I've tried it several times in the past, but I usually never get past a day and a half. What I've definitely observed is that after a good 4 or 5 hours of having my TV turned off, phone put away, laptop lid closed, and any other distracting things, my mental state feels more clear and focused. Refraining from checking social media, checking forums *cough sosuave*, or any other quick-fix dopamine things leads to this strange peaceful state of boredom where my mind is more receptive to things coming at me and I have this sense of stronger mental willpower and ability to resist temptation and time-wasting activities. Once in this state, I find that my relationship to temptations is similar to my relationship to hunger during intermittent fasting in that temptation is there, but it's so miniscule and easy to overcome in comparison to a normal situation (checking reddit, instagram, etc. every half hour or more, or constantly snacking and/or having multiple meals per day).
I've given myself a pretty intense deadline for my biz. It would require that I'm in a near perfect mental state. It's true what they say about office workers - that they only work a percentage of the time they're on the clock. I'm no different, admittedly. Once I start down the path of opening up instagram, or reddit, or whatever, I'll end up searching for that dopamine rush again within 15 to 30 minutes. I'll mindlessly check e-mail, turn on YouTube, open up a dating app and just start swiping, or some other time-wasting sh*t that I don't really need to be doing. Sure, just sitting down and doing nothing is the same as not being productive anyways, but atleast I won't be digging myself down a dopamine hole. And for some reason, I never regret staring out of my living room office window (I have a nice view of trees and lots of sky).
My plan is to, upon getting an urge to do a dopamine quick-fix activity, just simply not do it and sit still instead and see what happens.
Dopamine quick fixes for me are things like: Checking e-mail when I don't need to, opening up news apps, turning on the TV to watch YT vids that have nothing to do with my current business objective, opening up one of my messaging apps to randomly scroll to see people's updates, opening up any kind of SM app, viewing pr0n, looking for something to snack on just because I'm bored, and lots of other things. Each person individually will know exactly what these things are for themselves.
I'll also have to resist being sidetracked on these SM apps (because I do need to work on my business instagram and facebook, etc) and messaging apps and to make sure to only do messaging that has anything to do with work.
One thing that I want to expand upon is that "peaceful boredom" feeling once you're no longer hungry for dopamine. My first few experiments of detoxing and coming upon this feeling made me feel a slight angst. It's in no way a negative feeling after some hindsight. But back then, after a few hours of it, I'd end up thinking I deserved some kind of small reward and ended up pouring myself a drink or going to the bar with a friend. And quite predictably, I'd somehow end up back in my dopamine-craving phase. This feeling of clarity and stillness is quite boring indeed, but it far outweighs the alternative and I have a theory that my life may improve dramatically if I'm able to harness the benefits of this state of mind.. I'll be looking forward to it and I'd like to see how long I can stay in this focused state.
I've given myself a pretty intense deadline for my biz. It would require that I'm in a near perfect mental state. It's true what they say about office workers - that they only work a percentage of the time they're on the clock. I'm no different, admittedly. Once I start down the path of opening up instagram, or reddit, or whatever, I'll end up searching for that dopamine rush again within 15 to 30 minutes. I'll mindlessly check e-mail, turn on YouTube, open up a dating app and just start swiping, or some other time-wasting sh*t that I don't really need to be doing. Sure, just sitting down and doing nothing is the same as not being productive anyways, but atleast I won't be digging myself down a dopamine hole. And for some reason, I never regret staring out of my living room office window (I have a nice view of trees and lots of sky).
My plan is to, upon getting an urge to do a dopamine quick-fix activity, just simply not do it and sit still instead and see what happens.
Dopamine quick fixes for me are things like: Checking e-mail when I don't need to, opening up news apps, turning on the TV to watch YT vids that have nothing to do with my current business objective, opening up one of my messaging apps to randomly scroll to see people's updates, opening up any kind of SM app, viewing pr0n, looking for something to snack on just because I'm bored, and lots of other things. Each person individually will know exactly what these things are for themselves.
I'll also have to resist being sidetracked on these SM apps (because I do need to work on my business instagram and facebook, etc) and messaging apps and to make sure to only do messaging that has anything to do with work.
One thing that I want to expand upon is that "peaceful boredom" feeling once you're no longer hungry for dopamine. My first few experiments of detoxing and coming upon this feeling made me feel a slight angst. It's in no way a negative feeling after some hindsight. But back then, after a few hours of it, I'd end up thinking I deserved some kind of small reward and ended up pouring myself a drink or going to the bar with a friend. And quite predictably, I'd somehow end up back in my dopamine-craving phase. This feeling of clarity and stillness is quite boring indeed, but it far outweighs the alternative and I have a theory that my life may improve dramatically if I'm able to harness the benefits of this state of mind.. I'll be looking forward to it and I'd like to see how long I can stay in this focused state.
