything, could be, could be a person that’s in your life that you’ve become addicted to spending time with or talking to because they have such a positive impact.
John: That’s a great addiction, right? It could be something that you’ve been addicted to, audible, and you listen to books. Audible books all the time. You’re addicted to it. You’re addicted to podcasts, you’re addicted to this podcast. How about that? Tomorrow’s later. Yes. Um, you’re addicted to things. You know, I take a cold shower every morning for like, it’s just the end of the shower, 30 seconds, 45 seconds.
John: I now can’t take a shower and not do that because if I don’t, I feel like I’m just not as woken up as I. As I can be. Um, maybe it’s meditation, maybe it’s something else. Maybe it’s your morning ritual that you do. Maybe it’s journaling something that is an addiction that moves your life in a positive direction.
John: Maybe it’s taken up a new hobby. Maybe it’s a musical instrument. I don’t know. Whatever it is, there’s something in there that you can get addicted to that will actually be this whole other positive element of your life that you may not even realize. Is out there, so explore, try some new stuff. Honestly, that’s what I think about.
John: I’m 52. There’s a whole ton of stuff in my life that is out there that are new habits, new interests, new hobbies, new things in my life that will be there that aren’t there right now. And I won’t find them unless I try new stuff. Right. I don’t know. Maybe I, maybe I, maybe I’m a, an incredible, um, I don’t know, poet, and I’ve never tried poetry.
John: I don’t know. Well, probably not. I’m not, I’m not, I’m actually putting that one aside. That’s probably not it. But there’s probably something that I have this obsessive positive addiction to if I go down that path, and it’s something that really, truly will have a positive impact on my life. So try new stuff.
John: Play a game with yourself and just say, Hey, you know what? I’m gonna try. Try doing a new, uh, try a new hobby or try something and do something once a month that I’ve never done in my life before. That’s a pretty cool challenge. So, I’m all for doing new stuff. I, I’m, I’m grateful for the fact that I have pushed myself to try as many new things as I can, and there’s very few things that are new experiences that I would not try, uh, to do.
John: Um, because I think it’s just part of life. You know, you get to enjoy new things and the whole experience of something being new, that may be something that you do for the rest of your life and you never know unless you try something new. So, Any event, just some random thoughts, quick thoughts before salmon time that, uh, I want to share in regards to developing a positive addiction or something.
John: So this one for sure, I’m interested in your thoughts on it. I’m interested to know what in your life. Do you have this positive addiction for? How did you create it? How did you get addicted to it, and are there things that you maybe were addicted to that you can get yourself back addicted to? I’m going on this, this kick over the next 30 days of just working out every single day.
John: Normally I, I don’t do it every day. I do it a lot, but I feel like I just need to. Shock the system, get back to it. It’s a challenge for myself, uh, and I’m going to do it for the next 30 days, just for nothing other than just to get the, get everything, the excitement going back that I used to have that, uh, I haven’t lost, but it’s started to dwindle a little bit.
John: I want to get just that energy back from king of the old school, old, old style workouts that I used to do so. Uh, and any event, I hope this was helpful. Let me know what your thoughts are. Again, I hope this kind of pushes you in a new direction. You do something, you get addicted, and you can look back at this episode as being a kind of a trigger for you.
John: So, uh, with that said, give me your feedback, give your thoughts, go down below, you know the deal, like share, subscribe, all that kinda good stuff, and we’ll see you next time. Thanks everybody. Take care. Thanks for joining us on today’s episode of Tomorrow’s Leader. For suggestions or inquiries about having me at your next event or personal coaching, reach me at john@johnlaurito.com Thanks, lead on!
