← Kwik Brain with Jim Kwik
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- [00:00]
A
Welcome to Kwik Brain Bite Sized Brain Hacks for busy people who want to learn faster and achieve more. I'm your coach, Jim Kwik. Free your mind. Let's imagine if we could access 100% of our brain's capacity.
- [00:15]
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I wasn't high, wasn't wired, just clear. I knew what I needed to do and how to do it.
- [00:21]
A
I know kung fu. Show me. So what if one six simple decision could clear your brain fog, boost your mental energy, improve your sleep, and sharpen your memory? In this week's Quick Brain episode, I get to sit down with James Swanik. He's the author of the book Clear. And we're going to talk about how to remove just one habit that can unlock your brain's potential. So whether you drink a little, a lot, or not at all, this conversation is not about judgment. It's really about freedom. You know, I believe clarity is your superpower. So make sure you tap the link. Subscribe to our podcast, listen in and discover how to reclaim your freedom starting today. What if one simple decision, just one, could give you back your focus, your mental energy, your confidence, and even your clarity? Most people who are listening, you want a sharper brain, you want a better memory, you want deeper sleep, and you want more. More peace of mind. But very few realize the hidden obstacle that's clouding all of that. For many, it's actually not lack of motivation. For many, it's not lack of intelligence. It may be what you're unknowingly pouring mental fog into our brain one glass at a time. So we're going to talk about alcohol. That the glass of wine you're sipping to unwind may actually be wiring your brain to underperform. It could hijack your memory. It could dull your focus. It could sabotage your sleep and your decision making. Welcome back, Quick Brains. I am your host and your brain coach, Jim Kwik. Today we're tackling a subject that affects millions of high performers, often without them realizing it. We're going to be talking about alcohol and how it changes your brain. You've heard me say that your brain is your number one asset. But what happens when we unknowingly compromise it one drink at a time? Whether it's for relaxation, socialization, alcohol can quietly erode your memory, your focus, and your ability to learn. And my guest today is James Swanik. He's a former ESPN anchor turned brain health advocate and entrepreneur and author. He's helped thousands of professionals quit drinking, not through willpower, but but through applied science. He's the author if you're watching this on our YouTube where we put the extended version of the book Clear, this is the only neuroscience based method for high achievers to quit drinking. And he's the founder of Alcohol Free Lifestyle. You're going to discover how to become clearer pun on the book stronger, more limitless by removing this one thing that has maybe been silently holding you or someone that you love back, back. So whether you drink a little, a lot, or not at all, this episode isn't about restriction. It's really about liberation. So welcome to the show, my friend.
- [03:25]
B
Thank you very much.
- [03:25]
A
This episode's about alcohol and it could be charged, right? Everyone's listening in a different age and stage or place in their life. You know why? The science is pretty conclusive and we'll talk about that. But why do we still consume alcohol even though there is so much evidence around it being harmful, Right, Similar to processed sugar, cigarettes and so on?
- [03:47]
B
Well, I submit cultural conditioning plays a huge part in that. And it started when we were little boys and girls and our parents or our adult figures in our life said, oh, no, no, little Jim or little James, you can't drink now. You can drink when you're older. And in that moment, they planted this idea in our childhood heads that drinking is something we get to do. It's something that we aspire to consume. And then that gets perpetuated towards the end of our school years. And then we go into college and there are smiling assassins everywhere. And a smiling assassin is anyone who's smiling as they offer you a glass of attractively packaged poison, which is what I refer to alcohol as attractively packaged poison. It's our friend saying, hey, can I get you a drink? Hey, let's catch up at the bar. It's the waiter or waitress who greets you who says, hello, sir, hello ma', am, may I get you started with a glass of wine or something from our drinks menu? I mean, they may as well be saying, hello, sir, may I get you started with a glass of 10 pounds of unwanted body weight and some fogginess and irritability tomorrow morning. But they do it with a smile. And this myth that alcohol is necessary for social connection, it's necessary for celebration, for romance, for commiseration, for sadness, for loneliness, for isolation gets perpetuated over time. And then we have Hollywood celebrities who then peddled their poison. And you know, you've got folks like Ryan Reynolds who does a lot of great stuff in the world, but he has a, a gin company. You have Dwayne the Rock Johnson, who has a tequila company, you have George Clooney with the Tequila company. And so in culture and cultural conditioning, we start to believe that this is just a normal substance that we consume.
- [05:29]
A
Maybe you can mention what the science is saying, what alcohol does to our brain specifically.
- [05:34]
B
There was a study in 2022 out of the UK of 35, 000 middle age. And what that study showed was that even one seemingly innocent drink per night, which is just seven standard drinks per week, was still enough to destroy gray and white matter in the brain. Now the bumper sticker there is even one drink a night can cause some level of brain deterioration. Alcohol's been linked to seven different cancers and it destroys our sleep. And when we are not well slept and we're irritable and we're stressed and we're foggy, what tends to happen is that we then reach for a sugary food to give us a little bit of a kick me up. And now we're eating more unwanted calories and then we're more stressed and more anxious. We don't exercise as much until we get to five or six o' clock in the afternoon when what do we want to do? Relieve ourselves of that stress and anxiety with another drink.
- [06:24]
A
Being knocked out is very different than getting quality deep and REM sleep. We know alcohol could affect everything from your neurotransmitters to your, to your gene expression. You know, in Limitless, I talk about mindset as a starting point. I'm curious if we're to kind of deconstruct this, how do you reframe the mindset around an alcohol free life?
- [06:45]
B
It's to desire and move towards an alcohol free lifestyle as opposed to trying to quit drinking. We associate not drinking with deprivation, pain, being dull and boring, and we associate drinking with pleasure and fun and relief and the joy. But I submit it's the other way around, Jim, and that is that every day that you choose to be alcohol free is a day where you are experiencing joy and energy and clarity. That's the reward, that's the special occasion. I hear a lot of people saying, oh, just drink on a special occasion. Well, I submit the special occasion as every single day that you choose to be alcohol free, there's actually a bundle of nerves in the brain called the reticular activating system known as the ras. And the RAS focuses in on that which you think about repeatedly. So if you and I were talking about a red car, we'd go out today, tomorrow and we'd just see red cars even though they were always there, we'd see them. That's the RAs working. So when people are saying, don't drink, I have to quit, I need to stop, we're focusing still on the alcohol and therefore we tend to reach for the alcohol and consume it. However, if I invited someone to say, you know what, just create a compelling vision of this lifestyle, an alcohol free lifestyle, a style of life with clarity. Focus focusing on great sleep, conscious communication, exercise, drinking lots of water, good nutrition, being around good people, doing personal development. Focus on that lifestyle and move towards that. The RAs that, that bundle of nerves will focus in on that. And then living an alcohol free lifestyle just becomes very simple, very simple in that point, as opposed to, oh, I've got to stop, I've got to stop. So it's focusing on what you will do and what you desire as opposed to trying to remove away or avoid that which you're trying to avoid.
- [08:24]
A
Let's say somebody is at a social event, a party, a wedding, you know, they're given a glass, you know, from a friend or a colleague, or maybe they're at home and they're just had a really stressed out day and they're looking to decompress and that's part of their ritual. Is there a quick tip that they could do in, you know, a handful of seconds that could help to reduce that craving or that pressure?
- [08:50]
B
Yes. It's not just about removing alcohol, it's also replacing the alcohol with something else. So if you're in your home, for example, I would stock the fridge with beautiful, tasty, alcohol free alternatives. Just last night I had some beautiful flavored soda water which was delicious. You can create a ritual in your home that used to be the ritual of popping open a bottle of wine and pouring it and hearing the wine kind of like go into the glass. By actually keeping your glasses in the fridge and having Perrier Pellegrino flavored soda waters in your fridge and a lime bowl. And then you just create this ritual, the same thing of like cracking open the Perrier bottle, pouring it into an ice cold glass, stirring around the lime that you're squeezing in there. The other way is that when someone offers you a drink and in that moment you're feeling a craving and you'd like to say, yes, I really like to have that drink. What matters in that moment. Moment is not so much what you say to decline that drink. What matters more is how you say it. There's a lot of studies that show that influencing and persuading people and ourselves is only 7% words, but 93% how we say those words. Scenario A, someone says here, would you like a drink? And you're like, oh, I shouldn't.
- [10:05]
A
Oh no.
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B
She's I really want to, but I'm trying to stop and trying to cut back. Then again, you're reinforcing this notion that stopping drinking is hard and painful and drinking equals fun and pleasure. Whereas in alternative option B, if you said, oh, actually thanks so much but I'll take some soda. We got some soda water. I've actually been alcohol free now for a few weeks of doing an experiment. Feels pretty good, but I'll get drunk on some of your soda water if you've got some. Ha ha ha ha ha. Have a little joke. Now that 93% body language, which is light heartedness, playfulness, fun, you're feeling good about the fact that you're alcohol free even in if in that moment you have a craving, then it becomes much easier to remain alcohol free. Love it, choose it. And those instances where there is a craving starts to subside.
- [10:51]
A
If you could design seven day Clear challenge to help someone experience the benefits of removing alcohol. We don't have to go into detail, right, because people should get a copy of your book and use that as their manual. But what are some of that? The high level. Some of those seven days include what if I told you that your biggest limitations aren't out there in the world, but right here in your mind? Welcome to limitless live 2025, where Los Angeles becomes the launch pad for your breakthrough. March 6th through March 8th. We're diving deep into what it means to free your mind. Imagine this. You sitting shoulder to shoulder with top neuroscientists, athletes who've rewritten the rules, best selling authors and legendary entrepreneurs. Together we'll explore brain boosting breakthroughs, mental frameworks used by the world's top elites, and learning hacks that could cut years off of your success journey. The doors are about to open and the only thing standing between you and a truly limitless life is just one decision. Go to limitlesslive.com claim your spot while it's available and prepare to free your mind. This is where your limitless journey begins.
- [12:17]
B
Well, I would definitely get around a like minded community. So in other words, rather than doing it by yourself, get some friends together and say, let's do this together. In fact, I interviewed one of the world's leading addiction experts. His name's Professor David Bellan from University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom. And he came on to one of our stop Drinking client calls. And one of our clients asked him what are the two best supplements that someone can take to overcome an alcohol use disorder or to reduce drinking or reduce cravings. And he said two things, exercise and human connection. That human connection creates accountability, it creates camaraderie. And I don't mean doing it with your wife or husband who's cheering you on saying you can do it this time, or even just one friend. I'm talking about a group of like minded people who are really committed to, to loving, living an alcohol free lifestyle. Not doing dry January or sober October with the intention of forcing yourself to stay, quit for 30 days and then you go and celebrate on day 30 with a drink. Which is why I'm skeptical of the success rate of these 30 day challenges. Because what happens is that people go into it and they're doing it with deprivation. They're doing it as like something that's tough and they're just feeling like a prisoner and that's why they get to day 30 and you know, all prisoners want to break free of prison and so they drink and then they return to the same level of drinking that inspired them to reduce or cut back in the first place. So to answer your question, first thing is get in a like minded community of people and look at this as a lifestyle, a style of life. It's not being sober, it's not, this is going to be tough. This is yes, we get to do this, let's do it, let's experiment, let's see how this feels. So that's the first thing. The other thing is definitely make sure that you're moving exercise because that will release natural levels of dopamine and serotonin and that will feel good. And when you're feeling good and feeling better and feeling exercised, the cravings for any substance, including alcohol, subside.
- [14:12]
A
I'm curious because I always. Let's say somebody's on a streak of a matter of days or weeks and they, they falter, right? And they have a drink and whatever scenario creates that, maybe they're highly stressed or some or peer pressure, whatever it is, what's the mindset you have or the attitude, assumptions you want that person to have the next day, you know what I mean? Like so they've been doing well for let's say X amount of time and then something happened and they have a drink, is it the end of the world or how should they be looking at what happened and should they judge themselves? They'd be hard on themselves. And moving forward, what's the attitude they should adopt.
- [14:57]
B
Yeah, be kind and empathetic to yourself. It's okay. The master of any modality expects there to be a plateau. If we look at a tennis match, Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, Rafa Nadal, they go into every tennis match knowing that they're going to lose points and lose games. They serve the ball wide into the net. When Roger Federer serves a fault, he doesn't smash his record, his racket and start going, oh my God, I'm terrible, I'm hopeless. He knows that because he's the master, he expects that there's going to be slip ups. He's not going to perform the way that he ideally would do it all of the time. So in this scenario, the same thing. Of course, you want to have the vision and the intention to remain alcohol free for as long as you can until it really embeds as a fun and preferable lifestyle. But if you do drink on occasion, and even though you kind of had the intention not to, just look at it as okay, I'm a master of this, I expected there to be a plateau. I expected that there could have been a little, what I'm deeming right now, a slip up. But that's okay. I'm now going to just like come back to it and go, okay, what am I committed to? I'm committed to being the best role model for my kids. I'm committed to being super healthy, to sleeping well. I acknowledge that that happened. Now I'm just going to go again and it's just like, you can go up, but instead of going backwards and down, you maybe just go across a little bit for a day or two and then you go again and then you go across a little bit. It's kind of like if you look at compound interest in the stock market, for example, Jim, and you invest in something S&P 500, whatever it is, it's never a straight curve or a straight line up. It's more like up and down a little bit and up and across and it just kind of stays the same. But over many weeks, months, years and decades, there almost always is this trend up. So I think if you just go into it knowing that the master expects the plateau, then you can stay on that alcohol free lifestyle path.
- [16:52]
A
I like that mindset shift for a lot of people. I really think so much of this is 80% of it comes down to our psychology. Often when we want to be able to make a change. I just want to remind everybody to make a positive change. There's only four decisions you make, you either stop something, you start something, you do less of something, or you do more of something. Right? People could stop drinking, right? They could start meditating, they could do less binge watching, they could do more movement. Right? It's those simple little things, as you mentioned, consistency. It compounds, you know, just like the interests of investments. And how can people. Because I could, I could talk to you for hours on this. But people are going to want to go deeper with you. How can people stay connected with you? How do people get your book, your other work? What's the best place for people who feel inspired to make a big shift or a resource for their loved ones?
- [17:46]
B
If you'd like to go deeper with the book, the book is called Clear. It's a neuroscience based approach to help people to quit drinking. Thank you, Jim. Yeah, you're showing it up on the video now. It's available on Amazon. I also did an eight hour recording reading the book. So it's narrator led. You can put me on double speed and just do it in four hours if you like. But it's available on Amazon and wherever books are sold online, you can also go to alcoholfreelifestyle.com where you can get the book. There we can learn about some of our methodologies for helping people to finally break free from alcohol. I have a podcast called the Alcohol Free Lifestyle Podcast. And then finally, I'm most active on social media, which is just my name, Ames Swanick, where I put out a lot of free resources to help people rewire their mindset around alcohol.
- [18:34]
A
Outstanding. Well, we'll link to all that in the show notes again to your book, to your social media, to your website. Jimquick.com notes before we wrap this podcast, over 400 episodes, is really about learning, right? And I like asking this question of guests. You know what, what is one thing you're currently learning about or studying outside of this subject that has you, has you excited?
- [19:05]
B
I'm learning how to be the best husband for my wife who's expecting a baby. We're going to have a baby girl in December of this year. And so what I'm going deep on and learning at the moment is how I can be the best partner for my pregnant wife who's experiencing a lot of health challenges. Morning sickness. Let me be clear, it's not morning sickness. It's 24 hour a day, seven day sickness. And so it's being with her emotions and trying to be a support. And my work really is I'm someone who always tries to fix things, but I can't really fix this. All I can do is just be there and be with her. And so that's really what I'm going deep in at the moment. How can I be a support without actually feeling able to fix things?
- [19:54]
A
I love it. I absolutely love it. Congratulations.
- [19:57]
B
Thank you.
- [19:59]
A
All right, everybody, if you're watching on YouTube, you then you heard the and watched the extended version of this conversation. I highly recommend you join our 1.8 million subscribers there where we put the extended version as well as Q&As and lives and be on stage. I really hope this conversation sparks something for you. Remember, it's not about judging your lifestyle or your past decisions. For me, it's about becoming curious and conscious of how each choice voice affects what I think is one of your most valuable assets, which is your brain. And so make sure you subscribe to our YouTube channel where you put extended interviews. Follow us both on socials if you want to be bold, you can take a screenshot wherever you're consuming this. Tag James, tag myself and share one thing that you that you got out of this. Or if you're watching this online, you can put a comment down below, share your biggest ahas or a commitment so we could hold you accountable to that. I speed read every single one of them so I enjoyed this conversation. Until next time, this is your brain coach, Jim Kwik reminding you to stay limitless.