Why drinking is like driving a car with the handbrake on EP#67

G', day, guys, and welcome to this episode of how to Scale a Video Business Podcast. This week, I'm going to share a personal journey with you. How breaking a habit transformed my business. I'm talking about the fact that I stopped drinking alcohol for six months, and what I wanted to do was share the journey that I went on to stop drinking alcohol. Alcohol. But more surprisingly, what that meant to my life, to my sleep, to my productivity, and more importantly, my ability to focus and actually scale my business faster and greater than I had been able to do at any other time in my business or life. I'm doing this podcast episode because one of my clients, Ben, asked me if I would talk about it because I've been sharing this with my accelerator clients as I was going through the journey. And it's quite a tremendous experience to go through simply because of the.

Discipline that you're required to deploy to say no to having a beer or a glass of wine. Because for me, growing up in Scotland, being from the UK and now living in Australia, social drinking is a big part of socializing. So I want to share with you exactly what happened, what triggered it, and the journey I went on. And I think you'll find it really useful. And if it's something you've been thinking about, then have a listen to this episode. And if there's anyone else that you think might enjoy this show, it would just be so awesome if you could share it with them on social media. And if you give us a review and a like on itunes, I'd really appreciate that as well.

Hey, guys, just before we get started in this week's episode, I wanted to make sure you, you are aware of some new resources we've got for you over@denlenny.com that's D E N L E N N I E.com including I'm giving away a free copy of my book, A Filmmaker's Guide to Budgets and Quotes that Increase Profit Margin on Productions by 20 to 30% instantly. So if you want to grab a copy of that book, it's on the website now, and we're adding new resources to the resources tab all the time to help you scale your business faster. Thanks so much and enjoy the show. So today's topic is a bit of an unusual one as it's not directly related to filmmaking or business, but I think you'll probably relate to it. And that is the. So basically, I didn't drink any alcohol for six months straight. I, um, now I didn't have an alcohol problem. I didn't drink a great deal. But as I was getting towards My, I'm 49 in February and I realized that I hadn't probably had a break from drinking alcohol for about 25 years. And it was kind of weird. I was like, wow, you know, working in television for so many years, it's a very sociable business. It's a very, you know, you often end up when you're on location, having a few drinks at night. When I worked at London Tonight, there was a bar in the building at London Weekend Television in the studios there. And so we'd always end up in the bar. And it's such a sociable thing. And like, I'm from Scotland, you know, so Scotland is a, you know, you grow up and you go to the pub and have a drink when you're old enough. And I think drinking alcohol has become one of these things. It's just so accepted in our culture that, you know, it's, it's no big deal. But moving to Australia in 2015, I became more aware of like just the drinking culture. And I think when you make any big shift in your life, you start to see things through a different lens. And of course, moving to a different continent, Even though Australia is English speaking and culturally largely the same, there are some subtle differences, some nuances that I noticed, but this isn't really about, you know, judging anyone who drinks or doesn't drink. But anyway, so back in June, I was a friend's. My wife and I went up to a friend's place up in Dunan here in the sunshine coast. And we had a beautiful afternoon of like drinking wine and eating lunch, lovely charcuterie and just having a beautiful time. But we kind of, we kind of got on the wine. You know, it started in the afternoon. We went through to about 10 o' clock at night. And I think probably between us, we probably went through about five or six bottles of wine. And the next day, God, I was in such a mess. And probably for two or three days I didn't feel productive at all. And I suddenly came to the realization, like, what was I doing? You know, know, just because I'd been drinking throughout my life and, you know, something had to change. And so I decided that I was going to have like in Australia here they have dry July. And so this was the middle of June and I was like, well, why don't I just go dry July and see I have a month off the grog and look, you know, I might have bought half a dozen beers on a weekend. Maybe Sam and I would have a bottle of rose or a bottle of Prosecco. But Sam had started really kind of delving into more of a kind of healthier lifestyle. And, and, and, and we wasn't drinking as much, so I was kind of drinking on my own. And so at the same time I was like, I really want to build my business this year. You know, I've been in business 10 years. And I was like, I just wanted to kind of really focus on it this year or that this was last year. And, and I went, well, you know, why don't you go dry July and see how it feels? And so, so I did. And I didn't have a drink for six weeks in between the kind of last time we went out and the whole of July and kind of weird things started to happen. First thing I noticed was I was sleeping better and I love my sleep. So I was finding myself sleeping better. I was feeling clearer headed when I woke up in the morning. And at the same time that.

I was not drinking alcohol, I noticed my productivity went up and I noticed the business started to do better and I started to get more done in less time and I started to kind of look at doing other things. So I got back on my bike and, and I started cycling, road cycling again. And because I wasn't drinking, I never had a hangover. And I started to study this in more depth. And there was adverts popping up on Facebook saying, you know, one year, no beer. And I was like looking into it. I was watching TED talks and studying kind of, just kind of what are the, what are the, what are the benefits of not drinking alcohol? And also what are the downsides of drinking alcohol? It became quite an interesting kind of study from me personally. And, but what I, what I wanted to share with you today was that this worked for me. And, and as I say, I'd been drinking, you know, fairly consistently for 25 years. And I think as you get towards 50, you go, well, how much time have I got left really? My dad died when he was 67, my grandfather died in his late 60s. Now both of them had lung conditions through smoking. And my grandfather was a stonemason. So like, you know, I'm not, I'm not stressing out about it, but I was thinking, well, you know, what's more important? Having a few beers or living a few extra years? And so I went, okay, well I've done six weeks, why don't I see if I can do three months, you know, just like do that. And then the following week I Went to an event, friend of mine, Sean, so speaking at his event and saw some mates and Warwick was like, hey, do you want a glass of wine? And I was at the bar and this other guy was like, hey, do you want a beer? And like that very moment where it was like, do you want a glass of wine? I was like, I'd love a glass of wine, but like, I'm good, thanks. The glass of water instead. And then standing at the bar with like icy cold beer in front of me, I'm like, just destroy a beer. One beer wouldn't hurt. But I, but I didn't, I had sparkling water instead. And Warwick's brother in law wasn't drinking as well. So we sat down, had dinner together and we just drank water and soft drinks and we started talking about it and we started sharing this journey of like clarity and better sleep and getting more into fitness. And we're both similar kind of age, so we're sort of reflecting on the fact you get towards 15, you start to freak out a little bit going, oh my God, you know, it's, I'm getting old, I don't feel old. But you're certainly more aware of your mortality and what, how you're spending your time and what you're doing. And so I kind of managed that big sort of social event with no alcohol. And you know, I was there for three days and cut the friends. I had a few drinks Friday night. If you drink Saturday night, more drinks Saturday night. And by Sunday night, by Sunday afternoon, they were really flagging. They were like, oh, I'm not feeling well, you know, I'm so tired. And it's interesting some of the stories that I was hearing them tell themselves, but the fact was they'd just been drinking and not getting enough sleep and having full on days at an event. And I watched how their performance dropped and I noticed how good I felt because I was going to bed late, but I was getting good quality sleep because there was no booze in my system. So I started to kind of become even more aware of this. And as the three months went by, I was like, I've done three months of not drinking, I want to do six months. And so it carried on.

And I got to six months and I was like, I could do a year. But at that point I was like, wow, you know, what am I doing this for? Am I doing this to be stubborn or have I kind of proved my point to myself? Which is all it really was was proving to myself that I could do this. So here were some of my lessons. And to give you the kind of the full disclosure, I had a few drinks over Christmas. So it got to exactly six months and it was interesting. Sam and I were out with, for lunch with Sean and Nat, a really great Italian here in Noosa. And they were both having a glass of red wine and I was like, oh, you know, I fancy a glass of red wine. And I'd done six months. I went, okay, I'm gonna have a glass of red wine. And I really enjoyed it. I had some beautiful food and a glass of red wine, but I just, just wanted the one.

And then, and then a couple of drinks on Boxing Day, you know, a couple of glasses of Prosecco. And then at New Year we actually spent it with Sean and Nat and I had a few glasses of champagne and probably Sean and I shared a liter of red wine and over, over a five or six hour period with food. And then the next day I was a bit of a write off actually. I kind of spent most of the day on the sofa not really doing anything. And I think that was partly through just going to bed late because you know, we kind of go to bed about half nine, ten o' clock here, we're up at half five, six in Australia. One of the things that kind of for the, for the Brits listening to this like, you know, Australia just wakes up early and gets on with the day and goes to bed early because it's kind of gets d pretty quick as well, even in summer.

But I kind of had a bit of a wasted day on the sofa. And so I haven't had a drink since. And it's now kind of, I'm recording this 9th of January and I'm not fussed about drinking again really. I mean if someone, if I feel like and I'll have a drink, I'll have a drink. But something fundamental has happened in this six months. I've completely changed a habit and an old behavior pattern. And so I wanted to share some of the lessons that I gained from not drinking alcohol for six months. And it's all to do with discipline.

During that six month period. You know, I'm carrying too much weight. I have done for years and it's been a constant battle and I want to lose 10kg. My goal is to be lighter and healthier when I'm 50 than I was when I was 30. When I was 30 I was 90 kilos and that was probably my kind of average weight. Then I was running around being a cameraman in London at London Tonight I was pretty healthy, I was pretty fit. I was running three times a week. I was in a very active job, and I know about 104 kilos. So it's unacceptable for me to be that way. It's crazy. But not drinking.

Has helped immensely in the discipline required to lose weight and get healthier. So. So what are some of the other things I've been doing? I got back on my road bike and, you know, in the space of about four months, I'd gone from riding like 15 kilometers and struggling and coming back after 45 minutes exhausted to just recently, you know, riding 75 kilometers and two and a half hours and. And feeling okay.

So my level of fitness went up and my mindset shifted about what I was capable of. My discipline around food has become more.

Concise, more decisive. And I put it all down to the fact that I said no to having a beer. And I'm like, well, if I can say no to that, what else can I say no to? So that's on a kind of practical health level. So I'm now writing about three days a week. To give you some context, I hadn't ridden my bike in about two years when I was living in Sydney. I'd ride like eight miles around the bay, and that would take me like half an hour or something like that. And I thought that was pretty good. I hit 10, 40 kilometers last year and I did 355 in December, going from literally nothing up till about June. And I stopped drinking and got back on the bike. And, you know, it was a bit of a journey and it took a while to get the momentum going, but, you know, I cracked a thousand kilometers and as I say, 355km in December, which was. Which is a hell of an achievement, you know, and the thing that does to your mindset is mind blowing. And I'm going to also pay credit to the fact that the book Can't Hurt Me by David Goggins was instrumental in me getting back on the bike because I. Because I broke my leg in 2001 filming in Chamonix, and I broke it in two places and got air lifted off the mountain and had six months off just as I went freelance, sick with a broken leg, and then two years later was filming in South Africa for a place in the sun, home and away, and my ankle just didn't feel right. And so when I got back to the uk, I went to see a specialist and he said, oh, what do you do for a living? And I said, oh, I'm a cameraman. He said, not anymore you're not. He says, you've got arthritis. So at that moment there, I couldn't. I couldn't pick up 10 kilogram cameras anymore and run around and do handheld. It just. My career was literally over. But that's another story. But the point is, is that for a lot of years, this arthritis was getting in the way. And part of the reason we moved to Australia was, you know, better, better, better climate. And I've had far less trouble with my leg living in Australia than I have had in the uk, where it's a bit colder and damper. And so now I rarely have issues with my ankle. But cycling really helps the momentum, and the motion really helps as well. Arthritis needs motion, and the more you move an arthritic joint, the less pain there is. It is a chronic condition. It doesn't get better, but you can manage it with exercise and diet. So that was one of the big benefits, was getting into fitness, and that had a real big impact on my mindset and feeling, a healthy mind. But from a business perspective, that's where I saw the biggest gains.

Business started to really take off because I was much more focused, I had much more clarity. I was sleeping well, I was rested. I wasn't working crazy hours. I was just kind of organized and disciplined and. And from there, it became really clear to me that if I really wanted to build my business and have the life I really dreamed of.

Really, what was the cost, not drinking? Like, it really wasn't a big deal. And so I think what I reflected on was I used to go to the. To the drink, I suppose to beer or a glass of wine to end a day, because it's like, all right, I'm finished working, now I can relax. And it has that relaxant feeling. And of course, we always have a good time on alcohol, but. But I noticed that I was. My recovery period was taking longer and longer. And so by not drinking for six months, several really fundamental things happened. I got fitter, I got healthier, my stamina grew. I started changing what I was eating. I was much more hydrated because I was drinking a lot of water. Water. So, like, you know, one of the hacks is I bought a SodaStream, and I just drink probably a couple of liters of SodaStream fizzy water a day. So I'm always really hydrated, which is a really huge benefit. So that. Which means my brain's really hydrated, which means when I sit down at my desk or to go to work, I'm really alert. I'm really fresh. I don't feel sluggish. I don't feel kind of got to try and do some work. I'm always enthusiastic. I'm always energized. I feel like on a cellular level, I just feel good and energized and fresh and alert.

And that's helped my business immensely because I feel I can serve my clients with a much sharper mind. I've been reading more books. I've been studying more courses. I've been fueling my brain with the things I really love, which is I love to study, I love to learn, I love to consume educational content. I've watched an enormous amount of TED talks and had a lot of quality sleep. And so with that in mind, I've had a very, very productive year in the business. The last half of the year has been really, really productive. We had a quiet spell where things dipped off with a few issues with some ads and stuff and some marketing. It wasn't quite working, and we had a kind of lean period. But the fact that I was alert and wasn't drinking meant that I just dealt with it in my stride. And it was tough, but we came through it, and I came through it stronger. And we've had an enormously successful latter part of the year, and we started this year really strong as well. And I put that down to not drinking for six months.

Something.

Seemingly simple. And I think what happens is, culturally, we're surrounded by pubs and bottle shops and. And people going out and having a good time. And we live in the Sunshine coast, where it's sunny most of the year, so people are always having a drink. And what's interesting is how other people perceive you not drinking. Now, where we live in Noosa, there's a lot of older people and there's a lot of quite wealthy people. And we've been invited around to people's houses and barbecues and stuff. And when you tell them you're not drinking, initially, they're like, all right, are you doing Dry July? And that was the initial kind of thing. It's like, oh, yeah, we're doing Dry July. And then August came around, and they were like, are you still not drinking? And I'm like, yeah, I'm just going to see how it goes. She's like, but Dry July finished. You know, one of our neighbors. Dry July is finished.

And then as it went on, the neighbors were like, so you start drinking then. And they. They literally go, oh, you're a lot of fun, aren't you? So there's an Interesting social pressure that goes on with not drinking. And I never felt under any pressure at all. I always thought it was funny. But, but, but, but sometimes when people behave in a certain way, there's, they're actually reflecting their own insecurities around perhaps their own drinking habits. And you know, that's, that's fine. But it was really interesting. Like if you want to not drink for a while, you have to be prepared to be kind of slightly socially ostracized because it makes people feel uncomfortable when you go, no, I'm okay, I'm just gonna have a soft drink or water. They literally like, they're like, what's wrong with you? And I used to be like that. I used to be that person who'd go, you're not drinking. You can't trust somebody doesn't drink. You know, it's like, what's wrong with them? Why can't they let their hair down? What's up? You know, maybe they've got a problem. And I don't mind admitting that, you know, years ago people weren't drinking. You're like, what's wrong with them? That's weird. But, but now that I'd done it for six months, it literally changed my life because I broke a habit. I broke a habit that I'd had for a lot of years. And I would encourage anyone who's interested in this to give it a go. Start with a month, go. I'm not going to drink for a month because what's going on is the mindset and the power that you have around.

The discipline of saying no. And I think that's really the kind of the power of it. It's like when you say no to having a beer on a hot day.

You start to build up a strength, an inner core strength of discipline and decision making. And it's like, it's hard. And I think when you're running a business, you have to make difficult decisions sometimes you have to make decisions that are going to feel uncomfortable.

But you have to learn to sit in the discomfort because that's where, that's where the biggest growth, the biggest changes, the biggest lessons happen.

And so, you know, I found that to be an incredibly powerful byproduct of not drinking for six months was sitting in the discomfort of the social uncomfort where people were like, oh. It became a talking point that there was something wrong with us. And it's funny because Sam has been plan based for the last couple of months. And we were at a barbecue just before Christmas and Sam wasn't there. She was working in Sydney and I went to this friend's barbecue and they knew I wasn't drinking, so they were kind of cool. Hey, do you want some water? That's cool. Yeah. And I just sat drinking water and then some neighbors that we hadn't met were like.

Oh, so you're not drinking then? It's like, no, I'm just, just kind of having a bit of time. I'm just, just kind of really focused. Oh, okay, fine. Yeah. And then, and then one. Another neighbor was like, oh, yeah. And his wife's, his wife's plant based, you know, she's vegan. And Sam doesn't like the word vegan because she's not doing it for any political reason. She just watched a documentary and decided to go plant based for one and it works for her. I'm not, I still enjoy meat and, and I've got a smoker and I. And it's, it's not an issue for us. You know, I still enjoy fish and meat.

But, but she's gone plant based and, and the neighbors were literally like, oh my God, it must be a right barrel. Laughs in your house if she's vegan and you're not drinking. And I just thought it was so interesting that someone would say that and didn't, didn't worry me in any way whatsoever because I was able to just sort of smile and reflect and observe and be like, oh, that's interesting. Because what's actually happening is.

They'Re feeling uncomfortable because they perceive that the only way to have a good time is to chuck a few steaks in the barbie and get on the sauce.

And for many years that was Sam and I, we loved getting on the wine, you know, But I think the lesson here is that you can change your perspective of yourself. You can change your own.

You know, vision and the way that you live your life because you want to, because you want to try something new. And I think that, that, that, that experience for me was what I found to be so powerful as I was able to kind of prove to myself that I had the discipline, the self discipline to just say no to alcoholic drink for six months in social situations where everyone else is drinking. I just said, no, I'm good, thanks. And look, there were many times when it was a hot, sunny day and I'd look, we go to the bar and friends be having a few beers and I'd look at the beer and go, I could absolutely destroy a beer right now. But I was like, no, what's that? Going to do, I'm going to have a beer and I'm going to regret it five minutes afterwards. So as soon as I said no and had a glass of water, I was fine. I never ever felt after the first drink that I was missing out. And the other thing that I never ever at any point felt in the entire six month experiment was waking up on a Sunday morning and never ever once went, oh, God, I wish I had a drink last night. I really felt I really missed out by not getting on the booze. And, and, and that was interesting. And so really I wanted to share the story with you. Not for any political reason, not for any kind of evangelistic reason, but simply because Ben, one of my clients, said, oh, I'd love to, love to hear more about you not drinking for six months on the podcast. So, Ben from Chuff Productions, this one's for you, buddy. But a few people have been asking me about it and so I would suggest anyone should give it a go because what have you got to lose? And you might learn some stuff about yourself. And as I say, I, I've really enjoyed the process and I don't, I don't crave booze at all. But I decided to sort of stop at six months because I proved something to myself and I didn't want to kind of, you know, I felt like having a few drinks over Christmas and I enjoyed them, but it's like, you know, I've learned a lot about myself in that process. And so I'll finish by saying, you want to, you want to learn about discipline? Go and listen to Can't Hurt Me by David Goggins. It's probably the most inspirational book I've ever read or stroke listened to. And the audiobook is particularly good because.

His ghostwriter actually narrates the book. But at the end of each chapter, David and his ghostwriter, I forget his name, have a conversation like a kind of podcast and they have a little kind of anecdotal chat. So it's really powerful. But yeah, that's my recommendation. And yeah, I'd love to know what you think. Have you ever, you know, not, not given yourself a challenge to not drink for a while and what, what were your experiences and, and if you're going to give this a go, let me know how you go with it because I think, you know, for the sake of six months, it kind of came and went and I feel like a stronger, more healthy human being for it on virtually every level. So give it a go. See what you think you've been listening to the how to Scale a Video Business podcast with me, your host, Dan Lenny. If you're a video business owner who's hit a ceiling and we benefit from mentorship, support and coaching, then check out how you can work with me over@denleny.com don't forget to subscribe and rate the show over on itunes, and we'd really appreciate you taking a few minutes to leave a review. And don't forget to share if you feel you've gotten value from this episode and you think it would be useful for other filmmakers you know, then please do me a massive favor and share it on social media and in groups that you might be in. See you next week.