Alcohol: How It Can Destroy Your Productivity, Your Potential, and Your Life

This episode is all about alcohol and the damage it's doing to you, your business and your life.

So tune in and discover:

• How even the smallest amount of alcohol disrupts your ability to be the best version of yourself.
• What alcohol costs you - and it isn't just the cash in your pocket.
• Alcohol is relatively safe, right? WRONG. It actually kills more people than EVERY OTHER DRUG ON THE PLANET COMBINED.
• Why you should give up alcohol - or at the very least, consider reducing your intake.
• The 3 simple things you can accept that will completely redesign your beliefs around alcohol.
• And much, much more!

So tune in now, and if you need support then check out, This Naked Mind, and/or, Alcoholics Anonymous.

Timestamps:
00:00 - Introduction: Nick introduces the topic and guest, Kath Elliott
01:30 - Kath’s journey to becoming alcohol-free and her coaching focus
03:45 - Kath shares her personal story and the normalization of binge drinking
07:00 - The turning point: A personal incident leading Kath to quit alcohol
10:15 - Alcohol as a class 1 carcinogen and its societal impact
13:00 - The negative effects of alcohol on sleep and brain chemistry
17:15 - Alcohol's impact on productivity and relationships
20:30 - Physical health: Alcohol’s effects on the liver, heart, and skin
25:00 - Nick and Kath summarize benefits of giving up alcohol
28:30 - Closing thoughts: Experimenting with alcohol-free days and resources

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Transcript

Nick Poninski: Hello there and welcome back to another episode of marketing made easy for consultants with me Nick Poninski. as ever, we usually talk about marketing and sales, but sometimes I like to talk to you about personal development. How you can be the best HR consultant that you can be. And that's what today's topic is all about. That's what we're going to be covering is alcohol. We're going to talk about the benefits of giving up because I've done it and I'm feeling awesome and I wanted to share the message. As I say, I want you to be the best consultant you can be.

Nick Poninski: 

Nick Poninski: And since I've moved to being a non-alcoholic, life has never been better. And this is potentially something that could change your life. So I wanted to make sure that I shared it with you. That being said, I can't lead a discussion on this. This isn't my area of expertise. So I've got today a guest with us. I have got Cath on to lead the discussion. Thank you for joining us. Yes. Yeah.

Kath Elliott: 

Nick Poninski: It's great that you can join me as well, Kath, because obviously it's nighttime here and it's daytime for you. So, yeah, full 12-hour difference.

Kath Elliott: Yeah. Full 12 hours into the future here,…

Kath Elliott: in Australia.

Nick Poninski: Yeah, it's always a little bit mind-blowing how you're 12 hours ahead yeah, it's the future. but yeah,…

Kath Elliott: Yeah. Yeah.

Nick Poninski: thank you for joining us. G give us an introduction to yourself, what are you doing?

Kath Elliott: I always find this question interesting. Who are you? it's such a big question, but I guess in the context of our discussion, I am personally someone who has now been living alcohol-f free for five and a half years.

Kath Elliott: And I am also an alcohol mindset coach. So I help support others to change their relationship with alcohol and particularly high functioning sort of professional people who know that their relationship with alcohol is holding them back from being probably the most productive version of themselves.  And I love that you introduced the podcast with a focus on this because sometimes you don't know what potential you're actually missing until take a break from alcohol and see what opens up for you in your life.

Kath Elliott: 

Kath Elliott: And for me that is so prevalent in terms of I thought I was a highly productive person. But it wasn't until I looked at my own relationship with alcohol,…

Nick Poninski: Yeah.

Kath Elliott: which I'll just give a quick bit of background about that. But I was very much what I would call a binge drinker, an event weekend episodic binge drinker. I wasn't a daily drinker. and sometimes I didn't drink each week. I would take regular breaks from alcohol as well. I'd often have a couple of months away from drinking a year. I was someone who was committed to, really health as well. So, I would go to the gym, I would have my green smoothies, I would, do my meditation.

Kath Elliott: But I had this part of my life, this drinking that was not healthy. that I didn't have an off switch, but that was also very normalized here in Australia as well. So as a 14, 15 year old, I tried alcohol. I stole some gin from my parents drinks cabinet. I got drunk with a friend.  And then, very quickly by the time I was 16, I was probably drinking most weekends, drinking ex excessively, but also being, I guess, told or having it reinforced that being a girl female who could drink with the boys, who had high tolerance, who could stay out late, who also recovered really well from drinking as well.

Kath Elliott: I didn't get bad hangovers and I get me get messy drunk I suppose and all of that was kind of affirmed to me that you are a really good drinker. So it became a positive part of my identity that I took through through my life I guess. but the other side of that was that my drinking worried me from early on because I didn't have an off switch because of the blackout sort of hazy memories that really worried me the behavior around just being someone that wasn't trustworthy that said things that they regretted all of those types of things.

00:05:00

Kath Elliott: 

Kath Elliott: …

Nick Poninski: Yes.

Kath Elliott: I felt like I was going to grow out of this type of drinking, when I get kind of adult and mature, it's funny because in my mid4s, I was still I wasn't binge drinking every week. I was probably having blowouts, four to six times a year. And a lot of people have said to me, that's not that bad. I mean, that's normal, But for me, someone who's committed to, professional and personal growth and development and being kind of the best version of me and aligning to the values of who I want to be. it was eroding all of that. It was holding me back. It was keeping me stuck. And for some reason, I thought, I need to have alcohol in my life. I need to be able to moderate.

Kath Elliott: And it wasn't until a really awful scenario where my three children saw me really drunk one night whilst we were on holidays and thought that I had died pretty much because I fell back and hit my head. and that was the moment for me where I was like I do not want to be this person anymore. I am going to take an extended break from drinking without a date to go back.  I'm going to embrace an free lifestyle and see what unfolds. And I had my last drink on the 30th of June, 2019. And here I am still one day at a time embracing this lifestyle that has just had such an incredible ripple effect and one that I never believed I would be leading at, the age of 52. I would never have thought that I would be 5 and 1/2 years alcohol-f free.

Kath Elliott: 

Kath Elliott: But here I am.

Kath Elliott: You never know what's really possible in life.

Nick Poninski: No, it's an amazing achievement.

Nick Poninski: That is a long time of alcohol free. And I think the interesting thing about your story there is it's not dissimilar from my story. I grew up, binge drinking from the age of 16, 17, 18, whatever it was. And then never really drank much at home, on a week night or anything.  I'd go out and binge drink and then I think I turned 40 earlier this year and I read for me my catalyst I didn't have a blackout drunk session where my kids thought I died or anything along those lines.

Nick Poninski: I just read a book and that book said why are you drinking and I couldn't answer that question and that was the end of it for me because a alongside with you where you say that you wanted to be the best version of yourself and then still you were poisoning yourself every so often I was doing the same thing and eventually you think to yourself why am I poisoning myself every so often I don't get it and it's not just about when I say poisoning yourself

Nick Poninski: People think, " yeah, binge drinking." Yeah. But even, …

Kath Elliott: 

Nick Poninski: I guess for me, I would consider alcohol bad. So, for me, it's done now. it's over with. So, yeah, that's why I refer to it as poison.

Kath Elliott: Yeah. I mean,…

Kath Elliott: I mean, yes. And you hear that word poison, you think, " what do you mean?" …

Nick Poninski: Yeah. How melodramatic.

Kath Elliott: I mean,…

Kath Elliott: it's kind of not dramatic. I mean alcohol is classified as a class one carcinogen along with other substances like aspecttos, radiation, tobacco. it's ethanol. it's right. So it is very Exactly.

Nick Poninski: Yes, it's petrol.

Nick Poninski: It's the same active ingredient as petrol. The same stuff you put in your car.  Yes.

Kath Elliott: 

Kath Elliott: It is a very addictive drug and we need to remember that because culturally and socially it's been so accepted at a subconscious level onto every aspect of society really. we don't question it. We don't get that messaging about the fact that it's a poison. And if it was put forward now to be approved into our society,…

Kath Elliott: it would absolutely get knocked back. So it

Nick Poninski: Yeah. Yeah.

Nick Poninski: Immediately I mean when I was reading the book which you're a student of this naked mind right in the book she said alcohol has and will kill more people than every other drug in the world combined. Blew my mind. Couldn't believe it. I was like Jesus.

00:10:00

Kath Elliott: 

Nick Poninski: And…

Kath Elliott: Yes. I mean,…

Kath Elliott: alcohol is the most destructive drug on the planet. Full stop. Right. And it …

Nick Poninski: people don't know this.

Kath Elliott: not only do people die, but the violence the crime that is created and…

Nick Poninski: Broken relationships

Kath Elliott: caused broken relationships. Exactly. And I just think back in my own life experience and…

Nick Poninski: Yeah. Mhm.

Kath Elliott: most of the things that I regret in my life have been when I've been drinking or when other people drinking, So it has a really insidious effect.

Kath Elliott: And it wasn't until even I stopped drinking that I was able to get a clear perspective on kind of the role that alcohol had played in my life and understand that actually particularly in relationships I guess I looked at the serious relationships that I'd had over my life and I could see that alcohol had played a role either in the types

Kath Elliott: of partners that i.e. I always wanted to be with someone who drank, enjoyed drinking, but then also in how, you might end up breaking up or not in a good place because of what happens when you drink, right? So, it's really fascinating the way it can impact all of those choices in your life, too.

Nick Poninski: billboards. when was the last time you went to a party as an adult and alcohol wasn't there? Mental, before I gave up alcohol, I would just accept it before I read this book. In fact, I would just accept the fact that alcohol was everywhere. and it's just, blowing when you think about the realities of it, like the damage it does to you. But yeah, I mean, we've covered the big one there. We've gone in guns blazing.  It's a class one carcinogen. It's addictive and it kills more people than everything else in the world. So, let's So, that should be enough, but it probably won't. So, yeah. Yes.

Kath Elliott: 

Kath Elliott: We know this stuff, But we sometimes think it won't happen to me or, I'll be okay or it's a drug,…

Nick Poninski: 

Nick Poninski: Everyone thinks that.

Kath Elliott: so it can't be that bad. you give yourself all this messaging to But I think some of the other things about alcohol that people may not realize or…

Nick Poninski: Yes. Yes,…

Kath Elliott: don't know is that it affects one of the most important pillars in our health which is our sleep quality right and when you think about that Yeah.

Nick Poninski: let's do some benefits because we've obviously gone in all guns blazing. it causes cancer.

Kath Elliott: 

Nick Poninski: It's a poison. It's addictive. So, let's dial it back and let's go in with some, benefits that people probably don't realize. So, sleep, let's talk about that because that's important, right?

Kath Elliott: Yeah. Yeah.

Kath Elliott: So sleep is so important and cycles of sleep are again incredibly important to I guess how we energize, how everything comes back into balance after we've been awake. And basically alcohol interrupts our sleep.

Kath Elliott: 

Kath Elliott: So instead of getting, between six and eight cycles each night,…

Kath Elliott: we only get one or two. and if you think about that interruption, if you're having that night after night or week after week, you can imagine that your body is never really at its optimum, right? You're always Yeah.

Nick Poninski: Yeah.

Nick Poninski: It's never realigning to where it should be.

Kath Elliott: never realigning. You're never coming back into homeostasis. the brain is very clever as well and it realizes if there's alcohol in its system, it has to go to detoxifying and getting rid of that toxin first, So it can't necessarily focus on all the other things that it needs to do. So your immune system can become compromised, so you might get

00:15:00

Kath Elliott: 

Nick Poninski: immediately and starts putting everything else on the secondary list.

Kath Elliott: Yeah. Yeah.

Kath Elliott: I mean, Exactly. It doesn't have all the, energy to put into the other stuff, because what the other thing about alcohol is alcohol is a toxin but once the body starts to break it down it's converted into acetelahhide which mainly happens in the liver and acetelahhide is more toxic than alcohol and can cause cancer by damaging DNA and stopping cells from repairing damage right so the process

Kath Elliott: of breaking down alcohol is even more toxic. again, it's something that a lot of people don't know. And so, even if you just look at something like sleep, the less alcohol you have and the more alcohol-free days that you have, the better quality sleep you get and the better for your overall health. and often people notice that when they first take a break from drinking, their sleep doesn't improve straight away. And that's because often people have been using alcohol daily. and it suppresses their melatonin, from producing and putting them into natural sleep.

Kath Elliott: because if you're drinking in an evening, all of a sudden your brain goes, I don't really need to produce melatonin at the levels to naturally put myself to sleep because I am anthetizing myself with alcohol. So again, it can take the body a while to come back into performing at its kind of natural levels because alcohol disrupts our whole neurotransmitter and hormonal balance. and when you think about that, yeah, it's huge the impact that it has. And if you've been drinking for a long period of time, it can take a while to come back into balance. And particularly that this is all around, we've heard of that concept anxiety.

Kath Elliott: 

Kath Elliott: you feel really low in mood the next day. And again, that's all around what's happening with your neurotransmitters, your brain chemistry, basically your cortisol levels get shot up quite high and then the brain's trying to come back into homeostasis and it releases a chemical called dinorphine,…

Nick Poninski: Yeah. Yeah.

Kath Elliott: which is a real downer chemical. and you feel terrible for a few days. and for people who I guess tend to have anxiety or have mental health problems, often they're self-medicating with alcohol because it gives them an initial artificial dopamine high, a buzz. It takes the edge off.

Kath Elliott: But what it's actually doing is it's contributing to the problem even further. So it's like putting petrol onto the fire and you create this whole negative cycle for yourself.

Nick Poninski: sleep we feel crap the next day and then we don't perform as well. we're not as productive. So, let me ask you something. Obviously, the more the alcohol we consume, the worse our sleep is. But even if you're kind of a one glass of wine, half a bottle a night kind of a situation. How badly is that affecting sleep? Because you gave a quote earlier, we're supposed to have eight REM cycles, but we end up with one. So, what about for an average person, one glass, two glasses? Yeah.

Kath Elliott: ffects your sleep regardless, So, obviously the more you drink probably the worse you'll feel, but every time you put alcohol into your system, even one glass of wine or one beer will affect your sleep cycle. and for each person, that will be slightly different. and I've had clients who haven't drunk for months and…

Nick Poninski: 

Kath Elliott: then they decide they'll try having, a drink or two just to see what it feels like. And the thing that they notice more often than not is their sleep.

00:20:00

Nick Poninski: Yeah, so tired.

Kath Elliott: How Yeah. they wake up in the middle of the night again,…

Kath Elliott: find it hard to go back to sleep.

Kath Elliott: and they wake up not feeling the same level of energy and feeling refreshed. They feel kind of groggy.

Nick Poninski: Yeah, yeah,…

Nick Poninski: yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm totally on board with this because I've not been drinking now for it's two months, give or take, today, which doesn't sound like a lot, but psychologically, I know I'm not going back anyway. So, two months is irrelevant to me. I'm not counting. But, I guess we've talked about sleep.  We know that alcohol's causes cancer. We know it's a poison. We know it's addictive. We know it f**** up your sleep. So, let's go in next. What about your other organs? We're talking here We're talking liver, heart, brain. How does it affect all that stuff? And yeah, I know you're not a doctor, but you are a sleep alcohol. So,

Kath Elliott: 

Kath Elliott: No, no. I mean for I mean generally people notice when they stop drinking their skin becomes a lot more hydrated,…

Nick Poninski: Yes.

Kath Elliott: they get more of a glow, they feel better. and I certainly noticed that in my own their eyes clearer, brighter. brain fog, disappears. more mental clarity, more focus, productivity, which again is great for someone who is, focused on doing well in their career. Often they'll be like, " all of a sudden I realized I had an extra 20 or 30%."

Kath Elliott: and their ability to manage stress becomes better as well. And that's what I've noticed because your overall brain body chemistry has less stress. When you do have stressful times, you are better able to manage it.  And so some of the things that used to feel like they stressed you out feel easier to manage. And I've had some clients say, "Nothing's changed in my job, but I feel like I'm doing so much better and I'm not sweating the small stuff like I used to." one of the other things that people notice is that, it really improves their relationships around them as well, whether that's work or personal.

Kath Elliott: because when you're feeling better in yourself, it just has a ripple effect on the relationships around you because often when people drink, they become very reactive. The preffrontal cortex in our brain goes on holiday the more we drink. So poor emotional regulation out the door. So your inhibitions come down.  So, all of those things create a version of us sometimes that makes poor choices.

Nick Poninski: Alcohol is a drug and if you keep taking a drug, it will affect your brain, it's going to have to because that's how drugs work, right? So, if you were smoking marijuana every day,…

Kath Elliott: 

Nick Poninski: your brain would be affected. If you were taking heroin every day, your brain would be affected. So, it's no different to hear, it's no different with alcohol, right? So, when you say this to me, I can completely believe it because Yeah. Even if I haven't noticed it.

Kath Elliott: And obviously the liver is a very important organ in this process.

Kath Elliott: Our liver is amazing. it has an incredible way of detoxifying of actually I guess a lot of people don't get liver damage even if they've drunk a lot.

Kath Elliott: psoriasis of the liver you can't reverse permanent scarring of the liver but a lot of people will get a warning beforehand that they have maybe developed fatty liver disease or their enzyme levels are up and if you get to your drinking before you have scarring on your liver you can reverse it through lifestyle changes through reducing  you're drinking lots of water, looking after your diet and your health. So, it's really important to know that the liver can regenerate and you can get it back into a really healthy healthy state, a healthy organ if you make lifestyle choices before you know you've had any long-term damage.

00:25:00

Nick Poninski: alcohol as you're talking through these things psychologically not that I've not been listening but I've been ticking these things off in my brain yeah my skin is clearer I do think clearer I am sleeping better and these are things that I don't realize because you just take it for granted but now that you've said it I'm like of course but certainly the thinking clear I did notice that one but okay so I mean obviously this is an important topic

Nick Poninski: So, if you're listening along and you're thinking, "How do I give up Alcohol is such a big part of my life." C, Cat's going to come back to us for part two. She's going to coach us through how to take those first tentative steps. but I guess before we end today's show, what would be one key takeaway, what do you think you want people to take away with them from listening to this?

Kath Elliott: I think the key takeaway is that any time or day that you can drink less you're doing a service to your body right so sometimes it may not be that everyone listen who's listening to this is going to embrace an alcohol-free lifestyle but you can embrace an alcohol-free day or you can choose to drink less  when you go out on a Friday night, you can choose to go to a party alcohol-f free and experiment with it and see what happens. So, I would just say for anyone who's this has, piqu their interest, give it a go, experiment. give your body a break.

Kath Elliott: 

Kath Elliott: I used to always think that when I did, just have a day off or a week off or a month off, it would be like my body was breathing a sigh of relief and…

Nick Poninski: Yes. Audio

Kath Elliott: going, " I get a break." So, that would be my key takeaway. And if you are interested, pick up this snaked mind the book and have a read and get across the information. There's another great book in the UK written by a guy called William Porter called Alcohol Explained.

Kath Elliott: there are lots of podcasts. Andrew Huberman has done an incredible podcast on alcohol and all the latest science and health risks around alcohol. And he dispels a lot of the information that you hear out there about the benefits of alcohol because I think red wine and the benefits and all that kind of thing. No. it isn't a thing. so those would be my key takeaways.

Nick Poninski: Yeah, there are no benefits to putting petrol into your body, funnily enough. okay, perfect. Yeah, I love it. So, yes, if you're listening along and you're thinking, okay, I'm going to give this a try certainly perhaps for sober January or whatever they call it, dry January, then maybe you'll see some of the changes that CF's been talking to us about. certainly worth giving a try anyway if half of what she's saying is right and all of it is what she's saying is right. So for those of you listening along at home who want to get in touch with you Cath where do they find you? Wow.

Kath Elliott: 

Kath Elliott: Find me at my website which is the alcoholmindsetcoach.com.

Nick Poninski: That's good for SEO purposes that from a marketing perspective if somebody Googles just alcohol mindset coach. first up I'm guessing.

Kath Elliott: Yeah, totally. It's that I did used to work in so in my previous job so there was a bit of time put into the name of the business

Nick Poninski: Love it. Okay. Excellent. for those of you listening along at home, thank you for listening along. hopefully you're going to be open-minded to the possibility of giving up alcohol because of the many benefits that Cap's talked to us about today. and if you want to hear about how you can go about giving up alcohol, part two will come up next week when we'll have Cath back on and she'll be talking to us about how you can give up alcohol. but in the meantime, as ever, get marketing because without marketing, Without sales, there's no business. So, get marketing.