Listen "I Quit Alcohol for 365 Days... Here's What Happened | Clifford Stephan"
Episode Synopsis
Clifford Stephan is the founder of Booze Vacation, a health and wellness company created for high-performing men who want to elevate their lives and careers by leveraging the benefits of taking a strategic break from alcohol. He is also the founder of OneCompensation, a successful Bay Area compensation consulting firm that has helped Silicon Valley companies—including Google, LinkedIn, Kaiser Permanente, and Motorola Mobility—attract, engage, and retain top talent. In his mid-40s, Clifford realized that his regular, "semi-responsible" drinking was quietly undermining his health and long-term potential. He chose to take a year-long break from alcohol—what he called a "booze vacation." That decision reset both his body and his relationship with drinking, ultimately inspiring him to create Booze Vacation so other men could take a structured break, reclaim their health, and expand their professional capacity. Clifford holds a B.S. in Nutritional Science from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, has completed more than a dozen long-course triathlons, and is determined to "kick ass and take names" well into his 80s and beyond. Key Points • Booze breaks can upgrade your baseline • Wearables expose alcohol's impact on health • Breaks from alcohol can recalibrate cravings • Sleep, fitness, and mood improve sans alcohol • Life clarity and enhanced performance without alcohol • Clifford's Booze Vacation concept explained Best Quotes 01:45 - 01:58 • "Yeah, in short, scratching my own itch and yeah, I don't like the term cutting. It sounds kind of, you know, negative, harsh, we, we use in term taking an extended vacation from drinking." 02:54 - 03:03 • "I had, I had got sleep apnea, which was a pretty, pretty bad about that. And yeah, just wasn't feeling my best." 05:30 - 05:49 • "I think that when I started wearing the whoop in 2019, it was probably one of the most eye-opening things that I had done because I, I've worn it consecutively for many years now, and you can tell really quickly what alcohol does to your body." 07:58 - 08:06 • "It's a kind of a lifetime lifestyle experiment. And especially men of success. I think it's important that if you make it to the mountain top, you wanna stay there and enjoy it as long as possible." 10:41 - 10:51 • "You're gonna need more, it's gonna be harder on your aging body and you're gonna find yourself continually in lowered and lower states and, and, and kicking the crap outta yourself a lot faster."
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