You may assume that your recovery will be helped by setting goals not to gamble, but this is often useless. The people that have true gambling addictions are unable to adhere to goals that involve abstinence. It takes too much effort and doesn’t deal with the route problem. This article cannot help you deal with the route problems, but it will help you see goals for what they are, so that you do not fall into the same mind traps that so many other addicts have fallen into.
Using Goals To Recover From A Gambling Addiction
There are four situations you have to worry about when you are recovering from a gambling addiction.
1 - Negative Effect Situations
+ Negative emotions are present and drive you towards gambling
The drive you feel …show more content…
Set a goal and plan how you are going to achieve it. If you achieve it, then try setting other goals and see how you fair. Do this and the pleasant feelings that you once gained from gambling will be experienced through the achievement of your goals.
+ Social pressure to gamble
There are plenty of times when addicts do rather well on their own and avoid their addiction by not thinking about it. They are known as functioning addicts, but the problem is that the influence of other people often compels them to indulge in their addiction.
How goal setting may help
Set a goal to stay away from such people, or set a goal to come up with 10 different excuses that you can whip out whenever you are pressured into gambling. It may be tough, but something as simple as, “I am broke and will be for a while,” may be enough of an excuse, or “I lost X amount last night and am feeling too raw/tender to try again this soon.”
+ A need for excitement
Gambling is exciting and thrilling, and sometimes a need for excitement is only quashed by indulging.
How goal setting may …show more content…
Set yourself a goal that you may only lose X amount, and that 50% of all your winnings you must keep. If you can do this routinely without spending all your winnings or chasing losses, then you may have the capacity to break your addiction by eventually weaning yourself off of gambling.
+ Thinking you can use skill or create luck
The biggest fallacy that drives millions of gamblers is the mistaken belief that you can use skill or create luck. It is just not possible. You can use educated guesses, but that is all they are. You can take an educated guess and assume a 500/1 horse will not win the race, but you cannot use skill or luck to guarantee that the 2/1 horse will win.
How goal setting may help
Set a goal to test every single assumption you make about luck and/or skill. Test them without spending money. This means “skillfully” making your selections and then waiting to see which win. Do it a number of times and record your results. You will find that you are rarely more than 50% correct. In fact, most are less than 25% correct when all of their bet selections are tallied up. If a surgeon killed 50% of his patients, would you say he was lucky and/or
Using Goals To Recover From A Gambling Addiction
There are four situations you have to worry about when you are recovering from a gambling addiction.
1 - Negative Effect Situations
+ Negative emotions are present and drive you towards gambling
The drive you feel …show more content…
Set a goal and plan how you are going to achieve it. If you achieve it, then try setting other goals and see how you fair. Do this and the pleasant feelings that you once gained from gambling will be experienced through the achievement of your goals.
+ Social pressure to gamble
There are plenty of times when addicts do rather well on their own and avoid their addiction by not thinking about it. They are known as functioning addicts, but the problem is that the influence of other people often compels them to indulge in their addiction.
How goal setting may help
Set a goal to stay away from such people, or set a goal to come up with 10 different excuses that you can whip out whenever you are pressured into gambling. It may be tough, but something as simple as, “I am broke and will be for a while,” may be enough of an excuse, or “I lost X amount last night and am feeling too raw/tender to try again this soon.”
+ A need for excitement
Gambling is exciting and thrilling, and sometimes a need for excitement is only quashed by indulging.
How goal setting may …show more content…
Set yourself a goal that you may only lose X amount, and that 50% of all your winnings you must keep. If you can do this routinely without spending all your winnings or chasing losses, then you may have the capacity to break your addiction by eventually weaning yourself off of gambling.
+ Thinking you can use skill or create luck
The biggest fallacy that drives millions of gamblers is the mistaken belief that you can use skill or create luck. It is just not possible. You can use educated guesses, but that is all they are. You can take an educated guess and assume a 500/1 horse will not win the race, but you cannot use skill or luck to guarantee that the 2/1 horse will win.
How goal setting may help
Set a goal to test every single assumption you make about luck and/or skill. Test them without spending money. This means “skillfully” making your selections and then waiting to see which win. Do it a number of times and record your results. You will find that you are rarely more than 50% correct. In fact, most are less than 25% correct when all of their bet selections are tallied up. If a surgeon killed 50% of his patients, would you say he was lucky and/or