
If you hold a corporate job or are a C-suite executive, your mind must always be sharp. The success of the company you own or work for relies on your ability to make the best decisions fast. It also depends on how well you communicate with stakeholders and employees.
If you do not make the best decisions in your private life, it can affect your performance in the workplace. For example, if you drink too much outside of work whenever you get the chance, cracks in your cognitive abilities will begin to show.
These cracks may be so subtle initially that you won’t notice anything is wrong. But, over time, as you make more and more mistakes, the effects of on your job will be too severe to ignore.
If you notice lapses in your memory or find it difficult to remember things that should come naturally, it is time to get the help you need. The following four effects of alcohol on your cognitive abilities will only get worse if you don’t.
Terrible Decision-Making
If you start making bad high-level decisions, your entire company will suffer the consequences. Normal cognitive function lets you weigh risks against opportunities and find the best way forward. These decisions must usually happen fast and under pressure.
However, if you have been drinking too much, you will find yourself hesitating to make any decisions. Worse, you will make the wrong decisions and not know how to fix things.
You may have to complete tasks you’ve performed every day for 10 years, but they suddenly feel overwhelming. You may also find yourself struggling to focus on any given task at a time.
Zero Information Retention
Retaining information and remembering important details is a big deal for a C-suit executive. Otherwise, customers and your employees will have a hard time trusting you.
The problem is that the effects of alcohol can completely mess up your memory and retention abilities. This is because heavy drinking disrupts the hippocampus region of your brain which is essential for forming memories and keeping information intact.
If your drinking has already impacted your hippocampus, you will likely experience memory loss. You may forget what you talked to an employee about. You may also forget about an important meeting with an investor.
Moreover, you will start mixing up facts and details or find it impossible to use new technologies or strategies crucial to your work.
If you start forgetting things constantly, it will affect your professional reputation. If you do not cut down or stop drinking, your cognitive decline will also just get worse.
No Ability to Focus or Concentrate
As a C-suite executive or business owner, you must have exceptional focus. This is what will help you solve complicated business problems. It will also help you complete tasks that are essential to business success.
Unfortunately, chronic alcohol use will destroy both your focus and concentration. Excessive alcohol use interferes with the neurotransmitters in your brain. So, the more you drink, the harder you will find it to focus on your most important tasks.
You will also likely feel mentally drained all the time, which cuts down even more on your focus. Feeling this way will lead to procrastination, which can mean missed opportunities at work.
If you are experiencing mental fatigue and lack of concentration, it is time to take a serious look at your alcohol consumption.
Emotions All Over the Place
As a senior leader in the workplace, you must be emotionally intelligent and mature. But drinking too much can mess this up for you as well. You may have mood swings or be inexplicably irritable.
If challenges or problems arise at work, you may take out your anger or frustration on your colleagues or employees. This is mainly because the effect of alcohol is making you less empathetic and more negative.
You must make a change if you notice your mood changing or your perception of your employees and colleagues becoming negative.
Why It Is Time to Seek Help
Making a change means getting the right help at the right place. However, you must first acknowledge that you have a problem. That problem is chronic alcohol use. Drinking excessively will not only affect your cognitive abilities but will eventually impact your health.
It will lead to strained relationships with your partner, kids, friends, parents, etc. Eventually, drinking will take over your life and ruin everything you have worked so hard for.
The longer you wait to get help, the more damage your drinking does. And the more difficult it becomes to reverse this damage.
Still, with the right support, recovery and sustained sobriety is possible.
HARP Is the Answer
HARP (Hills & Ranges Private) Is a leading rehabilitation centre in Australia. You may wince at the sight of the word ‘rehabilitation,’ but HARP is nothing like what you picture a rehab centre to be.
In the first place, HARP was created and designed for professionals. If you enter a rehab program at HARP, you will receive tailored and personalized treatment. Your treatment options will be based on your drinking history, health history, mental health status, and future goals.
Furthermore, HARP combines evidence-based treatments with therapies like yoga, mindfulness, and meditation. This combination provides holistic support to heal body and mind.
Each HARP facility offers luxury and discretion. You will have your own private suite and a dedicated workspace. You will also stay in touch with your loved ones so they can support you through the healing process.
It is important to remember that seeking help for alcohol use disorder is never a sign of weakness. Instead, it is the bravest thing you can do for yourself, your family, and your business.
The easy way out would be to keep drinking despite the consequences. It takes much more courage to admit you have a problem and get help.
Taking the First Step
If the cracks in your cognitive abilities are only getting worse, take the first step to getting help. Reach out to HARP and seek professional treatment today. Your individualized HARP treatment program will help you overcome your alcohol dependency.
The HARP team will also provide you with all the resources you need to stay sober after you leave the facility.