How I got over my cheap dopamine addiction

Since I was a little kid, I suffered from a dopamine addiction.

I was the least disciplined kid out of every kid in my class.

It went on throughout my entire school career.

I always prioritized play over work.

I was obsessed with things like Lego and Pokémon.

Even in the classroom, my mind would rather think about them than doing the work.

It got me through primary school.

But as soon as I went to high school, things started to become more difficult.

That video game that I was playing was always more interesting than the homework I had to do or that test I had to study for.

Only very high levels of stress were enabling me to overcome procrastination.

I thought that life would be easier when I got older.

But it didn’t.

When I went to college, COVID came.

Pretty convenient for me at that time, since I didn’t have to go to school.

My dopamine addiction got even worse.

When COVID passed, and real life had to go on, everything that just had to be done felt like a burden.

Doing this until I was 65 felt like my worst nightmare.

Something had to change...

I was watching endless amounts of content at the time.

That’s when I discovered personal development.

I was willing to sacrifice a few years of my life to work towards freedom.

Easier said than done, of course.

I quickly noticed that the things I loved were what was holding me back the most:

• Video games

• Festivals

• My favorite shows

I decided to quit all of them.

But that only lasted so long before my own mind tricked me into thinking that I needed them.

‘’You deserve some rest.’’
‘’How about your social life?’’
‘’You must do what you love.’’

All excuses to indulge in bad habits.

I knew that it was best to quit them forever.

But that was too much for my mind to comprehend.

Some part of me didn’t want to let them go.

I stumbled upon content that talked about monk mode, where you would quit those habits only for a certain period of time.

I was able to make that deal with myself.

30 days full focus without any distractions.

I tried it more than 5 times.

But every time those 30 days were over, I would go back to adopt all of my bad habits.

Destroying all the progress that I made.

I remembered a quote saying:

‘’It takes 21 days to form a habit, it takes 90 days to form a lifestyle.’’

I decided to cut all of my addictions for 100 days.

Surely I would not even think about them after this period.

Right?

Wrong.

The first time that I tried it, the struggle began after the 40th day.

I pushed through until around day 63.

But then doubt and desire got the best of me.

A month later, I decided to give it another shot.

Perhaps if I was stronger and pushed through until at least 90 days, my problems would be over.

The exact same thing happened.

Around day 40, desires and doubt started to clutter my mind.

All I could think about was what I would do when the 100 days were over.

My productivity was at an all-time low.

It got worse and worse until I went on vacation on day 92.

I saw no point in finishing those 100 days.

I relapsed.

I was at an all-time low.

My problems were growing by the day.

I was starting to feel depressed.

I had to try another approach.

My goals were still clear to me:

• Quitting my job

• Traveling the world.

• Supporting my parents financially

I figured that $10k per month would be a good start.

I made an agreement with myself to quit all of my bad habits until I hit $10k per month.

All of a sudden, I felt a sense of peace within myself.

I realized that there are 3 types to sacrifice:

• Temporary sacrifice

• Permanent sacrifice

• Indefinite sacrifice
  

Temporary sacrifice means quitting something for a certain amount of time.

Basically telling yourself that it’s fine to relapse after the period is over.

For me, this didn’t work at all because all I could think about was what I would do when that period was over.

Permanent sacrifice means quitting something forever.

But something inside of me that I call ‘’the lizard’’ couldn’t agree to that.

In moments of weakness, there was always a possibility that he could take over.

Indefinite sacrifice means quitting something for however long it takes.

Until you’ve reached a certain result or goal.

One thing is for sure...

It requires ACTION.

This is the one that did the job for me.

I suggest that you experiment with each of them until you find what works for you.

And remember, most of the desires that your mind is telling you are false.

You’ll feel much better when you decide to remove all distractions.

Go all in.

See you next week.

Much love,

Tibor