You Can Run a Business, Compete in Triathlons, and Still Have a Struggle With Alcohol
Sep 07, 2026
Chris Asher was meticulous and tracked everything. He trained 10 to 15 hours a week for half Iron Man distance triathlons, competed at the world championships in obstacle course racing, and earned USA Triathlon All-American status.
And he was hiding his recycling because he was embarrassed by how many bottles were in it.
That contrast is the whole point of this conversation. Because if you're someone who looks at your life on paper and thinks, I'm too disciplined for this to be a real problem, Chris is who I want you to hear from.
He tried to stop drinking long before he actually did. He wanted to. He had every reason to. And it didn't work, not because he lacked willpower, but because willpower is simply not the tool for this particular job. He had enough willpower to finish races that most people wouldn't even start. Alcohol doesn't care about that. It changes your brain chemistry in ways that make the desire to drink feel completely separate from every other area of discipline in your life. And until you understand that, you keep blaming yourself for something that was never actually a willpower problem.
The thing that finally shifted for Chris was a life-changing alcohol-related event that got his attention in a way nothing else had. He got honest with himself, recognized his behavior wasn't healthy or normal, and made a decision.
And here's the part that I keep coming back to. Chris is 52. He should by every conventional measure, be slowing down athletically. Instead, his workout data shows him getting stronger and faster than he was in his 40s. His sleep is better. His anxiety is lower. His recovery is faster. The alcohol he thought was helping him unwind after brutal training sessions was quietly wrecking his sleep quality, his muscle protein synthesis, and his ability to recover. He just couldn't see it because he was inside it.
He also talked about something I think a lot of high achievers will recognize. The I've earned it mindset. Burn a couple thousand calories on a long bike ride and suddenly four or five or six drinks at night feels justified. I did that too. I thought of alcohol as a reward, a gift to myself after working hard. Not as ethanol. Not as a carcinogen. Not as a substance that was going to undo a big chunk of what I'd just worked for.
We are in a cultural moment right now that Chris compared to the shift around cigarettes, and I think he's right. The science is catching up. The medical community is being clearer than ever that there is no safe amount. But we're still surrounded by decades of marketing and social conditioning that says this is just what adults do. At holidays, at celebrations, at finish lines, at networking events, in the stands at football games. It's everywhere, and until you step outside of it, you don't realize how much of what you believe about alcohol was put there by a trillion dollar industry.
Chris is now speaking at youth conferences to help teenagers hear from someone who doesn't fit the stereotype, someone who is fit, successful, and put together, who will also tell them clearly and honestly that alcohol is a dangerous drug and that choosing not to drink is not weird, it's smart.
He said something near the end of our conversation that I loved. He said he gets as much out of those conversations as the kids do.
That's what this looks like on the other side. You stop needing to protect the habit and you start wanting to help other people find the same freedom.
If you're a high achiever who keeps telling yourself you have it under control because you have discipline in every other area of your life, I want you to hear this episode. And if it brings something up for you, email me directly at [email protected]. I read every single one.
