Alchemy For Life

Welcome to 2025. As with last year, we are selecting the most helpful and useful episodes of the previous year. Of course I feel that all of the episodes are useful and helpful. Each one has a use, a point, and a tangible takeaway. Each one is a unique perspective on something you’re familiar with or a bringing to your attention of something you may not even be aware of. As they say, “...

Resolutions—what works and what doesn’t and why. It’s really important that you don’t repeat the same things that didn’t work last time. You want to make this time to be different. Levels As we mentioned in the Labels episode, we like to label things because it’s a shortcut. And that can make you dumber or smarter. It can also give too much power to the thing . And it...

This is a separate article that goes with this podcast episode. it is not a transcript but rather an alternate summary of what the episode is about. NOTE : Depression, and worse (the meaning of “throwing away the container”) is a delicate subject. The truth is that all mental health is a delicate subject, as is the psyche that we all possess and protect—voluntarily or otherwise. This i...

Guess who has this one? 🙂 NOTE: As I’ve said before, these thirteen ‘states of being’ are not being looked at as an ‘ailment’ or a ‘disease’ or a disadvantage. Just as there are upsides to what some would consider a disability, there are downsides to what some would consider a superpower. What is Systems Thinking? Systems thinking is taking a step back an...

Social Media and You If you’re on social media, whether it’s the Boomers Gone Wild of Facebook, the Graphic (in many ways) Instagram , the Millennial-Controlled Tiktok or the ‘business-oriented’ Linkedin, you will see the kind of posts I’m about to talk about. Drawing a line in the sand… in your face Some people post things full of words—typically a graphic tell...

Exotic Cars When people purchase exotic cars, they are sometimes hit with something called deferred maintenance . As with many car buyers, they see the value of purchasing a car used . The positive of that is that they get a car they want at a dramatically reduced price. The downside is sometimes that they hadn’t considered there might be deferred maintenance. Oops! There’s Deferred Ma...

A new formula Here’s an interesting concept for you, just when you thought you understood that life is made of three things: Time, Energy and Resources. But after ll, this is alchemy. Time, Energy and Resources Alchemy for Life™ has always been about life being three things. And we spend those three things on five facets. it’s the basis for the podcast, the coaching system, and a way t...

What is Positivity? You may think that ‘positivity’ doesn’t belong with such states of being as OCD , Anxiety , ADHD and the others featured in this 13-part series, but I think it does because it is markedly different than the average person. Positivity isn’t just being nice. Positivity isn’t being positive blindly . It is a state of being in which your base level is...

Forced Emergency Responders and “Love Bombing.” Emergency Responders and the 2:00am call for a wooden spoon When we think of emergency responders, we think of paramedics and ambulances and firefighters and police. If you make widgets, no one is going to call you at three in the morning to tell you they desperately need a new stapler or a wooden spoon or any number of things that aren&#...

What is OCD? Do I have OCD? OCD stands for obsessive-compulsive disorder. It shares a symptom with ADHD in which you can be caught in a repetitive loop because of anxiety and stimulus.  But it is different than ADHD. The reality of OCD  The reality of OCD often involves constant, intrusive thoughts and the need to perform specific rituals to reduce anxiety . Day-to-day life can feel consumed...

Toddlers with chainsaws Are chainsaws bad? No. Should toddlers use them? No. We use chainsaws to perform a task, we don’t give them to toddlers because it is dangerous to do so and the toddlers don’t understand the balance of danger and functionality. Airbags, insurance and fire extinguishers, oh my! Does your car have airbags? Do you own fire extinguishers? Do you have insurance? All...

ADHD – Also known as Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. What is ADHD? Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. People with ADHD typically struggle with finding it difficult to focus . They are easily distracted in pursuit of stimulus. Sometimes the stimulus leads them to hyper-focus.  The reality of ADHD  The reality for many people is that ADHD is a constant challenge for them to fo...

Anxiety – The feeling of stress, the activation of a fight-or-flight mode. Anxiety for some can be a fairly dull but constant sensation of having to attend to a problem—a nagging feeling that you need to take care of something. This can be from the demands of your job, your responsibilities as a parent, a spouse, a parent or a combination of all of the above. For some, however, it can be an...

Gamification, Iconization and Tangibility Those are some crazy words. They’re fun and I like saying them. But what do they mean? My history I have always enjoyed looking at things as a system . It was only relatively recently that I realized that was what I was doing. it was so natural and innate that I didn’t give it much thought. Previous to giving it that name, i thought I was just...

Are you creative? No matter what your job, career or calling is, no matter what hobbies you have or do not, you have creativity. What if we treat it as a separate skill? What happens then? You’ll be amazed. Join our free community at patreon to talk about it.

“I see systems” This is something I have said for a very long time. Once I learned that this was one of my core directives it all made sense. But what does that mean, and how can that help you? Let’s talk about the systems in your life. If you don’t see the system you could be suffering because of it What happened when you became aware of a system? Did it change your life?...

😎 NOTE : The members of the AFL Patreon Community heard this episode last week. They get them a week early. You can too. Join it for free ! What is ADHD actually? The term ADHD gets thrown around a lot. People use it for everything to describe an actual condition in which someone cannot concentrate, to being easily distracted, to having bouts of hyperfocus. Do you tell people you have ADHD? Do yo...

It’s time. After all these episodes, books, coaching, and articles, it’s time to approach this differently and give us a better way to connect with each other. We both deserve it.

I guarantee you will have a great day if you do this. And you might get a huge laugh out of it as well. Believe it or not this episode touches on and doubt, more experimental, psychology, and the holy Grail of positivity bias. All because your friend wants you to help him move a piano. Experimental Psychology This particular exercise involves elements of the placebo effect, and something called Co...

A New Genre You are now part of the birth of a new genre—engagement fiction. I know it’s new because I just made it up. If you’re a type a personality*, then you probably enjoy your brain being fully engaged for your work. But when it comes time for play, you may not really be feeding your brain the same kind of engagement without the stress. People like this are not really satisfied w...

You’re probably selfish for a good reason. If not, your definition of selfishness is what’s stopping you from taking care of yourself properly. This is not about self-care and self-love. It’s about something entirely different.

You might be giving too much power to something in your life, just because you gave it a LABEL . See labels for more on labels in: If you use them you’ll get smarter (or dumber)

How much real estate do you own? A fascinating way to look at one of The Big Three….

Phrases and mantras We all have phrases we can readily repeat. Some of us have important phrases that have made an impact on us. Some of us (like me) even have a mantra we live by. The most impactful Doing an inventory, I came up with three phrases that have had the most impact on me. There are others, but these seemed to be a good collection—and I thought it would be fun to put them all in one po...

Have you ever been stood up? The origin of the term has many folksy definitions. I encourage you to look it up as many are sort of saucy, But we recognize this meaning someone did not show up as planned for a meeting, and usually includes them not reaching out or responding to queries. We’ve all had this happen, right? Switching Gears and the Element No One Talks About. If someone stood you...