Dopamine and discipline, fix these two to fix your life

Modern life is breaking your dopamine and messing up your life. Here are the most common examples of high dopamine low effort activities:

Social media scrolling (Instagram, TikTok, etc.)

Pornography

Ultra-processed food (sugar, fast food, snacks)

Video games

Binge-watching shows/movies

Online shopping

Gambling / betting apps

Drugs, alcohol, nicotine

Constant texting & notifications

Chasing likes/comments/followers

If you check the list above, then you will find at least one activity that makes you feel guilty. You feel guilty because you know that you could cut that activity and do something that could lead you to reaching your goals and give you more freedom in life.

I feel the same way, so to learn more about how dopamine (reward system works), I listened to Impact Theory podcast with guest Andrew Huberman and learned about how this process happens. Just knowing how this process works does not guarantee immediate results, however it gives more understanding and space to self – improvement.

How dopamine and the reward system work

Dopamine = Motivation, not pleasure. It drives you to pursue things, not enjoy them. You can enjoy food without dopamine, but you won’t work to get it.

Pursuit feeds dopamine. Most of dopamine is released before you get the reward – during craving, friction, or effort. If you enjoy the pursuit, you can stay motivated longer.

Pain amplifies pleasure. The harder or more painful the effort, the greater the dopamine release afterward. Ice bath, hard work, or even failing and recovering can increase motivation.

Reward prediction error. If reality is worse than expected, your dopamine drops, and you feel disappointed. If better than expected, it spikes. Manage your expectations to avoid burning out.

Post-win dopamine crash. After success, you feel a natural drop. Instead of chasing the next hit right away, rest. Let your dopamine baseline reset.

“No-Go” circuit. Deliberately resisting urger (like checking your phone) builds self-control. This strengthens discipline at the brain level.

 

How modern life destroys motivation

Too much easy pleasure. Social media, junk food, porn, and binge content give dopamine without effort. This damages your brain’s ability to get motivated from real challenges.

Overstimulation =Burnout. Constant dopamine spikes make you numb. You need more stimulation for the same pleasure. This can feel like low motivation or even mild depression.

Context switching. Apps like TikTok overload your brain with constant change. This leads to restlessness, distraction, and stress.

Addiction shrinks joy. Addiction narrows the range of what gives you pleasure. A meaningful life requires expanding what makes you happy – especially effort-based joy.

Sleep disruption = emotional instability. Light between 10 pm and 4 am suppresses dopamine and emotional reset during REM sleep. Night scrolling = more anxiety, less motivation.

 

How to Build discipline and healthy routines

Attach dopamine to effort. Learn to love the process. This rewires your brain for long-term success.

Delay gratification. Celebrate wins gently. Don’t spike dopamine too high or you’ll crash harder. Let the journey be the reward.

Use voluntary friction. Do hard things or purpose(cold exposure, workouts, mental challenges). They make your brain stronger and raise baseline dopamine.

Dopamine fasting. Take breaks from instant pleasures. No phone, no sugar, no binge content. This resets your reward system and makes real-life effort feel good again.

Stick to rules. Build an identity: “I do what I say I will do.” Create personal rules and follow them strictly. This reinforces discipline.

Sleep right. Protect sleep by avoiding bright lights late at night. It’s vital for motivation, mood, and mental clarity.

Balance activation and rest. Alternate between intense focus/work (dopamine-driven) and real rest. This “arousal-relaxation dance” keeps you going for the long term.

Don’t feed trolls. Arguing online gives others a dopamine hit. Ignoring them protects your own focus and weakens their cycle.

 If you want to listen to podcast and learn more, then here is the link: 

Neuroscientist: "Even A Little Bit Of Social Media & Porn Does This To Your Life!" | Andrew Huberman

Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity – by David Allen

Getting Things Done: TheArt of Stress-Free Productivity – by David Allen

ISBN: 0143126563

How strongly I recommend it: 7/10

Go to Amazon, Audible or Wikipedia pages for more details and reviews.

About the book

Getting Things Done written by David Allen teaches you how to use your time in the most effective way, do all your tasks and not miss a sing one. The book has gained so much popularity that people started to refer to it as “GTD” abbreviation. If you feel that you have too much to handle but not enough time, then this book is just for you. However all methods presented in the book as one complete system of time management requires forming several habits at once, and this task is not so easy, for this reason I gave it seven points out of ten.  

What I learned from the book

Have a tool for collecting information and capture all things. Depending on what is practical for you, select a tool for recording all tasks and ideas. It can be small notebook, mobile phone or any device that is reliable and always available to you. In case of electronic devices, be careful as they may run out of energy when you need them most to check your to-do list. Thus preferably the best tool to write down ideas is plain small notebook or card size paper which never runs out of energy. However, notes in electronic devices can be modified as much as you want, you cannot do that with notes in your notebook.

Dump all ideas into your tool. After selecting your tool, start dumping all goals, projects, tasks and ideas into this medium. Do not keep any idea in your mind. The more your mind is free of floating ideas the easier to you to focus on your activities at hand. Writing down all ideas will give you mental clarity.  Consider all routine tasks, commitments and schedules that cannot be avoided. Also consider big goals you want to reach and projects you want to realize. Then review all small to-dos that may have important details and criteria. Check your notebooks, mobile phone notes, emails, voicemails and social media accounts that may contain your ideas and to-do lists. Do this activity of writing down ideas on regular basis. Get into habit of getting everything out of your head. If your daily life is out of control, then you cannot think strategically or plan your actions effectively.  

Sort out your list. After collecting all your goals, projects, commitments, routine tasks and to-do lists, start sorting through them. If you do not sort out and continue just collecting all ideas then it is plain procrastination practice. Spare free time and go through your list of ideas. Depending on importance and urgency, make a decision on each idea, do it (if it takes 2 minutes or less), postpone it till certain date, delegate it, trash it, file it for someday to-do list. Just make decision on every item you have listed. After sorting out all ideas, organize related goals, ideas and projects into small manageable chunks or steps in form of specific actions. Out of all tasks, take only few really important and urgent ones for your current day. Follow this principle; do not try to do several tasks in one day. If you do everything, then, you won’t accomplish anything.

Just do it. After selecting up to three or four tasks, just do them. In one day, focus only on doing selected tasks and ignore the rest. Do all your selected tasks as soon as possible until the end of the day. To increase your productivity cut all distractions: email, cell phone, Internet, music, TV set etc. Do not let yourself get distracted from your task at hand. If you get interrupted when you are working on your task, write down any request or given tasks into your tool, and return to your task. Learn to do one task at a time, and forget about multitasking.

Always carry your tool with you. All actions you have done so far will be in vain, if you do not carry your notebook or device with you all the time. Have only one place to collect all incoming tasks and ideas, otherwise you again will have a mess and scattered to-do list everywhere. Cultivate a habit of carrying your tool with you to capture ideas and tasks immediately once you get them.  

                                                                                                  

Practice weekly, monthly and yearly reviews. Collect and process all your ideas. Review your performance and effectiveness of your system. Update your task lists. Get clear about your goals, update your to-do list and complete all your tasks. Consider your life stage, your five year vision, 1-2 year goals, your responsibility areas and current projects.   

Here is a presentation of Getting Things Done book idea from the author himself: