How to Stop Wasting your Life │ Full Dopamine Detox Protocol

if you're tired of feeling stuck because you're distracted scrolling social media or bitching TV shows and movies without accomplishing the work that you need to do this video is for you today I'm talking about dopamine detoxing not throwing any shade but a lot of people treat these dopamine detox challenges like antibiotics like take this pill and reset your brain in 24 hours you'll be reborn a new person well I'm afraid it doesn't work like that a dopamine detox isn't about challenge it's about change recently I completed a detox and I realized if I went straight

back to scrolling and procrastinating then what was it all for anyone can challenge themselves not to use their phone for a week but that's completely missing the point to regain control it has to be done with intention most people don't see results from dopamine detox because they don't have a proper protocol and that's why I created this video to share my protocol that's helped me experience real growth improve my focus and gave me mental Clarity it's three steps and you must do each in order to have have a successful dopamine detox so part one is

preparation planning out the rules and structure around it so we're clear on what we want to achieve the first is purpose as a doctor my most successful patients are the ones who understand the extent of their health concerns they realize what will happen if they don't change their behavior feeling stuck experiencing pain and visualizing what that future looks like not being healthy to see their kids grow up taking five pills a day and feeling miserable each morning that's the mental picture that Sparks a desire for Change and that's why they succeed so honestly ask yourself

why is it important for you to regain Focus what is going to happen if you don't get your life together this protocol has the potential to change your life but just because it can doesn't mean it will not until you decide and internalize why it's necessary for you to change number two is cutting everyone has a different opinion about what to include in a detox I'm not here to argue over semantics but if you want to use my protocol that's gotten me Real Results there are four non-negotiable categories that you have to cut out first

is binge Tech this includes social media TV subscriptions video games forums and political news these things need to be physically deleted from your phone and blocked on your browser if possible I don't care how much discipline or willpower you think you have because our brains are conditioned programmed even to consume instant gratification it's not even always about having a craving or motivation it's just habitual even just glancing at your phone lock screen notification is all it takes for 30 minutes to disappear from your life and yes this also means blocking YouTube if you can I

know a YouTuber is telling you to stop watching YouTube weird right but if you need to use YouTube for work and creation like I do I get it but at least do yourself a favor and use a browser extension that blocks your YouTube homepage and your sidebar to prevent getting sucked into the void number two is unhealthy sex this includes pornography masturbation and yes dating apps like Tinder Bumble and hinge there are many problems that can arise from watching pornography especially in young men who are the majority consumers here now you have to understand that

sex is something that drives people to do very irrational things it's absolutely crazy but the science shows us that even the pursuit of sex releases huge spikes of dopamine sometimes even more than the act of sex itself so even swiping on Tinder and Bumble feeds our brain dopamine I had a friend in college who was so dominated by sex he once had a paper and final exam the next day but he decided to throw away an entire semester and fail his class all because a Tinder date wanted to meet up imagine your life being controlled

by a total stranger's text message through a dating app not even a confirmed real human being remember this part of the protocol is to help us Take Back Control next are consumables no alcohol no recreational drugs including marijuana and no junk food we are what we put into our bodies and in order to give our mind and brain the opportunity to reset we can't keep altering it and feeding it dopamine substances are one of the easiest ways to escape from emotions and from reality because they feel really good it's way easier to kick back with

the girls the boys pound brewskis and hang out till 4am than it is to sit down and focus on studying or building a business or whatever your goals are our mind will always crave the things that give us quick pleasure so this is why it's really important that during this entire protocol our mind is unaltered and remember this isn't forever trust me I love a glass of wine or a cocktail as much as anyone else but you have to stay dry for the duration of the detox and number four is thrill seeking behaviors No gambling

no shopping sprees no skydiving or bungee jumping all of these activities release massive surges of dopamine because of a psychological tendency called variable rewards you know what I'm saying keep them on their toes that's a dopamine playground if we aren't sure if the reward we're gonna get is gonna be good or bad but there's a sliver of possibility that it's gonna be a banger than it's the most addictive type of activity it's weird Studies have shown that when we know exactly what the reward is going to be it's less exciting and we're less likely to

do it consistently but when the rewards are uncertain it's an all-you-can-eat dopamine Buffet but we keep coming back for more maybe I'll get lucky in my next hand maybe I'll find a way better deal on page 10 of Amazon if we aren't 100 certain we'll get rewarded our craving for it gets Amplified this concept of course also applies to social media dating apps and all the other stuff we're cutting out too in part three of preparation is how long to dopamine detox for at this time I'm not aware of any clinical research specifically looking at

dopamine levels after this type of detox so my protocol is based on our understanding of human physiology we want to spend at least seven days in full detox mode there's so much instant gratification delivered to us that our brain is in a constant state of over stimulation and as you've probably experienced yourself the more you consume the less you actually enjoy it and this is because our body has a biological detective mechanism to overstimulation it's called desensitization normally stimulation causes our cells to release dopamine which binds to receptors on these neighboring cells so that they

can function but with over stimulation there's too much dopamine hanging around and our brain can't handle it and to compensate these cells decrease the outbound function and they also decrease the number of receptors Dr K over at healthy gamer had an amazing analogy to describe how this works he said overstimulation is like turning up the volume on your phone to Max when it's plugged into a speaker the input is so high and the sound is so loud that we have to compensate by turning down the volume of the speaker we have to reduce the level

of the input before we can balance out the volume of the speaker otherwise we'd blow out the speaker this process desensitization takes time what we're doing is allowing the dopamine receptors in our brain to return to a state of balance or what we call homeostasis so give your brain at least seven full days to reset you can always go longer if you want there's no upper limit to the length of time you can reduce stimulation but personally I don't think it's necessary to go longer than 30 days and I'll explain why later but for now

let's move on part two of the protocol is execution we've set up the logistics of the mindset the rules and the time frame now it's time to begin as you begin adopamine detox you are guaranteed to experience some emotions you'll feel anxious about being disconnected from the Internet or losing your Snapchat or be real stream you'll feel uncomfortable with long silences as you're forced to make conversation with your friends instead of watching Netflix you'll feel lonely with your thoughts and silence you'll feel frustrated eating breakfast without your iPad or taking a dump with a book

instead of scrolling Tick Tock but of all of these emotions there is one you will definitely experience and you cannot try to escape what do we do when we feel the least bit bored we reach for our phone we start scrolling it's an instinct our mind is trying everything it can to escape feeling bored but what we're gonna do instead is tolerate it think of boredom as the State of Mind where there's still a lot of dopamine hanging around but but the receptors haven't rebalanced yet eventually our mind is going to be so bored that

doing anything will be better but you don't just have to sit around all day and do nothing although that's definitely an option don't forget that we also release dopamine for a lot of things that we do it's often gradual and less intense than the stuff that we're cutting out but we need to jog our brain's memory figuratively speaking that it also gets dopamine from pursuing goals spending time with cool people learning and a whole bunch of other stuff with the execution phase we're reconditioning our brain toward healthy dopamine Alternatives so we get a steadier release

of dopamine and we can actually enjoy doing the things that we used to do so to put this in action we will do three practices every single day yes you heard me right every single day no exceptions number one is self-reflection this is the most important part of the execution phase because in order to experience positive change we have to first become aware of it it doesn't have to be a deep trauma dump exploring your deepest darkest Secrets all the protocol requires is 10 minutes of self collection by meditating journaling gratitude practice or whichever one

you prefer there's really cool data to suggest that even 10 minutes of meditation can calm our mind improve our mood and give us long-term Focus most people live every waking moment in constant distraction the moment we wake up we grab our phone scroll Tick Tock listen to music and commutes watch Netflix while eating we would watch TV and scroll at the same time the point I'm trying to make is that our mind is so consumed with instant gratification that we never make time to think about ourselves no wonder we're stuck and not making progress in

becoming better humans it's because we don't sit down and reflect but we're different at Cajun koi Academy right self-reflection is the building block of self-improvement and the vehicle for self-discovery can you devote just 10 minutes a day to change your life the people who say they don't have time to self-reflect are the ones who need to self-reflect the most number two is exercise it doesn't have to be a full-on workout it can be as simple as a 30 minute walk to the neighborhood or park it can be yoga or stretching a bike ride or rock

climbing whatever fits your Vibe move your body exercise increases blood flow throughout our body and yes it also causes a healthy and steady release of dopamine that's why you feel so damn good after a workout and partly why people experience runner's highs regular exercise improves our mood increases our Focus reaction time keeps our body running smoothly and makes us look sexy there are literally a billion other health benefits from regular exercise I'm sure you don't need me to remind you number three is connect talk to another living breathing human being believe it or not having

real conversations with other people releases dopamine and other neurochemicals again this doesn't have to be a super elaborate thing it can be a five minute phone call with your parents a friend you've neglected lately or maybe your older brother but if you want to take the protocol to the next level then tell them about why you're doing a dopamine detox get them involved and Inspire them to take control of their life too I've grown more as a person from an enthusiastic and passionate friend than anyone else maybe you'll be the spark for someone else's self-discover

return and that's all the protocol required once you end the detox we reach the final part of the protocol restoration restoration is the phase where we begin to reintroduce the things we cut out during our dopamine detox but only after careful consideration sure we can be extreme and say we're never going to use social media or video games or drink ever again but personally I think that's completely unnecessary think about it this way if you have to go as far as to create an absolute rule never to use social media again then who really has

control over who you're being held hostage and restricting your opportunities for self-discovery the goal of dopamine detox is to regain control of our mind so it's not about permanently deleting all instant gratification or dopaminergic activities it's about being intentional with a way that we consume and this is why I don't think the detox needs to go beyond 30 days because once we reach dopamine homeostasis the restoration phase of this protocol will help us build the life that we want for context the idea of restoration came from Naseem Nicholas taleb's concept of of anti-fragility after a

catastrophic incident we normally think of two outcomes something being fragile or breaking apart or being resilient bouncing back for example if I 360 around house kick a tiny Shih Tzu there's going to be critical damage it's fragile if I try the same thing to a mass elephant there is going to be zero damage it's resilient but there's actually a third outcome he calls anti-fragile becoming stronger after catastrophe telep's opening example is the Hydra familiar with this from the Greek tale Hercules or Avengers but when one head is removed three more take its place ads its

heads are severed the Hydra doesn't just bounce back it becomes more and more powerful restoration makes us anti-fragile we just spent seven days cleaning the Slate hitting the reset button and disrupting the status quo of our life but instead of bouncing back to where we were before being stuck being unmotivated to pursue the dream life we desire without mental Clarity and focus why not become stronger so before I decided to reintroduce things back into my life I asked myself very important questions what are the types of things that I value what type of person do

I want to be and what does that person spend their time doing does this app video game subscription six pack a beer or new pair of Yeezys align with my values and how I want to spend my time do they help me become the person that I want to be if they don't then leave them out of your life to give a personal example I did did reintroduce Twitter and Instagram other self-improvers will disagree with me here but I believe that some scrolling has value and it can be healthy as long as it's done sparingly

and with intention I really enjoy a specific subsection of self-improvement philosophy Twitter and so I really only ascribe there to get the ideas that I want and actually connect with other like-minded creators through restoration I identify that very specific angle and now I only use Twitter to engage in that Community same with Instagram I love branding and design and photography art and music so I also use it to engage and explore those areas of interest and this is probably the most Millennial thing I'll ever say but none of my friends use tick tock or be

real we're too old for that so all of our group chats are still on Instagram but I also won't allow myself to get consumed so I also very intentionally set a limit on my phone of 20 minutes a day for each app and this has worked amazing for me I get exactly the value I want out of these apps and I get to leave the rest behind so I really encourage you get into the habit of putting that much intentional thought to the things you want to reintroduce into your life if down the line you

realize it's not serving the same purpose that it once was then get rid of it again this is how powerful you can become from restoration you'll have the ability to pick and choose the best parts about technology about video games social media and then leave the rest behind we can regain control adding more doesn't always lead to more happiness but it always leads to more distraction and that's my full protocol for dopamine detox ever since I did it a couple months ago it's helped me tremendously and I'm going to keep using it every few months

to hit a hard reset especially when I'm starting to feel burnt out or that I notice that I'm not spending time the way that I want to and I have to preface that's like all good things this protocol won't instantly transform your life reframing our mindset and breaking down barriers and beliefs takes intentional practice and time but that's why we have protocols in place if you do decide to give the protocol a go please let me know down in the comments Below had it worked for you what didn't work for you what realizations and intentions

did you discover about yourself this is going to be a great year ahead of us we're going to do incredible things we're gonna become better humans and live more fulfilling lives I hope you'll join us bye [Music]