http://www.spartanrecovery.life/

Spartan Recovery, 919 12th Place, Suite 13, Prescott, AZ (2026)

01/14/2026

Dr. Donna Marks
"This phenomenon of seeking help and disavowing guidance was coined “resistance” by Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis. Patients seek help because they are uncomfortable but taking corrective action isn’t always easy. 'I know something is wrong, but I don’t like what you’re saying, so I’ll select what I want and disregard the rest,' is the unconscious thought of many patients."

The Spartan Basics
1. Know how we're wired.

2. Get into healthy acceptance.

3. Willful blindness won't protect you.

4. Work on yourself daily to have the courage and clarity to face the truth.

The Lesson
P + B = E = A
Our (P)erceptions + (B)eliefs result in (E)motions and often trigger (A)ction. Consider your beliefs and perceptions. This is the lens you see the world through. You can't get into acceptance if you see the world through a warped lens. (** formula credit Jeanne Sanner)

Reviewing your perceptions and beliefs, you need to be aware of the facts and accept them as they are. You don't need to like them or agree with them. But you do need to accept things as they are so you can see things truly.

Trying to avoid reality with willful blindness seems to pay off now to keep you safe, but it creates a victim mentality. It won't protect you.

The best way to make sure you can engage the world as it is is to work on the best version of you (your top 5 - 10 character assets you wish to master mentally, emotionally, physically, spiritually, and socially). This will help keep you clear to see things as they are and put the answers into action.

Questions? Need help with this? Reach out to us at: info@recoveryinthepines.com

01/13/2026

AI
"The statement emphasizes that true independence lies not just in freedom from external control, but also in staying true to one's own values and moral compass. This means making choices based on what one believes is right, even if it goes against popular opinion or societal pressures."

The Spartan Basics
1. Know what you're aiming at and why.

2. Create an action plan of small activities and steps.

3. Cut away the thoughts and actions that hold you hostage.

4. Freedom takes consistent effort.

The Lesson
Create / review the best version of you (your top 5 - 10 character assets you wish to master mentally, emotionally, physically, spiritually, and socially).

Craft powerful "whys" with at least one "why" to the negative that would disgust you if you quit on yourself. Go deep!

Next, create the plan of healthy activities (30 - 60 minute events) and micro habits (2 - 5+ minute actions). Start small. It's easier to discipline yourself to put them into action.

Cut away any of your warped thinking and character defects that you've been holding onto that violates your best self. If not, you will develop a dependency on any unhealthy thought or deed that you put into practice regularly.

Commit time daily to complete, at minimum, one healthy activity and 3 - 5 micro habits that strengthens your best version.

Pause periodically to review how you're performing to your values. Identify ways you can increase the frequency, duration, complexity, efficiency, and effectiveness of your micro habits and activities leading to independence.

Questions? Need help with this? Reach out to us at: info@recoveryinthepines.com

01/12/2026

Brainly
"This quote reflects Plato's philosophical perspective on the significance of virtue in leading a fulfilling and meaningful life. It encourages individuals to prioritize and cultivate virtues such as honesty, kindness, and integrity, as these moral qualities are far more valuable than any amount of gold."

The Spartan Basics
1. Cash isn't the only currency.

2. Create / review your definition of the best version of you.

3. Your character assets can't be taken from you, but you can squander them.

4. Invest in you daily

The Lesson
Meditate on the fact that cash isn't the only currency. Character assets are a currency. Your healthy relationships are a currency. Your time is a currency.

Start by aiming at a goal. In your personal life, create / review the best version of you (your top 5 - 10 character assets you wish to master mentally, emotionally, physically, spiritually, and socially). These are character assets that are 100% in your control and worth more than gold.

Create a plan of healthy activities (30 - 60+ minute events) and micro habits (2 - 5+ minute actions) that are investments into your character.

Invest time daily to work on your best version. Focus on at least one activity and 3 - 5 micro habits that strengthen your best version in doses. The more activities and micro habits you practice, the more you will enrich your life. This will help you be successful in bringing a wealth of character that enhances your external endeavors ... work, school, relationships, and the like. And should you lose everything, you still have the strength of your character to fall back on as a foundation to rebuild from.

Questions? Need help with this? Reach out to us at: info@recoveryinthepines.com

01/11/2026

Tim Ferriss
"It's more than put the work in," he said. "It's practice and rehearse the skills ... that you want to have as a reliable tool when the sh--'s hitting the fan, or when the stakes are high, or when your heartbeat is 180 beats per minute. You have to train for that. It's like a sport. You can't read a book on soccer and then go to the World Cup."

The Spartan Steps
1. Know what you're aiming at and why.

2. Put together the plan

3. Don't rest on your talent. Double down on effort.

4. Massive right action / time produces the results. Put in the effort daily!

5. Don't wait for the crisis.

The Lesson
Start by aiming at a goal. Create / review the best version of you (your top 5 - 10 character assets you wish to master mentally, emotionally, physically, spiritually, and socially). This is the best version of you who you want showing up in a moment of crisis.

Craft powerful "whys" with at least one "why" to the negative that would disgust you if you quit on yourself. Go deep!

Next, create the plan of healthy activities (30 - 60 minute events) and micro habits (2 - 5+ minute actions). Start small. It's easier to discipline yourself to put them into action.

Talent alone won't get you there either. Double down on effort:

talent + effort = skill
skill + effort = mastery

Massive right action is required to grow into the person who can overcome big challenges. Get into a habit of a massive amount of small steps mixed in with a series of one daily activity.

Don't wait for the crisis to occur before you drill your best version. The key is consistent effort every day. Layer up the intensity and complexity as you go and grow. This will help increase the complexity of situations you can handle with maximum efficiency and effectiveness.

Questions? Need help with this? Reach out to us at: info@recoveryinthepines.com

01/10/2026

Admired Leadership
"As a rule, discipline requires the willpower to deny short-term pleasure or comfort, while serving one's immediate satisfaction requires a willingness to accept less achievement and success in the long run. We won't reap the bounty of our efforts without the discipline to stay focused on them."

The Spartan Basics
1. Adversity lies outside of your comfort zone. So does transformation.

2. Be willing to be uncomfortable to learn new things.

3. Get into massive right action ... of small steps.

4. Rinse and repeat to gain competency.

The Lesson
Don't stay stuck in your comfort zone. Life gets stagnant that way and becomes a living hell. Be willing to take on adversity to build competency and ultimately experience the comfort of being able to handle complex situations with maximum efficiency and effectiveness.

Start by setting a goal. Be prepared to go through the following transformational phases:

- unconsciously incompetent (comforting hell)

- conscious incompetent (painful awareness)

- conscious competent (disciplined action)

- unconsciously competent (heaven on earth)

Massive right action is required to learn a new habit or skill and build a competency at it. Get into a habit of a massive amount of consistent, small steps. Be prepared to make mistakes on your way to building mastery. Don't quit.

Pause periodically to review how you're performing to becoming consciously competent in the new skill or habit. Identify ways you can learn to increase the frequency, duration, complexity, efficiency, and effectiveness of your micro habits and activities. Keep getting after it, diligently, humbly, gratefully ... and you will become unconsciously competent in whatever you're aiming at.

Questions? Need help with this? Reach out to us at: info@recoveryinthepines.com

01/07/2026

Observer.com
"Our minds want to run from whatever discomfort, pain, difficulty we’re facing…and this is a good strategy for temporarily not having to deal with difficulty and pain. So in the present moment, we might feel some temporary relief.

But what it does is relegate us to a life of running. A life of distraction and never facing what ails us."

The Spartan Best
1. All paths in life have "fear".

2. Know what you're aiming at.

3. Your "whys" need to be more potent than your fears.

4. Break difficulties down to simple steps.

The Lesson
Your fears will lie to you as a way to keep you safe. Avoiding fear doesn't keep you safe. It keeps you stuck. Your risk assessment capabilities may be skewed if it is telling you you would be "safer" avoiding the conflicts and challenges of what you need to face. Choose to face your fear or life will be difficult.

Create / review the best version of you (your top 5 - 10 character assets you wish to master mentally, emotionally, physically, spiritually, and socially). Assess the fears you need to face against the fear of facing the consequences for the problems you tried to avoid. The consequences only get worse the more you try to avoid them.

If you dont have powerful reasons why you desire your ideals, you will avoid the things you fear facing. Instead, you will focus on short-term pleasures and the avoidance of pain.

Break down difficulties into simple steps.

Small steps = small failures minimizing difficulties

Small steps = small victories get you into healthy action quickly

If you turn and face what you fear, if you remember what you're ultimately aiming at and why, if you break down difficulties into small steps, and get into action, you will get past your problems quickly.

Questions? Need help with this? Reach out to us at: info@recoveryinthepines.com

01/06/2026

Very Well Mind
"Many of us go through periods where we're stuck in a rut. You feel like you're going through the motions at work, treading water in your relationships, or jogging in place in your social life. Things that used to excite you no longer do and, instead of moving toward your goals, you remain stagnant—stuck where you are.

Being stuck can lead to feeling both disinterested and dissatisfied. It may even cause you to want to give up on your goals altogether."

The Basics
1. Do soul-searching with rigorous honesty. Have you outgrown your life?

2. Reconnect with who you want to become.

3. Don't settle any longer.

4. Start living through a series of purposeful activities and micro habits.

The Lesson
Have you outgrown your life? Do you feel you're playing it safe, living in old boring patterns?

Create / review the best version of you (your top 5 - 10 character assets you wish to master mentally, emotionally, physically, spiritually, and socially) followed by SMART goals, personally and professionally, and healthy hobbies. When you have a clear definition of what you're aiming at, and you have potent "whys" for achieving these goals, you create a spark for seeking out a new way of living.

To become the BEST version of you, you can't settle. Without living each day with purpose, and stretching outside your comfort zone, you will settle for less of a life.

Commit time daily to complete, at minimum, one healthy activity (30 - 60 minute events) and 3 - 5 micro habits (2 - 5+ minute actions) that move you towards your goals for your best life. Variety of purposeful action and focus on a goal create energy and excitement, breaking up the feeling of being in a rut.

Questions? Need help with this? Reach out to us at: info@recoveryinthepines.com

01/04/2026

AI
"The dangers of resentment are severe, impacting mental, physical, and relational health by fostering chronic stress, anxiety, depression, and bitterness, while physically leading to high blood pressure, weakened immunity, digestive issues, and heart problems. Relationally, it erodes trust, creates distance, fuels contempt, and destroys communication, often becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy of negativity."

The Spartan Basics
1. Focus on what's in your control.

2. Healthy acceptance is critical.

3. Know the best version of you.

4. Get into massive, right action.

The Lesson
Things in life will fall into the categories of:
- Control
- Responsibility
- Influence
- None of Your Business

The only thing that goes into the Control category is you ... your thoughts, feelings, and actions. You have control over your effort in the Responsibility and Influence categories, but you don't control the outcome. Waste no time on those things that fall into the None of Your Business category.

Healthy acceptance doesn't say you need to like it, agree with it, or be stuck with it. It's simply naming something what it is so you have the best opportunity to focus your energy on getting into right action.

Create / review the best version of you (your top 5 - 10 character assets you wish to master mentally, emotionally, physically, and spiritually). Craft potent "whys" on your deepest motivation.

Now, dedicate time daily to complete, at minimum, one healthy activity (30 - 60 minute events) and 3 - 5 micro habits (2 - 5+ minute actions) that are specific to your best version. You can increase the frequency, duration, complexity, efficiency, and effectiveness of your actions as you gain momentum. The only one you can control is you. Changing you will change your outlook on your experiences day-to-day.

Questions? Need help with this? Reach out to us at: info@recoveryinthepines.com

01/03/2026

AI
"Yes, it's true that we often subconsciously repeat patterns in our lives, even when those patterns are undesirable or harmful. This phenomenon, sometimes referred to as repetition compulsion, is rooted in our subconscious mind's drive to seek familiarity and predictability. Even if a pattern is negative, the comfort of the known can outweigh the discomfort of the unfamiliar."

The Spartan Basics
1. Our minds seek comfort and control.

2. Identify your best version.

3. Face your past if it invades your present.

4. Rewire your brain and body with healthy habits.

The Lesson
Your mind seeks comfort and control. We make, on average, 30,000 - 60,000 decisions in a day. Roughly 95% of those are on autopilot because of habit or a reaction to stimuli. What if your autopilot is solely reacting based upon unresolved trauma, unhealthy desires, repetitive toxic relationships, shame protecting actions, or familiarity of unhealthy habits?

Create / review the best version of you (your top 5 - 10 character assets you wish to master mentally, emotionally, physically, spiritually, and socially), followed by SMART goals, personally and professionally, and healthy hobbies. This is your ideal life.

If your current habits and actions violate your ideal life, you need to investigate. What do you have unresolved from the past? Are you just unaware of your patterns? Seek wise counsel if necessary.

Repair doesn't occur just because you're aware. It requires action. Create the plan of healthy replacement activities (30 - 60 minute events) and micro habits (2 - 5+ minute actions). Get into a habit of a massive amount of small steps mixed in with one daily activity. The key is consistent effort every day. As you act, you rewire your brain and body with healthy habits.

Questions? Need help with this? Reach out to us at: info@recoveryinthepines.com

01/01/2026

Google AI
"This statement suggests that a major reason why many people hesitate to begin new pursuits, like starting a business or taking on a challenging project, is because they are afraid of appearing "less than" or not fully competent when they are just starting out, and don't want others to see them struggling in the early stages."

The Spartan Basics
1. Growth starts with being the rookie.

2. Be willing to look foolish or stupid as you try to learn new things.

3. Get into massive right action ... of small steps.

4. Rinse, repeat, and raise your bottom.

The Lesson
Don't stay stuck settling for less of a life because you're afraid how you might look starting from the bottom. Life gets stagnant that way. Study a new subject. Learn a new skill set. Be willing to experience life outside your comfort zone and your area of knowledge.

Start by setting a goal. Better to be the rookie in the majors (consciously incompetent) than be the all-star in the minors (unconsciously incompetent). Have a desire to keep stretching, growing, and putting yourself around people who will inspire and challenge you.

Massive right action is required to learn a new habit or skill and build a competency at it. Get into a habit of a massive amount of consistent, small steps. Be prepared to make mistakes on your way to building mastery.

Pause periodically to review how you're performing to becoming consciously competent in the new skill or habit. Identify ways you can learn to increase the frequency, duration, complexity, efficiency, and effectiveness of your micro habits and activities. Keep getting after it, diligently, humbly, gratefully ... and you will become unconsciously competent in whatever you're aiming at. As you achieve a new level, set a new goal, and raise your "bottom".

Happy New Year!!

12/31/2025

Psych Central
"If you have unrealistic expectations for yourself and avoid situations so your flaws aren’t exposed, you may be experiencing atelophobia. Atelophobia is an excessive fear of imperfection. It generally involves fear and avoidance."

The Spartan Basics
1. Get into acceptance that making mistakes is part of the human condition.

2. Learn from your mistakes.

3. Don't stay stuck by them.

4. Put what you've learned into action.

The Lesson
Forgive yourself for past failures, mistakes, and responses to trauma. Accept your humanity. We all make mistakes. Forgiveness is not excusing the past; it is a way to accept why an error happened. Your mistakes serve a purpose.

Don't lose the lesson in failure. Extensive studies have shown that true learning comes when our actions succeed 85% and fail 15%. Don't fear mistakes. Learn from them.

Create / review the best version of you (your top 5 - 10 character aspects mentally, emotionally, physically, and spiritually you wish to master). Craft powerful "whys" for achieving this ideal. You might have made a mistake, but you aren't one. Create a series of micro habits (2 - 5+ minute actions) that exercise your best version.

We learn through action. Head knowledge alone doesn't make us wise. Action enhances wiring of our neural pathways. It changes theory to reality. Don't just learn from your own mistakes; learn from other's, too. Then, make changes for improvement and put it back into action again. Commit time daily to completing at least 3 - 5 microhabits. Consistent, purposeful action ... being willing to make mistakes headed in the right direction.

Questions? Need help with this? Reach out to us at: info@recoveryinthepines.com

12/30/2025

Gita Daily
"This implies that humility is the doorway to knowledge – those who have humility learn and grow. Those who prove that they are right even when they aren’t, bang shut the door of humility. They lock themselves outside the house of knowledge, in the arena of illusion."

The Spartan Basics
1. Pause.

2. Choose your conflicts wisely.

3. Assess if the other person is open to making progress or if their ego is just trying to "win".

4. Engage with empathy and humility. But be prepared to disengage.

The Lesson
In a moment of conflict, PAUSE. Emotions can cloud your better judgment on how best to respond.

From a calmer perspective, accept that not all conflicts deserve your attention.

Save your energy for those scenarios where you see opportunities to make progress. In some cases, the other person may be overwhelmed by their emotions or committed to protecting their ego and only want to win the argument.

In order to make progress, approach the other person with empathy, and see if they are willing to:

a) take ownership for themselves,

b) listen to other perspectives, and

c) get into healthy action to make progress.

If not, disengage. Don't get caught up in a battle of the ego. The one who "wins" only learns to prove themselves right and dominate others, ultimately losing as this will cause a series of other problems.

Just make sure you follow these rules, too, or you might be the immature one who is trying to protect your ego.

Questions? Need help with this? Reach out to us at: info@recoveryinthepines.com

Spartan Recovery

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