This Is What Quitting Drinking Looks Like In Your 50s

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Matt Wing spent 32 years as a high-performing, "functional" drinker. To the outside world, he had it all—a successful career, a loving family, and a rigorous fitness regime. But inside, he was living in a state of "double stress," using alcohol to quiet the noise of undiagnosed ADHD while pushing his body to the brink of a stroke. In this raw conversation, Matt and Ben dismantle the myth of the "social drinker". They explore the physiological trap of the reward-based drink, the reality of "selfish drinking," and why sobriety in your 50s is the ultimate investment in your "health pension". Quitting alcohol takes courage - and a commitment to the messy, disciplined process of starting over. Listen as we discuss... (01:30) Chasing the reward vs. social drinking (03:30) Quieting the noise: Undiagnosed ADHD and a 30-year habit (06:30) The "Double Stress": Why training hard and drinking hard is lethal (11:00) The Hilton Sign: How one drink after eight months led back to square one (13:30) Building the "Health Pension": Why sobriety is an investment for your 60s (24:00) The Blueprint: Replacing the 4 PM ritual with non-negotiable habits (40:30) Identifying the "Why": Drinking to change how you feel KEY TAKEAWAYS Invest in your Health Pension: Sobriety in your 50s isn't about restriction; it's about putting work into a "pension pot" that allows you to be strong and present in your 60s. The "Double Stress" Trap: You cannot "balance the scales" by exercising to offset heavy drinking. This creates a catastrophic physical collision that drastically increases stroke risk. Play the Tape Forward: When the "4 PM voice" romanticizes a drink, visualize the 24-hour fallout instead of the 10-minute buzz Stop at the First Drink: If you lose control after the first glass, the only battle you need to win is not picking up the first one.

"I Just Don't Give Up" - How Do You Build a Tech Startup From Scratch? with Simon Neave

GIVEAWAY TIME... 😴 Comment "SLEEP" below to be in with a chance to win a Leep ring Winner will be announce on Tuesday 16th June at 7pm GMT on our Instagram page - @graft.podcast --- Simon Neave spent 36 years building other people's brands — from Morrisons shelf floors to six-figure salaries in mobile tech, turning distressed products into £60 million exits and fighting to keep a company alive through a pandemic that eventually swallowed it whole. When the company he worked for went into administration in 2024, he was 54, out of a job, and facing a question he'd spent his whole career avoiding: now or never? He chose now. Leep is a sleep and activity tracking ring built to do what no British brand had done — bring serious health wearables to a mainstream price point. This conversation covers the whole arc: the comfort that kept Simon employed for decades, the market gap he spotted while watching his employer slowly die, the brutal reality of fundraising, and what 36 years of building for other people actually teaches you when it's finally yours. If you've ever been comfortable enough to stay but curious enough to wonder what you could build — this one's for you. 🎧 Listen as we discuss… (00:00) From Morrisons to mobile: 36 years building other people's brands(07:12) The "now or never" moment(08:51) Why sleep became the overlooked gap in the healthtech market(12:32) The drunk driving stat — what 17 hours without sleep actually does to you(14:52) The £169 bet: making sleep tech accessible when everyone else charged £400(22:59) "Execution is everything" — why most startups fail before they launch(24:45) Fundraising is a full-time job (and the thing Simon underestimated most)(29:02) The power of not giving up (31:28) The personal cost: savings gone, gym gone, holidays in Whitby with a laptop(36:11) What Simon would tell anyone thinking about starting their own thing(41:59) The Jonny Wilkinson principle — fear of failure as a driver(44:39) Vision and delusion: where Simon wants Leep to be in five years(47:40) Why British wearables could help prevent suicide, anxiety and depression KEY TAKEAWAYS The Comfort Trap — A good salary and a well-run company are the most effective things for killing your own ambition. If you're waiting for the right moment, recognise that comfort is the reason most people never find one. Every line of code is a liability — Simon's rule for building the Leep app: assume everything takes twice as long and costs twice as much, then cut it down to the absolute minimum you can launch with. Don't give up is a double-edged sword — Simon's greatest strength is his refusal to quit. But persistence without self-awareness is just stubbornness. Know which one you're doing at any given moment. Fundraising is a full-time job — The single most underestimated part of building a product business. Simon raised money in between building, selling and running the company — and believes that if he'd treated fundraising as a dedicated full-time focus earlier, the timeline would have been different. Sleep is the metric most people are ignoring — After 17–19 hours without sleep, cognitive performance matches someone over the drink-drive limit. The data is already in your pocket — it's time to start looking at it. Simon Neave — CEO & Founder, Leep (sleep and activity tracking ring)

11. juni 202650 min

This Is What Quitting Drinking Looks Like In Your 50s | GRAFT with Matt Wing

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