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- Dopamine addictions and ruts (106)
Welcome back to the 1st Law Newsletter - Friday Edition.
In this email:
Dopamine addictions
Productivity ruts
Quote on work
Dopamine Addictions
I have been battling the dopamine for so long. It is so enticing. It is so easy to get caught up in the mindless content. I know I need to be a creator and not a consumer, but the switch is hard to make. Internet rabbit holes scatter my days—looking at random stuff to buy, looking at what other people are doing, listening to podcasts that will not change how I think or act, and watching videos that I will not remember tomorrow.
This consumption sucks the creative juices out of me and drains me of my motivation to write or do any other kind of deep work. So, my first takeaway is that in the morning, I need to get some predetermined deep work done before any quick dopamine hits are used. This includes any entertaining apps on my phone, browsing the internet, and listening to music or podcasts.
Also, I feel as though I should attempt a dopamine detox. I have read about how much even one day a week can reset your brain. So for one day a week, I will not use my phone, the internet, any screens, and will not watch or listen to anything. I will fill the day with journaling and writing, exercise, talking to real people, walking, and reading. Who knows what other tasks will get done once the distractions are removed. I will keep the newsletter updated with the results when I execute this experiment.
Productivity Ruts
I have been in a productivity rut for the past year. I am not sure what the problem is. I try to avoid work with the whole of my being. I have tried eliminating distractions, but I just find new ones—it’s so easy to distract yourself online. Anytime I am ready to sit down and get some good work done, my monkey brain starts acting up and becomes curious about peripheral issues in my life. Things that reeeaaally don’t matter. Consequently, I get distracted from my main task and I do not get as much work done as I know I can. This leads to shame because I find pride in hard work—when I am not working hard, I am not proud of myself. Action and accomplishments are what make me proud.
I am not sure where to go with this, I just wanted to write this down. I acknowledge the fact that I can work harder. I know nothing will change until I make it. Perhaps I just need a project I feel so passionate about that I would rather work on it than browse the internet. Regardless, I will keep working on this, day by day. I know I will figure it out and flip the switch one day. Let me know if you feel this way. I want to know how you handle it.
“The most practical skill you can learn is working smarter. But here's what nobody tells you about working smarter: it often looks like you're working slower.
A programmer might spend 20 hours wrestling with a difficult algorithm, then have an insight in the shower that solves it in 10 lines of code. Those 20 hours weren't wasted—they were necessary for the insight.
Most people never get past superficial engagement. They fragment their attention into smaller and smaller pieces — checking Slack every 6 minutes, switching tasks 40 times per hour, and treating their minds like a news feed instead of a supercomputer.
Working smarter often requires looking less productive in the short term. That marketing brief you spend three hours perfecting might look identical to one written in 30 minutes. But the thoroughness of your thinking will be reflected in every decision that follows.
Your first thought is what everyone else thinks. Your best thought comes after you've thought long enough to forget what everyone thinks. The difference between good and exceptional isn't hours worked – it's the depth of thought applied to the right problems.”
Thanks for reading!
Lucas