A quick way to overcome an addiction - The "Nothing Rule" + 10-minute trick

Recently, I came across an idea that changed the way I think about habit-changing strategies. It's a simple but powerful approach to avoiding bad habits, called the "Nothing Rule." Whenever you indulge in highly pleasurable activities, whether it's playing video games, eating chocolate, or watching entertainment videos, you're raising your dopamine to levels much higher than normal. Now, what's interesting is that when you stop these activities, your dopamine doesn't just return to the level where you started; in fact, it drops below that level.

And this is directly correlated with how high the peak was. This means the higher and longer the peak, the lower and longer your dopamine will stay below baseline. A quick Google search will show that lower dopamine levels can cause a range of problems like decreased mood, increased anxiety, fatigue, inability to concentrate, and even trouble sleeping. Essentially, you become a worse version of yourself.

The only way to get your dopamine levels back to normal, those levels where it's easy to find motivation and joy in life, is to implement the "Nothing Rule." This means doing nothing, which is something we used to do regularly, but that has become rare in modern life. Our grandparents and previous generations knew how to embrace idleness.

We live in an age where we're always looking for something to do. We can't sit on the couch for five minutes without turning on the TV or grabbing our phone. The "Nothing Rule" is about breaking this cycle of constantly seeking more dopamine hits.

Instead, do nothing. This doesn't mean doing nothing all day, but consciously finding moments throughout the day, whether it's 10 or 30 minutes, or maybe even an hour, to simply enjoy the present. Slowly, this will allow your dopamine levels to return to normal. This is your chance to improve your life and become a healthier version of yourself. If this is difficult for you at first, try the 10-minute trick.

Imagine you're reading, studying, or doing some other focus-intensive activity. The moment you feel the urge to pick up your phone or open a new tab on your computer, tell yourself, "In 10 minutes, I'll do it." Then, return to what you were doing and resist the urge for those 10 minutes.

What you're doing is training your brain to live without frequent dopamine hits, teaching it that it can handle monotonous but necessary activities for your personal growth.

Nowadays, we are all in a kind of war against the constant dopamine spikes, and we need strategies to win that war. I hope you find these two helpful. Take care, and leave your personal experience in the comments. How did you overcome your addiction?