The Ryan Leak Podcast - The Addiction of Success

Episode Date: September 8, 2025

In this episode of The Ryan Leak Podcast, we’re talking about the addiction of success. There’s a fine line between being driven and being dependent—and far too many people cross it without even knowing it. From the pressure to keep up appearances to chasing validation through likes, shares, and applause, Ryan unpacks what it looks like when success stops being a blessing and starts becoming a burden. You’ll learn the difference between healthy contentment and complacency, and walk away with a better question to ask yourself: Do you have success… or does success have you?If you’d like to get weekly encouraging texts from Ryan, text PODCAST to 469-809-1201.

Hello, my friends. Welcome to the Ryan League podcast where we keep things short and sweet. This is part four of a mini podcast series on success. There's only five parts. By the way, I've totally made this up. This wasn't like a grand plan of doing mini podcast series. I'm not even sure that it's a thing, but I made it a thing. And I like trying a new thing. So here we are. Part four of talking about success. We've covered the cost, dangers, and pressures of success thus far. far. You can listen to all three of those previous episodes in approximately 30 minutes. Today,

we're going to be talking about the addiction of success. Yes, the addiction of success. I have met a lot of driven people. They've got an unparalleled motor. I'm talking four hours of sleep, a little caffeine, and they are off to the racist. No complaining. No excuses, just wired to push, and I respect that. But then, there's a different group of people. They're not just driven. They're addicted. They don't know what to do when it's quiet.

They don't know what to do when nobody's clapping. They don't know what to do when the video doesn't go viral. They don't know what to do when the likes don't hit, when the team's not growing, when engagement is down and retention is shaky, but they still feel like they've got to look successful, no matter what. Have you ever met someone who needed to look like they were winning, even if they're not?

That's not just ambition. In my humble opinion, I think that's addiction. And listen, here's a deal. I really do want success for everybody. I really do. But like anything in life, the dose makes the difference. At the right level, success is a gift. At the wrong level, success is a disease.

So here's the real question I want to ask you today. And this is sort of a little an addiction to success. little pop quiz that you weren't expecting on your ride to work. Do you have a social media account or does it have you? Do you have a brand or does the brand have you? Do you have a career or does your career have you? Do you have success or does success have you? Do you have money or does money have you?

Do you have a house or does the house have you? Do you have some cars or do the cars have you? Because right there, that's the difference between being driven and being owned. So where are you today? And here's what's interesting. What I believe solves the tension of the addiction of success is having something that sometimes, just sometimes is frowned upon amongst the hustle and grinded out community.

And that's having what I like to call healthy contentment. Yeah, healthy contentment is this enough thing. It's like where I have enough influence, enough likes enough followers. Now, it's not to be confused. with complacency. And people get the two confused all the time. Complacency says,

I've made it, I'm good, I don't need to grow anymore. What contentment says is, I'm grateful for where I'm at, and I'm still showing up to grow anyways. I think complacency settles. I think contentment centers us. And I think you need to be centered

if you're going to stay healthy in a world that's addicted to the grind. I've had moments where I couldn't even celebrate a big win because I was already anxious about what I had to do next. I remember finishing a keynote, got a standing ovation. And on the flight home, I wasn't celebrating. I was spiraling. I was thinking, how am I going to top that? In fact, the client said, man, we can't wait to have you again next year.

I'm like, I don't know what I'd say. That wasn't passion, my friends. That was pressure. That was addiction, dressed up in achievement. Here's how you know if success might be running you. You feel guilty when you rest. You ever been there? Anytime I get a day off, I'm like tweaking out.

Like, yo, what do I do? I play Madden. I've recently gotten into Madden because my son got it in a night. because my son got into Madden. But like my son's in school now, so I'll be playing Madden without him, like during the workday. It's a problem.

But then I feel guilty. I'm like, is it my day off or is it my day on? Is it my day to catch up on my physical health? Or wait a minute, is it my day to catch up on email? Ah, I've been there. You know if success might be running you if you're constantly checking your numbers. And I'm talking you're obsessed over it.

If you struggle to be present with people who love you, I've been there. If you feel like your value drops when your visibility drops, if you're scared to lose because you think it'll mean you're not worth anything. Yeah, if any of that sounds familiar, that may not be drive, that might be dependent.

And I just want you to know you were never meant to be defined by your wins. You were meant to enjoy them, celebrate them. but you are not meant to breathe through them. You don't need applause to know who you are. So my encouragement for you today is don't just ask, am I successful? The better question is, am I healthy? Are you chasing peace or are you chasing praise?

Do you need people to clap for you in order for you to sleep at night? Because the real freedom is when you can win, and stay grounded at the same time. When you can rest without guilt, when you can lose and not lose yourself, when your contentment isn't tied to your comment section, man, that's when you're free. Because it would be a shame if you had all of the quote-unquote success in the world

yet it felt like you were just in a luxurious prison. So yeah, I'm going to encourage you. Dream big. Go after it, man. Build it, scale it, launch it, write it, speak it, lead it. But at the end of the day, do not let it own you. Yeah, I hope you got some drive today, but I also pray that you don't have an addiction today.

my friends thank you so much for listening to the ryan league podcast if today's episode helped you at all and do me a favor and share it with a friend if you haven't had the chance to would love for you to rate review and subscribe your support helps us reach even more people with these short and sweet nuggets of inspiration i also send out an encouraging text each and every week if you have not subscribed to those texts You can text the word podcast to the number 469, 809, 1201, and you'll start getting some encouraging text messages from me each and every week. And hey, next week we are going to be closing out this success podcast mini series that I made up four weeks ago. And we're going to be talking about the vapor of success. Yeah.

Yeah, it comes, but then it goes. So what do you do when that happens? Can't wait to see you next week.