The No Bad Days Mindset™
Master your data, energy, and habits to live with purpose daily.
Oct 25, 2025
Master your data, energy, and habits to live with purpose daily.
Bad days aren't real - only unaligned ones are.
In 2018, I was standing outside of the familiar courthouse that I had been in many times. I was being arrested – kindly, calmly, and willingly. As I felt the cold hard steel on my wrists with that familiar clicking sound trailing up my spine into my ears, I slowly gazed up and over to my left and saw my reflection in the glass of the courthouse doors.
I stared myself in the eyes with gratitude. Yes, gratitude. A conscious and crazy thought came to me: “This is the last time you ever have to do this IF you continue to change your life.”
This time was different. I had taken positive action a year earlier to change my life, and that action ultimately saved it. For sixteen years, I was in a spiral of substance abuse. I ended up becoming a product of that environment. In the spirit of entrepreneurship, I was buying, selling, and trading pineapples for pineapples. And now...I was facing ten to eighty years in prison.
What do I do in that situation? I seek within.
I assume radical responsibility and follow through with positive action. That’s one of the two choices we ever have in any situation.
You may wonder how I ended up there.
Well, once again, I was the product of my environment – with a 180° twist!
Humans are funny like that. We may have a piece of gold in front of us, and we’re like, “yeah, nahh, fam. I want that glistening piece of $!#t that has a little glitter on it!”
Aside from a divorced household, I had a good upbringing. Both of my parents were police officers. Yes, Both. I went to Catholic school, played ice hockey, and had a strong support system.
But, I was also the product of multi-generational substance abuse. My parents were stable, but if you were to shake my family tree, powder would fall from the branches and liquor would seep from the bark… all of which would be falling down onto me – only wanting more.
When I was twelve, I went through a HUGE culture shock. I moved from Boston to Blacksburg. To put it lightly… I didn’t adapt well. A small town in the middle of the Southwest Virginia mountains with two major college universities is a devil’s playground. The drinking and drug culture is more widely accepted and there’s not much else to do.
Sooo, I was off to the races! Yee-Haw!
I got arrested for the first time at fourteen. Over the next sixteen years, I spiraled, eventually to being unhoused and on the streets.
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Shelter: Underneath concrete steps in parking garages.
Warmth: Gas station bathrooms.
Safety: Behind churches.
Not addicted to one thing – but many things, in many ways.
In 2016, something shifted – and so did I. Someone offered me a scholarship to treatment. I didn’t have a dime to my name, health insurance, barely any socks and underwear, one pair of beat-up Fila shoes, and I had thirteen out of twenty-eight teeth. I didn’t have anything, but I had the sincere desire to change and the courage enough to ask for help.
That desire and courage were followed by positive action. I came all the way in, sitting all the way down, leaned in, and remained teachable. I sat down in the Front Row of every group that I attended. That was the birth of Front Row Frankie.
Over the last nine years, I’ve grown into the man I am today. Once hardened by the struggles –- now healed by the strength of spiritual growth.
I started speaking professionally in 2018 to adolescents about addiction. That’s where I found my passion, but I knew I had to grow into these big shoes before I stepped into a talented industry stacked with rockstars, like Patricia Fripp and Frank Kitchen.
So, patiently and humbly, I walked the path.
Several years ago, over two thousand days, actually, I began taking a daily summary at the end of each day. I would note all of the bad things, but also the good. Most importantly, I asked myself: Who did you help?
Regardless of how hard the day was, I found gratitude. I ended with: “Today Was a Good Day. Life Is Good.” – I would consciously see that I may have had a very hard day with a lot of bad moments, but I didn’t define it as a “bad day.”
The next morning, I would proclaim, “Today Is a Good Day for a Good Day.” I would go throughout my day and “chop wood, carry water.” Selfless Service Soothes the Soul.
Eventually, I realized I hadn’t had a “Bad Day” in over one thousand days. That was my lightbulb moment. That bulb was the birth of The No Bad Days Mindset™.
It’s not a slogan. It’s a system – a set of practices, principles, and routines that have helped me go over two thousand days without defining a single day as “bad.”
Maybe it sounds impossible.
But what if it’s not?
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"“The silver lining of struggle is that by getting through it, it gives you depth and weight to help somebody else, which ultimately helps yourself.”
– Front Row Frankie"
Bad days aren't real - only unaligned ones are.
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Today, I help professionals in high-stress industries live with a No Bad Days Mindset™ by shifting their perspective for a positive impact on their life, work, and the people they serve.
One of the simplest and most effective things I can offer them or anyone is my PEA Concept. I want you to take this pea, put it in your pocket – and carry it with you in every situation.
Pause. Evaluate. Action.
When you’re faced with a situation:
Pause: Please, just take a breath.
Evaluate: What do you have control over?
Action: Do the next right thing with positive action.
You have two choices: Positive Action or Negative Self-Reflection.
What is your choice to be?
People don’t remember what happened to you, but they damn sure remember how you handle it!
As you go through your busy life, reflect. Find gratitude. Redefine your mindset. Live a life of selfless service – because THAT is the key to life.
“Helping Others, Helps Ourselves.”
I’ll leave you with this. When I went to court for that opening story, I had accepted a plea deal to go to jail for a year. I was happy and grateful to do it – then a miracle happened. The judge said, “Mr. Front Row, I hereby sentence you to 365 days of incarceration and hereby suspend that sentence, contingent on your continuation of good will.”
That conscious and impossible thought that I had staring at my own reflection actually happened.
So when you’re faced with a daunting situation that seems impossible, think of me. I’m Possible, and so are you.
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