6 Things To Do Before You Quit Alcohol

If you're thinking about taking a break from drinking or quitting alcohol altogether , the six things that are going to break down for you in this video can make or break you At the end of the day . There are millions of people that stop drinking every day and most of them find it difficult , challenging and hard .

Yet there are a small percentage of people that find stopping drinking a walk in the park In fact , I have a park behind me and there's people walking in the park right now and I want this video to make stopping drinking feel that easy for you .

I want stopping drinking to feel like the easiest thing that you've ever done , and every single person that stops drinking and finds it easy does these six things in this video , whether it's consciously or not .

But I want to make it conscious for you today in this video , to make your journey a piece of cake , and I know that sounds hard to believe , but this is the actual process that I have taken almost 400 private clients through . These six things are going to change the game .

So the very first thing that you need to do if you're thinking about stopping drinking is something that people kind of know in their heart . But for this one you're going to need a pen and paper , and it's quite simple . All you need to do is write down 10 reasons why you are committed to making this change .

And if you can't think of 10 reasons , just write down 10 . Anyway . I'm sure you can think of 10 reasons . I could think of a thousand , I'm not even exaggerating . And if you can't think of 10 , you ain't thinking hard enough For me . I'd write down things like I'm sick of feeling lethargic , right . I'm sick of the hangovers .

I'm sick of breaking promises to my family . I'm sick of spending all this money I am on drinking . I'm sick of waking up feeling defeated and here's an AA term but I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired . I don't go to AA . I went to AA . I remember a few of their phrases , but that's a pretty good reason to stop drinking .

But these are going to be very personal to you , right ? For a lot of people it might be that tired of letting their wife down , their husband down , others might just be tired of their wife and husband and tired of drinking to get through the pain of their relationship . I don't know .

But you want to write down 10 reasons why you are committed to making this change . If you feel comfortable , go ahead and leave a comment down below on your biggest reason why you're committed to stopping drinking , and if you've already stopped , let me know your reason why as well .

But that's the first thing , and what you want to do with this list is maybe take a picture of it and then put it as the background on your phone . You basically want to put it in a place where you're going to see it , don't just write it and then hide it away . Have it in a place I don't know , on your fridge , on a magnet on your fridge .

Have it as the background of your no-transcript . Weeks into things , we can forget what it was like when we were drinking . So we need to remember why we're doing this in the first place , because otherwise I remember what it was like .

Now , finding your why is a very important step , and it's actually something that I do before people join my program On that first call that we have together , we dive deep into their why , like , why do they want to make this change ?

Because when you verbalize it , and you know it , and you verbalize it to somebody else , it could just become a lot more powerful . So , if you want to book a call to so , number two is writing a pain and pleasure list .

So what you want to do is again sit down , maybe take 30 minutes , go outside , go to a place where you're not going to be distracted , turn your phone off and write down a list .

And you're going to have two lists One is pain and one is pleasure , and on one side you want to write down all the pain that alcohol has caused you over the years and just focus all on the bad things that have happened because of your drinking . For me , I don't even want to .

I don't even want to talk about it , mate , it's just the list would have just gone on and on and on . That'd just be like you know the risky behavior , the drink driving that I've done in the past . Oh , I don't even want to talk about it . It's embarrassing , but , like you , don't need to share this with anybody else .

Right , the darker the better , because alcohol can sometimes make us do things that are totally out of character . I've lied about my drinking . Honestly , it sucked and I want you to get into that state of mind . I want you to feel extreme pain and I want you to link pain to drinking , because if you're real with yourself , that's what alcohol causes .

It's pain , immense pain . So go deep here and then , on the other side of the list , I want you to write down the pleasure that you can experience in your life as a result of not drinking .

Now , if you've had a period of your life where you've not drank for a prolonged time like , let's say , you've not drank for six months this list will be very easy for you to write .

However , if you've never really gone a prolonged period without drinking before , or it's been a long time since you have , then this pleasure list can be a little bit tricky because quite often people are afraid . People don't think that their life will be better when they stop drinking .

So if you're struggling with the pleasure list , maybe just think , okay , how would life be different if I drank less ? Or maybe think , okay , how would my life be if I'd never have drank ? You've kind of got to trick yourself into writing this list .

For me it was so easy because I'd had so many periods of my life without drinking that you know I was immediately writing Well , I'd have more money , I could start a business , I'd have more confidence , I'd be able to get a better relationship , I'd be able to make more interesting friends . I just went . I could write really quickly .

But sometimes when I talk to clients and talk to people that want to help stop drinking and I ask them this question , it can take a bit of time to get it out of them . But anyway , write down some of the great things that can happen in your life once you've got rid of alcohol . Which leads me to the third thing to do Now .

The third thing is arguably the most important one of all . Every failed attempt that I'd had to stop drinking during the almost 10 years that I drank , for I hadn't done this . So it was always a fight and it was always a struggle and it was always a battle when I tried to stop .

They don't do this in a rehab , they don't do it with a therapist , they don't do it in AA . You won't do this if you just stop drinking on your own with , just like you know , a click of a finger . But what you need to do is reframe alcohol using first principles thinking so .

What we don't want to do is reason from analogy , which is going to society and asking them , how do I stop drinking ? And using common sense , because common sense is that you're an alcoholic , which I don't believe in . Is that it's hard to stop drinking , which it isn't .

Is that you need a tremendous amount of willpower to not drink , which is untrue , and I know maybe even me saying this stuff to you , might be like Leon . Who is this guy ? What are you talking about ? But when you reason from analogy , you're basically using common sense .

And when it comes to stopping drinking , common sense and society's view of not drinking doesn't work . So instead , what we need to do is reframe it using first principles thinking

so . If you see the diagram on the screen right now , you can see how it works . What we simply do is we look at problem drinking as a topic and we break the topic down into its component parts . Essentially , that's what this YouTube channel is right .

I'm breaking alcohol addiction down into so many different component parts to help you reframe the way that you view alcohol . I guess the problem with my YouTube channel is .

Videos are sporadic , right , it's little bits here , little bits there , and I think that if you spent long enough watching this channel , you would get into a state of mind where you don't want to drink . The state of mind that I'm in and this is something that I do in my program . Right , we use first principles thinking where I have more of a system .

Right , where it's like we dive into this , we dive into this , we dive into this . But you want to reframe the way that you view alcohol , because most people see alcohol as a beneficial thing , as something that adds value in their life . But where we want to get to is we want to see alcohol as poison , as ethanol , as something that does nothing for us .

And I promise you , once you're there , you will know it . There'll be no question in your mind that you've reframed alcohol , because now , stopping drinking isn't a fight . It's a weird feeling . It's like this feeling of I'm done , I don't want to drink .

It's something that a lot of people that have watched this channel have done , and it's something that my clients go through as well . And if you click the link in the description to get the free video training that I spoke about earlier . That will show you how to do it in a bit more detail . So definitely go and do that .

So the fourth thing that you want to do is you want to be accountable to an independent third party . This can't be your mate , this can't be your wife or your husband , this can't be your kid . This needs to be an independent third party and it needs to be somebody that you respect . For some people , they're going to find this in their gym .

They're going to hire a personal trainer . The personal trainer is going to say , okay , we're doing health , this health , that not drinking alcohol . And you explain to them right , yeah , the reason why I want to hire you is because I want to be accountable to somebody for my health and my fitness , and not drinking is part of that .

Some people will find it there . Some people will find a stop drinking coach . They'll find somebody that works specifically in that domain and then they'll work with them . But I'll tell you why it's important to be accountable to somebody else . So I have and fitness . However , I still will hire personal trainers for myself .

They've got to be good , but I will get coaches when it comes to health and fitness , because it's not about the theory right . It's not about do this workout . I can write a workout program . I can write a nutrition plan . It ain't about that . It's about being accountable to somebody that I respect and I respond really well to having a coach .

I've spent oh , I'm not even going to tell you how much , but it's tens of thousands that I've spent on coaching , because when I put my skin in the game , when I invest in a coach , when I have somebody that I respect , that I'm accountable to and I'm taking action , the chance of me succeeding I'm not even exaggerating , it's probably 99% , whereas doing it on

my own might be 15 . Why would I not pay money to expedite a result ? But I think the most important thing is when you're finding a coach is you need to find somebody that you respect . I'll give you an example .

When I was starting my business , my friend sent me this business coach and he's like Leon you've got to check this guy out , he's so good and I watched him and he was out of shape . He didn't really dress very clean , he just wasn't somebody that I wanted to emulate . He looked a bit scruffy , his videos weren't very nicely polished .

And then there was somebody else who was more of somebody that I respected .

He seemed a lot more clear in his thinking , he looked smart , he looked professional , he spoke with a lot more clarity and I was like , but hang on , the information is pretty much exactly the same and I went with the person who I respected , because I want to find a coach who I respect . I don't want to let this person down .

If I didn't have any respect for the person , then the relationship would never work . Number five the fifth thing to do is to decide , and when I say decide , right when it comes to actually stopping drinking . The decision needs to be clear , cut . If you're serious about making a change with alcohol , there cannot be an attempt .

There cannot be 30 days , there cannot be a week without drinking . You need to make a clear decision , and what a decision really is is it's cutting off all possibility of anything else to happen . And you know what . We're going to leave that point there , because I can't make the decision for you .

I can't do anything for you when it comes to making the decision . This is one thing that's personal to you . You need to go and sit away , lock yourself away and get into a state of mind where you decide to make a change . I can't do it for you . You've got to do that for yourself , and you can do it . I know you can . I believe in you .

You wouldn't have watched this far into the video if you weren't serious . So let's presume that you've made that decision . Maybe you've paused the video , you've gone for a walk , you're back right now . I don't know . Now , the sixth thing that you need to do is something that is so important , but everybody seems to do the opposite .

They're going to look at making amendments to people in AA , they're going to go and sit with a therapist , with a counsellor , and they're going to talk about all the bad things that have happened in their life . And if you want to do that , I'm not here to stop you . But everybody does this . But what nobody does is focus on the future .

Nobody creates a vision for their life

. But if you don't have something and make no changes you don't want to change your body , you don't want to change your health , you don't want to change your relationships , you don't want to improve your life in any way then I'm sorry , but what's the point ?

See , one of the best things you can do is create a vision for your life , is to imagine the ideal right .

If you could be perfect for 10 years and keep making progress , your body could look a certain way , your bank could look a certain way , your career could look a certain way , your relationship could look a certain way , your environment could look a certain way , the materials that you own could be a certain way .

If you could really stick on this path of not drinking . There is no limit to how great your life could be , but it's important to design that right .

It's important to have that ideal to work towards and that you want to work towards it every single day , because in a year from now , in six months from now , in even three months from now , people are going to say what are you doing differently ? Your skin's changed , have you lost weight ?

You're nicer to be around , and in just a few months you can become totally unrecognizable . Thanks for checking out the Stop Drinking Podcast by Sober Clear . If you want to learn more about how we work with people to help them stop drinking effortlessly , then make sure to visit wwwsoberclearcom .