Sober Billionaires: Buffett, Rybakov, Durov - About Giving Up Alcohol
Causes aging, interferes with a full life, makes you ashamed: Buffett, Allison, Branson and other successful entrepreneurs talk about what made them eliminate alcohol from their lives.
Igor Rybakov
“When I came to university, alcohol was disgusting to me. More precisely, I was neutral to him. But what happened among the students at the university? Well, there, let’s try beer there, and so on … And then what happened? Well, I began to apply a little beer, then more, more, ” recalled the co-founder of TechnoNIKOL. Now Rybakov is convinced that alcohol, like drugs, is a way to distract from difficulties and drown out stress, which only delays the solution of problems and thereby exacerbates them. According to him, only in a sober state is a person able to feel “bliss, a long-term state of inner fullness, inner strength and great security.”
“Alcohol, drugs and pharmaceutical methods of suppression of activity act in the same direction. They eat away at our ability to be reasonable, to think, to be tenacious, grasping. They slow us down, bring us closer to amoebas, plants. We are losing our human essence,” Rybakov is sure. The entrepreneur, whose net worth is estimated at $ 2.2 billion, noted that alcohol is especially dangerous because its use is “a socially unacceptable norm.” “That is, it is believed that 100 grams for courage, for example, is a must-have. In society, even such an approach is cultivated that 50 grams have not hurt anyone yet” he explained. Rybakov urged not to perceive alcohol as something “normal”: this attitude, in his opinion, was imposed by alcohol producers.
Larry Ellison
The co-founder of Oracle admitted that he tries to stay away from everything that “clouds the mind”, including alcohol. “I am not against those who drink. I’m not against those who dabble in drugs. If that’s what they want, then God bless them, it’s none of my business. But personally, I can’t do that,” Ellison once said.
Ellison’s main passion is sports: the entrepreneur has been participating in sailing races for many years, enjoys kayaking, and is also the owner of a pilot’s license and several aircraft. The entrepreneur, ranked eighth on the Forbes billionaire list in 2022 with a net worth of $99.6 billion, lives on the Hawaiian island of Lanai, which he bought in 2012.
Warren Buffett
The Oracle of Omaha is a staunch supporter of sobriety. Buffett says he never smoked or drank alcohol because he doesn’t want to spoil his health. Once, speaking to students, the legendary investor asked them to imagine that on their 16th birthday they received a car as a gift from a wizard, but there is a condition: it is one for life. “I would be very careful with this car, because I have to drive it for the rest of my days. This is how you should treat your mind and body,” Buffett explained.
However, his diet is more than peculiar. Buffett, who has earned $100.9 billion according to Forbes, drinks five cans of Coca-Cola daily and goes to McDonald’s several times a week. “I eat like a six-year-old,” an investor once joked. In addition, the refusal of alcohol does not prevent Buffett from investing in alcohol producers: in the portfolio of his Berkshire Hathaway conglomerate, Molson Coors brewing companies and alcohol distributor Kahn Ventures.
Charlie Munger
Buffett’s “right hand” and his longtime friend Charlie Munger also don’t touch alcohol. “The four closest friends of my youth were extremely intelligent people with strict ethical principles and a sense of humor, everyone spoke well of them. Two have died long ago, and alcohol played a significant role in this. The third is an alcoholic, and I’m not sure that this can be called a full life” an investor, whose fortune is estimated at $2.1 billion, once said.
He notes that alcohol too often leads to addiction, and any addiction is fatal. “And I have yet to meet a person who would make his life worse by avoiding and fearing this way of self-destruction,” said Munger, who turned 98 in 2022.
Pavel Durov
The co-founder of VKontakte and Telegram often talks about the desire to prolong youth. In 2020, on the day of his 36th birthday, Durov published a list of his seven life rules, among which was a complete rejection of alcohol. “There may be rare exceptions, but in general, alcohol (like other addictive substances) impairs health and visually ages a person,” he said. At the same time, at the end of his post, he emphasized that he considers the rejection of alcohol to be the main of the listed tips. “Once you stop drinking, you will no longer drown out your intuition, which tells you what is good for you and what is bad. You will be able to know yourself better and will no longer need the advice of other people” added the billionaire.
Also, Durov, whose fortune reaches $15.1 billion, advises sleeping a lot, not overeating, playing sports, protecting yourself from stress, eliminating meat from your diet and living alone. In addition to alcohol and meat, the entrepreneur fell into disfavor with tea, coffee, energy drinks and soda - all these drinks, according to Durov, negatively affect health.
Richard Branson
The Virgin Group co-founder and $3.7 billion net worth has also given up alcohol in recent years. He believes that “under a degree” people too often do things that they are later ashamed of. “In my opinion, if most people remember unpleasant moments from their lives, they will find that quite often they were somehow connected with alcohol,” the entrepreneur explained. “I only felt lethargic when I drank five or six glasses in the evening instead of two.”
Briton Branson prefers tea to all drinks - he can drink up to 20 cups a day. This habit, according to the billionaire, helps him stay energetic. “Tea is not only tasty and invigorating. Over a cup, I can pause and think about something of my own without being distracted by anything, discuss ideas with friends, or just sit in silence.” he said.
Sources: Insider (formerly Business Insider), CNBC, Forbes, The Tim Ferris Show, A Drink With, Pavel Durov’s telegram channel.