How to Turn Excuses Into Wins
Welcome to Journey to the Sunnyside, the podcast where we have thoughtful conversations to explore the science of habits, uncover the secrets to mindful living, and of course, your own mindful drinking journey. This podcast is brought to you by Sunnyside, the number one alcohol moderation platform. And if you could benefit from drinking a bit less, head on over to sunnyside.co to get a free fifteen day trial. I'm your host, Hartenbrook, published author, neuroscience enthusiast, and habit change expert.
Speaker 2:Today we have another one of these solo episodes. It is a full week of you, well, listening to my voice. And if you love the interviews, don't worry. They're not going anywhere. Actually, I've been battling a chest infection, which means that I cough a lot.
Speaker 2:So I had to call off a couple interviews and we had a couple reschedules, but nonetheless, we're back on track. And so let's jump into it because this month is Alcohol Awareness Month in April, and I want to get into something that I think is a little bit unique. So most people realize that many of their drinking decisions are driven by excuses. We have an excuse to drink. We have an excuse not to change.
Speaker 2:We have an excuse just to stay comfortable where we are. So they sound something like this. It's a special occasion. You know, the holidays are coming up. I had a really long week.
Speaker 2:Everyone else is going to have a drink at this party. I'm going to have one. I have until next month. So I'll reset next month. But I want you to think about this.
Speaker 2:What if you flip this conversation in your head and you started noticing excuses not to drink. So the opposite. What if you look for reasons to push yourself instead of backing it off? And fortunately, your brain is already wired to help you do these things once you learn how to use them. So there's a well known study where people were asked to count how many basketballs were thrown in front of a video as they passed.
Speaker 2:And in the middle of the video, there's a person in a gorilla suit that walks across the screen. But the thing is, is that most people didn't see the gorilla at all. And why is that? Well, because they weren't looking for it. Their brain was focused and filtering it out.
Speaker 2:And this is something called a reticular activating system. And it's the part of your brain that filters information based on what it thinks that is important. Well, the same thing happens when you're thinking about buying something like a car, you start seeing it everywhere on the road. All of a sudden you're like, I didn't realize it was so popular. And this also can apply to our drinking.
Speaker 2:So if you focus on a reason to drink, your brain is going to find plenty of reasons for that. But if you start focusing on reasons not to, then it's gonna start standing out instead. And so when you start, you just have to shift that focus. So we all know those common excuses. I threw a few out there.
Speaker 2:I'm on vacation. I just want a drink. It's the weekend. I've already been doing really good cutting back, you know, I'm really not going to keep pushing myself. But then there are new excuses that we can start inserting not to drink to keep things going.
Speaker 2:And that's why I mentioned alcohol awareness month. It's one of those perfect excuses, even if it's something that you didn't even know existed. It's not important to you necessarily in any regard from history, but all of a sudden it's this little thing and it's like, you know what? It's Alcohol Awareness Month. I didn't know that until just today.
Speaker 2:But you know what? That is an excuse to challenge myself. But you can find little excuses like, I want to feel sharp in the morning. That's an excuse for you not to drink. Or I've worked hard for the progress I have.
Speaker 2:That's an excuse to drink less or skip a day or whatever your goal is. Or if my kids have a game tomorrow, I'm going be 100% all there. I'm not going to have any regret about the night before, if maybe I misstep. So those are the types of excuses I want you to start looking for. And these aren't rules.
Speaker 2:They are just small little mindset flips and these little things can add up. So, as I mentioned, Alcohol Awareness Month is April. It has been around since 1987. It's not about a guilt trip or a campaign scare or anything like that. It is just meant to help people take a closer look at their relationship with alcohol.
Speaker 2:And like I said, it's been around since 1987. So that awareness factor, that mindfulness factor wasn't quite as common. It wasn't talked about on a podcast like this with people that are already taking steps and being aware every single month like you. And it's about starting conversations. It's about asking better questions of yourself and just making better choices.
Speaker 2:And like I said, this is the perfect excuse to pay attention and maybe push yourself a little bit this month and make some more excuses or lean on April as your excuse. So a few things that you could try this month, pick one or two of these. Number one is you could keep a note on your phone, you know, with the little app and just title it excuses not to drink. And every time one pops into your head, write it down and let it start to stack up. And you can just use this as your go to default.
Speaker 2:What excuse do I need? Yep. That one works for me right now. Another thing is you can start tracking your thoughts every time that you want to drink, pause and ask yourself, what excuse am I making? What excuse am I making right now to do this?
Speaker 2:And what would it look like if I flipped it the other direction? Can I make an excuse to go the other way? And then pick one reason each week to say no, make it intentional. So using those tactics, pick one reason each week to either skip a day or make some kind of adjustment that pushes you a little bit and don't aim for perfection. I always say that just aim for being present and making progress and consistency.
Speaker 2:And then if you want to take it one step further, talk about it. Talk about this excuse. Tell somebody what you're doing in April and that makes it even more real. So to sum it up, most people are looking for permission or excuses to drink. Let's flip that upside down and start looking for permission or excuses not to, or at least make some adjustments that push your limits to be more mindful.
Speaker 2:So try that this month, flip the script, and you might see things that you've never noticed before. I hope this was enjoyable. I hope you have a great weekend. If you have any feedback, again, write me at mike sunnyside dot co. I love to hear from you.
Speaker 2:I've gotten a couple questions. I love answering them. I love being able to interact with each and every single one of you that writes in. And until then, cheers to your mindful drinking journey.
Speaker 1:This podcast is brought to you by Sunnyside, the number one alcohol moderation platform. And if you could benefit from drinking a bit less, head on over to sunnyside.co to get a free fifteen day trial.
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