stripping myself of dopamine for 7 days - stupid or genius?

last week, i subjected myself to a dopamine detox for 7 days, inspired by this tweet:

i’m a naturally curious, health-minded person. i thought, “huh, i like experiments. let’s see what happens.” and man…Scott was right. this will change your life.

but first, let me tell you how i did it.

setting up the detox

whenever i do a challenge or experiment, the first question i ask is, “how do i make this stupid easy?”

for the phone stuff, i

• configured a dumb phone launch to only show the essential apps
• set up a screentime limit for 1 hour on all apps minus exceptions
• signed out of all social media + content apps
• turned off Gmail on phone

now, my phone had almost no purpose besides talking to my wife.

everything else was straigthforward. already eating mostly whole foods so didn’t need to change much else.

the real magic (and madness) hit in the surprises.

surprises

music…holy cow was i taking music for granted! i didn’t even realize the amount of joy i get from:

• putting on Top 50 Argentina while i cook dinner with the kids
• listening to Frozen en español in the car with my daughter singing “libre soy” on the drives to the park
• laughing with Shaan & Sam from MFM as if i were sitting on the couch next to them discussing insane business ideas

if you stop reading here and take one thing away from this, let it be this. do your own detox week, even just cutting out music & content. you’ll realize the same thing i did.

another joyful thing i felt was grabbing my pink penny board and skating to the park and around the lake by my house. no phone, no music, nothing. just me & my board. i felt like a dumb teenager in high school again with not a worry on my mind.

i was so bored one night after the kids went to bed and my wife was at yoga that i convinced myself the most option i had was to go out back and pull weeds. yeah, after working 8 hours, cooking & feeding two kids and two dogs that yes, i should go outside, put on those silly $10 gloves and pull weeds while the sunsets. not on my bingo card for that week, but without dopamine, anything sounds fun.

takeaways

i had two big takeaways from this experience. the first. i noticed my thoughts felt less scattered. i was definitely thinking more, but the variety of my thoughts decreased significantly. it was as if my mind was a television and instead of access to 100 channels, it went down to 3:

1. family
2. work.
3. personal projects

it was amazing. my mind felt calm. my brain didn’t shut off, but the clarity…it was like seeing my thoughts with the naked eye for the first time in a long time.

the other takeaway thing? noticing myself feeling sad

but it wasn’t the normal feeling of sad, like when you hear a friend’s dog died or something else. it was the sadness you feel when you’re lonely. i felt slightly alone in my boredom without my usual dopamine hits.

but…it actually led to appreciating joys more.

it made me realize i take a lot of things for granted that bring joy in little ways to my life like dancing, listening to music while i cook, or just hearing people share a good business idea on a podcast.

but you know what else came out of that? creativity. i had 10x more energy to be creative while playing with my kids. we rearranged furniture, we made up pretend games like going to the library, we colored pictures. it was wonderful. it made those moments feel more special because i was actually being mindful and not distracted by all the noise in the world.

next time

i want to do this at least once a year, hopefully more. it’s a wonderful way to filter out all the noise and reset your mind.

and next time i do it, i hope to do more creation. practice drawing or building things or just spend time being in nature. even if that means sitting at a park bench near the lake or riding my bike to a new part of the city.

i would highly highly recommend this to anyone and everyone. most of us are addicted to our phones or screens.

even if you just did 1-2 elements from this like no social media for a week or no music for a week, you really get clarity in your mind and feel some weight off your shoulders.

seriously. go try this yourself. you never know what you might learn!