Excel & Compel exists for one reason:
To document the process of rebuilding myself and share what I learn along the way.
Over the last decade, I’ve rewritten the way I think, communicate, make decisions, build relationships, and respond to life. I threw out a lot of faulty programming that wasn’t serving me and gradually replaced it with something better.
The best way I know how to describe it is this:
I rewrote my operating system.
I think people are a lot like computers. We all run on internal programming. Some of it helps us. Some of it quietly sabotages us.
Excel & Compel is about finding the bad code and replacing it.
Alcohol Reinstalls My Old Software
People say alcohol reveals your true self. Others say it lets spirits take over.
I don’t know.
What I do know is this:
Alcohol seems to reinstall an older version of me.
When I’m sober, I like who I am. I’m calm, funny, thoughtful, and communicate well. I don’t feel the need to dominate conversations or prove I’m the smartest guy in the room.
Then I drink.
The arrogance comes back. The inappropriate jokes. The need for attention. The cheap thrills. Even my communication gets worse. I slur my words, stumble through Spanish, and suddenly sound like a pinche gringo again.
I’ve spent years intentionally upgrading myself.
Alcohol seems to temporarily undo a surprising amount of that work.
The Night That Confirmed It
The last time I drank, I was at the birthday party of a close female friend.
Completely platonic.
The night started exactly how I’d like people to remember me. We were laughing, having good conversations, meeting new people.
Then we took a couple shots of Patrón.
Before long, we were making out in front of her coworkers and our mutual friends. My filter disappeared. The inappropriate jokes started flying.
And just like that, an older version of me was running the show again.
Do I regret it?
No.
It became another lesson—and eventually another article.
But it confirmed something I’d already suspected:
I don’t like who I become when I drink.
Protect Your Operating System
I actually enjoy drinking. I’ve made great memories because of it.
This isn’t an article about alcohol being evil.
It’s about recognizing what consistently pulls you away from the person you’re trying to become.
For me, alcohol does exactly that.
So I stopped asking:
“Is alcohol good or bad?”
and started asking:
“Does this move me toward the man I’m trying to become?”
For me, the answer was obvious.
Alcohol doesn’t belong in my game plan.
The Bigger Lesson
One thing I’ve learned about personal growth is that it isn’t permanent.
We talk about becoming a better person as though we eventually arrive there and stay that way forever.
I don’t think we do.
The better version of you has to be protected.
Every day you’re either reinforcing the person you’ve intentionally built or giving old programming another chance to take over.
That’s why I don’t really see this as an alcohol article anymore.
It’s an operating-system article.
Alcohol just happened to be the bug I found in mine.
Yours might be something else.
Alcohol. Gambling. Pornography. Social media. Chasing validation. Whatever keeps bringing back the person you thought you’d already left behind.
So ask yourself:
What consistently brings back the version of myself I’ve been trying to outgrow?
Figure that out.
Then take it off the game plan.
Until next time.
Your man,
Uncle Blayde