Dopamine Detox: A Short Guide to Remove Distractions and Get Your Brain to Do Hard Things By Thibaut Meurisse

DOPAMINE AND THE ROLE IT PLAYS

• Dopamine is a neurotransmitter which makes us anticipate rewards such as having sexual relationships or eating nourishing food.

• Dopamine is not a pleasure chemical. Simply because an event triggers the release of dopamine doesn’t mean it is something we like or get pleasure from.

• In fact, when you pay close attention, you’ll notice that as soon as you obtain the expected reward, you’ll often feel empty and unfulfilled.

• You’re addicted to highly stimulating activities (such as watching video games, immersing yourself in social media or reading emails).

• When you undertake these activities, you start losing self-control—you want more and more stimulation. And even though they may not give you any real pleasure or lasting fulfillment, you keep doing them. After all, you need the next hit of dopamine, don’t you?

• If you can’t spend a day without engaging in a certain activity, it means you’re probably a little addicted to it.

Action step

• Write down a past situation when you couldn’t stop doing something. Are there any activities you can’t stay away from for one whole day? Write it down as well.

• Social media notifications are a great example of how your brain is being hijacked. Whenever you see a notification, you anticipate the reward you’ll receive when clicking on it, which triggers the release of dopamine in your brain.

Food craving

• Sugar is addictive but on the same level as nicotine.

• Dopamine and constant stimulation can impair your ability to think long term.

• We understand we should study, but we procrastinate by watching yet another series on Netflix. We can see the benefits of exercise, but we’d rather be sitting and chatting with friends on social media.

• The billionaire investor and former senior executive at Facebook, Chamath Palihapitiya, argues that we must rewire our brain to focus on the long term, which starts by removing social media apps from our phones.

• Watching motivational videos all day long won’t help you reach your goals. But, performing daily consistent actions, sustained over a long period of time will. Staying calm and focusing on the one task in front of you every day will.

• Remember, long-term thinking is the “secret” to achieving your goals. But it won’t happen today or tomorrow. You must develop the art of patience and consistency. To do so, eliminate the distractions that make you feel restless.

• However, the problem is that you’re often anything but calm and focused. Instead, you’re rushing through your day, jumping from one task to the next. You tend to run in circles like a hamster in a wheel, yet you never seem to complete your work.

• When you’re engaging in highly stimulating activities, your brain will keep demanding more and more stimulation. As your level of stimulation rises, regular tasks will appear increasingly dull and unappealing.

Trick #1—returning to work is easy 

• The first trick your mind will play on you is to pretend that returning to work will be easy. It will try to convince you that you can start work whenever you choose, that you’re in control of your actions. But this couldn’t be further from the truth. In most cases, you won’t be able to get back to work for hours. You might even find yourself postponing your key tasks until the next day.

Trick #2—you can do it later

• Another trick your mind will use is to tell you that you can do your task later. It will convince you there is plenty of time in the afternoon or that you can always do it tomorrow, next week or next month. However, if you don’t fight back, putting things o will become a habit.

Trick #3—excitement is not the same thing as fulfillment

• When you’re engrossed in stimulating activities, your mind will sell you on how much fun and enjoyment you are having.

• You should do more of it. Don’t worry about anything else for now. Just enjoy yourself. Or so your mind says.

Trick #4—you’re missing out

• Checking emails or news every thirty minutes gives you the illusion of having some control over your environment. You don’t want to miss an urgent email or the latest breaking news, right?

• Thus, if you “miss” a piece of news, were unable to join a particular event, or failed to watch your favorite YouTuber’s last live video, it’s okay.

• And I almost never worry about missing a specific event because I know there will always be more events to enjoy in the future.

THE BENEFITS OF A DETOX

• Dopamine detox describes the following process: The reduction of stimulation to prevent overstimulation and put you in the proper state of mind to tackle major tasks.

• When you’re overstimulated, you simply need more external stimuli for the same amount of dopamine to be released.

• When you need less stimulation, seemingly challenging, boring or tedious tasks will become more appealing—and easier to tackle.

• You must eliminate most or all sources of external stimulation for a total of 48 hours. Doing so will help you reduce your overall level of stimulation and revert to your natural state. You will feel much calmer and find it easier to focus on any specific important task.

• You need to remove the following things from your life for 48 hours: 

Drug/alcohol consumption, Exercising, Internet, Movies, Music (except perhaps for relaxation music), Phone, Social media, Sugar/processed foods, and Video Games.

SUCCESSFUL DETOX

• The first step to implementing an e ective dopamine detox is to identify your biggest temptations and distractions. To do so, take a pen and a sheet of paper (or use your action guide), and create two columns, “Cans” and “Can’ts”.

• Once you have completed your list, put it on your desk or somewhere you will see it. It will act as a good reminder of the activities you must avoid.

• Look at the habits or activities you want to eliminate and ask yourself how you could add friction—the more friction, the better.

• The bottom line is, the more di cult you make it to engage in unwanted behaviors, the better.

• Look at your list of “Can’ts”. Next to each of them, write down specific things you could do to add friction.

• Then, look at your list of “Cans” and write down things you could do to eliminate friction.

• I recommend you start first thing in the morning before becoming overly stimulated.

How to plan your day

• To help you identify your major tasks, you can ask yourself the following question: If I could complete only one task today, which one would have the greatest impact?

• You’ll notice that your most important tasks are often the ones you want to do the least. Perhaps, it’s because they are challenging. Perhaps, you don’t know where to start. Or, perhaps, they’re boring.

• I believe the most important one is to identify your key task and tackle it first thing in the morning —and do this consistently.

• One thing that will strengthen your routine is to be at the same place at the same time each day.

• Choose a time and place where you’ll be tackling your major tasks each day.

• It’s okay if you don’t feel motivated or creative, taking action will generate motivation and stimulate your creativity.

Beware of open systems

• An open system is simply an application or situation that provides you with a continuous and never-ending supply of external stimuli. Some examples are emails, Facebook, YouTube, and, more generally, the internet as a whole.

• With open systems, there is no end to reach, no point at which you can ever be finished, and an almost infinite number of ways to become distracted. As a result, you can end up wasting hours of your time each day.

• Mindfulness. This means being aware of what’s going inside you and around you.

• For example, you can eat slowly while noticing each flavor or texture. Or you can place your attention on your body and observe all the sensations you’re experiencing from head to toe. You could also practice completing household or work-related chores, while trying to be as present as possible.

• Boredom. Practicing doing nothing is a good way to lower your level of stimulation. Our mind constantly wants to do things. For a moment, be okay with doing nothing. Sit down and observe things, eat in silence or walk with no specific intent or destination in mind.