Ryan Reichert is a speaker, author, and mentor whose work centers on recovery, truth, and practical spiritual practice. In this interview, he walks us through the three books that map his personal journey, and the program born from them, explaining how awareness becomes growth, and growth becomes a repeatable life practice. Below is an edited but faithful Q&A that preserves the major details from our conversation.
Ryan, thanks for joining me. You gave me an outline that looks like the backbone of several books and a course. Before we dive into details, can you give readers a quick overview of what those books are and how they connect?
Ryan Reichert: Sure. The first book is God Only Knows When The Devil Comes to You: A Second Chance at Life. That came out of the nine to twelve months after I sobered up — right in the thick of divorce, losing contact with my kids, and losing my job. It’s a practical roadmap: daily exercises, “three daily wins,” habits to restore relationships — basically what worked for me during that post-recovery period.
The second book is more reflective. I contributed a chapter in The Living Truth with Jack Canfield, and that book and this phase of my life are about truth-telling and becoming who you need to be. In short, the first book is about crawling out and getting stable; the second is about cleaning the mirror so your life becomes a real window into a healed present and future.
The third project is a 90-day program and journal built from the practices in the first two books — a one-page, daily spiritual practice that mentors you through day start and finish for 90 days. It’s a practical accelerator: if you do the work, the results follow.
The first book sounds like a survival playbook. What was the personal situation that shaped it?
Ryan Reichert: After I got sober, I went to church and started rebuilding my life, but it was messy. I was going through a divorce, my kids weren’t in my life, and I’d lost my job. That period was the raw material for the first book — the immediate “how do I survive and start rebuilding” playbook. It’s less theory and more daily, actionable steps that helped me move from the ashes toward a new life.
You mentioned The Living Truth and some stories you hadn’t shared elsewhere. How does that material differ from the first book?
Ryan Reichert: The second work is deeper emotionally. It’s about looking at the ways I lied or manipulated to get what I wanted and consciously choosing truth in everything. I like the mirror-versus-window metaphor: the mirror shows the dirt and the broken parts; you learn to clean it so you can look through to a healed life. In my chapter for The Living Truth, I shared material I hadn’t placed in the first two books — moments that were close to rock bottom, even the last time I attempted to take my life. There were divine appointments — things that intervened — and it became part of a narrative about truth and transformation.
That’s a powerful and difficult part of your story. How did you translate those experiences into something others can use?
Ryan Reichert: I built systems and rituals that could be taught and practiced. The 90-day journal is one of the outcomes: it’s a structured, day-to-day practice mentoring people on morning and evening routines, spiritual practices, and reflection. It’s short, practical, and designed to accelerate healing. We’ve seen real-case results: one client who’d had nothing now manages a sober house. Another who’d been spiraling is back in interviews and rebuilding his life. These aren’t abstract claims — they’re real-world examples of what happens when someone actually follows the plan.
You used a military and hero’s-journey framework in our conversation. Why that language?
Ryan Reichert: For me, it resonates because life has objectives and unexpected obstacles — just like operations. You think you’ve hit the peak, then there’s a valley, then another climb. The military metaphors help people understand that skill and wisdom are different: skill is training, wisdom is what changes when you’ve run the mission a hundred times and learned from it. Calling it a battle or a foxhole makes the emotional stakes clear — and that’s useful when teaching resilience and discipline.
You also said the book is the framework; you’re the accelerant. Can you expand on that?
Ryan Reichert: The book gives the plan — the “do this, this, this.” But some people want or need someone in the foxhole with them. That’s coaching. If someone wants to move faster, they bring in a coach for a personalized application. Faster still: live retreats. So the offer ladder looks like this: read the book and do it yourself; work with me one-on-one to apply the framework to your specific problems; attend an immersive retreat if you want maximal acceleration.
Who is your work for? Is it primarily for men?
Ryan Reichert: I speak from a male perspective — I’m a man, and much of the language is masculine — but the tools themselves are universal. I’ve worked with women; they sometimes need to recalibrate how they hold masculine and feminine energy to make the most of the practices. Bottom line: these methods work for anyone willing to do the work.
You gave a succinct formula toward the end of our talk: Focus; Faith; Opportunity; Consistency; Unconditional Kindness; Standard = Success. Walk us through that.
Ryan Reichert: That’s a teaching framework I’m developing further. Depending on the person, you start in a different place. If someone’s faith-based, we may frame it F → S (faith to standard). If not, we start with the “standard” — define rules for your life — because faith follows trust built by consistent action. The order can be flexible, but the pillars are important: focus your energy, create opportunities, be consistent, act with unconditional kindness, and set your standard — and success follows relative to your standard.
Can you give a concrete example of how this plays out for someone in a crisis?
Ryan Reichert: A guy I worked with did 200 meetings in 90 days — he overachieved, and it sped up his recovery. Another example: a client dealing with volatile situations in a sober house learned to apply communication tools and self-restraint rather than react. He told me, “Last night a guy in the house went off, but I didn’t hurt anybody.” That was progress. It’s often about reducing the reaction and choosing a better response — the skills matter.
What do people most often need when they call you?
Ryan Reichert: They usually don’t want a clever fix. They want to be heard and to know someone’s made it through. If I can tell someone, “It’s going to be okay,” and they hear that from someone who’s lived through it, that helps. Sometimes the presence matters more than the plan. The coach’s role is to be that person who will tell you it’ll work out and show you the path forward.
How do you and Lisa work together on this? You mentioned she has a similar journey.
Ryan Reichert: Lisa and I share a lot of the same language and experience. Her story and methods intersect with mine, and we’re building programs together so people can access both perspectives. Having both of us in a coaching or retreat setting creates a balance — people get masculine and feminine perspectives, shared frameworks, and practical tools.
Final question: What’s your mission?
Ryan Reichert: To be the guide — the person that’s behind you in the foxhole. I want to provide the framework and be the shoulder people can lean on. Whether it’s a book, coaching, or a retreat, my goal is to accelerate someone’s path out of pain into a life that’s measurable and sustainable.
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