Don’t bother with Dry January – just open up a spreadsheet
Dry January isn’t for everyone, and nowhere is this more true than the Square Mile. With networking events and working lunches taking place in Michelin starred eateries, it’s certainly tempting to sample the free wine going round the table.
Perhaps London’s business brains should take a leaf out of one oil specialist’s book if they want to resist the urge to drink.
Supping on Threadneedle Street yesterday, Hugh Sanderson, an executive managing director at First Energy, told The Capitalist he’s testing a stats-focused method of cutting down on the vino.
He’s drawn up a spreadsheet in Google docs to help him monitor how much he drinks during the week, and he’s been updating it daily since the start of the year. Well, financiers do love spreadsheets.
Apparently, because waiters are prone to top up a wine glass before it’s completely empty, there’s no use measuring in units. Instead, the energy exec measures his intake by how hungover he feels the next morning. There’s three settings: low, medium, and high.
“I’m then able to make better decisions based on the data accumulated.” Spoken like a true economist.
So, how was yesterday’s inventory? “Well, it’s definitely not going to be low”, he decided, looking at the wine glass already in hand.