The Dopamine Guy

The Brutal Truth About Why You Can't Stop Scrolling I used to doomscroll 4+ hours a day... Porn for 1-2 hours... Runescape running in the background while "working." I Tried NoFap, "streaks", and other cold turkey methods. They worked for some time, but I always caved when life got stressful. Then I found one insight that changed everything: The problem wasn't me. The problem was I was fighting a war I didn't know I was in, and I scrolling was actually a SYMPTOM not my root issue. See tech companies spend MILLIONS studying how to hook your brain. They've hijacked your reward pathways. They've weaponized dopamine against you. They've taken advantage of your low emotional states. And they're winning. But it's just a battle, they haven't won the war. Your brain is HIGHLY plastic, and can reset in as little as 3 weeks. And in order to do that, you don't need superhuman willpower... You don't need to become a monk. You just need to understand the game being played on you. It became my obsession to free myself and figure out everything that happened... I eventually pulled together 8 years of research and experimentation into a simple 6-step process. Now I: - Don't scroll uncontrollably - Focus for hours (and enjoy it) - Use my phone to build a business, not chase dopamine - No more shame and guilt And I never had to rely on white-knuckle willpower. The process was actually enjoyable and freeing. Because once you see the truth about why you're hooked... Quitting becomes easy. Your brain WANTS to heal. You just have to stop fighting it the wrong way. I finally wrote everything down in a free "minicourse". It's a 10-minute quick read about: • How they hooked you (biologically) • Why emotions keep you trapped • How society brainwashed you • The 6 steps to break free docs.google.com/document/d/1U6… Fair warning: This isn't for everyone. If you're fine wasting your life behind a screen, skip it. But if you're tired of being a slave to your devices... And you're ready to take back control... This is your chance to build momentum. Read it now. Not later. Not tomorrow. NOW. docs.google.com/document/d/1U6…

I used to be a cycle through different routines to keep things interesting and novel believer. But now I am starting to believe that is not optimal. There is magic in sinking deeply into a routine that is optimally designed to get the results that you so desperately desire. I used to search for new routes to walk every morning, but now I can see the beauty in noticing different details, seeing how it changes through the season, how other people interact with it. There's endless there if you are able to see it. Going to play with this for a while and see how it transforms for me as I go deeper and deeper.

Writing down what task you are working on is such a simple and powerful way to eliminate overstimulation and distractions. When I am having a low performance day, I will literally write down every small task before I do it. For some reason it releases more dopamine and keeps me moving when all I want to do is just distract myself.

High emotional pain tolerance is a pre-requisite for success and optimal performance. Which means procrastination and low output is usually tied to fear of temporary discomfort (aka low emotional pain tolerance). Unironically the best way to train this is meditation or a breathing practice. Pair that with intense exercise or combat sports, and you will develop the resilience required to push through your self imposed limitations.

Unironically the best productivity hack is to be kind to yourself. Tearing yourself down at every moment creates long term self esteem issues tied to performance. It's unsustainable. But when you can actually encourage yourself, pick yourself up, and reward yourself, you will enjoy everyday significantly more. The caveat is you have to be actually trying and putting in work. If you are just making excuses for yourself, it isn't real compassion or kindness anyways.

If you identify as a loser, you need to start identifying your wins and framing them as wins. Start as small as possible and remind yourself what it feels like to win something. Set little challenges, and achieve them over and over again. Eventually, it will start cascading to the domains where you are struggling in.

One habit that just won't die with my ADHD brain is writing down my wins everyday. I've always tended to focus on what I didn't do, what I still have to do, and what I've could've done. So by actively recalling and bringing attention to my wins, no matter how small, I can keep my momentum going.

I'm not sure the exact science, but real blue light blocking glasses when you're on some form of stimulant gives you a solid extra 10-15% of focus. Also prevents headaches for me. Just zero reason not to use them.

If you can't get deep work done, get the small tasks done everyday. The more you have things pile up, the harder it is to do anything.

@wojakcodes When I doomscrolled, it was always to find a dopamine hit to numb the pain from the tasks I was avoiding

you keep scrolling from one reel to another, what are you searching for?

Having unlimited time doesn't correlate to more outputs. The time that you think will get filled with endless hours of focused works, actually mostly filled with distractions and meaningless pursuits. When you have the constraint of responsibilities, deadlines, and meetings, you can't trick yourself into doing unproductive things. So that time where you do have space becomes more valuable. Going forward I am going to optimize for finding the right level of busy to maximize my outputs.

You have to understand. Spending 1 hour per day on brainrot is insane. That's about 6% of your waking day. About 5 years of your waking life. Half a decade. On brainrot. Just gone. Zero return. Zero fulfillment. Zero meaning. Zero contribution to the other parts of your life.

Going to go back to a more complex productivity system for April and see if it's better than simple. I'm taking on a lot more this month and will see if it holds up.

@Dearme2_ Exercise, sleep, sunlight are all real answers. But none of them stick if you're spending 6 hours a day destroying your reward pathways on a screen. The foundation has to be there first.

Without drugs... what is the greatest weapon against anxiety and depression?

@shubhvanii This only works if there is someone else holding you accountable to it. Will just erode self confidence when you inevitably miss it, but much harder to let someone else down than yourself.

Set a deadline, brooooooo Not a comfortable one. A scary one. Pressure is what gets shit done.

@bluewmist Quiet morning and early nights can easily be implemented by just keeping your phone in a different room. Mornings get nuked before they even have a chance by reaching for the phone first thing, and early nights are nuked by blue light and doomscrolling until 1am

the older i get the more i realise happiness is quiet mornings, a clean space, early nights, a safe home and people who don’t drain my energy.

@MrE_mssg Far better to make money for yourself than the guys just sitting on their laptops gooning and sitting on Zoom calls, but definitely better to live a high energy lifestyle than try to optimize early

Making money is just a mid-level vitality activity that probably suits a healthy man well in his 40s, 50s and 60s. Slaving in front of a laptop being high on stimulants in ur 20s, what u even doing with urself man lol.

Phone usage has to have a pre-determined purpose. If it doesn't your just going to be farmed for engagement and attention.

Having a tough time getting myself on X. Life is just better when I'm not on it. I don't need to know about events, drama, or AI generated slop knowledge. But, I still feel called to sharing what I'm doing and my progress so will continue to figure it out.

When I was at my lowest, I was jumping from one thing to be addicted to once the initial thrill was gone. Weed Alcohol Porn Video Games Social Media A lot of times this even happened within a single day. All these things were different, but they all numbed me enough to avoid the pain inside. It doesn't really matter HOW it's manifesting, it matters that there is deep pain that is being avoided.

The worst thing you can do in a rut is to kick yourself while you are down. If you can forgive yourself, you can move forward and do what you've been avoiding.