Why You MUST Quit Alcohol NOW (Sober Leon X Marcus Smith)

If you want to control your drinking quickly and you don't want it to be a fight and a battle , one of the best things that you can do is start to understand other people's worldview who have the mindset that you want At the end of the day .

I don't want to sound cocky , but if you could see alcohol the way that I see it , I can guarantee that you would never drink again , because I see alcohol as a poison , as ethanol as something that adds nothing to me . I see no logical reason to ever drink again , despite struggling for so long .

And to understand somebody's beliefs is you have to understand why they came to those conclusions . So you have to study , you have to listen to other people , you have to learn from other people , read books , watch videos , and this is why I wanted to publish this video today .

It's a podcast where I was interviewed by Marcus Smith , the founder of Inner Fight , which is the gym that we're a member of and Marcus is the founder of it . He's a very inspirational guy , a great athlete , an amazing entrepreneur .

I'll link it to his Instagram down below , but he interviewed me on my worldview when it comes to alcohol and hopefully , after you've watched this entire interview , I will basically implant my worldview and my beliefs into your brain so you can make stopping drinking easy as well let's rock and roll .

Leon , I want the exact moment when you decided that alcohol wasn't for you see , my journey there is not like everybody else , so , like a lot of people will come to that conclusion in like their 40s and their 50s right where they're like do you know what ? I don't think I should be doing this , but for me it was .

I probably like the 10th time I got drunk I was like whoa , hang on . So it was very early on , like my journey was so acute it was . It was like this peak so early on , and then it was just struggle for years , right ? So you know , I think I went to my first Alcoholics Anonymous meeting . I might have been in 2019 , something like that .

Um , because you know , alcohol and drugs just just caused so much chaos so I realized that , uh , that alcohol's not for me . Yeah , a long time ago , man , long time ago what was the realization like ?

There's a number of different substances , and exercise can actually be as addictive to a lot of people , but what was it that was happening , maybe inside your mind or inside your body , that was starting to give you the feeling that this is like you said , this is just not for me what can happen for a lot of teenagers .

And then I start drinking and then I remember because at school I was never really accepted and you know , you're to find your identity , you're trying to find who you are in the world , and I never felt accepted . But then I remember I smoked some weed and there was like this little bit of notoriety , right .

So I remember it was a half-term break , so we got 10 days off school and I remember I got either drunk or stoned every single day for 10 days , right , and it is nothing , right , it is what it is .

But I remember I went to school and I remember telling people and it was like this moment of I'm proud , I'm proud that I've drank , and you know , you get this notoriety and then all of a sudden , people just accept you a little bit more .

So I kind of think that's how , for me , it started , where I was trying to find my identity and then I got something . And it's a really strange journey , but but then , very quickly , I got something from alcohol and I got something from drugs , I got this tiny bit of status and then everything just started crumbling away . Yes , it's sad .

I don't know how the teachers didn't know , maybe they didn't know , but they were always sort of considered , I guess the way that you've put it like they're a bit different , they're a bit cool , and why do you think that ? Why do you think that is ? Why do we view people that are doing something in , I mean , bad ? Really ?

We shouldn't have been taking those substances at 14 , 15 . Why do we view them as a little bit better than everyone else ?

So at university , you know , everybody just gets smashed , and I remember it was like Freshers' Week , right . So everyone's coming in hungover and their teachers would kind of snigger . They'd laugh , right . They're like , oh look , how hungover he is . Like it's totally normal , it's totally fine .

Like going out consuming this poison , consuming this drug that's , you know , could destroy your life , that's destroyed . Tens of thousands of people die from it all the time . And then your teachers they're laughing .

It's just a bizarre , right , if you actually think about it makes no sense about it like that but then what happens is you kind of develop this , this addiction to alcohol , while you're at university and then you go into into some corporate world , which is what I did . After university , I went and worked in an office . Um , it's even worse , right ?

They just continue .

And , like you said , lecturers like they don't bat an eyelid , they almost I , I remember some things , situations , just as you explained , like the lecturers would laugh at it . And then we go into the corporate world or to the working world where , especially in certain industries , alcohol is a huge part of the industry .

Like you can't not , you can't sign deals , but in some industries the whole whining and dining clients , it's so it almost serves . In those three stages , which could be in a six-year period , it serves us in a in three really wild ways , doesn't it ?

it late . So there's a famous example in a book , right , there's Alan Carr , easy Way to Stop Drinking , and he uses this example of a Venus flytrap . And how it works is like the fly will come to the top of the thing , it will taste this nectar and then it won't fly away because the nectar is so good , but it can fly away whenever it wants .

And then it won't fly away because the nectar is so good , but it can fly away whenever it wants .

So it's like , oh , it's so good , and then if it looks down to the bottom of the planet , it just sees carcasses , right , it just sees all of these flies that are dead , but it can fly away whenever it wants , but it keeps eating the nectar , keeps eating the nectar , and then it looks down .

It's like the book and this , this example was used in many books . It's like when did that person lose control ? Did it lose control when it was a 16 year old getting the status ? Or have they lost control when they're , when they're 30 , when they actually try and stop and they realize I can't stop ? Like when did that person lose control ?

You know , the role of an alcohol company is they want to hook you as early as they can , right , they want to get you . Get you when you're 15 , when you're 16 . That's why you see Alcopops , that's why you see , you know these seltzers , and once they've got you , that's it . It's like you can't really escape it .

It's just next level , right , and you know , I said this in a video a long time ago . And who benefits the rock benefits , right , he's laughing . All of the shareholders around him . I mean everybody's laughing , right , they're probably 100x their money . So , so there's a certain group of people that are getting a huge benefit from , from selling alcohol .

But then who doesn't benefit ? The end consumer ? Right , all they get is a bottle of this poison that's 40 poison , 60 water , whatever vodka , gin , whatever it is and by buying that product , they are literally consuming something that is going to put them in a grave . So it's so unethical , right .

But the people that are around the rock or the people that are around the company , they're benefiting in a big way . But then if you go to Mexico right , guess what happens there You'll go to some like poor area and then you'll go to some little shrine and then you'll see a picture and guess who it is it's a drug cartel leader .

Because a drug cartel leader is enriched , his local area , you know . He'll send money back home , he'll build a church , he'll build a house . They'll go and sing songs about the drug cartel leader , so sure that person benefits . But who doesn't benefit , right ? The end consumer ? Right , they're just destroying their life and it's this double standard that we've got .

So , going back to Alcopops , I mean , it's sick , it's like disgusting .

It's all for pure greed financial gain . It's a really weird sort of situation and , like you said , you're going up in the grave . Financial gain it's a really weird sort of situation . Like you said , you're going up in the grave .

Not everyone , but we're selling whether it's bad food , alcohol , cigarettes , drugs , things that we know when they're abused and because of their addictiveness or abused often we'll kill other human beings .

Right , it's the dopamine from the , from the drug , like social media , all these massive companies . It's just hijacking your brain .

And the thing is is like for you to work on any long-term goal health , whatever , a business , a career , like these things take sacrifice and it , and you've got to kind of just get away from this instant dopamine because you know , an alcohol company , a social media company , they don't give a shit .

If you just sit there on your phone all day scrolling or if you go and work on your business , they don't care .

definitely when I was growing up and obviously it sounds like when you were growing up as well social media wasn't so prevalent . So the distractions , the bads , which were then seen as cool and elevated our status a little bit , were more attractive . Do you think or maybe you you know that people are less addicted ?

The youth are less addicted to alcohol now and more addicted to other things like social media , they say that less millennials are drinking .

Same with smoking cigarettes a long time ago . And I just think progression , like conversations are progressing , where kids are now like well , hang on , like should I really be doing this ? Like is it really all that is made out to be ? yeah and I think maybe you know that could come from .

Maybe , just um , the youth are just bombarded with marketing , right , 24 , 7 phones , advertisements , it's just , it's just a constant attack . So I don't know , maybe people are just becoming more aware of , like , the product placement in a movie or so yeah , I guess that's .

I think the thing is , man , is it's going nowhere , like yeah , there might be a small percentage drop , but yeah , we've added another problem with these other things that are addictive .

However , like , what I'm trying to do is I'm not going to go and sit in a in a lobby , but if I can help , like an individual change their relationship with alcohol , that starts a conversation right . So , so , like if it starts at the individual level .

So if I can influence one person to stop drinking to , you know , see alcohol for what it is , to see it as a poison , as a drug , rather than this , you know , nice thing that's in our life . If I can get them to change that , then what happens is like when I changed , I set an example for somebody else . No-transcript .

When did you stop drinking alcohol Permanently ? Six years ago , but I've been stopping and starting for as long as I can remember .

Like I said , when I started drinking it was just this acute thing of like , oh shit , causing damage so early on , but then my life was just up and down , so it was just like you know , I might stop drinking for a month , and then everything would go well . I'd tell my family I'm not drinking ever again . It's changed my life . Blah , blah , blah , boom .

I'd go well . I'd tell my family I'm not drinking ever again . It's changed my life . Blah , blah , blah , boom . Then I'd drink again . So , and this cycle just went on for so long , like so , I've stopped and started more times than I can count . And why did you ?

What were some of the things that made you start drinking again ?

You know , there was one day where I threw a blood on a computer , right , like okay , that's enough to get you to scare you , right ? where you're like whoa I shouldn't have done that , yeah , but that will get you going . But then the pain eventually subsides . So then then it's like you forget , you just , you just totally forget .

It's like , oh , it wasn't that bad . So when I would start drinking again is I would forget the pain ? And then I would see somebody drinking like I don't know , I had this . I had this friend . He was super successful , right , just like great career , investments , everything , and he wouldn't . He would drink , but not a lot .

So I forget the pain that alcohol has caused me for the past eight years or whatever it had been , and I'd look at this guy and be like huh , he's got his life together .

But yeah , to have this idea of just having one , I'd start thinking that I could be a normal drinker and every time I'd fail and I've done that enough times to realise that that voice in your head is lying , do ? You believe that ?

You know , my thinking is very black and white , like I'm very open-minded about everything , but on this one topic , my mindset is is 100 like one way and it ain't gonna change . I've done enough research , I've had enough experience to not change it , and you know that . What would happen in my mind if I ?

I thought that I thought , oh , there are normal drinkers , there are people that can do it . I would just immediately think , well , there's also people that can smoke crack and have a normal relationship with crack . Do I want to do it ? No , so it's just not an admirable thing .

Uh , if it's , yeah , good for them , but I don't want to be like severity of drugs .

And I agree with you , mate , like if someone said , yeah , I'm a , I'm a recreational crack smoker , you'd be like like you're what you know , it wouldn't . But there's this weird scale , isn't there ?

And on the scale of where a drug like sugar is killing millions and then crack heroin , whatever on this end is actually not , but this is really demonized and this is really common . And I don't know , does alcohol sit in the middle ? Like it's , it's very sort of a personal thing , but what's your thoughts on on that ? Like there's ?

I mean , what's your thoughts on sugar , mate ?

One thing that people can do , though , is they'll stop drinking , and then they will switch the addiction to sugar , like . That is actually quite common , because you know , when you stop drinking , the blood sugar is down . You want to eat sugar .

You get these cravings , and what I always say to to my clients is you know , the first week , go easy on yourself .

If you want to sit in front of tv all day and , uh and eat a bowl of ice cream , it's better than drinking a bottle of vodka , right , like , so what , but what you don't want to do is start switching the addiction , because , going back to the , the idea of dopamine- you know you're , you're gaining your dopamine from just a completely different substance , um ,

but yeah , you know you , there could be a whole conspiracy there with sugar and um , you know it's addictive , like alcohol , and you know that's what I'm .

Is it the addictive part , like what did you replace alcohol with in your life ?

If I get in my car after drinking some sugar , whatever , if I get in my car after drinking 10 cans of beer . So there's quite a significant difference . It's like caffeine , right , it's still a damaging substance . It isn't going to cause that insane damage .

. Where was your addiction ? Your addiction was alcohol . Where did it ?

They'll go make amendments to people . So you know the addiction that I that I stopped drinking with was creating a future . Drinking with was creating a future . Right , it was creating a vision . It was it was actually sitting down and asking myself , like who do I want to be and what kind of life do I want to live ?

So you know what I did when I stopped drinking . It was within like two weeks , as I started started a business , so I started personal training . So , and I built this vision right , like I was like all right , I need to get back , I need to start my own business again . I need to do my own thing .

Because when I , when I stopped drinking , as my life had just crumbled away but I had no money , I was borrowing money off my family . I remember calling my nana at like 25 years of age , like , can I borrow 500 quid ? I've got no food in the fridge . It was embarrassing . So what I did was I just asked myself , like okay , who do I want to be ?

Well , I want to be an entrepreneur . Right , that's what I wanted to be . So I remember , within two weeks , it was like the confidence came back , the energy came back , the clarity came back . So I knew that I could do it . And uh , and then I spent uh , it was probably about three months personal training , but it was like instant client straight away .

I'm on the gym floor all day , you know , trying to make money , just like . And it was working right . And then I was taking , like this business course . And , you know , just because I asked myself when I stopped , who do I want to be ? So I was taking these courses , learning all this stuff , trying to change , you know , my identity .

And after three months , you know , I built like these onboarding system . I felt like a machine . And then I did Facebook ads and I was getting customers for the personal training and I was getting like one pound leads at the time and it was like I've cracked it , I've cracked the code . I finished this business .

So now it was like I either go and open my own gym or , you know , I'm going to work in this gym , I'm going to live in England . I don't want that life . So , you know , the thing that I'd always wanted was I wanted an online business , right . And what I ended up didn't know how it would look .

So , you know , when you said , like what do you change your addiction to it was just like , well , hang on . I just had a vision for my life instead , like I didn't need to . I didn't need to swap it for sugar or swap it for another drug or another substance . It was just like what do I want ? Have a vision for my life . I knew I want .

I knew what I wanted . I wanted this online business . So , you know , I went and booked this one-way flight and I went to Chiang Mai and because I had like one friend in Chiang Mai , there was one guy that I met in the personal training world that had an online business in Chiang Mai .

So I knew two people there and then , luckily , when I got there , it was , you know , a lot of other people with an online business and I spent a year I tried to do online personal training , fitness training not for me , that's not me , like , I don't count my macros .

So if if I'm telling this person , that person , to count their macros , there was an incongruency that I couldn't handle . So , anyway , I got there and then I spent a year freelancing . So I was just working for anybody doing anything Write this YouTube script for me , film this YouTube video for me , do this email for me . I was just saying yes to everything .

So I did this for a year and then after one year , I met somebody in Chiang Mai called Nick Nimmin . So Nick teaches people how to start YouTube channels . And he basically said like you can't keep doing things for other people , you want to do your own thing , do your own thing , start your own YouTube channel .

And he owed me um $300 for some scripts that I'd wrote for him . And I said , all right , don't give me the money until I've made three videos . He's like all right deal . And I made a video about not drinking for a year .

I made two others that failed , but this one video I made about not drinking for one year it got traffic , it got 5 000 views , it got hundreds of upvotes on reddit and just comment after comment after comment , like all my days . This is just like me . This story's mine .

I can't believe you've done this blah , blah , blah , blah and um , and that's kind of where it all started . That .

You had a moment of clarity , you got a vision I want to build an online business , bang , and I'm going left right , left right and you , you , you were successful , so you get satisfaction it's .

Oh , and then , I don't know , I made a YouTube video for somebody . 200,000 views , oh , I can do YouTube . And yeah , maybe there was all these like little milestones that kept happening , which were longer-term vision , rather than just this , like this drug that's just dragging me down .

So maybe what happened is is I just got addicted to doing like the hard work and it was like , oh , hang on , progression , progression , progression , progression .

And rather than in the past , you know , it would be like drink , go down , up , down , up down , whereas this time it was a lot more linear , so everything was just building upon on it's super interesting because all dopamine is equal .

You're feeling really good in the moment , but then there was a lot of repercussions , same as a lot of different bad things , but the dopamine is , is still there . What's the ? Uh ? I think it's the book's actually called dopamine nation . Um , and , and and it explains it because it's it's almost like stress .

The body stress is stress , whether we get stressed through work , through relationships , through training , and this is the biggest issue that that I see , especially within our gym , where we have a lot of people that are in super high stress jobs , incredibly successful .

You know they still want to train more because they got to where they are by doing more and now they want to train more , but that just adds more stress and they're like , yeah , but it's training stress , but yeah , but it all stress , it's the same thing . So you were still getting this great release , which you're not any different , like we're all the same .

We all love dopamine . I mean , I was reading recently the amount of people that are actually addicted to online shopping .

Like it's crazy , mate , and if you think about the whole take Amazon , the whole Amazon experience it's small bits of dopamine all along the way and you've searched and you've read a little bit and you've added it to your cart , but then you haven't checked out .

And then you get a reminder and then you check out and then the shipment's on the way and they send you an email and then they send you another email that's delivered , and then you can't wait to get home and then you do . You know what I mean ? All these bits are just these , these tiny bits that are feeding us , which is which is crazy .

Side note anyway . So you've built a , you started a youtube , you started a youtube channel . Talk , talk us through that , mate . How did it feel sharing your story on one of your first YouTube videos for the first time ?

It took me a year to actually make it like when I first thought about doing youtube and I was all I was shaking , like physically sick it was . It was the scariest thing I've ever done in my life . But then by this point I was a little bit more immune to it , like I'd had a bad comments and you know trolls and you know you .

Just , you just stopped caring . But I remember when I made the video about not drinking , I cried in the video and it was , there were real tears , uh , yeah , yeah , yeah , I just , I just flooded up with tears . How do you feel about that ? mate uh well , at the time , I mean , I just you just stopped caring , right , it was like a raw video .

I don't think there was a single cut . There might have been one cut in the video .

I just thought you know what , I'm just gonna post it and uh , I guess there was an element of , of , maybe there was a slight element of fear , uh , but you know , just posted anyway , like do you think you'd come to a point where you're like I started drinking to fit in , because I used to care so much .

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And I remember when I made the video , I did send it to a friend of mine and he was like I didn't even know you really drank that much . I was like , oh yeah , you had no idea , because I didn't stop drinking in the past , I'd make it this massive deal . You know , I tell everybody I was in an , a meeting , this , that , that and um .

And this time it was just like do you know what ? Because I knew in my heart that I was done like I made the first time in my life I ever made a real decision . And when I say decision , it's like this cut off right where . It's like that's it , I ain't touching that again .

And I and I remember I told one person , like within the first few days of stopping drinking , somebody that I worked with , excuse me , and uh , and he looked at me and he was like , oh , here we go again . And I went silent . I said do you know what ? I don't need to tell anybody because he's done Like I'm .

It's really happened . So , yeah , by this point and I didn , you know what , let's just try a bunch of stuff and see what happens no idea that this was going to be , uh , still going down five years later , which is crazy . Um , it is a bit nuts .

You've told everyone about , you've shared your story and been sort of vulnerable , quite vulnerable and open with it . How did you , how did the business sort of pick up and just explain to us a little bit how it works , because people are listening and they're like , oh wow , this is something that I'm interested .

So how did it sort of progress and what is it ?

I posted this video and it got some traffic , but I didn't think anything at first . It was just like , oh , that's cool . And then I tried some other stuff , some other stuff , and I made another video about the five benefits of not drinking for a year and again it got traffic .

It didn't get as much traffic as the first video , but it did better than all the other videos that I was trying .

I was like , oh , that's interesting , and uh , and then I just made a few more and the thing is at this time is I was quite vulnerable , like I didn't know what I wanted , so I'd get a lot of like predatory business coaches that were like messaging me and it is the game's the game .

I'm not like , I don't , I'm not upset , but they were like , oh , have you tried this , have you tried that ? Because , because I'd done a little bit of personal training online , so I had a very low understanding of the basics . So I was getting this person DM me .

This person DM me and they almost got me , but I didn't buy from any of these people that were DMing me . But I remember I was riding my motorbike . I did this visa run . So in Thailand you get like 60-day visas , whatever , and you've got to go and leave the country , then come back in and I rode my motorbike .

It was like this five hour motorbike journey and motorbikes they're really good , you know , because you get these ideas . You're like meditating , the mind's calm , and then boom , you'll get this snap and you're like , oh , that's what I got to do . And I remember riding back and it hit me and there was this , this mentor , that , um , he was on youtube .

Somebody gave me access to his course , supposed to buy it . I bought it later on because it was so life-changing , but anyway , it is what it is . So I remember riding the motorbike home and it was like , right , just listen to one person , one mentor , don't listen to anybody else . You're getting too many shiny objects . This person's saying e-commerce .

This person's saying youtube . This person's saying facebook . This person is like it's like just just quiet everybody down and listen to this one person and he didn't really tell you about what platform to do . He said do a do a bit of facebook .

But it was more about the fundamentals of of a coaching business and it was like , all right , first define the problem , right . What problem are you trying to solve ? So define that . Then define the person who you're going to help solve that problem with right .

So I'd , you know , I defined somebody that was just like me , so it was you know , and I defined that , and then he said , now sell the solution to that problem .

And he and he was like , and it was so simple , he made things so simple and it was all about the fundamentals of of helping people solve a problem right , which is what any service or any coaching or any anything does . It's just about taking somebody from where they are to where they want to get to .

So I learned from this guy and , uh , and then it was like there was , there were also so many missing pieces in my knowledge , but now I kind of got the fundamentals is .

I could see the missing pieces and it was like , okay , well , hang on , you need to , you need to , instead of sending the traffic to this , send them to this and then start the conversation and blah , blah , blah and then all the pieces started coming together and and what happened was I I made a Facebook group at the beginning , so I would send the YouTube

traffic to a Facebook group . I Facebook group , I'd be on Facebook adding people and I just just helped for free . I just did all these free calls , just coaching calls , trying to learn more about the problem , trying to help people solve the problem , and then I , uh , I think I had 100 people , 50 people in a Facebook group .

So I made a course and it was like spelling mistakes . It was uh , because he'd always said , like you know , you just got to get things out fast , test them , see if it works . Minimum viable course , minimum viable course , just get it out there . He might have used some more colorful language , right , I won't say it , so anyway .

So I gave this course away to like 50 people . All right , leon , I'm gonna do it , I'm gonna do it . Yeah , yeah , nobody took the damn course . So I'm there and I'm like , ah , this ain't gonna work . I don't know what I'm gonna do , I'm just gonna do something else anyway .

So then a couple of weeks have passed and then I got this message and uh , and he was like leon , I watched the course I got I'm done with drinking . And he and he said I'm gonna send you a video testimonial . This is insane . So he went and got these like super expensive bottles of liquor right , just pours it down the drain like I'm done .

That course was insane . I know I'm not going to drink anymore . And I remember showing my girlfriend I'm like look , look , like , do you see this ? And it was the first time , like the dream was now a reality because we'd created value , we changed somebody's life through the internet .

And I remember seeing this and it was just like I can do this , like it could really happen . So from that point , and man , I was studying all the time like I've taken , I've spent so I probably spent 50 grand on courses on education . You know , just study , study , study course , consultant , this , that , that trying to put all the pieces together .

And uh , and what happened was um did that . And then I started working one-on-one with people . So you know , I do one-on-one calls , I'd work with them for 12 weeks , charge them whatever , and I give them this course and then more people stop drinking and more people stop drinking .

And then you know , just eventually the the course , uh , the one-on-one coaching just got fully booked and I think it was like 12 clients clients . I just can't do more than 12 one-on-one clients . It's too hard having to do videos and this and that um and then , uh , and then .

Basically , from from all the sessions you know from my own experience , from from everything from the research that I've done , because by this point I've read so much more and I knew so much more about alcohol than about the program that there is today and it was the hardest thing I've ever done in my life .

It's like it's not a long program , it's very compact , uh , but I put everything into this , into this program , so it's like an online course education thing and it literally it sounds too good to be true , but it will take somebody that's . I've had clients that have drank a bottle of vodka every day for 20 years no joke .

Like I've had some of the worst case drinkers that don't drink anymore . They've tried everything , nothing worked .

I've had people that said you know when they , when they were drinking they were , they got to a point where their vision was affected , like they were almost going blind because of alcohol boom changed and the course is all about helping somebody just reshape their beliefs on alcohol kind of . You know what we've just spoken about earlier in the podcast .

It's just 10 , 10 levels deeper . We just go way deeper and really just help somebody get into a state of mind where it's like seeing alcohol this logical way . There's no emotional pull to it anymore , so it becomes a choice , and a choice is always , if you see it that way , is I'm not going to drink it , like why would I choose to put that in my body ?

So this is how the program works

. And then we've got , like you know , that future focus element where it's not about going to the past . There's no therapy , there's no counseling . Not that I don't believe in that stuff . I tell people there's a time and a place , but it's not going to contribute to you on your journey to stop drinking .

You need to change your perception of alcohol and then focus on the future . How do you do ?

But what we're talking about often is reprogramming someone's mind , changing that relationship , changing that perception . How do you get someone to do that Easy ?

I'm talking like way over six figures , right , just on editing on the equipment , on everything , and I've put my heart into it and I give it all away for free .

And the way that you do this is you use first principles , thinking so , like going back to that example with the business coach , right , he would say uh , this is this is you know , I learned it from him and I learned I've heard about it before . But he would say know , what does society think about building a business , right , how do they label it ?

Well , they say that it's hard , that it's difficult , that you need an investor , you need a big idea . You hear all this BS . That's not true . When you boil it down to its first principles , you break a business into its component parts . He says so what do you need ? You need a problem . You need a problem . You need a problem . You need a problem .

You need a person that has the problem . You need to be able to market to that person and talk to that individual person . You need to sell them a solution and deliver the solution . So let's break it down into its principles and then study the principles right , and then you realize , when you put it back together , your paradigm is business is 100% possible .

It's not even that difficult , right , and you and you , you probably have had this experience as well . So this is what we do with alcohol . Is , if you think about it all , all the only reason why somebody drinks is because there's a perception that they gain something from drinking . Right , they , otherwise nobody would do it .

They think that it helps them relax you know , de-stress , uh , they think that it tastes nice . They have all these reasons that they think that they drink .

So if you can break that down into its component parts , right , like so okay , so let's actually study the taste of alcohol , right , and then you , and then you break that down and you think about it more and you're like well , hang on . So so when did I think that I like the taste of drinking ? Because the first time I tasted alcohol I spat it out .

It was disgusting . So it's like , well , hang on . So then , do I really like the taste of alcohol ? Well , if I like the taste of alcohol . Why do I not put pure alcohol on my cornflakes in the morning , you know ? And it's like well , hang on , I don't like the taste of alcohol .

The taste just slowly became tolerable and it tastes like shit , like there's no , there's no nice way to put it . Well , hang on . So that means maybe I'm actually addicted to a drug and so you're boiling it down to its , to its core , and you can do this with all these different beliefs .

Right , there's all these different , these different beliefs , and this takes time . Like I'm not going to say that you could do this in 20 minutes . You've got to sit down , you've got to write down , you know , you've got to do a lot of journaling , introspection . You've got to do a lot of study . I give this away on my channel for free .

Like you know're accountable . There's a community with the people that you're doing it with . You know , there's the whole coaching element after you actually stop drinking . But yeah , you know , it takes a lot of study , a lot of introspection

. You buy books , read papers , listen to podcasts , but eventually I think that anybody can get into that state of mind where it's like the choice , it's like a logical choice , and then you um , and then you know , like you made it the point earlier of , okay , when you're tired , you know , when you're feeling lethargic , then it's going to be difficult .

Well , not if you don't see it as a solution to to your problem . Right , you don't see a crack cocaine as a solution . You don't see , you know , taking a painkiller as a solution .

But for some people it comes on a monday night , but you know , friday afternoon it's the weekend and it's exactly what you said they're only going to alcohol because that's their default setting and that's what they're used to , whereas if you've deconstructed that , however , a lot of people , for a lot of people , mate , introspection , reflection , breaking behaviours down

is quite deep-rooted , because a lot of the reason like , if you look at the reason why you started drinking at school , it's because you didn't fit in . Now you're confident and you're super happy to say that . You said it in the first two minutes of the show and you don't care because you're so confident in yourself .

But for some people to actually say , or to get to a point and say , actually I started drinking because I'm I felt not good enough , that's brutal for them and that can , because then we have to understand why they get got to that feeling and that's hard right . So it's an .

The whole thing is it's a big emotional roller coaster which hurts to unpack yeah , like drinking for a , a lack of confidence .

What ends up happening is , you know you drink like , let's say , you set a goal of getting in certain shape , right coming to the gym , losing x amount of weight . If you don't hit that goal and you drink , your confidence doesn't increase , your self-esteem just goes lower and lower and lower and lower and lower .

So the more that you drink , the lower that your self-esteem goes . And you know you've got to go back to like okay , you don't feel good about yourself , you're not confident about yourself yourself . Well , why , like ? What's the root cause of that ?

And yeah , I mean a lot of the time it's like breaking commitments to yourself and not staying true to your word . But when you get rid of alcohol , if that's like the cause , if that's like a major problem in your life and you feel like it's kind of filling a void of confidence .

It's got to go , because then you can then start building that trust of yourself . And when you say , okay , I'm going to lose 10 pounds , I'm going to do five workouts this week and you do it , it's like then you start building a bit more trust in yourself and then you know self-esteem . It takes time , man .

When I , when I stopped drinking , I didn't feel good about myself , I felt like shit . I wanted to cry , like I just looked at my life and , oh man , it was a disaster . Like I just remember waking up this morning , the morning that I stopped drinking . I'm not even telling you half of the stuff I did that night .

But , honestly , I just remember waking up yeah , there was , honestly man . I don't even want to go there , but there was , like you know , trash all over the room like dirty laundry , half a bottle of whiskey that I stole from my housemate I felt like crap . But that's .

The thing is that if I was in such a low place , feeling so bad about myself , no confidence at all , just terrible self-esteem . As soon as I stopped drinking and then I started stacking the wins , that's where confidence comes from . I'm not naturally a confident person , but it's through not drinking and building trust with myself .

And it's just like you , just it builds , it builds , it builds .

Like you've come from not confident to actually being in front of a camera and just saying this is me , this is what I've done , just being vulnerable and but . But I think it's tough , isn't it ? Because the work is hard work . It's like getting in shape , losing 10 pounds . You've worked fucking hard , mate , to get to where you are right , or ?

He joined a program . He did end up drinking again but he stopped drinking for six months and this is no joke . He went from startup to over $100 million company valuation in six months . Would he have done that if he kept drinking ? No way . So for him to do that , it was costing him $100 million to not drink . How crazy is that ?

It's worth even more now , but he's built those initial conditions during that six months of sobriety . So , like for the right kind of person , the ROI to spend your time and money on solving a drinking problem . It dwarfs everything and people don't see that .

You know my program's not cheap , but we talk about ROI and it's like I mean there's nothing else out there . I mean the hours that you put in , the money that you put in , you solve that problem . Your life can skyrocket . And I speak to a lot of people . They're like oh yeah , maybe I'll make a bit more money , maybe I'll lose a bit of pounds .

It's like , mate , you've got no idea what's going to happen when you actually kick it out of your life , like you don't even know what you're capable of let's go back a little bit to to maybe not upset everyone or no to .

Like my message is for a very specific person that , uh , you know , they know they've got an issue with alcohol , yeah , and uh , yeah , that's just , it's just not for everybody which is what you said , like what are the problem you're trying to solve ?

Normally , there's the guy or the girl that stops drinking and never stops telling people that they've stopped drinking , and then there's the way that you went a little bit stealth and you figured it out that it was for you , probably , and you just get quiet and you cracked on Working in that space .

Is there a success rate difference between the person that tells you 20 times a day that they don't drink yeah , or the person that stays silent about it ?

. When you met me , if we didn't start talking about work , you would never have known I don't drink alcohol . It's not my identity . I'm not some recovering alcoholic .

I don't give myself any of these stupid labels because they don't help , so that the problem is that when you start giving yourself these labels and you start identifying with being sober and you start celebrating look at me , look , I've not drank for a year you're telling yourself that that was an achievement .

Right , it's like , wow , look at me , and I've done so well . Like , well , hang on , you're how you're supposed to be . It's not an achievement to not drink alcohol . And listen , I'm not trying to like point my finger . Yeah , I'm not trying to like point my finger .

Yeah , I'm not , I'm not trying to be uh dick , but yeah , it's like it's not an achievement , it's . You just make a decision , get it out of your life and that's it .

Because the and I'm not trying to be critical , because the problem is is that you start putting alcohol on a pedestal and what you're saying is that , oh , this is this really great thing in everybody's life and I've not drank for a year and I'm so I'm .

And you're saying that the further that I get away from alcohol , the longer I am , the more of a non-drinker that I am . That's just nonsense , right ? That doesn't help anybody . And listen , hey , man , if you get a year sober and you celebrate , go out for a dinner . I'm not trying to say that's a bad thing .

It's more about the mindset of what you're actually the self-dialogue of , like , oh , I'm doing better , I'm on day seven , oh , I'm doing better , I'm on day 30 . And another problem with that is when we start setting these milestones where it's like oh , day seven , day 30 , day , day 100 , whatever is . Some people will then say , well , now I deserve a drink .

It's been a year , it's been 30 days , I could go back now it's been a long time , and you know then , like so what are you trying to say ? At five years , I'm more of a non-drinker , so so then you've got to be careful with that dialogue , thinking I could go back to having just one drink again , but it's vision , mate .

You don't have the time and the energy to count the days , the weeks , the months , the minutes , make posts about it , because you've got this vision and you'd rather put your energy into achieving your vision , to make it . You'd rather make a YouTube video about helping others than an Instagram post , for example , to celebrate that you've been sober for 1,200 days .

That's what it's , which makes total sense based on what you've said , because you're reprogramming a mindset .

So for some people they might see somebody a year sober and be like I'm never going to be able to do that , whereas if somebody shares their journey of how they got to one year , sober inspiring yeah , yeah , yeah , and they put some vulnerability into it and talk about the pain that they were in . It's like that can kind of start waking people up .

Exactly the same , because people that are constantly and I think for some , there's quite a few people in your space now that are , should we say , helping , or have made a business out of helping others quit alcohol , which I think is great , and some people have gone about in a different way .

But if the marketing message is constantly I'm two years sober , I'm five years sober , I've I've just found it's got quite boring , whereas your , your message is so nice and clear because it's like vision rewiring and everything's cool , and if you guys over there want to have a drink , that's cool as well , it's . I mean you don't .

You don't hate on people that have a drink , do you ?

But these days , you know , I'll be around people that drink a lot like , especially in Dubai going out for this dinner , or someone's ordering wine , someone's ordering this . I don't care , I just feel I feel nothing . It's like I'm sat with people drinking bleach .

Good , we can still be friends , um , and you're happy to say nothing about it .

you call it behind the bar there's all these bottles and you're like where's the alcohol ? And you look closely and it's like these blue bottles of bleach . What the fuck's this ? So you see your friends hey , hey , marcus , come here .

So you come , you sit down and then everyone's got their drink , and then you look in the middle of the table and there's a bottle of bleach . And then he gives you the glass , he puts the bleach in , he pours the coca-cola in , he's like there you go , mate , and you're like I don't want that .

And then you sit there and you talk to your friends and that's that's . You know , if you're in that alternate universe , you just know , if those people came into our universe and saw us drinking alcohol , they'd feel the same way . They're like dude , what are you drinking ? That shite , for it's just pure poison . So when I'm sat with people drinking .

It's like I see bleach . It's like I logically see it .

It was me and my best friend , yeah , and we love pool . We're just like get addicted to pool , right . There you go . There's what I stopped alcohol for playing pool .

I didn't think about drinking once , uh , but it's not like I'm going to a nightclub where I feel uncomfortable , where there's loads of loud music and dancing . I don't dance , man , I'm not going to go there , don't worry , yeah , yeah , yeah . You don't want to see me dance .

As long as you're doing something that you enjoy and you're with people that you like , it doesn't matter .

The fact that you're doing it in a bar , I mean it doesn't matter , it's just that the pool table was in the bar and you guys had a great time till three in the morning four nights a week because you played pool .

So it's the environment and , like you say , you probably because you're , I mean , normally substitutes is fitness for alcohol , which is great , great for both of us , actually , you know , and it's like , so now you get friends from the gym and you can .

But there are also certain people that and I guess it goes back to what we were talking about before For some people , the tool of telling people the whole time , or posting on whatever platform they use , that they're so many days dry is a really powerful tool for them and we shouldn't always deprive them .

For some people , the tool of not hanging out with people that are consuming alcohol is the right tool at the right time . But you're at a stage where it's cool . If you're a good lad . We're mates , we can go out If you want to have a drink . I mean , I can't stand it , mate . I can't stand hanging out with people that are drunk .

Drives me nuts and the more . But that's also because I think I've seen a lot of people , which I think we all have , really screw themselves up and I don't know , do we feel responsible if we've been in their company ? I don't know . But I won't go to a brunch , don't worry . Yeah , yeah , yeah , not for me . It's .

Yeah , it's an interesting one , mate , it's awesome . It's a great conversation

. I think it's different for a lot of people , but your principles and the way that you've delivered them is uber powerful , mate . We have to congratulate you . I know the number doesn't mean a lot , but 100,000 subscribers on YouTube , it does mean something . It means that you're doing something great mate , and we have to congratulate you .

I know the number doesn't mean a lot 100,000 subscribers on YouTube . It does mean something . It means that you're doing something great mate , and I know , like you said , the content that you've put on YouTube for free . That's like this podcast , 900 and whatever .

I think if you listen to all of these shows , please go and do it , if you listen to all these shows . You get , not from me , but from from the guests . You get all the keys to unlocking everything . So , mate , thank you for for what you're doing for helping people and and and also for for sharing .

We've had good conversations as well around around alcohol , and I think it's I'll never forget the and you used it in in this show the vodka on your , uh , on your cornflakes , I think you used that on me . The first time we chatted outside , wasn't it probably I've been riding for like seven hours and talking to me about vodka and cornflakes .

But , mate , it's , it's great to have you , obviously here in dubai and and and at the gym . How should people ? How does it work if people want to use your program ? They like what you've said . How does all of that work ?