Dopamine Detox : A Short Guide to Remove Distractions and Train Your Brain to Do Hard Things (Productivity Series Book 1)

by Thibaut Meurisse

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

Dopamine gives us the desire to take action to earn the exciting reward that’s waiting for us. It is the force that makes us act.

Under such a state of stimulation, any task that requires concentration becomes much harder to perform. As a result, you will procrastinate.

“Experiments have shown that the combination of sugar and fat is especially effective in stimulating the brain’s reward system.”

“The brain’s reward system and the circuits that control eating behavior are the same ones that respond to drugs of abuse,” but, unlike sugar, “drugs of abuse seem to hijack those systems and turn off their normal controls.”

“While it is true that a liking for sweet things can be habit-forming, it is not addictive like opiates or cocaine. Individuals do not get withdrawal symptoms when they cut sugar intake.”

Dopamine and constant stimulation can impair your ability to think long term Studies have shown that one of the best predictors of success is the ability to think long term. People who repeatedly focus on where they want to be in the future, make better decisions in the present. They tend to eat healthier food, be more productive at work and save and invest more money than others.

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.

The point is, to achieve long-term goals in your personal or professional life, you must regain control of your attention and rewire your brain to focus on the long term. To do so, you should start by staying away from highly stimulating activities.

Build the foundations for success one brick at a time. Build them strong so that they won’t collapse at the first obstacle or setback.

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.

The reduction of stimulation to prevent overstimulation and put you in the proper state of mind to tackle major tasks.

A dopamine detox helps reduce stimulation, thereby allowing you to revert to a more natural state. When you need less stimulation, seemingly challenging, boring or tedious tasks will become more appealing—and easier to tackle.

By “eliminating all external sources of stimulation”, I mean 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.

Going for a contemplative walk, Journaling, Meditating/relaxing, Practicing awareness exercises, Reading (except stimulating read perhaps), and Stretching exercises.

Maintain complete silence (and have no gesture or eye contact with anyone), Have no physical contact, Take no physical exercise, Stop smoking, drinking, or taking any other drugs, Give up their phone and internet, and have no outside contacts, Avoid music, reading, and writing, and Avoid filming or taking pictures.

routine should deepen your focus rather than stimulate you. For instance, you could: Meditate, Stretch, Listen to some relaxation music, Write down your goals for the day, Write down three things you’re grateful for, or Repeat positive affirmations.

Identify your biggest temptations and/or distractions and write them down on the sheet of paper. Then, make sure you put the sheet in a prominent position. Make unwanted behaviors harder to engage in by adding friction. Make desired behaviors easier to engage in by reducing friction. Implement a simple morning routine to calm your mind and start your day with a low level of stimulation.

Planning your day is important for the following reasons: It gives you an opportunity to clarify which tasks are important and which ones aren’t. It reduces the odds of your mind distracting you during the day. Because you know exactly what you have to do, you can move from one task to the next smoothly and without distractions. You will feel less stressed and more in control. Instead of reacting to your environment and letting it distract you, you will move toward your goals proactively.

Simply write down a few key tasks you must achieve today. Three to five tasks might be ideal. Place them in order of importance and start working on your first task. Once you complete it, proceed to the next.

Schedule one major task to work on each morning

The key to productivity can be summarized in three words: Focus, Consistency, and Impact. 1. Focus is your ability to maintain your concentration and avoid distraction or procrastination while working on your tasks. 2. Consistency means developing the habit of working on your key tasks every day, week after week, month after month, and year after year. 3. Impact means identifying your key tasks (the ones that have the greatest impact on your long-term success) and working on them as often as possible. Productivity can then be defined as having consistent focus on your most impactful tasks.

By focusing on your key tasks consistently for just forty-five minutes daily, you can make more progress than you can with almost anything else you could be doing instead.

productivity is nothing more than focusing on your most impactful tasks and doing so consistently.

psychologist Mihaly Csíkszentmihályi, the “flow” is a mental state in which you’re so fully immersed in an activity that you become hyper-focused, while experiencing a sense of underlying enjoyment).

Using your action guide, follow the steps below to develop laser-sharp focus: Decide what time you will focus on your key tasks. Then, make sure you’re at the same place at the same time each day. Choose a specific trigger to signal the start of your morning routine. Just get started. When you work on your tasks for a few minutes, you’ll be more likely to enter the flow and keep working longer. Eliminate any distractions (phone notifications, internet, et cetera), and Finally, work without interruption. Aim to complete forty-five minutes of uninterrupted work.

your focus is also worth a lot of money to you.

To prevent overstimulation, cultivate the “here-and-now” neurotransmitters, which include endorphin, oxytocin, or serotonin. These neurotransmitters are the opposite of dopamine neurotransmitters in that they make you feel calmer and more present. To activate these neurotransmitters, incorporate activities that ground you in the present such as: Meditation. By meditating even for just a few minutes, you can practice being more “present in the moment”. To do so, close your eyes and focus your attention on your breathing. You can also place your attention on one of your five senses. Then, switch to another sense, and another, and so on. There are no incorrect ways to meditate. Look for meditation books for beginners, search for meditation videos online, or simply experiment and see what works best for you. Stretching. When you stretch, you automatically relax your body and slow your breathing, which enables you to feel calmer and more present. Mindfulness. This means being aware of what’s going inside you and around you. There are many ways to practice mindfulness. 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. Contemplative walking. How present are you when you go for a walk? Do you hear the birds singing? Do you feel the wind b...