As a Marine Corps drill instructor, my job was literally to motivate people. Waking up at 2 AM every day for years taught me the brutal truth: motivation is a complete scam. It gets you started but abandons you when things get hard. Here's what actually works – and it's not what the self-help industry wants you to know.

There are two costs to every major life change—the slow bleed of staying or the immediate pain of leaving. Most people choose the first because it hurts less today, never calculating the astronomical price they pay over time. I learned this lesson the hard way when my family visited and I couldn't even enjoy my approved time off. In this raw, honest account, I reveal why the price of staying is a tax while the price of leaving is an investment, and how to know which pain to choose.