 George Byrd, 56 years old from outside of Boston, Massachusetts was drinking for 40 straight years and then joined our 90-day Quit Drinking program and is now, I think, on day 95, alcohol free. And he seems to be feeling good, George. How are you feeling? I'm feeling great. Really, really great, actually. Yeah. It is 95, actually, yeah, 95 days. And what results did you achieve from going 95 days, at least so far, being alcohol free? Well, I've got to say it, not what I expected, and I think I've mentioned this before. It's surprising. You start to venture thinking, OK, I'm going to be alcohol free for 90 days, and there's a little bit of trepidation with that. But actually, the alcohol piece sort of led into a bigger sort of more of a self-introspective look at what I was doing and what I was up to. I didn't realize how much alcohol affected me until probably into it, maybe 20 days or something like that. And then it just kind of hit me, wow. It's really manipulating my life. And after 90 days, you do a lot of self-evaluation, which is good. It's really good. It's a great experience. So what was life like before you joined the program in terms of your drinking? Maybe just give us some context for the 40 years you've been drinking. Well, you know, I think like many, I didn't think I was a heavy drinker. And then discovered one day that when I looked in the liquor cabinet, I realized how much I was actually consuming, and it kind of freaked me out. I was a regular night after work drinker. So do the work thing, come home, have dinner, chill, have a drink or two or three or four. And my pores, as I would say, as I kept going, the shot would go from a shot to a shot with a little extra to a shot with a little bit more. So the drinks were becoming mostly my drink of choice was vodka at the time. We're pretty hefty vodka drinks. And it was just basically a means of me swallowing up to evening, for most part. I mean, swallow being a funny word, but I would come home and emphasize myself. It was really just a really numbing effect. And it scared me. I got to a point where I thought, wait a minute, I noticed how much I was drinking. I thought, wait, this isn't healthy. Reminds me a bit of what I grew up with with my parents. And I was never happy with that as a kid. And so it was sort of this the light bulb went off and I thought, wow, you know, I got to knit this in the bud now before it gets too too far down the road. And what were the some of the ramifications of your drinking? I know you said that you were probably numbing yourself and what were some of the adverse effects of your drinking over the years that maybe ultimately compelled you to take the action that you did? Well, I was battling anxiety. That was one thing. So at the top of mine, I had pretty bad anxiety and I thought the drinking actually was fixing that and it wasn't. It was actually really counterproductive to that. So what I would do is I wake up in the middle of the night, you know, like just thinking, oh, I can't believe I just had another night of drinking and then the anxiety would pursue itself. And then I'd spend the morning, you know, trying to fight the anxiety, which then spilled into the workday. And my overall production honestly was down. I would I was I didn't think again, the thing that's so interesting is when you're in the middle of it, you don't realize how tarnished you actually are. You know, I thought, oh, I'm pretty sharp. I'm doing pretty good in business. You know, but then you start then when you're not, you realize, wow, I was pretty much in a fog. And my focus was not as sharp as it should have been. And I found myself in meetings kind of losing track of the content, kind of losing track. My motivation was kind of down. You just don't feel like yourself. And again, you know, when you're in the middle of it, I don't think I was that aware of it. But now being out of it and hearing responses from the people what I work with saying, wow, you're really on point. You sounded great today. You know, your things are you look great. You feel bright. You don't realize how bad off you really were. And I think it's because you're in the middle of it, just living day to day. And it's a habit. And it's just what it is. But then all of a sudden, you start putting the pieces together and think, well, maybe I wasn't really firing as well as I should have been. And I'm the director in a company. And I don't have room to be not performing. I'm there to support, as my position, to support a staff and a firm. And if I'm not doing that, that's a sure way to get fired or looked down upon. And I didn't want to be there. Thank you for sharing that. What was the catalyst then for you taking action? What had you tried previously to quit, if at all, that hadn't worked? Well, I guess there were multiple programs that I found on Facebook. And I tried different ones. And honestly, I was really many of the other programs specifically that I tried was very female oriented. And I had a hard time resonating with the crowd because it just was slightly off. Not that it was totally female. I think it was just a resonance thing. I didn't resonate. And then I saw your pitch on Facebook. And I first did the 30-day. And I thought, well, this is pretty cool. Let me give a 30-day try. And successfully did the 30-day and went back to drinking. And I ended up drinking more than I was before I started. And I just thought, oh, this is not what I expected to have happen. So continued my drink for a while. And then it hit me again. I thought, OK, you're back where you were. You can't do this. And so there was a pitch that you had put for the entrepreneur 90-day program. And then you had some other things that were out there. And I thought, you know what, I really appreciated your voice, the tone. There was a lot of really good Facebook posts that were going on. The community seemed really tight. So that was really what drew me to it and perpetuated my interest. And then ultimately, you know, signing up for the 90-day. And so what was your experience during the 90-days? Obviously, you ended up enrolling in Project 90, which is my 90-days quit drinking program. And just to be clear, it's not just to get you to 90-days and then you go and celebrate with a drink, right? But that is not the point. The point is to get you 90-straight-days alcohol-free. So then when you hit 90-days, you're like powerfully choosing, I'm going to keep going. I'm going to keep being alcohol-free as a lifestyle. I'm going to embed this as a lifestyle. So first question, did you have a celebratory drink at day 90? Let me see. What did I do? I think I had my favorite drink right now is actually club soda with a big squeeze of some fresh key lines and a little dash of sugar just to take off some of the bite over some ice. That was my celebratory drink. So I did have a drink, but it had no alcohol on it. And I had no desire. Somebody said, you're going to go out and celebrate and have a bunch of beer or have yourself a martini or something. And I thought about it. And then I thought, oh, yeah, no, no, I don't. No, absolutely not. I just want my lime drink. And so that's how I celebrated. Yeah, it's interesting. After the 30 days, which I think is a great program and you meet a lot of great people, and I think it tests the waters. And it sort of says, OK, I can succeed. I can do the 30 days. And then you come out. You feel like you're a hero. And you do feel physically different, which I was really impressed by. I mean, I lost weight in my face. I felt more awake. I was sleeping a lot better. The 90, though, stepping it up, I was worried at the end of the 90. And I mentioned it to you. And I think I mentioned it to some other people. I was freaked out. I thought, oh my god, 90 days is going to come and then what? It's like I've just learned how to pack my parachute. And I've learned all this stuff on the ground. And now I'm flying up in the plane. And I got to jump out of the plane. And I'm freaked out. Like I know I've had all the training. But I think what happened was there was a click. Something clicked in my head that said, I don't have the urge anymore. I don't have the desire anymore. It's different. It's really different. And if I was to even conceive of going back to drinking, which I can't imagine doing at this point. Honestly, I don't know how I would react to it. I think, oh, well, if somebody's having a wedding or somebody you're going to cheers with champagne and stuff like that, I can cheers with anything. I can cheers with a glass of cold water. I can cheers. How many times have I cheers with an empty hand like this? Dozens and dozens of times if there wasn't a drink in my hand. So it's a different thing. I don't have the urge anymore, which is brilliant. Just feel really good. Yeah, wonderful. And just describe your experience inside of the groups. It's obviously part of the process or the formula that I've identified to help people get to 90 straight days alcohol-free, but then continue alcohol-free is appropriate accountability, a coach and a mentor, a supportive community, fun, and then ultimately skin in the game, i.e., you're making an investment in yourself in terms of money and time and commitments and things like that. So what was fun about the process? What did you feel challenged by during the process? And ultimately, do you feel which part of that process was the thing that really made this happen for you? Well, I have to say the fun piece of it came in after a few weeks of the initial part, I'm not going to, it's hard. It's a challenge. You really are challenging yourself. And that, I think, we're in the beginning is where the community really, you meet a lot of really great people. I met some really great people. I now call my friends and we're in contact. And you and Kevin and others are, I consider, I've shared more intimate information with these people than I have with anybody else. And I think part of that drives some of the fun, because we do have great conversations when we have our Facebook connections and we have our meetings and the evenings and stuff like that. It's not all, oh, whoa, is me. I'm not drinking. There are some really fun, light-hearted times which people kind of crack up about what they're going through. And I think being able to share experiences makes a huge difference. So the program in the sense that you have your one-on-one thing, which is really awesome because you can really spill your guts. And then the group saying, I was going to say, you don't spill your guts, but you kind of do. I mean, there's some pretty intense moments, but they're really earnest. It's not fake. It's not people making shit up. It's the real thing. And it makes a big difference. And the fun part, it just comes with it. As you succeed, I think you start patting yourself on the back a little bit. And the group pats yourself on the back too. So you really feel motivated. And it makes a big difference. And mind you, it's not always easy. But you do know that you've got somebody, there's a lifeline out there that you can go to, whether it's somebody you've met in the group or you or Kevin or somebody else. There's, you know that there's a lifeline out there to talk to somebody. There's always somebody to talk to. And so what do you have you identified were your actual results from doing these 90 straight days alcohol-free? Well, my graduation conversation was pretty impressive. I mean, I was, I broke down a little bit because I didn't realize how much I had changed in the process. I think what I've succeeded in is becoming more myself. I'm more my earnest self. I'm the fun guy I've always been. I don't feel distracted by drinking. Honestly, I think my temperament's really, really modulated and is much more consistent. My family has said that I'm not overreactive anymore. My workplace says that I'm really productive and they just love having me around. They've always loved having me around, but now even more, they're really interested in hearing what I'm doing. They're really supportive of the program and they want to know how things are, you know, proceeding and stuff like that. And my productivity as a whole, I'm much more eager to do stuff. I don't wake up in the morning now. I go, huh, there's another day, you know, I wake up and I'm pretty damn excited. I get up at four and five in the morning sometimes and I'm excited. When I was drinking, I would never get up at four in the morning. There was no way in hell I was gonna get up at four in the morning. I was too busy putting my hand like this. So, no, it's great. It's been great. And, you know, a combination of my social life feels better, family life feels a ton better, work life feels just more clear. And I just feel a lot more ambitious. Yeah, wonderful. And what would you say to someone who is considering enrolling in one of my programs to quit drinking who's maybe on the fence and maybe has either some skepticism or maybe they have some reservations, some fear that maybe they won't be able to do it or complete it, which would be perfectly natural because almost everyone who joins has that fear in the beginning. What would you say to that person who's considering taking action on this right now? Do it. Just do it. You know, if you're considering it at all, do it. It seems scary. It seems like you're making this big leap. But when you get into it, you realize you're actually doing the best thing you can for yourself. And that's, you discover that more as you get into it. Not everybody succeeds the first week. Not everybody succeeds the first day. But I think the thing that's great about it is that the doors don't close. The doors are open. And it might take a few tries to actually succeed to your 30, but that's okay. And I think that's the beauty of what you offer up is you're not, you don't punish anybody. You get it. Everybody gets it. And everybody knows that it might take one or try or two tries or three tries. And that's the beauty of it. But do it. Don't let it scare you away. It's just alcohol for God's sakes. You know, it's a drink. And I think it's easy for me to say now because I've gone through 90 days of it. And I would never have said that when I started. I was pretty freaked out. But the support and the group and the friends, you know, if you fail, there's no such thing as failing. I was just saying, if you fail the first day, you fail the first day, if you fail the second day, so what, pick it up and start it over again. And you'll get there, but do it. Just give yourself a chance and do it. Wonderful. Thank you so much. And what does life have in store for you now? What is your plan now that you're on day 95 as we're recording this? How long are you planning on going? What do you feel like you want to create now? Well, that's the big thing. And I think this is where I want to continue my work with you is I feel like I've got a new lease on, you know, I sort of said, I said openly, you know, okay, I'm 56. And I might, if I'm really lucky, I'll have 30 more years. I said 30 days, I have about 30 years. And I want those to be equal, if not better than the first half. So the challenge for me now is to build up the new house, so to speak, you know, the house in here and get to go for it and look at the opportunities and with a clear window, not the fog that I was in. So what it has to come, I don't know, I'm looking forward to it. I mean, I'm excited because I'm, you know, I think I've got a million things running through my head that I want to do. I want to start a business, I want to go traveling, I want to do this, I want to do that. So, you know, I'm just looking forward to it and moving forward and hopefully, you know, continuing on with you and the team and seeing where life goes. Wonderful, George, congratulations, mate. I'm so happy for you. And I know I've said this to you offline before, but I want to thank you as well for bringing such a positive energy to the group on our weekly group calls and for sharing and being so open and transparent because now you and your new way of being is inspiring those who come behind you. And I think you've seen that on some of the group calls during project 90 where you've shared openly and authentically about some of your challenges and about some of your wins. And that helps someone who's on like day four or day seven or day 27, who's feeling a little challenged. And now you get to inspire them to stay the path. So I want to thank you for that. I appreciate that. That's great. That's wonderful. Yeah, George Bird, congratulations, mate. Well done. And I can't wait to see what the next 90 days and the next nine years and the next 30 years having so for you. Me too. It's gonna be a fun road. Thanks for listening to the Alcohol Free Lifestyle podcast. I want to load you up with some free stuff right now. So if you want to go to jameswanick.com slash guide, I will send you my quit alcohol guide, which has helped six figure entrepreneurs and top professionals produce or quit drinking. You can also text the word quit guide to the number 44222 if you're in the US of course. It doesn't really work anywhere outside of the US. But if you're in the US on your mobile phone and you'd like that guide, text the word quit guide to the number 44222 or you can go to jameswanick.com slash guide. If you'd like to schedule a free 15 minute call with one of my top coaches, just an exploratory call to see if or how we can help you, then you can go to jameswanick.com slash schedule or you can text the word project 90 to the number 44222 if you're listening in the US on a mobile phone. That's jameswanick.com slash schedule or you can text the word project 90, that's one word project 90 to the number 44222. Feel free to send me a direct message over on my Instagram account, which is at jameswanick. You can also watch video episodes of this podcast and a series of other educational videos on my YouTube channel, which is jameswanick.one or you can direct message me on Facebook at jameswanickofficial. And finally, a request. 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