How To Take Back Control Over Your Life { my own experience } - In Hands - In Hands limited

DOPAMINE DETOX:-

{ written by Oliver }

 

Let's talk about dopamine. People call it the chemical of want and desire, but why is that? Well, here is how it works. From an evolutionary standpoint, your brain rewards you for anything that will increase your likelihood of survival by releasing a neurotransmitter called "dopamine" in your brain. That's the reason why it feels so damn good to have sex or to eat a steak, because our brain thinks that sex equals a reproduction of our species and that a fat piece of meat equals a long-lasting satiation. Let's look at an example. As soon as you're standing in front of your fridge, and you have the choice to either pick a carrot or a piece of chocolate, your brain will tell you to pick the one which releases more dopamine as it knows that it will make you feel more pleasure. 

Want slow music while reading :- 

So naturally you will choose the chocolate. Now you might say "well, that's not too bad to eat a piece of chocolate every now and then" and that's true. But as soon as our brain releases a lot of dopamine, it will try to stimulate the craving for that thing over and over again until you develop an urge for it, and that's when the addiction kicks in and we can't live without it. For this reason people become overweight, alcoholics or drug addicts. 

The thing is that dopamine doesn't know what's good for us and what isn't. It doesn't know that eating too much chocolate is unhealthy for us. All it sees is a potential of pleasure without any context, and for this reason drug addicts are willing to let their whole life fall apart, only to get that one hit of dopamine again and again. The terrifying reality is that almost every company in our modern society exploits this deeply-rooted reward system by putting it on steroids. 

There are millions of experts specifically designing their products and internet platforms to release as much dopamine as possible in order to make us come back over and over again. That's why social media platforms switch from chronological feeds to an algorithm-based feed and that's why video games have levels and ranking systems, to keep us coming back. 

They give us constant dopamine hits as we jump from one post to the next one and from one level to the next one, and what makes it even easier for us to engage in social media, junk food, porn, alcohol, drugs or any other source of instant gratification, is that it doesn't take us any effort. We simply have to consume and are instantly rewarded with massive hits of dopamine. It's crazy to believe, but we live in a world which is designed to stimulate our emotions in order to maximize profits. It is scientifically proven that dopamine has a direct influence on the decisions we make and the actions we take. 

That's why ultimately dopamine controls us on a daily basis and that's why billions of people unconsciously focus their whole life on consuming instead of creating the lives they actually want to live. Alright. So, I honestly believe that this problem is much bigger than we think and that every single person is impacted by it, and that's why I want to tackle it by doing a 7-day dopamine detox in order to change my relationship with dopamine and hopefully to inspire you guys to do the same. So here are the rules.

 For the next 7 days I won't be allowed to consume the following things. No social media. I deleted all social media apps from my phone and I won't be able to access these sites on my laptop as well. No digital entertainment. I'm not allowed to watch TV or Netflix and I can't play any videogames. No junk food. Which means that I can't eat any unhealthy food like chips or sweets. Regarding beverages, I will only drink water, so also no Coke Zero. No alcohol and drugs, no porn and no music. 

This is something I wanted to try for myself because I'm constantly listening to music and I never really have a moment of silence. So, now as the rules were set, I was ready to embark on this journey. Enjoying the last coke. I'm gonna miss it. I'm ready to go, and I'm looking forward to the next couple of days, and I hope that I'm going to see some real benefits coming from this. Let's go! Unlike many of my other mornings, this one was without music. Instead of grabbing my phone right away and playing a random song, I started my day in silence.  Alright, yeah, I'm just going for a walk here and... To be honest, it feels great. I'm already loving it. 

I haven't really kept up my routine for the last 30 days that I was here on Mallorca. It's always a little bit difficult if you switch location, so I didn't go for any walks, I didn't do any workouts and all that kind of stuff, so it was definitely a goal to get it going again. When I came back home, I said hi to the other dogs and made myself cereals with milk for breakfast. Instead of watching YouTube videos while having breakfast, I basically did nothing... Which was kinda boring. After that, it was time for work. In the next hours, I reviewed a script for my notion workflow video and planned the shortlist for the intro of this video. I pretty quickly started to get into a good flow because my phone was still at the side of my bed. I didn't see any good use in having it with me as I couldn't access social media or listen to music, so I just focused on my work and got a lot of things done. 

After that it was time for a good old Spanish lunch with fuet and tortilla. Spanish food is the best. First thing I noticed when I came into the car: there was music running. I immediately turned it off, but it's just so weird to drive without music. I normally listen to music all the time, especially when I'm driving in the car. Today I'm not going to listen to anything.  

 I wasn't only able to notice my surroundings while running, but actually during every moment along the way. Before I started this detox, I was so self-absorbed that my mind was constantly occupied with everything else besides the actual things happening around me. I would think about a social media post that I saw an hour ago while talking to a friend, or be lost in a song instead of listening to the birds. But the less time I spent bombarding my brain with those short-term dopamine hits, the more I was able to drown out the noise and embrace the present moment. I felt like my brain had some sort of reset. 

So, I'm currently on the way to one of my favourite sunset spots in the area here. It's called San Salvador, which is a small mountain. I'm actually just going there to enjoy the sunset, take a couple of drone shots and... Just have a good time, that's all! I don't know why, but I'm just falling in love with sunsets and sunrises again. Overall, I really feel that my mental clarity immensely improved, because... I just don't hop from one activity to the next one, but I give my brain some time to actually process all of the experiences I take in, and therefore I'm overall just more calm and settled. And actually also a friend of mine, with whom I Skyped last night, he also told me by himself "dude, you're a lot more calm than normally", like "what's happening?". So yeah, I definitely enjoy it so far because all of my thoughts are just ordered and I'm not distracted that much. 

And it just feels like I experience everything twice as intensive as before, because I'm just in the moment and not always on my phone thinking about the next Instagram post or Instagram story, and I'm just spending all of my time in my life and not in somebody else's, which is really nice. 

So, what do I take away from these last 7 days? Well, things like junk food, alcohol and porn were pretty easy to avoid. Other things like social media and music were a lot harder for me. Driving without any music is... Fucking boring. But from one day to another, I noticed more and more benefits coming from this detox. First off, I was able to restore my daily routine by going for walks and working out. That walk felt amazing. As my brain was not constantly overwhelmed by so many dopamine hits from external sources, I was able to replace those toxic activities with things that actually make me feel present and alive. I don't know why, but I'm just falling in love with sunsets and sunrises again. 

I was able to focus my time on the things which bring me fulfillment, like working on my business, doing sports or learning a new hobby. I normally needed a lot of motivation in order to get started with those activities, but from time to time they kind of became effortless. 5:40 a.m. Let's do this. I not only became more productive and focused, but I overall feel like everything around me started to slow down. Can you see how fast the clouds are moving? It's insane. Not having all of these distractions at my fingertips allowed me to finally catch a breath and wipe my mind clean of any stressful thoughts. These 7 days really showed me once again how much noise we usually expose ourselves to on a daily basis. It was mind-opening to see how lowering our excessive consumption can improve so many aspects of our lives and therefore our overall happiness. I think that a detox like this can help everyone to see what it's like to live without this noise and it is the first step to gain back control over your own life. So, try it for yourself.

DOPAMINE DETOX:-

{ written by Oliver }

 

Let's talk about dopamine. People call it the chemical of want and desire, but why is that? Well, here is how it works. From an evolutionary standpoint, your brain rewards you for anything that will increase your likelihood of survival by releasing a neurotransmitter called "dopamine" in your brain. That's the reason why it feels so damn good to have sex or to eat a steak, because our brain thinks that sex equals a reproduction of our species and that a fat piece of meat equals a long-lasting satiation. Let's look at an example. As soon as you're standing in front of your fridge, and you have the choice to either pick a carrot or a piece of chocolate, your brain will tell you to pick the one which releases more dopamine as it knows that it will make you feel more pleasure. 

Want slow music while reading :- 

So naturally you will choose the chocolate. Now you might say "well, that's not too bad to eat a piece of chocolate every now and then" and that's true. But as soon as our brain releases a lot of dopamine, it will try to stimulate the craving for that thing over and over again until you develop an urge for it, and that's when the addiction kicks in and we can't live without it. For this reason people become overweight, alcoholics or drug addicts. 

The thing is that dopamine doesn't know what's good for us and what isn't. It doesn't know that eating too much chocolate is unhealthy for us. All it sees is a potential of pleasure without any context, and for this reason drug addicts are willing to let their whole life fall apart, only to get that one hit of dopamine again and again. The terrifying reality is that almost every company in our modern society exploits this deeply-rooted reward system by putting it on steroids. 

There are millions of experts specifically designing their products and internet platforms to release as much dopamine as possible in order to make us come back over and over again. That's why social media platforms switch from chronological feeds to an algorithm-based feed and that's why video games have levels and ranking systems, to keep us coming back. 

They give us constant dopamine hits as we jump from one post to the next one and from one level to the next one, and what makes it even easier for us to engage in social media, junk food, porn, alcohol, drugs or any other source of instant gratification, is that it doesn't take us any effort. We simply have to consume and are instantly rewarded with massive hits of dopamine. It's crazy to believe, but we live in a world which is designed to stimulate our emotions in order to maximize profits. It is scientifically proven that dopamine has a direct influence on the decisions we make and the actions we take. 

That's why ultimately dopamine controls us on a daily basis and that's why billions of people unconsciously focus their whole life on consuming instead of creating the lives they actually want to live. Alright. So, I honestly believe that this problem is much bigger than we think and that every single person is impacted by it, and that's why I want to tackle it by doing a 7-day dopamine detox in order to change my relationship with dopamine and hopefully to inspire you guys to do the same. So here are the rules.

 For the next 7 days I won't be allowed to consume the following things. No social media. I deleted all social media apps from my phone and I won't be able to access these sites on my laptop as well. No digital entertainment. I'm not allowed to watch TV or Netflix and I can't play any videogames. No junk food. Which means that I can't eat any unhealthy food like chips or sweets. Regarding beverages, I will only drink water, so also no Coke Zero. No alcohol and drugs, no porn and no music. 

This is something I wanted to try for myself because I'm constantly listening to music and I never really have a moment of silence. So, now as the rules were set, I was ready to embark on this journey. Enjoying the last coke. I'm gonna miss it. I'm ready to go, and I'm looking forward to the next couple of days, and I hope that I'm going to see some real benefits coming from this. Let's go! Unlike many of my other mornings, this one was without music. Instead of grabbing my phone right away and playing a random song, I started my day in silence.  Alright, yeah, I'm just going for a walk here and... To be honest, it feels great. I'm already loving it. 

I haven't really kept up my routine for the last 30 days that I was here on Mallorca. It's always a little bit difficult if you switch location, so I didn't go for any walks, I didn't do any workouts and all that kind of stuff, so it was definitely a goal to get it going again. When I came back home, I said hi to the other dogs and made myself cereals with milk for breakfast. Instead of watching YouTube videos while having breakfast, I basically did nothing... Which was kinda boring. After that, it was time for work. In the next hours, I reviewed a script for my notion workflow video and planned the shortlist for the intro of this video. I pretty quickly started to get into a good flow because my phone was still at the side of my bed. I didn't see any good use in having it with me as I couldn't access social media or listen to music, so I just focused on my work and got a lot of things done. 

After that it was time for a good old Spanish lunch with fuet and tortilla. Spanish food is the best. First thing I noticed when I came into the car: there was music running. I immediately turned it off, but it's just so weird to drive without music. I normally listen to music all the time, especially when I'm driving in the car. Today I'm not going to listen to anything.  

 I wasn't only able to notice my surroundings while running, but actually during every moment along the way. Before I started this detox, I was so self-absorbed that my mind was constantly occupied with everything else besides the actual things happening around me. I would think about a social media post that I saw an hour ago while talking to a friend, or be lost in a song instead of listening to the birds. But the less time I spent bombarding my brain with those short-term dopamine hits, the more I was able to drown out the noise and embrace the present moment. I felt like my brain had some sort of reset. 

So, I'm currently on the way to one of my favourite sunset spots in the area here. It's called San Salvador, which is a small mountain. I'm actually just going there to enjoy the sunset, take a couple of drone shots and... Just have a good time, that's all! I don't know why, but I'm just falling in love with sunsets and sunrises again. Overall, I really feel that my mental clarity immensely improved, because... I just don't hop from one activity to the next one, but I give my brain some time to actually process all of the experiences I take in, and therefore I'm overall just more calm and settled. And actually also a friend of mine, with whom I Skyped last night, he also told me by himself "dude, you're a lot more calm than normally", like "what's happening?". So yeah, I definitely enjoy it so far because all of my thoughts are just ordered and I'm not distracted that much. 

And it just feels like I experience everything twice as intensive as before, because I'm just in the moment and not always on my phone thinking about the next Instagram post or Instagram story, and I'm just spending all of my time in my life and not in somebody else's, which is really nice. 

So, what do I take away from these last 7 days? Well, things like junk food, alcohol and porn were pretty easy to avoid. Other things like social media and music were a lot harder for me. Driving without any music is... Fucking boring. But from one day to another, I noticed more and more benefits coming from this detox. First off, I was able to restore my daily routine by going for walks and working out. That walk felt amazing. As my brain was not constantly overwhelmed by so many dopamine hits from external sources, I was able to replace those toxic activities with things that actually make me feel present and alive. I don't know why, but I'm just falling in love with sunsets and sunrises again. 

I was able to focus my time on the things which bring me fulfillment, like working on my business, doing sports or learning a new hobby. I normally needed a lot of motivation in order to get started with those activities, but from time to time they kind of became effortless. 5:40 a.m. Let's do this. I not only became more productive and focused, but I overall feel like everything around me started to slow down. Can you see how fast the clouds are moving? It's insane. Not having all of these distractions at my fingertips allowed me to finally catch a breath and wipe my mind clean of any stressful thoughts. These 7 days really showed me once again how much noise we usually expose ourselves to on a daily basis. It was mind-opening to see how lowering our excessive consumption can improve so many aspects of our lives and therefore our overall happiness. I think that a detox like this can help everyone to see what it's like to live without this noise and it is the first step to gain back control over your own life. So, try it for yourself.

DOPAMINE DETOX:-

{ written by Oliver }

 

Let's talk about dopamine. People call it the chemical of want and desire, but why is that? Well, here is how it works. From an evolutionary standpoint, your brain rewards you for anything that will increase your likelihood of survival by releasing a neurotransmitter called "dopamine" in your brain. That's the reason why it feels so damn good to have sex or to eat a steak, because our brain thinks that sex equals a reproduction of our species and that a fat piece of meat equals a long-lasting satiation. Let's look at an example. As soon as you're standing in front of your fridge, and you have the choice to either pick a carrot or a piece of chocolate, your brain will tell you to pick the one which releases more dopamine as it knows that it will make you feel more pleasure. 

Want slow music while reading :- 

So naturally you will choose the chocolate. Now you might say "well, that's not too bad to eat a piece of chocolate every now and then" and that's true. But as soon as our brain releases a lot of dopamine, it will try to stimulate the craving for that thing over and over again until you develop an urge for it, and that's when the addiction kicks in and we can't live without it. For this reason people become overweight, alcoholics or drug addicts. 

The thing is that dopamine doesn't know what's good for us and what isn't. It doesn't know that eating too much chocolate is unhealthy for us. All it sees is a potential of pleasure without any context, and for this reason drug addicts are willing to let their whole life fall apart, only to get that one hit of dopamine again and again. The terrifying reality is that almost every company in our modern society exploits this deeply-rooted reward system by putting it on steroids. 

There are millions of experts specifically designing their products and internet platforms to release as much dopamine as possible in order to make us come back over and over again. That's why social media platforms switch from chronological feeds to an algorithm-based feed and that's why video games have levels and ranking systems, to keep us coming back. 

They give us constant dopamine hits as we jump from one post to the next one and from one level to the next one, and what makes it even easier for us to engage in social media, junk food, porn, alcohol, drugs or any other source of instant gratification, is that it doesn't take us any effort. We simply have to consume and are instantly rewarded with massive hits of dopamine. It's crazy to believe, but we live in a world which is designed to stimulate our emotions in order to maximize profits. It is scientifically proven that dopamine has a direct influence on the decisions we make and the actions we take. 

That's why ultimately dopamine controls us on a daily basis and that's why billions of people unconsciously focus their whole life on consuming instead of creating the lives they actually want to live. Alright. So, I honestly believe that this problem is much bigger than we think and that every single person is impacted by it, and that's why I want to tackle it by doing a 7-day dopamine detox in order to change my relationship with dopamine and hopefully to inspire you guys to do the same. So here are the rules.

 For the next 7 days I won't be allowed to consume the following things. No social media. I deleted all social media apps from my phone and I won't be able to access these sites on my laptop as well. No digital entertainment. I'm not allowed to watch TV or Netflix and I can't play any videogames. No junk food. Which means that I can't eat any unhealthy food like chips or sweets. Regarding beverages, I will only drink water, so also no Coke Zero. No alcohol and drugs, no porn and no music. 

This is something I wanted to try for myself because I'm constantly listening to music and I never really have a moment of silence. So, now as the rules were set, I was ready to embark on this journey. Enjoying the last coke. I'm gonna miss it. I'm ready to go, and I'm looking forward to the next couple of days, and I hope that I'm going to see some real benefits coming from this. Let's go! Unlike many of my other mornings, this one was without music. Instead of grabbing my phone right away and playing a random song, I started my day in silence.  Alright, yeah, I'm just going for a walk here and... To be honest, it feels great. I'm already loving it. 

I haven't really kept up my routine for the last 30 days that I was here on Mallorca. It's always a little bit difficult if you switch location, so I didn't go for any walks, I didn't do any workouts and all that kind of stuff, so it was definitely a goal to get it going again. When I came back home, I said hi to the other dogs and made myself cereals with milk for breakfast. Instead of watching YouTube videos while having breakfast, I basically did nothing... Which was kinda boring. After that, it was time for work. In the next hours, I reviewed a script for my notion workflow video and planned the shortlist for the intro of this video. I pretty quickly started to get into a good flow because my phone was still at the side of my bed. I didn't see any good use in having it with me as I couldn't access social media or listen to music, so I just focused on my work and got a lot of things done. 

After that it was time for a good old Spanish lunch with fuet and tortilla. Spanish food is the best. First thing I noticed when I came into the car: there was music running. I immediately turned it off, but it's just so weird to drive without music. I normally listen to music all the time, especially when I'm driving in the car. Today I'm not going to listen to anything.  

 I wasn't only able to notice my surroundings while running, but actually during every moment along the way. Before I started this detox, I was so self-absorbed that my mind was constantly occupied with everything else besides the actual things happening around me. I would think about a social media post that I saw an hour ago while talking to a friend, or be lost in a song instead of listening to the birds. But the less time I spent bombarding my brain with those short-term dopamine hits, the more I was able to drown out the noise and embrace the present moment. I felt like my brain had some sort of reset. 

So, I'm currently on the way to one of my favourite sunset spots in the area here. It's called San Salvador, which is a small mountain. I'm actually just going there to enjoy the sunset, take a couple of drone shots and... Just have a good time, that's all! I don't know why, but I'm just falling in love with sunsets and sunrises again. Overall, I really feel that my mental clarity immensely improved, because... I just don't hop from one activity to the next one, but I give my brain some time to actually process all of the experiences I take in, and therefore I'm overall just more calm and settled. And actually also a friend of mine, with whom I Skyped last night, he also told me by himself "dude, you're a lot more calm than normally", like "what's happening?". So yeah, I definitely enjoy it so far because all of my thoughts are just ordered and I'm not distracted that much. 

And it just feels like I experience everything twice as intensive as before, because I'm just in the moment and not always on my phone thinking about the next Instagram post or Instagram story, and I'm just spending all of my time in my life and not in somebody else's, which is really nice. 

So, what do I take away from these last 7 days? Well, things like junk food, alcohol and porn were pretty easy to avoid. Other things like social media and music were a lot harder for me. Driving without any music is... Fucking boring. But from one day to another, I noticed more and more benefits coming from this detox. First off, I was able to restore my daily routine by going for walks and working out. That walk felt amazing. As my brain was not constantly overwhelmed by so many dopamine hits from external sources, I was able to replace those toxic activities with things that actually make me feel present and alive. I don't know why, but I'm just falling in love with sunsets and sunrises again. 

I was able to focus my time on the things which bring me fulfillment, like working on my business, doing sports or learning a new hobby. I normally needed a lot of motivation in order to get started with those activities, but from time to time they kind of became effortless. 5:40 a.m. Let's do this. I not only became more productive and focused, but I overall feel like everything around me started to slow down. Can you see how fast the clouds are moving? It's insane. Not having all of these distractions at my fingertips allowed me to finally catch a breath and wipe my mind clean of any stressful thoughts. These 7 days really showed me once again how much noise we usually expose ourselves to on a daily basis. It was mind-opening to see how lowering our excessive consumption can improve so many aspects of our lives and therefore our overall happiness. I think that a detox like this can help everyone to see what it's like to live without this noise and it is the first step to gain back control over your own life. So, try it for yourself.

DOPAMINE DETOX:-

{ written by Oliver }

 

Let's talk about dopamine. People call it the chemical of want and desire, but why is that? Well, here is how it works. From an evolutionary standpoint, your brain rewards you for anything that will increase your likelihood of survival by releasing a neurotransmitter called "dopamine" in your brain. That's the reason why it feels so damn good to have sex or to eat a steak, because our brain thinks that sex equals a reproduction of our species and that a fat piece of meat equals a long-lasting satiation. Let's look at an example. As soon as you're standing in front of your fridge, and you have the choice to either pick a carrot or a piece of chocolate, your brain will tell you to pick the one which releases more dopamine as it knows that it will make you feel more pleasure. 

Want slow music while reading :- 

So naturally you will choose the chocolate. Now you might say "well, that's not too bad to eat a piece of chocolate every now and then" and that's true. But as soon as our brain releases a lot of dopamine, it will try to stimulate the craving for that thing over and over again until you develop an urge for it, and that's when the addiction kicks in and we can't live without it. For this reason people become overweight, alcoholics or drug addicts. 

The thing is that dopamine doesn't know what's good for us and what isn't. It doesn't know that eating too much chocolate is unhealthy for us. All it sees is a potential of pleasure without any context, and for this reason drug addicts are willing to let their whole life fall apart, only to get that one hit of dopamine again and again. The terrifying reality is that almost every company in our modern society exploits this deeply-rooted reward system by putting it on steroids. 

There are millions of experts specifically designing their products and internet platforms to release as much dopamine as possible in order to make us come back over and over again. That's why social media platforms switch from chronological feeds to an algorithm-based feed and that's why video games have levels and ranking systems, to keep us coming back. 

They give us constant dopamine hits as we jump from one post to the next one and from one level to the next one, and what makes it even easier for us to engage in social media, junk food, porn, alcohol, drugs or any other source of instant gratification, is that it doesn't take us any effort. We simply have to consume and are instantly rewarded with massive hits of dopamine. It's crazy to believe, but we live in a world which is designed to stimulate our emotions in order to maximize profits. It is scientifically proven that dopamine has a direct influence on the decisions we make and the actions we take. 

That's why ultimately dopamine controls us on a daily basis and that's why billions of people unconsciously focus their whole life on consuming instead of creating the lives they actually want to live. Alright. So, I honestly believe that this problem is much bigger than we think and that every single person is impacted by it, and that's why I want to tackle it by doing a 7-day dopamine detox in order to change my relationship with dopamine and hopefully to inspire you guys to do the same. So here are the rules.

 For the next 7 days I won't be allowed to consume the following things. No social media. I deleted all social media apps from my phone and I won't be able to access these sites on my laptop as well. No digital entertainment. I'm not allowed to watch TV or Netflix and I can't play any videogames. No junk food. Which means that I can't eat any unhealthy food like chips or sweets. Regarding beverages, I will only drink water, so also no Coke Zero. No alcohol and drugs, no porn and no music. 

This is something I wanted to try for myself because I'm constantly listening to music and I never really have a moment of silence. So, now as the rules were set, I was ready to embark on this journey. Enjoying the last coke. I'm gonna miss it. I'm ready to go, and I'm looking forward to the next couple of days, and I hope that I'm going to see some real benefits coming from this. Let's go! Unlike many of my other mornings, this one was without music. Instead of grabbing my phone right away and playing a random song, I started my day in silence.  Alright, yeah, I'm just going for a walk here and... To be honest, it feels great. I'm already loving it. 

I haven't really kept up my routine for the last 30 days that I was here on Mallorca. It's always a little bit difficult if you switch location, so I didn't go for any walks, I didn't do any workouts and all that kind of stuff, so it was definitely a goal to get it going again. When I came back home, I said hi to the other dogs and made myself cereals with milk for breakfast. Instead of watching YouTube videos while having breakfast, I basically did nothing... Which was kinda boring. After that, it was time for work. In the next hours, I reviewed a script for my notion workflow video and planned the shortlist for the intro of this video. I pretty quickly started to get into a good flow because my phone was still at the side of my bed. I didn't see any good use in having it with me as I couldn't access social media or listen to music, so I just focused on my work and got a lot of things done. 

After that it was time for a good old Spanish lunch with fuet and tortilla. Spanish food is the best. First thing I noticed when I came into the car: there was music running. I immediately turned it off, but it's just so weird to drive without music. I normally listen to music all the time, especially when I'm driving in the car. Today I'm not going to listen to anything.  

 I wasn't only able to notice my surroundings while running, but actually during every moment along the way. Before I started this detox, I was so self-absorbed that my mind was constantly occupied with everything else besides the actual things happening around me. I would think about a social media post that I saw an hour ago while talking to a friend, or be lost in a song instead of listening to the birds. But the less time I spent bombarding my brain with those short-term dopamine hits, the more I was able to drown out the noise and embrace the present moment. I felt like my brain had some sort of reset. 

So, I'm currently on the way to one of my favourite sunset spots in the area here. It's called San Salvador, which is a small mountain. I'm actually just going there to enjoy the sunset, take a couple of drone shots and... Just have a good time, that's all! I don't know why, but I'm just falling in love with sunsets and sunrises again. Overall, I really feel that my mental clarity immensely improved, because... I just don't hop from one activity to the next one, but I give my brain some time to actually process all of the experiences I take in, and therefore I'm overall just more calm and settled. And actually also a friend of mine, with whom I Skyped last night, he also told me by himself "dude, you're a lot more calm than normally", like "what's happening?". So yeah, I definitely enjoy it so far because all of my thoughts are just ordered and I'm not distracted that much. 

And it just feels like I experience everything twice as intensive as before, because I'm just in the moment and not always on my phone thinking about the next Instagram post or Instagram story, and I'm just spending all of my time in my life and not in somebody else's, which is really nice. 

So, what do I take away from these last 7 days? Well, things like junk food, alcohol and porn were pretty easy to avoid. Other things like social media and music were a lot harder for me. Driving without any music is... Fucking boring. But from one day to another, I noticed more and more benefits coming from this detox. First off, I was able to restore my daily routine by going for walks and working out. That walk felt amazing. As my brain was not constantly overwhelmed by so many dopamine hits from external sources, I was able to replace those toxic activities with things that actually make me feel present and alive. I don't know why, but I'm just falling in love with sunsets and sunrises again. 

I was able to focus my time on the things which bring me fulfillment, like working on my business, doing sports or learning a new hobby. I normally needed a lot of motivation in order to get started with those activities, but from time to time they kind of became effortless. 5:40 a.m. Let's do this. I not only became more productive and focused, but I overall feel like everything around me started to slow down. Can you see how fast the clouds are moving? It's insane. Not having all of these distractions at my fingertips allowed me to finally catch a breath and wipe my mind clean of any stressful thoughts. These 7 days really showed me once again how much noise we usually expose ourselves to on a daily basis. It was mind-opening to see how lowering our excessive consumption can improve so many aspects of our lives and therefore our overall happiness. I think that a detox like this can help everyone to see what it's like to live without this noise and it is the first step to gain back control over your own life. So, try it for yourself.

DOPAMINE DETOX:-

{ written by Oliver }

 

Let's talk about dopamine. People call it the chemical of want and desire, but why is that? Well, here is how it works. From an evolutionary standpoint, your brain rewards you for anything that will increase your likelihood of survival by releasing a neurotransmitter called "dopamine" in your brain. That's the reason why it feels so damn good to have sex or to eat a steak, because our brain thinks that sex equals a reproduction of our species and that a fat piece of meat equals a long-lasting satiation. Let's look at an example. As soon as you're standing in front of your fridge, and you have the choice to either pick a carrot or a piece of chocolate, your brain will tell you to pick the one which releases more dopamine as it knows that it will make you feel more pleasure. 

Want slow music while reading :- 

So naturally you will choose the chocolate. Now you might say "well, that's not too bad to eat a piece of chocolate every now and then" and that's true. But as soon as our brain releases a lot of dopamine, it will try to stimulate the craving for that thing over and over again until you develop an urge for it, and that's when the addiction kicks in and we can't live without it. For this reason people become overweight, alcoholics or drug addicts. 

The thing is that dopamine doesn't know what's good for us and what isn't. It doesn't know that eating too much chocolate is unhealthy for us. All it sees is a potential of pleasure without any context, and for this reason drug addicts are willing to let their whole life fall apart, only to get that one hit of dopamine again and again. The terrifying reality is that almost every company in our modern society exploits this deeply-rooted reward system by putting it on steroids. 

There are millions of experts specifically designing their products and internet platforms to release as much dopamine as possible in order to make us come back over and over again. That's why social media platforms switch from chronological feeds to an algorithm-based feed and that's why video games have levels and ranking systems, to keep us coming back. 

They give us constant dopamine hits as we jump from one post to the next one and from one level to the next one, and what makes it even easier for us to engage in social media, junk food, porn, alcohol, drugs or any other source of instant gratification, is that it doesn't take us any effort. We simply have to consume and are instantly rewarded with massive hits of dopamine. It's crazy to believe, but we live in a world which is designed to stimulate our emotions in order to maximize profits. It is scientifically proven that dopamine has a direct influence on the decisions we make and the actions we take. 

That's why ultimately dopamine controls us on a daily basis and that's why billions of people unconsciously focus their whole life on consuming instead of creating the lives they actually want to live. Alright. So, I honestly believe that this problem is much bigger than we think and that every single person is impacted by it, and that's why I want to tackle it by doing a 7-day dopamine detox in order to change my relationship with dopamine and hopefully to inspire you guys to do the same. So here are the rules.

 For the next 7 days I won't be allowed to consume the following things. No social media. I deleted all social media apps from my phone and I won't be able to access these sites on my laptop as well. No digital entertainment. I'm not allowed to watch TV or Netflix and I can't play any videogames. No junk food. Which means that I can't eat any unhealthy food like chips or sweets. Regarding beverages, I will only drink water, so also no Coke Zero. No alcohol and drugs, no porn and no music. 

This is something I wanted to try for myself because I'm constantly listening to music and I never really have a moment of silence. So, now as the rules were set, I was ready to embark on this journey. Enjoying the last coke. I'm gonna miss it. I'm ready to go, and I'm looking forward to the next couple of days, and I hope that I'm going to see some real benefits coming from this. Let's go! Unlike many of my other mornings, this one was without music. Instead of grabbing my phone right away and playing a random song, I started my day in silence.  Alright, yeah, I'm just going for a walk here and... To be honest, it feels great. I'm already loving it. 

I haven't really kept up my routine for the last 30 days that I was here on Mallorca. It's always a little bit difficult if you switch location, so I didn't go for any walks, I didn't do any workouts and all that kind of stuff, so it was definitely a goal to get it going again. When I came back home, I said hi to the other dogs and made myself cereals with milk for breakfast. Instead of watching YouTube videos while having breakfast, I basically did nothing... Which was kinda boring. After that, it was time for work. In the next hours, I reviewed a script for my notion workflow video and planned the shortlist for the intro of this video. I pretty quickly started to get into a good flow because my phone was still at the side of my bed. I didn't see any good use in having it with me as I couldn't access social media or listen to music, so I just focused on my work and got a lot of things done. 

After that it was time for a good old Spanish lunch with fuet and tortilla. Spanish food is the best. First thing I noticed when I came into the car: there was music running. I immediately turned it off, but it's just so weird to drive without music. I normally listen to music all the time, especially when I'm driving in the car. Today I'm not going to listen to anything.  

 I wasn't only able to notice my surroundings while running, but actually during every moment along the way. Before I started this detox, I was so self-absorbed that my mind was constantly occupied with everything else besides the actual things happening around me. I would think about a social media post that I saw an hour ago while talking to a friend, or be lost in a song instead of listening to the birds. But the less time I spent bombarding my brain with those short-term dopamine hits, the more I was able to drown out the noise and embrace the present moment. I felt like my brain had some sort of reset. 

So, I'm currently on the way to one of my favourite sunset spots in the area here. It's called San Salvador, which is a small mountain. I'm actually just going there to enjoy the sunset, take a couple of drone shots and... Just have a good time, that's all! I don't know why, but I'm just falling in love with sunsets and sunrises again. Overall, I really feel that my mental clarity immensely improved, because... I just don't hop from one activity to the next one, but I give my brain some time to actually process all of the experiences I take in, and therefore I'm overall just more calm and settled. And actually also a friend of mine, with whom I Skyped last night, he also told me by himself "dude, you're a lot more calm than normally", like "what's happening?". So yeah, I definitely enjoy it so far because all of my thoughts are just ordered and I'm not distracted that much. 

And it just feels like I experience everything twice as intensive as before, because I'm just in the moment and not always on my phone thinking about the next Instagram post or Instagram story, and I'm just spending all of my time in my life and not in somebody else's, which is really nice. 

So, what do I take away from these last 7 days? Well, things like junk food, alcohol and porn were pretty easy to avoid. Other things like social media and music were a lot harder for me. Driving without any music is... Fucking boring. But from one day to another, I noticed more and more benefits coming from this detox. First off, I was able to restore my daily routine by going for walks and working out. That walk felt amazing. As my brain was not constantly overwhelmed by so many dopamine hits from external sources, I was able to replace those toxic activities with things that actually make me feel present and alive. I don't know why, but I'm just falling in love with sunsets and sunrises again. 

I was able to focus my time on the things which bring me fulfillment, like working on my business, doing sports or learning a new hobby. I normally needed a lot of motivation in order to get started with those activities, but from time to time they kind of became effortless. 5:40 a.m. Let's do this. I not only became more productive and focused, but I overall feel like everything around me started to slow down. Can you see how fast the clouds are moving? It's insane. Not having all of these distractions at my fingertips allowed me to finally catch a breath and wipe my mind clean of any stressful thoughts. These 7 days really showed me once again how much noise we usually expose ourselves to on a daily basis. It was mind-opening to see how lowering our excessive consumption can improve so many aspects of our lives and therefore our overall happiness. I think that a detox like this can help everyone to see what it's like to live without this noise and it is the first step to gain back control over your own life. So, try it for yourself.

DOPAMINE DETOX:-

{ written by Oliver }

 

Let's talk about dopamine. People call it the chemical of want and desire, but why is that? Well, here is how it works. From an evolutionary standpoint, your brain rewards you for anything that will increase your likelihood of survival by releasing a neurotransmitter called "dopamine" in your brain. That's the reason why it feels so damn good to have sex or to eat a steak, because our brain thinks that sex equals a reproduction of our species and that a fat piece of meat equals a long-lasting satiation. Let's look at an example. As soon as you're standing in front of your fridge, and you have the choice to either pick a carrot or a piece of chocolate, your brain will tell you to pick the one which releases more dopamine as it knows that it will make you feel more pleasure. 

Want slow music while reading :- 

So naturally you will choose the chocolate. Now you might say "well, that's not too bad to eat a piece of chocolate every now and then" and that's true. But as soon as our brain releases a lot of dopamine, it will try to stimulate the craving for that thing over and over again until you develop an urge for it, and that's when the addiction kicks in and we can't live without it. For this reason people become overweight, alcoholics or drug addicts. 

The thing is that dopamine doesn't know what's good for us and what isn't. It doesn't know that eating too much chocolate is unhealthy for us. All it sees is a potential of pleasure without any context, and for this reason drug addicts are willing to let their whole life fall apart, only to get that one hit of dopamine again and again. The terrifying reality is that almost every company in our modern society exploits this deeply-rooted reward system by putting it on steroids. 

There are millions of experts specifically designing their products and internet platforms to release as much dopamine as possible in order to make us come back over and over again. That's why social media platforms switch from chronological feeds to an algorithm-based feed and that's why video games have levels and ranking systems, to keep us coming back. 

They give us constant dopamine hits as we jump from one post to the next one and from one level to the next one, and what makes it even easier for us to engage in social media, junk food, porn, alcohol, drugs or any other source of instant gratification, is that it doesn't take us any effort. We simply have to consume and are instantly rewarded with massive hits of dopamine. It's crazy to believe, but we live in a world which is designed to stimulate our emotions in order to maximize profits. It is scientifically proven that dopamine has a direct influence on the decisions we make and the actions we take. 

That's why ultimately dopamine controls us on a daily basis and that's why billions of people unconsciously focus their whole life on consuming instead of creating the lives they actually want to live. Alright. So, I honestly believe that this problem is much bigger than we think and that every single person is impacted by it, and that's why I want to tackle it by doing a 7-day dopamine detox in order to change my relationship with dopamine and hopefully to inspire you guys to do the same. So here are the rules.

 For the next 7 days I won't be allowed to consume the following things. No social media. I deleted all social media apps from my phone and I won't be able to access these sites on my laptop as well. No digital entertainment. I'm not allowed to watch TV or Netflix and I can't play any videogames. No junk food. Which means that I can't eat any unhealthy food like chips or sweets. Regarding beverages, I will only drink water, so also no Coke Zero. No alcohol and drugs, no porn and no music. 

This is something I wanted to try for myself because I'm constantly listening to music and I never really have a moment of silence. So, now as the rules were set, I was ready to embark on this journey. Enjoying the last coke. I'm gonna miss it. I'm ready to go, and I'm looking forward to the next couple of days, and I hope that I'm going to see some real benefits coming from this. Let's go! Unlike many of my other mornings, this one was without music. Instead of grabbing my phone right away and playing a random song, I started my day in silence.  Alright, yeah, I'm just going for a walk here and... To be honest, it feels great. I'm already loving it. 

I haven't really kept up my routine for the last 30 days that I was here on Mallorca. It's always a little bit difficult if you switch location, so I didn't go for any walks, I didn't do any workouts and all that kind of stuff, so it was definitely a goal to get it going again. When I came back home, I said hi to the other dogs and made myself cereals with milk for breakfast. Instead of watching YouTube videos while having breakfast, I basically did nothing... Which was kinda boring. After that, it was time for work. In the next hours, I reviewed a script for my notion workflow video and planned the shortlist for the intro of this video. I pretty quickly started to get into a good flow because my phone was still at the side of my bed. I didn't see any good use in having it with me as I couldn't access social media or listen to music, so I just focused on my work and got a lot of things done. 

After that it was time for a good old Spanish lunch with fuet and tortilla. Spanish food is the best. First thing I noticed when I came into the car: there was music running. I immediately turned it off, but it's just so weird to drive without music. I normally listen to music all the time, especially when I'm driving in the car. Today I'm not going to listen to anything.  

 I wasn't only able to notice my surroundings while running, but actually during every moment along the way. Before I started this detox, I was so self-absorbed that my mind was constantly occupied with everything else besides the actual things happening around me. I would think about a social media post that I saw an hour ago while talking to a friend, or be lost in a song instead of listening to the birds. But the less time I spent bombarding my brain with those short-term dopamine hits, the more I was able to drown out the noise and embrace the present moment. I felt like my brain had some sort of reset. 

So, I'm currently on the way to one of my favourite sunset spots in the area here. It's called San Salvador, which is a small mountain. I'm actually just going there to enjoy the sunset, take a couple of drone shots and... Just have a good time, that's all! I don't know why, but I'm just falling in love with sunsets and sunrises again. Overall, I really feel that my mental clarity immensely improved, because... I just don't hop from one activity to the next one, but I give my brain some time to actually process all of the experiences I take in, and therefore I'm overall just more calm and settled. And actually also a friend of mine, with whom I Skyped last night, he also told me by himself "dude, you're a lot more calm than normally", like "what's happening?". So yeah, I definitely enjoy it so far because all of my thoughts are just ordered and I'm not distracted that much. 

And it just feels like I experience everything twice as intensive as before, because I'm just in the moment and not always on my phone thinking about the next Instagram post or Instagram story, and I'm just spending all of my time in my life and not in somebody else's, which is really nice. 

So, what do I take away from these last 7 days? Well, things like junk food, alcohol and porn were pretty easy to avoid. Other things like social media and music were a lot harder for me. Driving without any music is... Fucking boring. But from one day to another, I noticed more and more benefits coming from this detox. First off, I was able to restore my daily routine by going for walks and working out. That walk felt amazing. As my brain was not constantly overwhelmed by so many dopamine hits from external sources, I was able to replace those toxic activities with things that actually make me feel present and alive. I don't know why, but I'm just falling in love with sunsets and sunrises again. 

I was able to focus my time on the things which bring me fulfillment, like working on my business, doing sports or learning a new hobby. I normally needed a lot of motivation in order to get started with those activities, but from time to time they kind of became effortless. 5:40 a.m. Let's do this. I not only became more productive and focused, but I overall feel like everything around me started to slow down. Can you see how fast the clouds are moving? It's insane. Not having all of these distractions at my fingertips allowed me to finally catch a breath and wipe my mind clean of any stressful thoughts. These 7 days really showed me once again how much noise we usually expose ourselves to on a daily basis. It was mind-opening to see how lowering our excessive consumption can improve so many aspects of our lives and therefore our overall happiness. I think that a detox like this can help everyone to see what it's like to live without this noise and it is the first step to gain back control over your own life. So, try it for yourself.

DOPAMINE DETOX:-

{ written by Oliver }

 

Let's talk about dopamine. People call it the chemical of want and desire, but why is that? Well, here is how it works. From an evolutionary standpoint, your brain rewards you for anything that will increase your likelihood of survival by releasing a neurotransmitter called "dopamine" in your brain. That's the reason why it feels so damn good to have sex or to eat a steak, because our brain thinks that sex equals a reproduction of our species and that a fat piece of meat equals a long-lasting satiation. Let's look at an example. As soon as you're standing in front of your fridge, and you have the choice to either pick a carrot or a piece of chocolate, your brain will tell you to pick the one which releases more dopamine as it knows that it will make you feel more pleasure. 

Want slow music while reading :- 

So naturally you will choose the chocolate. Now you might say "well, that's not too bad to eat a piece of chocolate every now and then" and that's true. But as soon as our brain releases a lot of dopamine, it will try to stimulate the craving for that thing over and over again until you develop an urge for it, and that's when the addiction kicks in and we can't live without it. For this reason people become overweight, alcoholics or drug addicts. 

The thing is that dopamine doesn't know what's good for us and what isn't. It doesn't know that eating too much chocolate is unhealthy for us. All it sees is a potential of pleasure without any context, and for this reason drug addicts are willing to let their whole life fall apart, only to get that one hit of dopamine again and again. The terrifying reality is that almost every company in our modern society exploits this deeply-rooted reward system by putting it on steroids. 

There are millions of experts specifically designing their products and internet platforms to release as much dopamine as possible in order to make us come back over and over again. That's why social media platforms switch from chronological feeds to an algorithm-based feed and that's why video games have levels and ranking systems, to keep us coming back. 

They give us constant dopamine hits as we jump from one post to the next one and from one level to the next one, and what makes it even easier for us to engage in social media, junk food, porn, alcohol, drugs or any other source of instant gratification, is that it doesn't take us any effort. We simply have to consume and are instantly rewarded with massive hits of dopamine. It's crazy to believe, but we live in a world which is designed to stimulate our emotions in order to maximize profits. It is scientifically proven that dopamine has a direct influence on the decisions we make and the actions we take. 

That's why ultimately dopamine controls us on a daily basis and that's why billions of people unconsciously focus their whole life on consuming instead of creating the lives they actually want to live. Alright. So, I honestly believe that this problem is much bigger than we think and that every single person is impacted by it, and that's why I want to tackle it by doing a 7-day dopamine detox in order to change my relationship with dopamine and hopefully to inspire you guys to do the same. So here are the rules.

 For the next 7 days I won't be allowed to consume the following things. No social media. I deleted all social media apps from my phone and I won't be able to access these sites on my laptop as well. No digital entertainment. I'm not allowed to watch TV or Netflix and I can't play any videogames. No junk food. Which means that I can't eat any unhealthy food like chips or sweets. Regarding beverages, I will only drink water, so also no Coke Zero. No alcohol and drugs, no porn and no music. 

This is something I wanted to try for myself because I'm constantly listening to music and I never really have a moment of silence. So, now as the rules were set, I was ready to embark on this journey. Enjoying the last coke. I'm gonna miss it. I'm ready to go, and I'm looking forward to the next couple of days, and I hope that I'm going to see some real benefits coming from this. Let's go! Unlike many of my other mornings, this one was without music. Instead of grabbing my phone right away and playing a random song, I started my day in silence.  Alright, yeah, I'm just going for a walk here and... To be honest, it feels great. I'm already loving it. 

I haven't really kept up my routine for the last 30 days that I was here on Mallorca. It's always a little bit difficult if you switch location, so I didn't go for any walks, I didn't do any workouts and all that kind of stuff, so it was definitely a goal to get it going again. When I came back home, I said hi to the other dogs and made myself cereals with milk for breakfast. Instead of watching YouTube videos while having breakfast, I basically did nothing... Which was kinda boring. After that, it was time for work. In the next hours, I reviewed a script for my notion workflow video and planned the shortlist for the intro of this video. I pretty quickly started to get into a good flow because my phone was still at the side of my bed. I didn't see any good use in having it with me as I couldn't access social media or listen to music, so I just focused on my work and got a lot of things done. 

After that it was time for a good old Spanish lunch with fuet and tortilla. Spanish food is the best. First thing I noticed when I came into the car: there was music running. I immediately turned it off, but it's just so weird to drive without music. I normally listen to music all the time, especially when I'm driving in the car. Today I'm not going to listen to anything.  

 I wasn't only able to notice my surroundings while running, but actually during every moment along the way. Before I started this detox, I was so self-absorbed that my mind was constantly occupied with everything else besides the actual things happening around me. I would think about a social media post that I saw an hour ago while talking to a friend, or be lost in a song instead of listening to the birds. But the less time I spent bombarding my brain with those short-term dopamine hits, the more I was able to drown out the noise and embrace the present moment. I felt like my brain had some sort of reset. 

So, I'm currently on the way to one of my favourite sunset spots in the area here. It's called San Salvador, which is a small mountain. I'm actually just going there to enjoy the sunset, take a couple of drone shots and... Just have a good time, that's all! I don't know why, but I'm just falling in love with sunsets and sunrises again. Overall, I really feel that my mental clarity immensely improved, because... I just don't hop from one activity to the next one, but I give my brain some time to actually process all of the experiences I take in, and therefore I'm overall just more calm and settled. And actually also a friend of mine, with whom I Skyped last night, he also told me by himself "dude, you're a lot more calm than normally", like "what's happening?". So yeah, I definitely enjoy it so far because all of my thoughts are just ordered and I'm not distracted that much. 

And it just feels like I experience everything twice as intensive as before, because I'm just in the moment and not always on my phone thinking about the next Instagram post or Instagram story, and I'm just spending all of my time in my life and not in somebody else's, which is really nice. 

So, what do I take away from these last 7 days? Well, things like junk food, alcohol and porn were pretty easy to avoid. Other things like social media and music were a lot harder for me. Driving without any music is... Fucking boring. But from one day to another, I noticed more and more benefits coming from this detox. First off, I was able to restore my daily routine by going for walks and working out. That walk felt amazing. As my brain was not constantly overwhelmed by so many dopamine hits from external sources, I was able to replace those toxic activities with things that actually make me feel present and alive. I don't know why, but I'm just falling in love with sunsets and sunrises again. 

I was able to focus my time on the things which bring me fulfillment, like working on my business, doing sports or learning a new hobby. I normally needed a lot of motivation in order to get started with those activities, but from time to time they kind of became effortless. 5:40 a.m. Let's do this. I not only became more productive and focused, but I overall feel like everything around me started to slow down. Can you see how fast the clouds are moving? It's insane. Not having all of these distractions at my fingertips allowed me to finally catch a breath and wipe my mind clean of any stressful thoughts. These 7 days really showed me once again how much noise we usually expose ourselves to on a daily basis. It was mind-opening to see how lowering our excessive consumption can improve so many aspects of our lives and therefore our overall happiness. I think that a detox like this can help everyone to see what it's like to live without this noise and it is the first step to gain back control over your own life. So, try it for yourself.

DOPAMINE DETOX:-

{ written by Oliver }

 

Let's talk about dopamine. People call it the chemical of want and desire, but why is that? Well, here is how it works. From an evolutionary standpoint, your brain rewards you for anything that will increase your likelihood of survival by releasing a neurotransmitter called "dopamine" in your brain. That's the reason why it feels so damn good to have sex or to eat a steak, because our brain thinks that sex equals a reproduction of our species and that a fat piece of meat equals a long-lasting satiation. Let's look at an example. As soon as you're standing in front of your fridge, and you have the choice to either pick a carrot or a piece of chocolate, your brain will tell you to pick the one which releases more dopamine as it knows that it will make you feel more pleasure. 

Want slow music while reading :- 

So naturally you will choose the chocolate. Now you might say "well, that's not too bad to eat a piece of chocolate every now and then" and that's true. But as soon as our brain releases a lot of dopamine, it will try to stimulate the craving for that thing over and over again until you develop an urge for it, and that's when the addiction kicks in and we can't live without it. For this reason people become overweight, alcoholics or drug addicts. 

The thing is that dopamine doesn't know what's good for us and what isn't. It doesn't know that eating too much chocolate is unhealthy for us. All it sees is a potential of pleasure without any context, and for this reason drug addicts are willing to let their whole life fall apart, only to get that one hit of dopamine again and again. The terrifying reality is that almost every company in our modern society exploits this deeply-rooted reward system by putting it on steroids. 

There are millions of experts specifically designing their products and internet platforms to release as much dopamine as possible in order to make us come back over and over again. That's why social media platforms switch from chronological feeds to an algorithm-based feed and that's why video games have levels and ranking systems, to keep us coming back. 

They give us constant dopamine hits as we jump from one post to the next one and from one level to the next one, and what makes it even easier for us to engage in social media, junk food, porn, alcohol, drugs or any other source of instant gratification, is that it doesn't take us any effort. We simply have to consume and are instantly rewarded with massive hits of dopamine. It's crazy to believe, but we live in a world which is designed to stimulate our emotions in order to maximize profits. It is scientifically proven that dopamine has a direct influence on the decisions we make and the actions we take. 

That's why ultimately dopamine controls us on a daily basis and that's why billions of people unconsciously focus their whole life on consuming instead of creating the lives they actually want to live. Alright. So, I honestly believe that this problem is much bigger than we think and that every single person is impacted by it, and that's why I want to tackle it by doing a 7-day dopamine detox in order to change my relationship with dopamine and hopefully to inspire you guys to do the same. So here are the rules.

 For the next 7 days I won't be allowed to consume the following things. No social media. I deleted all social media apps from my phone and I won't be able to access these sites on my laptop as well. No digital entertainment. I'm not allowed to watch TV or Netflix and I can't play any videogames. No junk food. Which means that I can't eat any unhealthy food like chips or sweets. Regarding beverages, I will only drink water, so also no Coke Zero. No alcohol and drugs, no porn and no music. 

This is something I wanted to try for myself because I'm constantly listening to music and I never really have a moment of silence. So, now as the rules were set, I was ready to embark on this journey. Enjoying the last coke. I'm gonna miss it. I'm ready to go, and I'm looking forward to the next couple of days, and I hope that I'm going to see some real benefits coming from this. Let's go! Unlike many of my other mornings, this one was without music. Instead of grabbing my phone right away and playing a random song, I started my day in silence.  Alright, yeah, I'm just going for a walk here and... To be honest, it feels great. I'm already loving it. 

I haven't really kept up my routine for the last 30 days that I was here on Mallorca. It's always a little bit difficult if you switch location, so I didn't go for any walks, I didn't do any workouts and all that kind of stuff, so it was definitely a goal to get it going again. When I came back home, I said hi to the other dogs and made myself cereals with milk for breakfast. Instead of watching YouTube videos while having breakfast, I basically did nothing... Which was kinda boring. After that, it was time for work. In the next hours, I reviewed a script for my notion workflow video and planned the shortlist for the intro of this video. I pretty quickly started to get into a good flow because my phone was still at the side of my bed. I didn't see any good use in having it with me as I couldn't access social media or listen to music, so I just focused on my work and got a lot of things done. 

After that it was time for a good old Spanish lunch with fuet and tortilla. Spanish food is the best. First thing I noticed when I came into the car: there was music running. I immediately turned it off, but it's just so weird to drive without music. I normally listen to music all the time, especially when I'm driving in the car. Today I'm not going to listen to anything.  

 I wasn't only able to notice my surroundings while running, but actually during every moment along the way. Before I started this detox, I was so self-absorbed that my mind was constantly occupied with everything else besides the actual things happening around me. I would think about a social media post that I saw an hour ago while talking to a friend, or be lost in a song instead of listening to the birds. But the less time I spent bombarding my brain with those short-term dopamine hits, the more I was able to drown out the noise and embrace the present moment. I felt like my brain had some sort of reset. 

So, I'm currently on the way to one of my favourite sunset spots in the area here. It's called San Salvador, which is a small mountain. I'm actually just going there to enjoy the sunset, take a couple of drone shots and... Just have a good time, that's all! I don't know why, but I'm just falling in love with sunsets and sunrises again. Overall, I really feel that my mental clarity immensely improved, because... I just don't hop from one activity to the next one, but I give my brain some time to actually process all of the experiences I take in, and therefore I'm overall just more calm and settled. And actually also a friend of mine, with whom I Skyped last night, he also told me by himself "dude, you're a lot more calm than normally", like "what's happening?". So yeah, I definitely enjoy it so far because all of my thoughts are just ordered and I'm not distracted that much. 

And it just feels like I experience everything twice as intensive as before, because I'm just in the moment and not always on my phone thinking about the next Instagram post or Instagram story, and I'm just spending all of my time in my life and not in somebody else's, which is really nice. 

So, what do I take away from these last 7 days? Well, things like junk food, alcohol and porn were pretty easy to avoid. Other things like social media and music were a lot harder for me. Driving without any music is... Fucking boring. But from one day to another, I noticed more and more benefits coming from this detox. First off, I was able to restore my daily routine by going for walks and working out. That walk felt amazing. As my brain was not constantly overwhelmed by so many dopamine hits from external sources, I was able to replace those toxic activities with things that actually make me feel present and alive. I don't know why, but I'm just falling in love with sunsets and sunrises again. 

I was able to focus my time on the things which bring me fulfillment, like working on my business, doing sports or learning a new hobby. I normally needed a lot of motivation in order to get started with those activities, but from time to time they kind of became effortless. 5:40 a.m. Let's do this. I not only became more productive and focused, but I overall feel like everything around me started to slow down. Can you see how fast the clouds are moving? It's insane. Not having all of these distractions at my fingertips allowed me to finally catch a breath and wipe my mind clean of any stressful thoughts. These 7 days really showed me once again how much noise we usually expose ourselves to on a daily basis. It was mind-opening to see how lowering our excessive consumption can improve so many aspects of our lives and therefore our overall happiness. I think that a detox like this can help everyone to see what it's like to live without this noise and it is the first step to gain back control over your own life. So, try it for yourself.

DOPAMINE DETOX:-

{ written by Oliver }

 

Let's talk about dopamine. People call it the chemical of want and desire, but why is that? Well, here is how it works. From an evolutionary standpoint, your brain rewards you for anything that will increase your likelihood of survival by releasing a neurotransmitter called "dopamine" in your brain. That's the reason why it feels so damn good to have sex or to eat a steak, because our brain thinks that sex equals a reproduction of our species and that a fat piece of meat equals a long-lasting satiation. Let's look at an example. As soon as you're standing in front of your fridge, and you have the choice to either pick a carrot or a piece of chocolate, your brain will tell you to pick the one which releases more dopamine as it knows that it will make you feel more pleasure. 

Want slow music while reading :- 

So naturally you will choose the chocolate. Now you might say "well, that's not too bad to eat a piece of chocolate every now and then" and that's true. But as soon as our brain releases a lot of dopamine, it will try to stimulate the craving for that thing over and over again until you develop an urge for it, and that's when the addiction kicks in and we can't live without it. For this reason people become overweight, alcoholics or drug addicts. 

The thing is that dopamine doesn't know what's good for us and what isn't. It doesn't know that eating too much chocolate is unhealthy for us. All it sees is a potential of pleasure without any context, and for this reason drug addicts are willing to let their whole life fall apart, only to get that one hit of dopamine again and again. The terrifying reality is that almost every company in our modern society exploits this deeply-rooted reward system by putting it on steroids. 

There are millions of experts specifically designing their products and internet platforms to release as much dopamine as possible in order to make us come back over and over again. That's why social media platforms switch from chronological feeds to an algorithm-based feed and that's why video games have levels and ranking systems, to keep us coming back. 

They give us constant dopamine hits as we jump from one post to the next one and from one level to the next one, and what makes it even easier for us to engage in social media, junk food, porn, alcohol, drugs or any other source of instant gratification, is that it doesn't take us any effort. We simply have to consume and are instantly rewarded with massive hits of dopamine. It's crazy to believe, but we live in a world which is designed to stimulate our emotions in order to maximize profits. It is scientifically proven that dopamine has a direct influence on the decisions we make and the actions we take. 

That's why ultimately dopamine controls us on a daily basis and that's why billions of people unconsciously focus their whole life on consuming instead of creating the lives they actually want to live. Alright. So, I honestly believe that this problem is much bigger than we think and that every single person is impacted by it, and that's why I want to tackle it by doing a 7-day dopamine detox in order to change my relationship with dopamine and hopefully to inspire you guys to do the same. So here are the rules.

 For the next 7 days I won't be allowed to consume the following things. No social media. I deleted all social media apps from my phone and I won't be able to access these sites on my laptop as well. No digital entertainment. I'm not allowed to watch TV or Netflix and I can't play any videogames. No junk food. Which means that I can't eat any unhealthy food like chips or sweets. Regarding beverages, I will only drink water, so also no Coke Zero. No alcohol and drugs, no porn and no music. 

This is something I wanted to try for myself because I'm constantly listening to music and I never really have a moment of silence. So, now as the rules were set, I was ready to embark on this journey. Enjoying the last coke. I'm gonna miss it. I'm ready to go, and I'm looking forward to the next couple of days, and I hope that I'm going to see some real benefits coming from this. Let's go! Unlike many of my other mornings, this one was without music. Instead of grabbing my phone right away and playing a random song, I started my day in silence.  Alright, yeah, I'm just going for a walk here and... To be honest, it feels great. I'm already loving it. 

I haven't really kept up my routine for the last 30 days that I was here on Mallorca. It's always a little bit difficult if you switch location, so I didn't go for any walks, I didn't do any workouts and all that kind of stuff, so it was definitely a goal to get it going again. When I came back home, I said hi to the other dogs and made myself cereals with milk for breakfast. Instead of watching YouTube videos while having breakfast, I basically did nothing... Which was kinda boring. After that, it was time for work. In the next hours, I reviewed a script for my notion workflow video and planned the shortlist for the intro of this video. I pretty quickly started to get into a good flow because my phone was still at the side of my bed. I didn't see any good use in having it with me as I couldn't access social media or listen to music, so I just focused on my work and got a lot of things done. 

After that it was time for a good old Spanish lunch with fuet and tortilla. Spanish food is the best. First thing I noticed when I came into the car: there was music running. I immediately turned it off, but it's just so weird to drive without music. I normally listen to music all the time, especially when I'm driving in the car. Today I'm not going to listen to anything.  

 I wasn't only able to notice my surroundings while running, but actually during every moment along the way. Before I started this detox, I was so self-absorbed that my mind was constantly occupied with everything else besides the actual things happening around me. I would think about a social media post that I saw an hour ago while talking to a friend, or be lost in a song instead of listening to the birds. But the less time I spent bombarding my brain with those short-term dopamine hits, the more I was able to drown out the noise and embrace the present moment. I felt like my brain had some sort of reset. 

So, I'm currently on the way to one of my favourite sunset spots in the area here. It's called San Salvador, which is a small mountain. I'm actually just going there to enjoy the sunset, take a couple of drone shots and... Just have a good time, that's all! I don't know why, but I'm just falling in love with sunsets and sunrises again. Overall, I really feel that my mental clarity immensely improved, because... I just don't hop from one activity to the next one, but I give my brain some time to actually process all of the experiences I take in, and therefore I'm overall just more calm and settled. And actually also a friend of mine, with whom I Skyped last night, he also told me by himself "dude, you're a lot more calm than normally", like "what's happening?". So yeah, I definitely enjoy it so far because all of my thoughts are just ordered and I'm not distracted that much. 

And it just feels like I experience everything twice as intensive as before, because I'm just in the moment and not always on my phone thinking about the next Instagram post or Instagram story, and I'm just spending all of my time in my life and not in somebody else's, which is really nice. 

So, what do I take away from these last 7 days? Well, things like junk food, alcohol and porn were pretty easy to avoid. Other things like social media and music were a lot harder for me. Driving without any music is... Fucking boring. But from one day to another, I noticed more and more benefits coming from this detox. First off, I was able to restore my daily routine by going for walks and working out. That walk felt amazing. As my brain was not constantly overwhelmed by so many dopamine hits from external sources, I was able to replace those toxic activities with things that actually make me feel present and alive. I don't know why, but I'm just falling in love with sunsets and sunrises again. 

I was able to focus my time on the things which bring me fulfillment, like working on my business, doing sports or learning a new hobby. I normally needed a lot of motivation in order to get started with those activities, but from time to time they kind of became effortless. 5:40 a.m. Let's do this. I not only became more productive and focused, but I overall feel like everything around me started to slow down. Can you see how fast the clouds are moving? It's insane. Not having all of these distractions at my fingertips allowed me to finally catch a breath and wipe my mind clean of any stressful thoughts. These 7 days really showed me once again how much noise we usually expose ourselves to on a daily basis. It was mind-opening to see how lowering our excessive consumption can improve so many aspects of our lives and therefore our overall happiness. I think that a detox like this can help everyone to see what it's like to live without this noise and it is the first step to gain back control over your own life. So, try it for yourself.

DOPAMINE DETOX:-

{ written by Oliver }

 

Let's talk about dopamine. People call it the chemical of want and desire, but why is that? Well, here is how it works. From an evolutionary standpoint, your brain rewards you for anything that will increase your likelihood of survival by releasing a neurotransmitter called "dopamine" in your brain. That's the reason why it feels so damn good to have sex or to eat a steak, because our brain thinks that sex equals a reproduction of our species and that a fat piece of meat equals a long-lasting satiation. Let's look at an example. As soon as you're standing in front of your fridge, and you have the choice to either pick a carrot or a piece of chocolate, your brain will tell you to pick the one which releases more dopamine as it knows that it will make you feel more pleasure. 

Want slow music while reading :- 

So naturally you will choose the chocolate. Now you might say "well, that's not too bad to eat a piece of chocolate every now and then" and that's true. But as soon as our brain releases a lot of dopamine, it will try to stimulate the craving for that thing over and over again until you develop an urge for it, and that's when the addiction kicks in and we can't live without it. For this reason people become overweight, alcoholics or drug addicts. 

The thing is that dopamine doesn't know what's good for us and what isn't. It doesn't know that eating too much chocolate is unhealthy for us. All it sees is a potential of pleasure without any context, and for this reason drug addicts are willing to let their whole life fall apart, only to get that one hit of dopamine again and again. The terrifying reality is that almost every company in our modern society exploits this deeply-rooted reward system by putting it on steroids. 

There are millions of experts specifically designing their products and internet platforms to release as much dopamine as possible in order to make us come back over and over again. That's why social media platforms switch from chronological feeds to an algorithm-based feed and that's why video games have levels and ranking systems, to keep us coming back. 

They give us constant dopamine hits as we jump from one post to the next one and from one level to the next one, and what makes it even easier for us to engage in social media, junk food, porn, alcohol, drugs or any other source of instant gratification, is that it doesn't take us any effort. We simply have to consume and are instantly rewarded with massive hits of dopamine. It's crazy to believe, but we live in a world which is designed to stimulate our emotions in order to maximize profits. It is scientifically proven that dopamine has a direct influence on the decisions we make and the actions we take. 

That's why ultimately dopamine controls us on a daily basis and that's why billions of people unconsciously focus their whole life on consuming instead of creating the lives they actually want to live. Alright. So, I honestly believe that this problem is much bigger than we think and that every single person is impacted by it, and that's why I want to tackle it by doing a 7-day dopamine detox in order to change my relationship with dopamine and hopefully to inspire you guys to do the same. So here are the rules.

 For the next 7 days I won't be allowed to consume the following things. No social media. I deleted all social media apps from my phone and I won't be able to access these sites on my laptop as well. No digital entertainment. I'm not allowed to watch TV or Netflix and I can't play any videogames. No junk food. Which means that I can't eat any unhealthy food like chips or sweets. Regarding beverages, I will only drink water, so also no Coke Zero. No alcohol and drugs, no porn and no music. 

This is something I wanted to try for myself because I'm constantly listening to music and I never really have a moment of silence. So, now as the rules were set, I was ready to embark on this journey. Enjoying the last coke. I'm gonna miss it. I'm ready to go, and I'm looking forward to the next couple of days, and I hope that I'm going to see some real benefits coming from this. Let's go! Unlike many of my other mornings, this one was without music. Instead of grabbing my phone right away and playing a random song, I started my day in silence.  Alright, yeah, I'm just going for a walk here and... To be honest, it feels great. I'm already loving it. 

I haven't really kept up my routine for the last 30 days that I was here on Mallorca. It's always a little bit difficult if you switch location, so I didn't go for any walks, I didn't do any workouts and all that kind of stuff, so it was definitely a goal to get it going again. When I came back home, I said hi to the other dogs and made myself cereals with milk for breakfast. Instead of watching YouTube videos while having breakfast, I basically did nothing... Which was kinda boring. After that, it was time for work. In the next hours, I reviewed a script for my notion workflow video and planned the shortlist for the intro of this video. I pretty quickly started to get into a good flow because my phone was still at the side of my bed. I didn't see any good use in having it with me as I couldn't access social media or listen to music, so I just focused on my work and got a lot of things done. 

After that it was time for a good old Spanish lunch with fuet and tortilla. Spanish food is the best. First thing I noticed when I came into the car: there was music running. I immediately turned it off, but it's just so weird to drive without music. I normally listen to music all the time, especially when I'm driving in the car. Today I'm not going to listen to anything.  

 I wasn't only able to notice my surroundings while running, but actually during every moment along the way. Before I started this detox, I was so self-absorbed that my mind was constantly occupied with everything else besides the actual things happening around me. I would think about a social media post that I saw an hour ago while talking to a friend, or be lost in a song instead of listening to the birds. But the less time I spent bombarding my brain with those short-term dopamine hits, the more I was able to drown out the noise and embrace the present moment. I felt like my brain had some sort of reset. 

So, I'm currently on the way to one of my favourite sunset spots in the area here. It's called San Salvador, which is a small mountain. I'm actually just going there to enjoy the sunset, take a couple of drone shots and... Just have a good time, that's all! I don't know why, but I'm just falling in love with sunsets and sunrises again. Overall, I really feel that my mental clarity immensely improved, because... I just don't hop from one activity to the next one, but I give my brain some time to actually process all of the experiences I take in, and therefore I'm overall just more calm and settled. And actually also a friend of mine, with whom I Skyped last night, he also told me by himself "dude, you're a lot more calm than normally", like "what's happening?". So yeah, I definitely enjoy it so far because all of my thoughts are just ordered and I'm not distracted that much. 

And it just feels like I experience everything twice as intensive as before, because I'm just in the moment and not always on my phone thinking about the next Instagram post or Instagram story, and I'm just spending all of my time in my life and not in somebody else's, which is really nice. 

So, what do I take away from these last 7 days? Well, things like junk food, alcohol and porn were pretty easy to avoid. Other things like social media and music were a lot harder for me. Driving without any music is... Fucking boring. But from one day to another, I noticed more and more benefits coming from this detox. First off, I was able to restore my daily routine by going for walks and working out. That walk felt amazing. As my brain was not constantly overwhelmed by so many dopamine hits from external sources, I was able to replace those toxic activities with things that actually make me feel present and alive. I don't know why, but I'm just falling in love with sunsets and sunrises again. 

I was able to focus my time on the things which bring me fulfillment, like working on my business, doing sports or learning a new hobby. I normally needed a lot of motivation in order to get started with those activities, but from time to time they kind of became effortless. 5:40 a.m. Let's do this. I not only became more productive and focused, but I overall feel like everything around me started to slow down. Can you see how fast the clouds are moving? It's insane. Not having all of these distractions at my fingertips allowed me to finally catch a breath and wipe my mind clean of any stressful thoughts. These 7 days really showed me once again how much noise we usually expose ourselves to on a daily basis. It was mind-opening to see how lowering our excessive consumption can improve so many aspects of our lives and therefore our overall happiness. I think that a detox like this can help everyone to see what it's like to live without this noise and it is the first step to gain back control over your own life. So, try it for yourself.