Young folk: Go easy on the booze

[Fox]

I saw this video this morning and it gave me instant anxiety...

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1628784946088230912

Why such anxiety? Cause I used to drink this recklessly a lot in my early 20s.
I drunk drove, got wasted in bars and got in fights, got thrown out of places and would pass out somewhere.

All that stupid stuff.

And luckily (I don't know how) I managed to avoid any major physical damage to me or anyone else.
It would have taken just one moment going differently to have something horrible like this happen.

I could have easily killed myself, or killed someone else, if 1 of 1000s of things had just gone a little differently.

That being said I still did a lot of social and emotional damage.
Caused drama, got in fights, wrecked a few relationships.

Because... you are an idiot when you drink.
And while it's hyped up as a ton of fun, you are often playing with your whole life.

When you are young you seem invincible. Like reality has yet to set in and that you can escape any set of events.
But once you are over 18 you are legally an adult and if things go south - your whole life can be over before it really begins.

I don't want to make some big rant thread, cause I have also had 100s of great nights too, but just to say be smart.
Try come up with some systems to prevent anything like this from ever being close to happening to you.

And also try lay off or quit the drink as you get older - because if you are high jinx then eventually your luck will run out.

I haven't drank now properly in a long time. And have had maybe two tipsy nights in the last 4-5 years.
And my life has steady progressed since. In a way it never did when I drank heavily.

So ya hope this helps, be smart and don't ever let yourself get in a situation like this.

 

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[ChristianGa0]

I literally just saw this post 10 minutes ago, it is very scary and glad I gave up heavy drinking about 4 months ago

Edit: very fortunate to have not had my license back then which prevented even dumber things

 

[Andy Black]

Oh jesus. I just watched that video and wish I didn't. It just shows how one moment can devastate lives.

I drank and partied a lot in my 20s although didn't drink-drive or get into fights. Many escapades could have easily gone wrong though.

And I rode motorbikes without fear of consequences.

I gave up the bikes almost 10 years ago and only have a few scoops when out watching rugby or something.

 

[Lyzmin]

Just saw the video and it is a great warning. Old friends of mine who got drunk on a party, got into a fight and one of them broke is face on the sidewalk.

All great warnings to be careful with the booz. I was mostly the designated driver. Partly because I don’t like drinking, but mostly because of the many warning I saw in my youth.

Thanks for the share!

 

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[Fox]

Oh jesus. I just watched that video and wish I didn't. It just shows how one moment can devastate lives.

I drank and partied a lot in my 20s although didn't drink-drive or get into fights. Many escapades could have easily gone wrong though.

And I rode motorbikes without fear of consequences.

I gave up the bikes almost 10 years ago and only have a few scoops when out watching rugby or something.

I wouldn't want to fight a 20 year old drunk Andy Black!

Something tells me you would throw a solid punch.

 

[JAJT]

I wouldn't want to fight a 20 year old drunk Andy Black!
Sometimes tells me you would throw a solid punch.

It's not so much that his punches are really strong, but rather they are.....Highly Targeted.

I'll see myself out.

 

[Tiago]

Uber man... Literally, I go nowhere with my car where there's alcohol involved.

 

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[Felix Nachem]

That Shit gave me goosebumps...

It remind me when I was 18yo and took drugs. because I couldn't remember anything the next day when I took them, I was in constant fear i did something very bad...

Great warning Rob thanks for the video.

 

[heavy_industry]

Alcohol is a F*cking nightmare.

 

[Niptuck MD]

people on here know that i love booze but with that being said, similarly to OPs endeavors in the 20s, i dealt with many hardships due to alcohol and would recommend many to not even bother with it. It really is of no use. I just drink some wine every now and then, and beer only during a worldcup match or something. For the most part alcohol can be detrminetal to those that are trying to build a legacy. Now if you are in high C/suite corporate situations and or are a bigshot investor i can see how social drinking can be fruitful but other than that, it really does a lot of irrepresible damage. Just beware of your limits and drink responsibly if you choose to do so.

 

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[Johnny boy]

View attachment trim.2ED890EA-BFC5-4948-A90D-69CEA20BA4EE.MOV

 

[MJ DeMarco]

DARES... Downside Asymmetric Risk Events.

Good time for a reminder...

GOLD! - HOT! - MINDSET - Can this thread save your life, and perhaps countless others? Yes.

I write this with a heavy heart. It has come to my attention that a forum member with some pretty good post history was recently involved in a tragedy that resulted in the death of innocent person due to this person's alleged negligence. In short, alleged drunk driving and driving the wrong way...

www.thefastlaneforum.com

 

[Kevin88660]

In my area drinking was a big thing in gathering in the 80s and 90s. There was also a toxic culture of toasting each other to compete on who could drink more. If someone toasts you and you didn’t accept or finish it could be seen as showing disrespect.

As that generation began to develop liver issues later on and some passed away in their 50s everyone begins to take the warning seriously.

 

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[Isaac Odongo]

In my area drinking was a big thing in gathering in the 80s and 90s. There was also a toxic culture of toasting each other to compete on who could drink more. If someone toasts you and you didn’t accept or finish it could be seen as showing disrespect.

As that generation began to develop liver issues later on and some passed away in their 50s everyone begins to take the warning seriously.

I used to tank with a certain friend while at university.

Got some serious embarrassments. Would ride my bicycle home on a highway. Nothing horrible happened.

Realised I was going south with my life. Got help. Improved with time.

Nowadays, no matter what, I only ever drink one bottle of my choice beer, only one and no other.

It isn't a competition. Nobody is gonna pay me anything for getting drunk. So why on God's earth should I drink?

Whoever drinks much really needs to reduce or stop.

 

[Caminsky]

I've lost a friend to drunk driving and have seen other lives destroyed. In an era where an Uber or Lyft is 5 minutes away and dirt cheap, it's simply not worth the risk (it never was, mind you).

 

[Kak]

Definitely in the non-drinking camp.

I’m not some person who won’t touch a drink, but it seriously is like 3-5 drinks a year on average for me over the last few years. It just isn’t a part of my life.

I believe it has helped me in the business world. It has kept my relationships solid. It has never been a source of anxiety, sluggishness or sickness.

I saw a Twitter poll, it asked if someone paid you a million dollars would you never touch alcohol again. I was surprised how many people said they wouldn’t take the money. I’d currently take 10 grand for that without another thought.

 

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[WillHurtDontCare]

I saw this video this morning and it gave me instant anxiety...

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1628784946088230912

Why such anxiety? Cause I used to drink this recklessly a lot in my early 20s.
I drunk drove, got wasted in bars and got in fights, got thrown out of places and would pass out somewhere.

All that stupid stuff.

And luckily (I don't know how) I managed to avoid any major physical damage to me or anyone else.
It would have taken just one moment going differently to have something horrible like this happen.

I could have easily killed myself, or killed someone else, if 1 of 1000s of things had just gone a little differently.

That being said I still did a lot of social and emotional damage.
Caused drama, got in fights, wrecked a few relationships.

Because... you are an idiot when you drink.
And while it's hyped up as a ton of fun, you are often playing with your whole life.

When you are young you seem invincible. Like reality has yet to set in and that you can escape any set of events.
But once you are over 18 you are legally an adult and if things go south - your whole life can be over before it really begins.

I don't want to make some big rant thread, cause I have also had 100s of great nights too, but just to say be smart.
Try come up with some systems to prevent anything like this from ever being close to happening to you.

And also try lay off or quit the drink as you get older - because if you are high jinx then eventually your luck will run out.

I haven't drank now properly in a long time. And have had maybe two tipsy nights in the last 4-5 years.
And my life has steady progressed since. In a way it never did when I drank heavily.

So ya hope this helps, be smart and don't ever let yourself get in a situation like this.

Why does it always feel like the person who drives drunk walks away unharmed while the other people involved have their lives ruined?

 

[Johnny boy]

Why does it always feel like the person who drives drunk walks away unharmed while the other people involved have their lives ruined?

Nothing hurts when you’re drunk not sure why more people don’t use this to their advantage. Basically invincible. Safest way to drive if you think about it.

 

[Simon Angel]

Why does it always feel like the person who drives drunk walks away unharmed while the other people involved have their lives ruined?

If you're drunk out of your mind and get into a crash (or fall from somewhere) you tend to be in a looser physical state (i.e. you don't "stiffen up" that much) upon impact. This can protect your joints and bones and allows the muscles/ligaments/soft tissue to take the brunt of the impact.

In fact, there have been quite a few documented cases of people being flung around by tornadoes (in an unconscious and thus completely relaxed state) for quite a bit of air time only to end up with a few bruises.

That, or he's badly hurt but is both too drunk and flying high on adrenaline to feel it at that point. If that's the case, then he likely found himself in a world of pain just a few minutes after this was video taken.

 

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[N.S.]

I saw this video this morning and it gave me instant anxiety...

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1628784946088230912

Why such anxiety? Cause I used to drink this recklessly a lot in my early 20s.
I drunk drove, got wasted in bars and got in fights, got thrown out of places and would pass out somewhere.

All that stupid stuff.

And luckily (I don't know how) I managed to avoid any major physical damage to me or anyone else.
It would have taken just one moment going differently to have something horrible like this happen.

I could have easily killed myself, or killed someone else, if 1 of 1000s of things had just gone a little differently.

That being said I still did a lot of social and emotional damage.
Caused drama, got in fights, wrecked a few relationships.

Because... you are an idiot when you drink.
And while it's hyped up as a ton of fun, you are often playing with your whole life.

When you are young you seem invincible. Like reality has yet to set in and that you can escape any set of events.
But once you are over 18 you are legally an adult and if things go south - your whole life can be over before it really begins.

I don't want to make some big rant thread, cause I have also had 100s of great nights too, but just to say be smart.
Try come up with some systems to prevent anything like this from ever being close to happening to you.

And also try lay off or quit the drink as you get older - because if you are high jinx then eventually your luck will run out.

I haven't drank now properly in a long time. And have had maybe two tipsy nights in the last 4-5 years.
And my life has steady progressed since. In a way it never did when I drank heavily.

So ya hope this helps, be smart and don't ever let yourself get in a situation like this.

Great advice @Fox

I just finished Unscripted , and in one/two of the last chapters @MJ DeMarco talks of this sort of thing - asymmetric downside risk (when the upside is limited i.e. a 'good' night out vs high downside risk i.e. potentially bad consequences).

I've also lived a lot of my post 30 yr old life that way, as I've had way more to lose since my early 30s (over 10 yrs ago). Super cool to see a business author / entrepreneur talking about it in terms of objective business and life/happiness risk, because that's the lens I've always viewed it through, not a lens of judgement. (I mean, do wtf you want if it makes you happy and doesn't damage others. Life's too short not to).

It's always struck me as curious (and yet amazingly common) for a similar but different example how high performing types also do really objectively stupid things like work their a$$ off to make money and then cheat on their spouse resulting in an expensive divorce that they then spend their life paying 50% of their earnings for - that sort of thing. I call it "so smart but so stupid!".

Not sure how old you are (I'm 43) as the other two important things that have really changed since my heavy drinking days in the early 2000s are:

1) Prevalence of smartphones means drunken behaviour far more likely to be recorded and / or taken out of context. Therefore way more risky from a damage point of view than in my time. Thank god nobody was filming my 20s!

2) Education around alcohol. Today we know that it is an incredibly destructive substance (I would argue the most destructive - in terms of damage + collateral damage - drug in the world). It's clearly having an impact when you see the year on year growth in no and low alcohol options. PS that's a super interesting market for anyone looking for ideas, it's definitely still quite early.

Don't get me wrong. I love a good cocktail and here in London we drink at some of the best bars in the world, but the way I do it now is super conscious, to enjoy the experience, never as a social crutch or emotional crutch (the 2 ways the vast majority abuse alcohol) and almost (!) always with some good control around the quantity.

When it comes down to it, I'm just too damn busy in my business and life to have a hangover and not make the most of every day. Fastlane priorities

 

[N.S.]

Definitely in the non-drinking camp.

I’m not some person who won’t touch a drink, but it seriously is like 3-5 drinks a year on average for me over the last few years. It just isn’t a part of my life.

I believe it has helped me in the business world. It has kept my relationships solid. It has never been a source of anxiety, sluggishness or sickness.

I saw a Twitter poll, it asked if someone paid you a million dollars would you never touch alcohol again. I was surprised how many people said they wouldn’t take the money. I’d currently take 10 grand for that without another thought.

Well $10k to give up 3-5 drinks a year = get paid NOT to drink at a rate of $2000 to $3300 per drink. No brainer!

I'm at around 50-100 drinks a year as I have 1-2 drinks most weekends. so using your numbers I'd need at the lower end $100k.

Surprisingly - especially to me! - I'm not sure I'd do it for $100k (nice to have, but won't materially change my life at this point). At the higher end at $330k I'd give it some serious thought. And for $1m cash today I wouldn't even think twice, show me where to sign!!

 

[heavy_industry]

I saw a Twitter poll, it asked if someone paid you a million dollars would you never touch alcohol again. I was surprised how many people said they wouldn’t take the money.

I know this poll is a joke, but is not far from reality.

Imagine you are an entrepreneur, and also a heavy drinker.

The booze makes you slow and stupid, which translates to less profit (among other downsides). If you stop drinking and focus on your career, you will make well over $1M extra profit in the long run.

So which will you choose?

• $1M +
• Alcohol

You probably can't have both, unless you're insanely smart and hard working, and can outwork your shitty lifestyle.

And even if you're a genius that can pull this off, things may end up very tragic.

 

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[BlokeInProgress]

I consider myself really lucky, I was pretty stupid in my college days, driving even when I was drunk and telling myself I'll just stay in my lane, hit the minimum speed limit and everything's gonna be fine. There was a time when I fell asleep in the wheel for like a minute or 2 and some other times I almost crashed into 18 wheeler trucks. Those are the memories that always gives me goose bumps and I start sweating. I dreaded those days and always pray thankful that I didn't hit anyone or got into an accident.

But, I guess I'm also thankful that I have associated alcohol to headaches that now a days even just a glass of anything with alcohol I immediately get headaches after drinking it. At my age, augh. headaches are really show stoppers.

 

[Kak]

I know this poll is a joke, but is not far from reality.

Imagine you are an entrepreneur, and also a heavy drinker.

The booze makes you slow and stupid, which translates to less profit (among other downsides). If you stop drinking and focus on your career, you will make well over $1M extra profit in the long run.

So which will you choose?

• $1M +
• Alcohol

You probably can't have both, unless you're insanely smart and hard working, and can outwork your shitty lifestyle.

And even if you're a genius that can pull this off, things may end up very tragic.

This is a really good point. It has to make a difference, but it’s impossible to measure because there’s no heavy drinking control me to compare.

Many of the worlds highest achieving entrepreneurs abstain from the drinking lifestyle.

It doesn’t take much googling to find a ton of raving stories about becoming a way better entrepreneur or CEO by quitting the sauce.

 

[Antifragile]

Booze is there to change your state of mind. It’s a solution to a problem that leads to a bigger problem.

There was a thread here about this, someone asking if entrepreneurs drink. Surprisingly most do not. Maybe it shouldn’t be a surprise. Entrepreneurship is about leadership. Hiding from yourself behind drugs or alcohol is the opposite of that. It’s following the crowd, since it’s a social norm to have alcoholic drink after a meal at a restaurant etc. Leaders tend to set their own rules. They give less F*cks about what crowds think about them.

As I got older and more comfortable with who I am, I felt less and less need to say “yes” to a drink. I often go 6 months without a single drink.

Good thread for younger people - become comfortable being YOU. I bet alcohol isn’t something you actually want. You want to conform, have a good time, respect from friends etc. Ironically, you get more of that by being true to yourself, by being a leader saying no, by being just YOU.

 

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[Mattie]

I saw this video this morning and it gave me instant anxiety...

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1628784946088230912

Why such anxiety? Cause I used to drink this recklessly a lot in my early 20s.
I drunk drove, got wasted in bars and got in fights, got thrown out of places and would pass out somewhere.

All that stupid stuff.

And luckily (I don't know how) I managed to avoid any major physical damage to me or anyone else.
It would have taken just one moment going differently to have something horrible like this happen.

I could have easily killed myself, or killed someone else, if 1 of 1000s of things had just gone a little differently.

That being said I still did a lot of social and emotional damage.
Caused drama, got in fights, wrecked a few relationships.

Because... you are an idiot when you drink.
And while it's hyped up as a ton of fun, you are often playing with your whole life.

When you are young you seem invincible. Like reality has yet to set in and that you can escape any set of events.
But once you are over 18 you are legally an adult and if things go south - your whole life can be over before it really begins.

I don't want to make some big rant thread, cause I have also had 100s of great nights too, but just to say be smart.
Try come up with some systems to prevent anything like this from ever being close to happening to you.

And also try lay off or quit the drink as you get older - because if you are high jinx then eventually your luck will run out.

I haven't drank now properly in a long time. And have had maybe two tipsy nights in the last 4-5 years.
And my life has steady progressed since. In a way it never did when I drank heavily.

So ya hope this helps, be smart and don't ever let yourself get in a situation like this.

Sad, but true. I was hit by a drunk driver in 1986 when they ran a stop sign and it totaled my car out, i flipped through the trees in the woods, and I was lucky to be alive and come out of it without being injured. The drunk driver took off and never came back. They never found him, but it can be quite dangerous. It happens all the time, and people should be smarter. I was 16 at the time on snowy roads and the mixture of the winter and drunk driving with that person could have been the end of my life with my 2 friends.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

I've been sleeping the best sleep ever in my life, after decades of issues. I even commented it on here over the years.

However, the last time I drank it screwed up my sleep so bad that 2 hours of drinking had 2 days of negative ramifications.

If you wear an Oura or a fitness device, you can really track how it impacts your sleep, readiness, and other factors.

Drinking is one of many things culture brainwashes you into believing "fun times!" -- from commercials to movies -- if you drink, you'll have fun. Nothing could be further from the truth. A lie that ranks up there with "go to college and the American dream is yours."

 

[mikecarlooch]

Nothing hurts when you’re drunk not sure why more people don’t use this to their advantage. Basically invincible. Safest way to drive if you think about it.

Chet holmes actually talked about in the ultimate sales machine how he used to do karate or something and the way to defend your body when your car is falling down a hill is to let loose

maybe they don't tense up and that's why they survive lol

 

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[socaldude]

Drinking is one of many things culture brainwashes you into believing "fun times!"

Every time I see a huge beer factory in Mexico I can see the psychological and cultural egregore that controls the minds and behavior of people. Very eerie if you can see the eternal connection.

 

[Kevin88660]

Why does it always feel like the person who drives drunk walks away unharmed while the other people involved have their lives ruined?

Ferrari crash: Victim's parents settle with driver's insurer

Ms Shigemi Ito’s parents had sought to claim over $700,000 from the estate of Chinese national Ma Chi, who had crashed his Ferrari into a taxi that Ms Ito was in. Read more at straitstimes.com.

www.straitstimes.com

31 year old dude with Ferrari killed himself and others after drink driving. Quite an old news.

There was some drama about it, speculating that the perpetuator was such rich spoilt brat. His cousin came out to defend him that he started poor and made his money working hard ever since he was 18.

A warning for business people not to over indulge in their own success.