Transcription
Hello there. Feeling flat, foggy, and fried, aren't we? Drained. Your energy, motivation, and zest for life that you once had just seems to have disappeared. And now nothing feels fun anymore, does it?
So, you've been scrolling, understandably so, secretly hoping that the next video you watch might finally change something and snap you out of how you're feeling. But nothing's been working, has it? In fact, every video you watch just seems to drain your energy a little bit more. Drain your energy so much, in fact, you might secretly be hoping I start speaking quicker than I am and getting straight to the solution and telling you exactly what you need to do.
But I'm not going to do that just yet because we need to slow down. Now look, I know you desperately want to stop feeling like this and get back to feeling like your happy, motivated self that can face life and all its challenges. But the problem is, no one's ever taught you how to do so.
But I've got some good news amongst all of this pessimism. You are not broken. You're just a bit overstimulated and in something called a dopamine hole. Easily done. I was in one last week for about 5 days, but I managed to get out of it after finding a new solution. And it's this solution I'm going to share with you within the next few minutes of this video. So you can get out of your dopamine hole right now and get back to feeling like your happy, motivated self, but without forcing discipline or motivation onto yourself and without you needing to change everything about your personality and life like that. So let's get into it.
Now look, I'm going to share that solution with you in the next few minutes. But before I do so, we need to start in a bit of a boring and annoying place. We need to understand why we're here in the first place. Why have you fallen in to a dopamine hole? Now, look, I know that's annoying because you do just want the solution right now. You want me to tell you what to do to stop feeling how you're feeling, and we're going to get to that. But the reason why we're covering this quickly first is because if I give you the solution now, it won't hit because you'll be trying to fix something you don't understand, which is impossible. You can't fix something you don't understand. In fact, to understand something is to fix it.
So, look, we're going to quickly cover why we fall into dopamine holes in the first place. And as we cover this information, chill. Let me take the lead on this one. I don't want you to remember all of the information. Just see what sticks out and feel the words as I say them. That's all. Chill.
So when we chase cheap pleasure, and I say we because I'm very much involved in this. When we chase cheap pleasure such as scrolling, watching pornography, eating junk food, or playing video games, our brain's motivational battery drains, which is why we feel flat, foggy, and fried. But we don't want to feel those things, do we? So what do we do? We chase more cheap pleasure to relieve ourselves from these feelings. But that only leads to one place, being in a dopamine hole.
But what is a dopamine hole? Let's get really clear on what this is. Well, a dopamine hole is simply a state of mind where you're chasing cheap pleasure, but nothing satisfies you. And then soon enough the things that really matter in your life such as the necessary admin or the hard tasks, you know, the exercise, the productive work, those things just feel too hard to face. Maybe this is resonating with you right now as it was with me last week.
Now, why does this happen? Well, it happens because every time you flood your brain with quick spikes in pleasure, annoyingly, you're also flooding it with longerlasting spikes in pain. Because when it comes to pleasure, pain, and the brain, there is no free lunch. Meaning, every burst of pleasure must be paid back. I know that stings and I really wish this wasn't true, but it is true. So, I would rather you know this than be ignorant of it. And the reason why our brain does this just quickly is because it wants to maintain a balance of its dopamine levels. That's why big peaks in pleasure always are followed by deep dips in pain because your brain needs to go up down in order to come back up to baseline. And that's why when we chase cheap pleasure, we don't feel energized, do we? No. We feel like we're in a ditch because technically we are.
Now, that's the understanding. But the problem here is that likely hasn't made you feel any better. If anything, it's probably made you feel a bit worse, right? Because you now feel a bit guilty and shameful for all the time you spent scrolling or doing any one of these cheap, pleasurable activities. But but but we don't need that guilt or shame. That's not going to help us here. So let's get rid of those two things by quickly covering what a dopamine hole isn't. A dopamine hole is not failure. It's not laziness. It's not weakness. It's not a personality flaw that you are doomed to repeat. Nor is it clinical depression or burnout. Even though it can feel like all of those things, a dopamine hole is simply a neurochemical low caused by a bit of over stimulation. That's all.
So now you have the understanding. Let's get you out of this dopamine hole. And once you understand this solution, you'll realize getting out of it is actually quite easy. Here's the method I have used to get out of my dopamine holes. The bigger picture solution here is you need to unplug from the sources of cheap pleasure and give your brain and body one to three days of time and space to recover and reensitize.
But how do you do that? What's the new method here? Well, you follow the store method which involves the painful shift from making easy choices that lead to a hard life to making hard choices that lead to an easy life. And why do we use the word store in this acronym? Well, because the idea is you need to treat your dopamine like a precious currency that you store instead of let leak. Now, let's get you out of this dopamine hole and back on track. Here is this method in more detail and exactly what to do next. We're shifting gears now. It's going to be a bit more upbeat and a different vibe. Solution hats on. Let's get you out.
Time for another annoying harsh truth. A dopamine hole gets deeper the longer you keep chasing cheap pleasure. So, your first move towards getting out of it and getting back on track isn't heroic. No, it's actually boring, frustrating, and the last thing you want to do right now. Stop digging. Close the tab. Turn your phone off. Put it in another room. Delete the app. Turn the TV off. Throw the junk food away. Turn off the source that is leaking your dopamine. And the key shift here is you're not denying yourself pleasure, although it will feel like that. You're simply hitting pause on the things that offer you pleasure in the short term, but that are quietly draining your energy in the long term. Stop digging.
Then tune into the body. You can't rely on your brain here because remember it's fried. So you need to do something that gets you out of your head and into your body. Why? Well, because if you want to climb out of the hole, you need to be physically ready to climb. You need energy. So, do one of the of any of the following energy creating things. Hyperventilate for 30 seconds. And then after the 30 seconds, hold your breath for a minute. Breathe like this. Yes. As if your ex is chasing you with printed out screenshots of text messages. Or smash out 15 pressups. Rush to the toilet and splash cold water on your face. Do the crazy monkey shake for 30 seconds. Shake your hands and arms. Your hands and arms. Shake your arms and legs as if you're trying to warm up after getting out of a cold shower. Or smash out a forward fold like they do in yoga. And send me a photo of it. No, I'm joking. Doing any one of these will create energy in your body and it will send a clear cue to your brain of oh, we're doing this now. We're changing direction. But the key thing to note here is you won't want to do this. You're probably sat lounging on the sofa just straight up chilling right now. You won't want to move. But if you want to get out of this hole, you have to create energy where there is none. This is how you do it. Tune into the body.
And then one small win. Now you have a spark of energy. So what you need to do now is treat that spark like the small embers of a fire and channel it towards building more momentum and bigger sparks before the spark fades. Because that energy you've just created, the spark has a time limit. And it's important you channel it towards building more momentum. Because when you're in a dopamine hole, you don't have any momentum. You're stagnant. Focusing on one small win after the energy spark you've just created helps you get some of that momentum back. So, first of all, look around your room or wherever you are and just ask what needs doing. What is the next thing and then pick one? Make the bed, shower, gulp down a glass of water, hoover the floor, wash up a plate, brush your teeth. Just pick one. And the key thing to note here is this isn't about productivity. This isn't about getting things done for the sake of it. No, this is simply about reclaiming your momentum so you can get out of the hole and simply delivering one key message to your brain. Not only are we moving in this direction, but we're now back online.
And then regulate with 10 to 15 minutes. Just like the spark you created from the get into your body exercise won't last forever. Neither will the momentum you get from the one small win you just did last forever. But those two things give you the necessary nudge in the right direction. So, all you need to do now is take the momentum you get from those nudges and channel it towards doing a lowresistance, high stability habit for no longer than 10 to 15 minutes. For example, take a short walk around the block. No earphones, no phone with you, just your thoughts. Read three pages of a book, put the kettle on, make a cup of tea, and sit in silence and drink the cup of tea quietly. Have a shave. Stretch on the floor for fif for five minutes. Cook a nutritious meal. Or if you don't have nutritious ingredients in the house, quickly pop to the shop, get five or six things that you could use to cook. Doing these activities are hard. As simple and as easy as they might seem, they're hard because you're in a dopamine hole. But doing these activities will restore your dopamine levels naturally. Why? Well, think about it this way. When you're in a dopamine hole, you're choosing pleasure first, pain later, because you're chasing the cheap, pleasurable activities. That's why we said cheap pleasure doesn't leave you feeling energized. It leaves you feeling like you're in a ditch. This is another way of saying that. What you're choosing now, however, with regulating with 10 to 15 minutes is you're choosing pain first because you understand when you do these things, you're not going to be over the moon and joyed at how pleasurable they are. But no, they're likely going to feel painful because you're in a dopamine hole. But if you persist with them, you're going to be also you're going to also be choosing pleasure later. This is the reward for pain first.
And then two more things. Engage one target. This is where most people go wrong and the main reason why most people stay in their dopamine holes for much longer than they need to. You see, most people use their bursts of momentum and energy to try and catch up on everything that they need to do. Don't do that because you're not focusing on escaping this dopamine hole within a few hours. That's not going to happen. I think you know that by now. All that you need to focus on instead is simply moving in the right direction and following the momentum and sparks of energy from each step you do along the way. So after you've done the body spark, had one small win regulated with 10 to 15 minutes, you now need to choose one target you're going to re-enter the day with in no matter how much time is left throughout your day. You do so by asking this question. If I only did one thing today with the energy I have right now, what would make me feel accomplished? For example, that might be a 30 minute walk, 60 minutes of work, get into the gym and slog in through a workout. That's usually my one when I'm in a dopamine hole and what I use this week. or you might respond to five openlooped openlooped messages that you've been ignoring. You pick one thing. You focus on that and nothing else for the rest of the day. And doing that snaps you out of scattered energy and soothes you back in to clarity and focus.
Then you finalize with reflecting on the signal. As you start to walk on level ground again and you feel your motivation becomes steady and your enjoyment for life comes slightly back online, reflect on the feedback from the previous hole. Ask what led me into the hole today. Was I tired, bored, avoiding something? What can I adjust tonight or tomorrow to prevent the dip from happening again? Just get one golden nugget from this dip and then it becomes a case of you're grateful that you fell into it.
So in summary, stop digging. Tune into the body. One small win. Regulate with 10 to 15 minutes. Engage one target and then reflect on the signal. Store your dopamine. Don't leak it. Thank you very much for your time and attention. Stay disciplined, playful, and dangerous. Jas.