The Productivity Power of Sobriety: Real Stories of Success

There are plenty of “productivity hacks” out there. Most of them give us different ways to tweak our daily routine: waking up an hour earlier, making to-do lists, getting the least pleasant task out of the way first (a.k.a. “eat the frog” method).

But no “frog-eating” in the world is going to help us if we let habits that derail our productivity get in the way. One of the most common ones? You guessed it — alcohol. Let’s explore the relationship between alcohol and productivity and see some real-life examples of the difference in productivity levels before and after alcohol is in the picture.

The Science of Alcohol and Productivity

How do we measure productivity? In the end, it’s all about our daily habits. As productivity expert Eric Thomas writes, 

“Don’t think about what can happen in a month. Don’t think about what can happen in a year. Just focus on the 24 hours in front of you and do what you can to get closer to where you want to be.” 

In other words, we are productive when our daily activities align with our larger goals and intentions. Want to write a book? Start by writing a page every morning. Planning to sign up for a marathon? Start by jogging a mile in the neighborhood park, then gradually increase the distance.

However, alcohol can derail our personal and professional goals alike. Here’s why:

• Alcohol reduces our brain power. Alcohol slows down activity in the prefrontal cortex — the higher-order thinking center of the brain. As we can imagine, brain fog, slower thinking, and poor judgment doesn’t help us be productive in our work or personal pursuits. (Want to learn more? Check out “How Alcohol Affects the Brain: A Look Into the Science.”)
• It messes with our memory. Science shows that alcohol prevents new memories from being stored by the hippocampus, accounting for all that “missing time” we sometimes end up with the morning after drinking too much. Over time, the hippocampus can even shrink in size! A well-functioning memory is essential for professional and personal pursuits alike — for instance, it’s hard to get ahead in our job if we forget essential details while giving a presentation. Plus, failing to remember details or having slower recall can take a further toll on our productivity.
• It makes our emotions run wild. Alcohol disrupts the neurotransmitter balance in our brain, causing mood swings, anxiety, and depression. None of this bodes well when it comes to productivity, which calls for a calm, cool, and collected mind. Besides, booze activates our stress response and intensifies activity in the amygdala. The result? We get into “fight or flight” mode more often and have less mental space for nuanced thinking and emotional resources required for truly productive work. (Take a look at “Understanding How Alcohol Affects Mood Stability” for more information.)
• It interferes with sleep. While alcohol makes us initially drowsy (sometimes at the time when we would otherwise be doing something productive), it doesn’t leave us feeling refreshed the next morning, even if we hit the hay early and wake up later than usual. The reason has to do with the interruptions in sleep that alcohol causes and its interference with REM sleep — the most restorative stage. And since sleep is essential for productivity, the way booze affects our slumber has a major impact.
• It damages our physical health. It’s no secret that alcohol damages our health, affecting everything from our liver to our heart, brain, muscles, and even our lungs. Plus, it makes us susceptible to diseases by messing with our immune system — and all those sick days add up!
• It steals time. Last but not least, alcohol steals our time. In addition to the time we spend drinking, it’s all those hours we spend on planning it, buying it, and, as it often happens, dealing with the aftermath as we nurse the next-day hangover or mend fences that got damaged when we were under the influence. And that’s not even counting the time that alcohol-related health complications could add up to!

Now that we see why booze and productivity don’t mix, let’s look at some success stories to get inspired to drink less and be more productive.

Real-Life Success Stories

1. Annie Grace: The Power of a “Naked Mind”

Annie Grace, author of This Naked Mind: Control Alcohol, Find Freedom, Discover Happiness, and Change Your Life, knows all about the productivity-sapping effects of alcohol firsthand. At 26, she was the picture of success. The youngest vice president at a marketing company, she joined the ranks of older executives and less than a decade later took charge of campaigns in 28 countries. Board meetings and conferences came with the territory, and alcohol was ever-present, with Grace feeling pressured to “hold her liquor” along with the older execs. Alcohol was seen as the fuel for creativity and a networking must.

However, after leaving booze behind, Grace saw that booze never actually delivered on its promises. The “creative juice” that powered the brainstorming meetings at the advertising agency where she began her career didn’t actually do the trick: she doesn’t recall a single one that actually gave rise to usable ideas. And while Grace herself stayed “functional” throughout the day and kept her eventual two-wine-bottles-a-day habit confined to evening hours, she now sees that her productivity suffered as a result. 

She writes about the contrast between her drinking days and the clarity and energy that are now her “new normal”:

“I completely forgot how it felt to have tons of energy. Now I’m often surprised by how much I can get done, while still feeling motivated and happy. It is staggering to realize what we are capable of when we are mentally and physically strong.”

This newfound clarity and vigor directly translated into higher productivity in her professional and personal life. A prolific writer, motivational speaker, and business owner, Grace is a picture of productivity. Her daily writing output alone is impressive: 

“When I am writing I can easily write 2,000 — 5,000 words a day. I’ve written 10,000 words in a single day before. But again, I will then have months of writing almost nothing.”

As for those nonwriting periods, they’re productive in a different way: Grace switches modes and becomes a voracious reader, devouring 60-75 books per year. And that’s on top of producing a podcast with more than 1.6 million downloads and running an online program that helps thousands follow in her footsteps.

2. Craig Beck: Seeing Through the Lies 

Another “functional” drinker with a “two bottles a night” habit, Craig Beck struggled with booze and bought into the “lies” of alcohol for almost two decades. In his book Alcohol Lied to Me, he talks about his journey of leaving booze behind. 

One of the crucial steps that led Beck to put down the bottle for good was realizing how much alcohol stole from his life without giving anything it promised in return. In addition to adding up to over $9,000 a year, it stole something even more precious: time. Beck writes that his nightly wine habit made him tired. Ready to hit the hay by 8 p.m., Beck would power through until a more “decent” adult bedtime — around 9 p.m. — and fall into another night of sleep that never left him feeling rested or refreshed, no matter how many hours he clocked in. He writes:

“Over ten years, I spent 9,100 hours knocked out and unconscious … That is time I will never get back. How many opportunities and experiences can you fit into nearly 10,000 hours?”

So, Beck finally called it quits. The result? A new level of success and productivity he could never imagine when alcohol was in the picture:

"Once I stopped drinking, I noticed an immediate improvement in my ability to focus and achieve my goals. My productivity at work soared, and I was accomplishing tasks in half the time it used to take me.”

Today, Beck is a bestselling author, motivational speaker, and coach. With over 50 published books under his belt, he takes his message about alcohol (a.k.a. “the evil clown” that pretends to entertain but is actually out to get you) around the world. His seminars, workshops, and speeches have a relatable and humorous touch.

3. Catherine Gray: Becoming “Faster, Sharper, More Creative”

As Catherine Gray writes in the first pages of The Unexpected Joy of Being Sober, she never intended to write a book. Had she been able to time travel and tell her former drinking self “who was desperately trying to hide her empty bottles, shaking hands and shattered soul,” she would have been horrified to hear the words “you’re going to write a book about this one day.”

And yet, years later, this is exactly what Gray did. Not only did she write a book about her experience — she wrote a bestseller and became more productive than ever before. She writes:

“Over ten years, I spent 9,100 hours knocked out and unconscious … That is time I will never get back. How many opportunities and experiences can you fit into nearly 10,000 hours?”

Gray attributes her increased productivity to better sleep, higher energy levels, and improved cognitive functions. As she explains, “Sobriety didn't just change my life; it changed my output at work. I was faster, sharper, and more creative than I had ever been while drinking.”

4. Ruby Warrington: Spiritual and Emotional Wellness

Lifestyle writer and founder of the online magazine The Numinous, Ruby Warrington is all about exploring our potential as humans and bridging the “mystical and the mainstream.” In her book, Sober Curious: The Blissful Sleep, Greater Focus, Limitless Presence, and Deep Connection Awaiting Us All on the Other Side of Alcohol, she discusses the subtleties of her relationship with alcohol and the cultural implications of drinking.

One of the most important aspects of Warrington’s work is that it applies to all of us — whether or not our drinking has progressed to the level of alcohol misuse. Warrington shares, “Removing alcohol from my daily routine freed up so much energy and time, it was like discovering an extra couple of hours in my day.”

Warrington found that even if our drinking isn’t directly interfering with our life or threatening our health in an obvious way, it’s still doing its share of damage, especially as far as our productivity is concerned. She describes it as returning to our natural state of peace and happiness:

“Peace and happiness which it could be said are not only the goal, but the baseline, default state of being that we naturally return to — once whatever led to anxiety, anger, or sadness stepping in has been resolved … Could it be that joy was there all along, like a balloon held underwater always trying to bob to the surface? Since alcohol is a known depressant, it makes sense that the immediate aftereffects of quitting drinking may include some buoyant skipping down of streets and eruptions of laughter. But once the initial bounce-back has passed, our newfound clarity will likely lead us to dig deeper into and address the root causes of our anxiety, anger, sadness, etc.”

In other words, leaving alcohol behind freed up some much-needed space, allowing Warrington to not only become more productive in her career, but also in her personal journey of spiritual and emotional wellness. 

5. William Porter: Lighting Up a Dark Room

A former British Army paratrooper who served in Iraq, William Porter knows all about addiction. His struggles with alcohol and smoking led to a deep exploration of the physiological and psychological effects of drinking, culminating in his bestselling book Alcohol Explained.

He describes his own experience saying, “The mental bandwidth that alcohol occupied is astounding. Post-sobriety, the clarity and focus I gained felt like turning on a light in a room that had been dim for years.”

Porter’s enhanced mental clarity directly improved his ability to work effectively, handle complex tasks, and pursue new intellectual challenges.

All five of these stories have something in common: they all demonstrate a noticeable difference before and after alcohol. So, how can we tap into this, too?

How To Increase Productivity When Reducing Alcohol

Now that we’ve explored the productivity-boosting power of giving up booze and seen how others did it, let’s explore some ways we can apply this to our own lives!

1. Reframe Your Mindset

One thing that all the stories we touched on have in common is that they began with a shift in mindset. Instead of using willpower, the five former drinkers shifted their mindset about alcohol in a way that allowed them to see through its illusions. The result? It simply became irrelevant, and avoiding it was the natural fallout.

2. Find Your “Why”

Science says that having a specific goal boosts our chances of success. Set your productivity goals in different areas of life, including your career, family, social life, and personal pursuits. Then, make a daily plan for reaching them, one step at a time. 

3. Start Small

There’s no need to do everything all at once! Author of Atomic Habits James Clear suggests cultivating small-scale habits for large gains:

“All big things come from small beginnings. The seed of every habit is a single, tiny decision. But as that decision is repeated, a habit sprouts and grows stronger. Roots entrench themselves and branches grow. The task of breaking a bad habit is like uprooting a powerful oak within us. And the task of building a good habit is like cultivating a delicate flower one day at a time.”

So start small, and keep those habits growing! It can be as simple as waking up five minutes earlier than yesterday and making yourself a great cup of coffee to get the day started. Or, have one glass of wine instead of two (perhaps eventually quitting altogether) and go to bed five minutes earlier than yesterday. Before you know it, you may be in bed an hour earlier each night and wake up each morning with renewed energy and more productivity.

4. Cultivate Curiosity

Research shows that curiosity changes our brain chemistry in ways that encourage innovation and creativity. And guess what that means? That’s right — we get more productive. In James Clear’s words, “When you fall in love with the process rather than the product, you don’t have to wait to give yourself permission to be happy. You can be satisfied anytime your system is running.” Enjoying our creative pursuits rather than focusing on the end goal makes it easier for us to achieve it!

5. Share Your Story

Sharing your story with authors allows you to reach new levels of sober recovery and productivity by reflecting on how far you’ve come, building motivation to go further. Plus, you help others when you share your experience!

And remember, the Reframe community is a great place to share your journey and ask others for tips and feedback. We’re here to support you every step of the way!

Summing Up

If your goal today was to read an entire Reframe blog post, congratulations! Just by making an effort to quit or cut back on booze, you’re already on your first step to increasing productivity and achieving your goals. And by giving up booze and boosting productivity, who knows what you’ll have accomplished by this time next week, next month, or next year?