I just completed a year without alcohol.

My motivation to stop drinking was simple. I get headaches very easily, and half a drink would often give me one within an hour. Though I didn’t drink much, I still found myself ruining nights with these headaches. I was ready to put an end to them.

Fewer headaches were not the only thing I gained over the past year. Here’s what else stood out.

Accountability matters. Having someone you’re accountable to makes a big difference. I made a wager with my co-founder Peter that I would not drink for a year. I kept myself accountable to him, making the process much easier.

Incentives matter. My wager with Peter meant that any drink of alcohol would cost me $500. A single drink, $500. No drink is worth that.

Time is your most important asset. I never had to worry about how I would feel at night or on Saturday mornings. These became regular nights and mornings to me.

Sobriety as a forcing function. Many things or events you might put up with when tipsy are simply not enjoyable when sober. I simply stopped doing these things. That doesn’t mean saying no to every opportunity with friends. You can have fun even if you’re the only one in the room who is not drinking.

Exercise your mental toughness muscle. As much as I wanted this, it still took effort. Mental toughness is a muscle. We have to get reps in daily.

I started working on my mental toughness as a muscle some years ago, starting with low weights and small reps. Now, I have worked up to be able to do almost anything I set my mind to. But no one starts there.

You start by finding something you can do and would do if you commit to it.

Find something small and give it a try.