I Quit Drinking for 4700 Days… Here’s What I Learned

#I Quit Drinking for 4700 Days… Here’s What I Learned

#https://youtu.be/Z8xglZnYLJ8?si=uFzSbhqTdAWp-6jo

00:00:00.160 4,700 days ago, I quit drinking and it
00:00:03.120 made me rich. When my wife got pregnant,
00:00:05.120 I wanted to break the cycle of addiction
00:00:07.120 in my family. And I honestly thought I
00:00:08.639 was just trying to be a better father.
00:00:09.920 But here’s what I never expected. That
00:00:12.000 decision didn’t just change my family
00:00:14.080 life, it unlocked a level of wealth I
00:00:16.320 never imagined possible. Look, I get it.
00:00:18.480 You’re probably thinking, “This guy’s
00:00:19.680 lost his freaking mind. How does not
00:00:21.359 drinking alcohol create wealth?” Well,
00:00:23.680 let me put this in perspective for you.
00:00:25.439 In the 13 years since I quit drinking,
00:00:27.599 I’ve built several businesses that
00:00:29.439 generate over hund00 million in revenue
00:00:31.920 every single year. I’ve achieved
00:00:33.280 financial freedom I never thought
00:00:34.960 possible, got in the best shape of my
00:00:36.960 life, and even gotten the privilege of
00:00:38.960 mentoring thousands of kids in my local
00:00:40.960 community. And I’m about to prove to you
00:00:42.559 that quitting drinking wasn’t just about
00:00:44.640 being a better father. It became the
00:00:46.640 catalyst for building massive wealth.
00:00:48.719 Most people think wealth comes from what
00:00:50.559 you add to your life. New strategies,
00:00:52.719 new habits, new opportunities. No, no,
00:00:54.879 no. What I discovered is sometimes the
00:00:57.039 most important thing you can do is
00:00:58.719 subtract. Remove the one thing that’s
00:01:01.120 been sabotaging your potential this
00:01:02.719 entire time. So, the first thing,
00:01:04.879 instant energy boost equals immediate
00:01:07.040 productivity gains. The most immediate
00:01:09.119 change was energy. And energy is
00:01:11.760 everything in business. More energy
00:01:13.840 means I could actually do the thing that
00:01:15.600 makes money. No more wasting my freaking
00:01:17.759 morning so I’m hung over. No more
00:01:19.360 dragging myself through the day. That’s
00:01:21.360 how money started showing up. The math
00:01:23.200 is simple. When you’re not drinking,
00:01:25.119 you’re not hung over. When you’re not
00:01:26.880 hung over, you get at least two extra
00:01:29.520 productive hours every single day. Think
00:01:31.680 about it. You wake up, you attack the
00:01:33.200 morning. How does that compound? Look at
00:01:34.880 the math. 2 hours * 365 days equals 730
00:01:38.799 extra hours per year. That energy, that
00:01:41.680 focus, it’ll change everything for you.
00:01:43.360 Over the 13 years that I’ve done that,
00:01:45.680 that’s 9,000 extra productive hours
00:01:48.000 gained. Those hours became revenue
00:01:50.399 activities. Learning new skills,
00:01:52.560 building relationships, creating
00:01:54.320 content, starting new businesses. Energy
00:01:56.560 is the foundation that everything else
00:01:58.560 sits on top of. How I show up, how
00:02:00.799 people feel me is going to dictate if
00:02:03.119 they trust me. If I’m trying to hire
00:02:04.799 somebody, they’re going to look me in
00:02:05.920 the eyes. If they’re bloodshot and I
00:02:07.360 look tired, they’re not going to trust
00:02:08.639 me. If I’m trying to close a deal with a
00:02:10.160 partner, they’re going to look at my
00:02:11.680 energy. If I’m low energy and I feel
00:02:13.599 depleted, like, they’re not going to
00:02:15.200 trust that I’m going to deliver for
00:02:16.720 them. See, I truly believe that like my
00:02:19.280 energy is how I see the world. Your
00:02:21.920 frequency is what you frequently see. If
00:02:24.160 your energy zapped, you will not see the
00:02:26.480 opportunities all around you. The second
00:02:28.319 lesson was about decision-making
00:02:30.080 clarity. Clear mind, better choices, and
00:02:33.200 better choices make more money. And this
00:02:35.440 one almost cost me everything to learn.
00:02:37.920 Making business decisions with a clouded
00:02:40.080 mind equals rushing roulette with your
00:02:42.480 future. There’s literally no
00:02:44.080 consistency. You hope to make progress,
00:02:46.480 but you can’t count on it because you
00:02:48.239 don’t have the clarity of thought. One
00:02:50.160 of the best things one of my coaches
00:02:51.680 taught me was the concept of pulling
00:02:53.920 vocabulary. If my mind’s not clear, I
00:02:56.879 can’t connect to the words that I need
00:02:58.720 in this moment to deliver this message.
00:03:01.280 How effective am I going to be right
00:03:02.879 here, right now? If I’ve got a clouded
00:03:04.959 mind, my ability to tell stories and
00:03:06.959 analogies and metaphors and make points
00:03:08.640 and teach and share all those things at
00:03:10.400 the right level right now with the
00:03:12.239 energy not going to happen. And sobriety
00:03:14.640 for meant the ability to show up fully
00:03:17.680 present for every opportunity. It didn’t
00:03:19.920 matter if it was the last minute. I
00:03:21.440 showed up with the energy. I showed up
00:03:22.959 with a clear mind. I’ve heard Jeff Bezos
00:03:24.879 say this several times that when he
00:03:26.400 wakes up, he putters clear mind. And his
00:03:29.280 belief is that he only has to make one
00:03:31.200 to two great, meaningful decisions per
00:03:33.760 day. One or two decisions that are going
00:03:35.519 to shape the future of one of the
00:03:37.120 wealthiest people in the world. And how
00:03:39.200 are you going to do that if you don’t
00:03:40.400 have a clear mind? If you’ve got advice
00:03:42.400 that you’ve been holding on to, that’s
00:03:44.159 going to cloud your decision and that
00:03:46.000 guilt’s going to actually affect your
00:03:47.360 ability to make decisions. And honestly,
00:03:49.120 this showed up in a big way in 2005 when
00:03:51.519 I was running my company, Spheric
00:03:52.720 Technologies. In my book, Buy Back Your
00:03:54.319 Time, I tell the whole story because it
00:03:56.159 became a time assassin for me. It became
00:03:57.920 a place where I was self-medicating and
00:04:00.080 it was sucking up all my time. I was
00:04:02.000 working in New Haven, Connecticut for
00:04:03.519 Yale University. Massive opportunity,
00:04:06.000 deploying some new software. I decide to
00:04:08.159 go out, go to this incredible sushi
00:04:09.840 restaurant and drink saki all night,
00:04:11.760 close a restaurant down, and I’m walking
00:04:13.439 home crosseyed. The next day, I was
00:04:15.599 supposed to show up for the team. I
00:04:17.519 didn’t. That almost cost me the deal. I
00:04:20.000 literally risked my whole team. I’ve
00:04:21.680 seen this happen over and over again
00:04:23.360 where people don’t realize their lack of
00:04:25.759 clarity is going to cost them bigger
00:04:27.680 things than just their own downside on
00:04:29.280 their own life. It’s going to impact
00:04:30.240 other people. This was my realization.
00:04:32.479 Drinking is sabotaging my biggest career
00:04:35.199 opportunities. Number three, network
00:04:37.440 upgrades. Lesson three is a big one
00:04:39.440 because I always knew my network is my
00:04:41.120 net worth, but quitting drinking got me
00:04:43.600 around higher caliber people and that
00:04:46.080 grew my income fast. Different people,
00:04:48.639 better opportunities. When drinking
00:04:50.639 becomes the focus, how are you supposed
00:04:52.639 to trust the other people? How are you
00:04:54.000 supposed to trust a conversation that
00:04:55.280 happened at 1:00 in the morning? Your
00:04:56.960 social circle is essentially other
00:04:58.479 drinkers. These are people you met at
00:04:59.919 bars, at parties, or center around
00:05:01.600 alcohol. And you’re trying to build a
00:05:04.000 life on a foundation that’s solid. It’s
00:05:06.160 just tough. And now when I look at
00:05:07.600 today, I literally travel the world,
00:05:10.160 rent yachts, hang out with people that
00:05:12.080 are incredible. We don’t drink. We work
00:05:14.000 out in the morning. We do deals faster.
00:05:16.479 We’re always present. Nobody’s mind is
00:05:18.400 turned off. There’s a whole group of
00:05:20.080 people that realize today that health is
00:05:22.479 wealth. They would rather say no to
00:05:25.039 people and not do some crazy thing and
00:05:27.120 not have any FOMO and create the space
00:05:29.680 for them to work on their dreams and
00:05:31.039 goals than risk missing out meeting
00:05:33.199 somebody at a party where everybody’s
00:05:34.800 wasted and nobody’s having a productive
00:05:36.400 conversation. And quitting alcohol has
00:05:38.160 allowed me to reset my peer group of
00:05:40.639 people that are aligned with those
00:05:41.759 values. What I’ve discovered is those
00:05:43.680 kind of people wake up early. They
00:05:45.919 invest in themselves and they think long
00:05:47.919 term. They essentially go from
00:05:49.520 complaining about problems and
00:05:50.880 situations to just solving them. When
00:05:52.800 you get rid of your vices and you have
00:05:54.960 time to go out and wake up early and be
00:05:57.360 around higher caliber people, those
00:05:59.520 people will want to do deals with you.
00:06:01.120 It’s crazy because I even see this trend
00:06:02.720 now where coffee shops are hosting EDM
00:06:05.360 dance parties at 11:00 a.m. on Sunday
00:06:07.440 morning. People don’t want to drink and
00:06:09.039 party anymore. They want to dance. They
00:06:10.720 want to have fun, but why not do it
00:06:12.160 where you’re not sacrificing your sleep
00:06:14.000 with people that are also aligned with
00:06:15.440 the way you want to live life? You know,
00:06:16.560 my mother-in-law has this great quote
00:06:17.840 that says, “Nothing good happens after
00:06:19.280 11:00 p.m.” That’s true. I go to bed at
00:06:21.120 9:00 p.m., but most people at 11:00 p.m.
00:06:23.600 just shut it down. Go to sleep. Like,
00:06:25.280 there’s no need to stay up late. Trust
00:06:27.039 me, nothing magical that’s going to
00:06:28.720 change your life happens after 11:00.
00:06:30.479 And think about your network. You never
00:06:32.160 know who you’re going to meet as you go
00:06:33.759 through life. Imagine you’re hung over
00:06:35.360 and you’re sitting on a plane. You might
00:06:36.960 even have paid for business class and
00:06:38.880 you got the hoodie on and the glasses
00:06:40.400 on. You don’t want to talk to anybody.
00:06:41.840 That person sitting next to you could be
00:06:43.759 a massive investor in your company,
00:06:45.280 could be a potential business partner,
00:06:46.880 could be one of your biggest customers.
00:06:48.479 Big moves come from big conversations.
00:06:50.880 And if you’re sitting there hung over
00:06:52.639 and not having them, you don’t create
00:06:54.160 the opportunities that could be right in
00:06:55.919 front of your face. That’s where I made
00:06:58.240 most of my money through conversations
00:07:00.319 with people in life because I was
00:07:02.800 present to that opportunity. This is a
00:07:04.960 big one. Think about all the burn
00:07:06.880 relationships where you drank too much
00:07:09.120 and you said the wrong thing to the
00:07:10.720 wrong person. And cutting alcohol
00:07:12.639 allowed me to go and travel without
00:07:15.280 ruining my day and having those big
00:07:17.120 conversations. Number four, a complete
00:07:19.280 life system upgrade. Quitting drinking
00:07:21.360 helped me stay focused, and focus builds
00:07:24.160 wealth more than anything. The biggest
00:07:26.800 destroyer of wealth is distraction. It’s
00:07:29.440 not just removing alcohol. It’s rewiring
00:07:32.800 how you approach everything. If you
00:07:35.120 finally make the decision to let go of
00:07:37.440 something that had such a big part of
00:07:39.039 your life, now you’ve started to build
00:07:41.280 some confidence. You started to build
00:07:43.039 some new behaviors. Essentially, you
00:07:45.360 have an identity shift. You go from
00:07:47.520 maybe being a consumer of things to a
00:07:50.160 creator of your life. You go from like
00:07:52.400 seeking temporary pleasure and like
00:07:55.120 living in this numbed out state to
00:07:57.280 building long-term value. You start to
00:07:59.360 be able to deal with massive problems.
00:08:01.599 And when you live a big life, you have
00:08:03.599 big problems. If you have a little
00:08:04.960 problem that you can’t deal with and you
00:08:06.400 have to start drinking, guess what?
00:08:07.840 Little life. You want big problems like
00:08:09.919 $10 million problems, you’re going to
00:08:11.440 have to create some space for it. In
00:08:12.720 many ways, delaying gratification with
00:08:14.479 alcohol has trained me to delay
00:08:16.960 gratification with investments in
00:08:18.560 businesses. My horizon for things are
00:08:21.280 way longer. I’ve got a 55-year business
00:08:23.840 plan. I didn’t even think that way
00:08:25.360 before. That’s why the whole system got
00:08:27.520 upgraded because of that one decision,
00:08:29.520 and it made me a ton of money. Before I
00:08:31.759 was thinking for the weekend, now I’m
00:08:33.360 thinking for the decade. What’s
00:08:34.640 interesting is that same muscle that’ll
00:08:36.479 keep you sober is also the same one
00:08:38.640 that’ll keep you financially
00:08:39.919 disciplined. In many ways, success isn’t
00:08:42.399 about saying yes to more things. It’s
00:08:44.480 saying no to almost everything. Is a
00:08:46.720 subtraction, not an addition problem.
00:08:48.720 When I think of like the ultimate
00:08:50.240 productivity tool, it’s having a not
00:08:52.560 to-do list. And at the top of that list
00:08:54.800 for me is devices. It’s the thing that I
00:08:57.279 know that’s hold me back from living
00:08:58.800 into my potential. And alcohol for a
00:09:00.560 long time was that for me. When I look
00:09:02.240 back at how I used to think about my
00:09:04.399 life when I was drinking, I thought I
00:09:06.000 was living a big life and being
00:09:07.440 successful. But the potential that I was
00:09:09.360 living into was muted by the drinking.
00:09:12.080 Then I realized once I quit that I
00:09:13.839 started to build momentum. I built
00:09:15.519 momentum. I built confidence because
00:09:17.279 confidence is keeping the commitments
00:09:18.720 that I made to myself in private. And
00:09:20.480 over time being consistent started to
00:09:22.880 build that confidence and build that
00:09:24.560 momentum to now I get to stay in
00:09:26.480 momentum. It’s one of the most powerful
00:09:27.920 forces of the universe. If you find
00:09:29.600 yourself in momentum because you’re
00:09:31.440 making good decisions, stay there. Like
00:09:33.920 I mentioned before, these four lessons
00:09:36.080 didn’t just make me sober. They made me
00:09:38.080 rich. And the crazy part, it all started
00:09:40.320 with one decision to put my family
00:09:42.720 first. Break the cycle. I wanted to be
00:09:44.959 the person in my lineage to stop it. I
00:09:48.640 grew up around alcoholism. I knew
00:09:50.399 better. I shouldn’t have drank, and I
00:09:52.240 did anyways. If you want to build
00:09:54.000 serious wealth, you need to be honest
00:09:56.080 about what’s holding you back. I believe
00:09:57.839 the world will show you where you’re not
00:09:59.200 free. And you may know exactly what I’m
00:10:01.519 talking about. Sometimes the most
00:10:02.880 powerful thing you can do isn’t adding
00:10:04.800 something new to your life. It’s
00:10:06.160 subtracting something that’s keeping you
00:10:08.240 small. The impact to my life, it’s hard
00:10:10.560 to measure. It gave me the energy I
00:10:12.880 needed to attack the day. It gave me the
00:10:15.040 mental clarity to make the right
00:10:16.560 decisions. It allowed me to get around
00:10:18.320 people like I’m speaking on stages like
00:10:20.800 Tony Robbins, John Maxwell. I’ve built
00:10:23.440 this audience of almost 10 million
00:10:25.279 followers on social media. It’s wild.
00:10:27.279 None of that would have happened. That
00:10:29.040 ability to think about a bigger life.
00:10:30.880 None of that would have happened if I
00:10:32.640 was still drinking. I’d still be doing
00:10:34.240 what I was doing before. And I could see
00:10:35.839 that line. I had to give something up to
00:10:38.160 create the space for something more. And
00:10:39.839 look, if you really want to take this to
00:10:41.360 the next level and learn how to delete
00:10:43.040 your fear of rejection in under 58
00:10:45.440 seconds, click here and I’ll see you on
00:10:47.200 the other