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

How to prevent cancer or decrease its risk by following seven practices, interview of Thomas Seyfried

Yesterday watched a youtube video on cancer and ways of preventing it, and here are seven lessons I have learned:

A person who gave interview was Thomas Seyfried, a professor of biology, genetics, and biochemistry, has dedicated 30 years to gathering scientific evidence supporting this view.

Cancer is a metabolic disorder which is preventable if you follow few practices on a regular basis.

1) Avoid carcinogens in your environment such as tobacco smoke, benzene, pesticides, plastics, alcohol etc. The immune system’s response to foreign and carcinogenic substances can lead to inflammation that damages mitochondria.

2) Maintain healthy mitochondrial function. Mitochondria – highly efficient “engine” of your cells that convert oxygen and food into energy. When they get damaged, they start using less efficient fermentation pathways which lead to cancer.

3) Cancer cells burn fuels like glucose and glutamine for energy without oxygen. Glucose – simple sugar that gives energy to your body cells. Glutamine – amino acid that helps build proteins and supports immune & digestive systems.

4) Limit glucose and glutamine in your diet. Foods that contain high glucose: anything that is sweet, honey, dates, ripe bananas, white bread/potatoes, grapes. Foods that contain high glutamine: beef, eggs, milk & dairy, cabbage & spinach. Eat low carbohydrate food to be in nutritional ketosis. Practice fasting – this forces body to use fat resources and leads to reduction of tumor incidence.

5) Do exercises on a regular basis - this leads to lower blood sugar and glutamine availability. Exercise encourages mitochondria to burn ketones and oxygen efficiently.

6) Sleep enough and manage stress to prevent chronic damage to your body. Learn about these topics by searching them online by yourself.

7) Manage your Glucose Ketone Index (GKI) to make sure that the risk of cancer is low. GKI is calculated by dividing blood glucose (in molar) by blood ketones (in molar). A GKI of 2.0 or below reduces the risk of tumor growth, that is your target mark to aim at. You can measure your GKI using keto meter by pricking your finger for blood glucose and ketone levels.

If you want to watch the video, then here is the link:  The Cancer Expert: "This Common Food Is Making Cancer Worse!"

7 advices of Dr Daniel E. Lieberman, Harvard University professor on good health

These are my notes from podcast episode with participation of Dr Daniel E. Lieberman on how to improve and maintain optimal health.

1)  Up to 75% of diseases can be prevented with the help of physical activity, a healthy diet and good sleep. Depression, anxiety, many types of cancer, diabetes, Alzheimer’s dementia can be prevented, or their risk can be lowered if a person stays physically active, eats healthy and sleeps enough.

2)  Physical activity is very important for health and longevity. We humans are made to be physically very active. Endurance, resistance, weightlifting exercises slow aging process in our bodies. Exercises are good for muscles, organs, DNA, mitochondria and even brain cells. Physical inactivity accelerates the aging process.

3)  Sitting is not bad, but sitting too long without interruption is bad. You need to get moving every 15-20 minutes. If you sit for more than 1-2 hours on a regular basis, that is bad. Thus, try to move as often as possible. Movement keeps your body healthy.

4)  Comfort is harmful for your health. Our instinct to take it easy is harming us. In our environment where everything that is optimized for comfort and convenience is making physical health less necessary. Short term comfort leads to long term consequences.

5)  The older you get the more you need to do strength workouts. After 40, if you do not use your muscles, then you will start losing them. This will make you weak and not capable of doing daily activities that require physical strength. For this reason, be active and do exercises daily.

6)  Dieting and exercise together help you to lose and maintain healthy weight. Avoid or limit all kinds of food that are high in sugar and low in fibers. Along with that, do exercises on a regular basis. If you do not like to do exercises, then do moderate level physical activities like walking or swimming.

7) You don’t need to sleep 8 hours strictly; 6-7 hours sleep is optimal depending on how many hours you want to sleep.

 If you want to listen to podcast itself, then here is the link to it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujRwf1HdNjk

You’re Losing the Social Media Game — and You Don’t Even Realize It

You keep wasting time on technology and social media. Every fix you try works for a while… then you’re back at it. The worst part? You don’t even notice when it happens. By the time you do, you’re already deep into mindless scrolling, and even though you know it’s screwing up your life—you don’t want to stop.

Why? Because this isn’t just your fault. It’s a trap. You’re playing a game rigged by people who want you to lose. Social media companies don’t care about your goals, your time, or your mental state. They care about one thing: money. How do they get it?

Keep your eyes glued to the screen.
Harvest your data.
Sell you stuff you didn’t ask for.

That’s the game. And they’re damn good at it.

These platforms are engineered to hijack your brain—bright colors, endless notifications, algorithmic dopamine hits. It’s not a fair fight. You’re not addicted because you're weak. You’re addicted because they made sure you would be.

So, is there a way out? Yes—but it’s not easy. No app or productivity hack is going to fix this for you. You need to take control back, step by step. Here's how:

Step 1: Get Clear on What Matters

Grab a pen and paper. Write down:
What are your goals?
What do you care about?
What kind of life do you want?

If you’ve already done this—good. If not, do it now. This list is your compass. Without it, you’ll keep drifting and will not find a fix to problem of social media.

Step 2: Watch Yourself

Start tracking how you spend time. Use screen time apps or browser trackers. Don’t try to change anything yet—just observe. Get real with yourself.


Step 3: Audit Your Feeds

When you scroll, ask:
Does this help me reach my goals?
Is this actually useful?
Do I know the person who posted this?

If the answer is no—unsubscribe, unfollow, unfriend. Make this a daily habit. Don’t try to wipe it all out in a day—you’ll burn out. Instead, everyday work on it. Very soon you will notice how all media you use becomes less time consuming and more aligned with your goals.

Keep only:
Just-in-time info (relevant now)
People you know or learn from

Delete everything else. “Just in case” is a trap.


Step 4: Set Boundaries

Pick a specific time for entertainment or scrolling. Never do it during work or learning—your focus will take a hit.

Over time, start reducing this window. Track your screen time weekly. Celebrate progress.


Final Note 

Not everything you do “online” is helping your main goals. Be ruthless. If it’s not useful, it’s a distraction—no matter how productive it feels.

042 cliff notes from Tim Ferriss show podcast, Mark Hart & Raul Pal

End Game article by Raul Pal
Art of learning book summary
Habits are vital for productivity
Frequent medical checkups indicate your health level
30 grams of protein within 30 minutes of waking up
Breakfast to lose weight
spinach
lentils
eggs
It is difficult to change many things at once, decision fatigue will set in
For good sleep have unsweetened almond butter
To lower glycemic index of food take vinegar
Be effective instead of efficient
Lucid dreaming how to do it
whenever you find yourself on the side if majority, it is time to stop & reflect - Mark Twain
Life is journey not a destination

https://castbox.fm/episode/Ep-63%3A-Hedge-Funds%2C-Investing%2C-and-Optimizing-Lifestyle-(Mark-Hart%2C-Raoul-Pal)-id1059468-id51930472

039 cliff notes from Tim Ferriss show podcast, Pavel Tsatsulin part 2

To gain muscle you should convince body about huge abundance of food by eating in midnight
To get strength & muscle do 5 sets
3 highest yield kettlebell training exercises
One arm swing
The turkish get up
Goblet squat
Shake muscles during sets
Do 40 sets of maximal fast movements for 10 seconds 50 seconds rest
Jacobs relaxation program


https://castbox.fm/episode/Ep-57%3A-Pavel-Tsatsouline-Answers-Your-15-Most-Popular-Exercise-Questions-id1059468-id51930465

037 cliff notes from Tim Ferriss show podcast, Pavel Tsatsulin

Take complex subjects apart into small blocks without losing essence of subject

Principles based training

Training of soldier & athlete are completely different

Strip all non-essentials down to have antifragile element

Train your nervous system to increase your physical capacity

Contract your grip, abs, glutes & everything you do

When in doubt train your grip & core

Barry ross protocol

Strength

Hypertrophy

Endurance

Flexibility

Functional movement screen
do not go to failure, instead if you can do 10, then do 3-6 & increase number of sets

Deadlift & kettle-bell swing are the best exercises

Balance with priorities

Scrivener software

Training is like a budget, you make trade off your limited resources, eliminate non essentials & simplify

Magnificent seven movie

Be protective of your time to learn

Limit communication channels

https://castbox.fm/episode/Ep-55%3A-The-Science-of-Strength-and-Simplicity-with-Pavel-Tsatsouline-id1059468-id51930463

035 cliff notes from Tim Ferriss show podcast, Peter Attia

Fasting to produce ketones

No carbohydrates and little protein & fat produce ketones - energy source for brain

vo2max

Resting metabolic rate

Protein carbohydrate fat

After 40
Cardiovascular disease
Cerebra-vascular disease -stroke
Cancer
Neurodegenerative disease - Alzheimer, dementia

Any strategy directed to longevity & good health should be directed against these diseases

All these diseases are metabolic diseases

Caloric restriction delays onset of these metabolic diseases

Glute meat exercises

Surely you're joking mr feynman

To live long life:
Fix nutrition
Changing exercises
Fixing your sleep
Using right supplements
Modulating hormones
Fixing weaknesses with pharma
Managing stress

How to be the best dad in the world

https://castbox.fm/episode/Ep-50%3A-Dr.-Peter-Attia-on-Ultra-Endurance%2C-Drinking-Jet-Fuel%2C-Human-Foie-Gras%2C-and-More-id1059468-id51930458

009 cliff notes from Tim Ferriss show podcast

Rhonda Patrick

Micronutrients

Vitamin K in dark leafy plants

If you want better cognitive performance move a lot physically

Fasting and less ejaculation lengthens life time of males

Take micronutrients to prevent future illnesses

Focus and get your micronutrients for good health, this is low hanging fruit

In diet, absence of harmful things does not guarantee presence of useful things, therefore develop habit of taking micronutrients

30 grams of protein within 30 minutes of waking up and fistful of greens in every meal is great

005 cliff notes from Tim Ferriss show podcast, Jason Silva

Brain games national geographic documentary

Epiphany addict - realizing something great, new discovery

shots of awe/search in youtube

Festival of dangerous ideas

Learn to get into flow state by Steven Kotler

Discover your talents and passions

Dopamine – how to manipulate it for our advantage

cognitive ecstasy wonder junkie

Set, setting & environment dictate your emotions

Do activities that take you into flow state

I worried about many hardships and most of them did not happen - Mark Twain

Enemy Dostoyevsky double

Memento movie

Matrix movie

Inception movie

Joseph Cambell’s Hero's journey book
https://player.fm/series/the-tim-ferriss-show-1578275/episode-5-jason-silva

003 cliff notes from Tim Ferriss Show podcast, Kelly Starret and Justin Mager

One should sleep 8+ hours per night

Quantified self-tools

Observing deep sleep

Blood testing, one blood test is a snapshot, and continuous tests give chart and explain our internal processes

Folic acid and methylation

Better information - better decisions

Heart rate variability exercises (HRV)

Listen to yourself, to your body for improving health and life quality

Observe yourself, read people, it is easy to read people by their emotions & movements

If you know yourself, you know others

If you wake up and have no erection...then you have health issue

Sitting and office work is very bad, similar to smoking and killing yourself slowly

Improve your cognitive performance by fixing your diet, posture

To improve your thinking, mental performance, improve your physical performance, it is cheap & effective

Sleep hygiene:

Pitch dark room

It should be a little bit cold

Taking away chair at school will have major impact in health improvement of children, work in office

While working, avoid sitting for long hours

Think critically, use technology to optimize our potential

https://player.fm/series/the-tim-ferriss-show-1578275/episode-3-kelly-starrett-and-dr-justin-mager