Addiction specialists want to convince you that drug consumption and success are correlated. Here’s why that’s not always true.

A study suggested that people who consume cannabis in their 30s had significantly lower levels of success than those who don’t. Diving into the metrics of the study, you will find  dubious claims and non-causal factors. And if we were to play around with the methods, we could essentially prove outlandish things like eating toast has a significant impact on sexual performance.  Here is a more data focus on the study.

My purpose today is not to prove to you why their conclusions are incorrect, but rather focus on the concept of success and cannabis and how a consumer can balance out the two. Before we dive into this, let’s first understand the concept of “success”.

What Does It Mean To Be Successful?

The dictionary defines success as, “The achievement of something desired, planned, or attempted.” This definition suggests that success is measured on how many of your stated goals and objectives were achieved. However, socially, “success” is usually associated with money and status. You are considered “successful” when you have acquired a lot of wealth or if you achieved your ideal weight. Yet is there a specific amount of money you need to be “successful” or is that relative to the person?

For example, someone with $100,000 of debt would consider having zero dollars and zero debt a means of success. Therefore, both the millionaire and the debt-free zero-naire would have both their own versions of success.

Therefore, seeing that success is ultimately a subjective experience, defining what success means for you would be the first step on your journey. In essence, it’s about achieving one’s goals and therefore establishing what goal it is you want to achieve is the first essential step.

Understand How Cannabis Affects YOU!

No two people will experience the same cannabis high. They might have similar experiences, but they are never identical. This is because everyone has a unique body and mind and therefore cannabis will affect you differently.

Therefore, if you know that cannabis, or a particular strain, makes you too relaxed, then you know you should not smoke weed the first thing in the morning. In fact, smoking cannabis first thing in the morning is probably not recommended for most people.

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There are those who need medicinal cannabis first thing, however, forgoing the sacred wake and bake on productive days will definitely help you get to your goal faster. If success is measured in achieving, then speeding up the process provides a greater return on success.

Perhaps cannabis relaxes you, makes you not have invasive anxious thoughts and allows you to work. In this case, a morning toke might not be a bad thing. However, you need to be mindful about how you are performing. You need to be objective in your analysis; experiment, try smoking one day, and abstain another. Smoke in the morning on one occasion, and only at night on another. Once you find your sweet spot with cannabis, it can be used as a tool on your journey to success.

Expect Resistance

If you ever pursue anything worthwhile, there’s going to be resistance. You’re either going to experience some internal issue that is going to convince you that “now is not the time” or that “you simply can’t”, or you’re going to be faced with external elements that steals your time and attention.

This is all part of the process and many people get frustrated and quit when they enter this phase in the pursuit of their desires. The reason why there’s “resistance” is because ultimately your body and mind doesn’t want to depart from “the known”.

Whenever you pursue a desire, you are going after something you don’t currently have. This new objective requires an internal shift in dynamics in order to obtain it. At times, it requires a general overhaul of behavioral codes, which is effort for your biological computer. Therefore, “things” happen that intervene and makes it hard for you to reach your goal.

When you learn how to navigate these new dynamics and remain steadfast on the pursuit of your goal, things eventually begin to accept the new configuration you’re imposing.

Understand Your Motivation

Your “why” is always important because it fuels your actions. If you don’t have a convincing “why” then you will always try to find ways to “not do the difficult things” because that is human nature. However, in the pursuit of a goal “the difficult thing” is often the quickest and most direct path to getting what you want.

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With the correct “why” fueling your actions, you’ll embrace any hardships that come your way and always search for solutions to keep you moving towards your objective. A good trick to do is to ask yourself “why is this important to me” seven times repeating the question to the answer you get every time.

For example:

I want to make $10k per month.

Why is it important to make $10k per month?

Because I want to have the financial security to not worry about money.

Why is it important to not worry about money?

Because worrying about money is stressful and makes me feel bad.

Why is being calm and secure important?

You get the picture.

This way you can connect to the core of your motivations and whenever you’re faced with a difficult decision or action — just reconnect to your internal fire.

Be Biased Towards Your Success!

Once you have set your mind on something, you should consider that everything that happens from that point on is working in your favor. Even the seemingly “bad stuff” should be reframed as advantageous.

Whenever you’re faced with a difficult situation, simply ask, “How is this benefiting me in achieving my goal?” If you can’t come up with anything, simply trust that it is working out in your favor and allowing you to achieve your goal!

Of course, this is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to success, even if addiction specialists want to convince you that drug consumption and success are correlated. The fact of the matter is that success if a far more complex thing that has to do with problem solving skills, clarity of vision, and a myriad of other factors that with or without cannabis, will directly impact your successfulness.

This article originally appeared on Cannabis.net and has been reposted with permission.