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12 Blessings From Having A Severe Health Challenge

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A few weeks ago I was diagnosed with a health challenge called Fructose Malabsorption and at first, I was quite worried of the change in the quality of life that I was told to expect. Friends started telling me all the things I would no longer be able to eat and the experience shocked me.

Since I have a positive mindset from years of self-development, I thought long and hard about how I could reframe this scenario to be a benefit. It turns out I didn’t need to because the universe gave the answer to me.

Below are the twelve blessings I have discovered from having health challenge:

1. I am now forced to be healthy

Most people try their entire life to be healthy, and it takes a lot of discipline. I have the blessing of having a food intolerance so it means that I can’t eat any junk food what so ever. I don’t know about you, but I think this is an amazing gift I have been given.

I don’t have to worry like most people about peer pressure or fitting in because I have a genuine reason why I can’t consume toxic, processed foods anymore, and I am kind of proud of it. I suspect that my fructose intolerance was caused by years of eating unhealthy food and consuming a ridiculous amount of sugar.

I watched the movie “That Sugar Film” recently and learnt that sugar is actually the main issue with the western diet and that it’s in everything. From yoghurt to tomato sauce, to our favourite breakfast cereal, almost anything we buy that is pre-packaged is likely to contain sugar.

What the movie points out is that often the label doesn’t tell you there is sugar, and the ingredients are given other names so you won’t always know if there is sugar present. By removing fructose foods from my diet, I am forced to not consume these foods anymore.

2. I won’t age as quickly

In today’s society, so many of us care so deeply about our vanity and the way we look. I stopped caring about vanity a long time ago, but I still have the pleasure from my new fructose intolerance to know that the aging process will slow down for me.

So often we think that we inherit baldness, gray hair and poor skin conditions, all the research I have read says that genes play a small part, but the number one factor that actually influences these conditions is our diet.

I am not joking when I say that I have friends (both male and female) that are in their twenties and already have some or lots of gray hair. Some of those same friends are also going bald or completely bald already. I am so happy to know that I am at least slowing this process down without having to do anything at all.

It’s never too late to start to be healthy; I am just lucky that I am being forced.

3. The universe is conspiring in my favour

For some reason, since I have started on this journey of self-development and massive success, the universe has conspired in my favour to bring me this health problem. It’s almost as if the universe wants me to stay on this path and so it’s throwing gifts disguised as challenges, to help me along the way.

I don’t say this to get all spiritual on you, I say this because the actions that we take every day determine our success and things will start to go your way as long as you have the skills and knowledge to understand what’s happening to you.

Had I have not done any personal development at all, I would have never been able to take the point of you that I take on most things today. To summarise this point, everything that looks like a problem is an opportunity – period.

4. I am more patient

Eating healthier foods and knowing what is going into your mouth allows you to become more patient over time. The reason most people are impatient and have to walk around like robots drinking coffee is because their diet doesn’t allow them to operate at a high level of energy.

On your way to the city next time, notice how many people are driving their cars in an angry way and are in a rush. The reason for this is because they have no energy, can’t sleep properly and are tired because their body is exhausted from processing all the fatty food they eat the day before.

When your body has to constantly work hard to process unhealthy food and remove the waste from your system, it uses up all your energy. The body is very clever, though, when there isn’t enough energy available; you’re put to sleep so that while you rest your body can work on breaking down the food.

Low energy levels are one of the main factors to being impatient and thanks to my fructose intolerance I am seeing a decreased level of this phenomenon.

5. I don’t need willpower to be healthy

One of the hardest parts of being healthy is to maintain the habit over a long period of time and not succumb to temptation. I have to admit that I have very good will power and can maintain a habit that is giving me value, but like everyone, even I have my moments.

It can be very tempting when walking past a nice cake store or smelling a fresh pizza that has just been cooked, to give in, and go and stuff our faces with food that we shouldn’t. One of the times we can be most at risk is when we are feeling an extreme emotion like sadness, where food scientifically can make us feel better in the short term.

Think of your body like being a year seven high school science experiment. When you mix different chemicals together in a test tube, you get both positive and negative results. For the human body, when you mix plant-based foods together with a well balanced diet, as opposed to mixing plant-based food with lots of junk food, the end result is completely different.

“Your body is really just a never-ending chemical reaction and you can choose to make the reaction be beneficial or a hindrance in your life”

6. I am now grateful for the past foods I experienced

Before I had this fructose intolerance, I was able to eat absolutely anything I wanted and for a long time I was never grateful for this. It’s amazing how when something is taken away from you, you realise how lucky you were to have it in the first place.

Had this event not happened in my life I would still be going along eating whatever I want and not being grateful for this privilege. There are millions of people that starve every day and have never had the opportunity to eat some of the fine foods that western culture allows us to experience.

While I have eaten my last scoop of ice cream and last slice of pizza, I am grateful that I got to experience them in the first place.

7. Tea has become my new vice

Everybody tends to have a vice, which is a bad habit that they regularly do. A typical vice for most people is coffee or eating junk food. A vice is a way for us to reward ourselves after a busy workweek. Junk food used to be my vice, but this new fructose intolerance has forced me to find a new one.

The new vice I have taken up is tea, which is not really a bad habit and is quite healthy if you drink the right one. I would never have found this healthy vice if I hadn’t had to deal with this food issue. Again, I am blessed to be forced to change my life and form a new healthy habit.

After a long week of work, there is nothing I like more than relaxing over some fresh tea and taking my mind off work. Having something that is a temptation is fine as long as it’s good for you, and tea has been that for me.

8. I now need to look at what’s in my food

Many of us eat foods every day, and we have no idea what the ingredients are. When you have a fructose intolerance, you are forced to question everything you eat and understand what’s in the food you are consuming.

Having a fructose intolerance means that when I’m at the supermarket I look at the ingredients tab of everything, and I have started to become more aware. The result of all of this is that you make better decisions about what you eat which can affect your health for the long term.

It also makes you realise how much processed food you are eating and you start to eat more natural foods. The reason you want to eat more natural food when you have a fructose intolerance is that you know exactly what’s in whole foods like vegetables so there an easier choice.

9. I get to see a dietician

The first thing your doctor does after you are diagnosed with a fructose intolerance issue is send you to a dietician. Let’s be honest with ourselves for a second, most of us are probably not going to go and see a dietician of our own accord because we tell ourselves we’re healthy, and we don’t want to know if the little chocolate indulgences we love are harming us.

The blessing here is that I now have to go and see one and I have someone who I am accountable too. I can’t lie to myself or those around me about what I am eating because I will get found out. The tests I now have to do will reveal everything I am consuming, and whether I am eating what I say I am, so I have the benefit of being able to stay on track.

10. I get to maintain a food diary

After seeing the dietician, I now have to keep a daily food diary. This is another task that most of us don’t have the willpower to do and avoid like the plague. Again, I am accountable now and have to keep track of everything I eat.

It’s great to see after a few weeks what I am actually consuming as opposed to what I tell myself I am consuming every day – there is a big difference….haha.

11. I get reduced medical bills forever

We all spend lots of money over the course of our lifetime on healthcare. Imagine being able to cut those bills down drastically? The blessing I have from this fructose intolerance is that by being forced to be healthy I won’t develop the sicknesses that most people live with on a daily basis.

Being healthier means you don’t need to go and see the doctor as much or spend money on expensive specialists trying to figure out what’s wrong. This translates to less time worrying about what’s wrong with you, less of your time being wasted in medical waiting rooms and more time doing the things you love.

12. I don’t have to take time off work

I have already seen since I have been on a healthy streak for the last two years that I haven’t contracted the flu and I very rarely get colds. The last time I had a cold it lasted for two days. The beauty of my new fructose intolerance is that by cutting out unhealthy foods, my body will be functioning much more efficiently, and my insides will be much less acidic.

When I am working on work-related tasks, I will now be able to think clearer and won’t have the brain fog that most people deal with. This means that the quality of work I produce will be of a much higher standard, and I will become more patient with people because I am feeling good.

The blessing of my fructose intolerance is that I can function a lot longer than most and will have more energy. By not getting sick as much, I will be able to get more work done, take fewer days off work and achieve things that others are not able to do.

I don’t know about you, but I think this new health challenge is one of the best things that has ever happened to me. I am starting to wish it had happened sooner so I could enjoy the benefits I’m now seeing.

If you have dealt with a health problem recently and found some real benefits from it, then please leave a comment below or post on my Facebook Page.
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Entrepreneurs

The Brutal Truth About Entrepreneurship with ADHD (And Why Most Advice Is Making It Worse)

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Image Credit: Joel Brown - Addicted2success

You’re not lazy. You’re not undisciplined… and you’re definitely not broken.

You’re an entrepreneur with ADHD, and right now you’re probably sitting on 19 unfinished projects, 47 open tabs, and a brain that feels like it’s running on 12 different radio stations at once.

You’ve read the books. You’ve tried the planners, the Pomodoro timers, the accountability groups. You’ve even hired coaches who promised to “fix” your focus. Yet here you are — brilliant ideas, massive potential, and a business that still feels like it’s one step away from collapsing under the weight of your own mind.

Here’s what almost nobody in the entrepreneurial space will admit:

The real struggle isn’t your ADHD. It’s that you’ve been trying to run a neurodivergent brain inside a neurotypical business model — and then beating yourself up when it doesn’t work.

Most advice for entrepreneurs was written by people whose brains work differently. They preach consistency, routines, long-term planning, and steady execution like those things are universal truths. For the ADHD entrepreneur, those “truths” feel like trying to swim upstream in cement. You can force it for a while (and you have), but eventually your brain rebels, the burnout hits, and you’re left feeling like a failure who just needs to “try harder.”

That cycle is quietly destroying more talented founders than cash flow problems or bad hires ever could.

The deeper layer most people never reach is this: your ADHD isn’t a bug in the system. It’s a different operating system entirely. And when you stop trying to install Windows on a Mac and start building everything around macOS, the game changes completely.

The Hidden Addiction That Keeps ADHD Entrepreneurs Stuck

You already know the surface symptoms — time blindness, rejection sensitivity, starting strong and fading fast, shiny object syndrome.

But the real trap is more insidious.

It’s the addiction to chaos and novelty.

Your brain is wired for dopamine. New ideas, big visions, last-minute sprints, high-stakes pressure — these things light you up like nothing else. The boring, repetitive, systems-building work that actually scales a business? It feels like torture.

So unconsciously, you keep your business in a state of controlled chaos. You say yes to too many things. You chase the next exciting opportunity. You avoid building the boring infrastructure because “I work better under pressure anyway.”

And every time the pressure gets too high, you crash, swear you’ll get organized next quarter, and repeat the cycle.

Meanwhile, the neurotypical advice keeps telling you to “just build better habits.” As if your brain is a poorly trained dog that needs more discipline instead of a high-performance race car that needs the right fuel and track.

This isn’t a character flaw. It’s neurology.

And until you stop treating your wiring as something to overcome and start treating it as your greatest strategic advantage, you’ll stay stuck in the same exhausting loop.

The Identity Shift That Changes Everything

The entrepreneurs with ADHD who finally break through don’t “fix” their brains.

They redesign their entire business to work with their brains.

They stop trying to become the consistent, routine-loving founder the gurus talk about. Instead, they become the architect of a system that leverages their natural strengths — hyperfocus, pattern recognition, creative problem-solving, relentless drive under pressure — while outsourcing or automating everything that drains them.

This is the layer most ADHD entrepreneurs never reach because it requires something terrifying: accepting that you are never going to be “normal” at entrepreneurship… and that’s exactly why you can win bigger than most.

Your ability to see connections others miss. Your tolerance for uncertainty. Your capacity to go all-in when something lights you up. These aren’t liabilities. They’re unfair advantages in a world that rewards speed, creativity, and bold moves.

The shift is simple but brutal:

Stop trying to manage your ADHD. Start designing your business around it.

How to Actually Build a Business That Works With Your Brain

  1. Stop fighting your energy cycles — weaponize them. Most ADHD entrepreneurs try to force 8-hour focused days. That’s insane. Instead, track when your brain actually works best (for many it’s 10pm-2am or random 4-hour hyperfocus bursts). Build your schedule around those windows. Protect them like gold. Do the deep, high-leverage work then. Use the low-energy periods for admin, calls, or recovery.
  2. Build “chaos containers,” not rigid systems. Traditional project management tools feel like cages. Create loose but effective structures that give your brain freedom. Use tools like Notion with massive flexibility, or body-doubling (working alongside someone virtually), or even hiring a “chaos wrangler” — an assistant who thrives on turning your scattered ideas into executable plans.
  3. Turn your rejection sensitivity into rocket fuel. That intense fear of letting people down or looking stupid? Channel it into creating ridiculously high standards for your customer experience or product quality. Use it as fuel instead of letting it paralyze you.
  4. Outsource the parts that make you want to die. The execution, follow-through, and maintenance phases are where most ADHD entrepreneurs lose. Hire or partner with people who love the details. Your job is vision, strategy, and big swings. Let someone else own the spreadsheets.
  5. Create external pressure on your own terms. Deadlines and public commitments work wonders for the ADHD brain. Use them strategically — announce launches, create beta groups, or work with coaches who understand neurodivergence instead of fighting it.

The entrepreneurs with ADHD who are quietly crushing it right now aren’t the ones who finally became “disciplined.” They’re the ones who stopped apologizing for how their brain works and started building empires that are specifically engineered for it.

They have teams that handle the boring stuff. They have systems that flex with their energy instead of fighting it. They’ve turned their “flaws” into the exact reasons their businesses stand out.

Your ADHD brain is not the enemy. The enemy was trying to play the game by rules that were never designed for you.

The moment you accept that and start designing everything… your calendar, your team, your offers, your processes — around how you actually operate, the struggle doesn’t disappear… but it becomes manageable, even exhilarating.

You were never meant to fit the mold. You were meant to break it and build something better.

The world doesn’t need another cookie-cutter entrepreneur. It needs the chaotic, brilliant, all-in, slightly unhinged visionaries who can only operate at full power when the game is built for them.

That’s you.

Stop trying to fix yourself. Start building the business that was always meant to be run by a mind like yours.

Your next breakthrough isn’t going to come from working harder or being more consistent. It’s going to come from finally giving yourself permission to work differently.

And when you do that? Watch what happens.

The same brain that once felt like a curse becomes the exact reason your business becomes unstoppable.

You’ve got this. Not despite the ADHD. Because of it.

If you want to learn more from me or send me a personal message I’ll respond to you on Instagram at https://instagram.com/iamjoelbrown speak soon!

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Health & Fitness

The Health Planning Habits That Support Long-Term Success

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Image Credit: Joel Brown - Addicted2success

Most people think about health planning only when something forces them to.

A medical bill arrives unexpectedly. An insurance issue appears during treatment. A diagnosis changes how future care needs are viewed. Suddenly health planning becomes urgent instead of preventative.

The problem is that long-term health stability is usually shaped by smaller habits built quietly over time, not just by major decisions during emergencies.

That includes physical health habits, of course, but it also includes how people approach insurance coverage, preventative care, financial preparation, and long-term healthcare planning before problems become immediate.

The families who navigate healthcare stress most effectively are often not the ones avoiding every issue entirely. More often, they’re the ones who built systems early enough to make difficult situations feel more manageable later.

Consistency Matters More Than Perfection

A lot of health advice still revolves around extreme change.

Perfect diets. Aggressive routines. Complete lifestyle overhauls.

In reality, most long-term health success comes from consistency people can realistically maintain for years instead of months. Small preventative habits tend to matter more than dramatic short-term efforts that collapse under pressure.

That principle applies financially too.

People often spend more time researching investment strategies than understanding their healthcare coverage or preparing for future medical costs. But healthcare instability can disrupt long-term financial plans surprisingly quickly when households are unprepared for how expensive even routine care can become over time.

The practical side of health planning is becoming harder to separate from overall financial planning now than it used to be.

Preventative Planning Reduces More Stress Than People Realize

One overlooked benefit of health planning is emotional stability.

People who understand their coverage, maintain preventative care routines, and think ahead about healthcare decisions often describe feeling less overwhelmed when unexpected situations happen. The goal is not eliminating uncertainty entirely. That’s unrealistic.

The goal is reducing how chaotic healthcare decisions feel under pressure.

That’s one reason broader conversations tied to healthcare and health insurance have expanded significantly over the last several years. Rising costs, changing coverage structures, and increasing healthcare complexity have made long-term planning more important for average households than many people expected.

Healthcare is no longer something most families can comfortably approach reactively forever.

People Underestimate How Quickly Healthcare Costs Compound

One reason health planning habits matter so much is that healthcare costs rarely arrive in one dramatic moment alone.

More often, they build gradually:

  • recurring prescriptions
  • specialist visits
  • ongoing treatment plans
  • insurance deductible increases
  • long-term care considerations
  • unexpected procedures layered on top of existing expenses

Families often absorb these costs incrementally until they realize how much financial pressure accumulated over time.

That gradual buildup is part of what makes proactive planning valuable. People who think ahead about coverage structures, emergency savings, provider networks, and preventative care tend to adapt more smoothly when healthcare needs eventually increase later in life.

The difficult part is that many households delay these conversations because they feel healthy right now.

Healthcare Decisions Have Become More Complicated

Another challenge is that healthcare systems themselves continue evolving quickly.

Insurance structures change. Telehealth expands. Employer-sponsored benefits shift. Prescription pricing fluctuates. Patients now carry more responsibility for understanding deductibles, provider networks, and out-of-pocket exposure than previous generations often did.

That complexity creates decision fatigue.

Even relatively organized households sometimes feel uncertain about whether they’re making good healthcare choices because the systems themselves are difficult to navigate confidently. A lot of current health insurance trends discussions reflect this larger issue, healthcare planning is becoming less about isolated medical events and more about long-term sustainability across entire households.

People want predictability, but healthcare systems increasingly feel harder to predict.

The Most Effective Health Habits Usually Feel Boring

One thing people rarely admit is that good long-term planning habits are often not particularly exciting.

Scheduling preventative appointments. Reviewing insurance annually. Building emergency savings slowly. Staying physically active consistently. Maintaining realistic routines instead of dramatic cycles of burnout and reset.

None of those habits feel dramatic at the moment.

But over long periods, they create stability that becomes incredibly valuable once life gets complicated. The people who navigate healthcare stress most effectively are often the ones who built ordinary systems early instead of waiting for perfect motivation later.

That applies financially and physically at the same time.

Why Long-Term Success Depends on Adaptability

Health planning is ultimately difficult because people’s lives keep changing.

Careers shift. Families grow. Aging parents require support. Medical needs evolve. Financial priorities change over decades in ways nobody predicts perfectly in advance.

That’s why the strongest long-term health planning habits are usually flexible rather than rigid.

The goal is not building a flawless plan that never changes. It’s creating enough structure, awareness, and preparation that future adjustments become manageable instead of overwhelming.

Most people cannot control every future health outcome. They can, however, build habits that make uncertainty easier to navigate when it eventually arrives.

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Life

Why Moving to a New City Can Change Your Mindset

Discover how moving to a new city boosts neuroplasticity, builds resilience, and reshapes your mindset

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How relocation changes your mindset

Relocation is always a challenge. Rebuilding and restarting your life requires you to step outside of your comfort zone. (more…)

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Change Your Mindset

The Hidden Reason You Can’t Stay Consistent

If motivation keeps failing you, the real issue isn’t discipline. It’s the identity shaping your habits and long-term success.

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Identity-based habits

Success often looks like a time-management problem. You buy a planner, set reminders, and hope that next week will be different. For a few days, it works. Then stress hits, motivation drops, and old patterns return. (more…)

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