In this blog post we are going to talk about how it can pay of to make the first half of your day dopamine driven and your second half more geared toward serotonin.

But first, please watch the beginning of the video where I talk about how you should do you best not to sail with your anchor down...

...on life's big sea.

Let's get to it... 

Dopamine in the morning - Serotonin in the evening...

This is Michael.

He has a boat that he loves taking out to sea several times a week.

Michel is a pretty intelligent guy so he studies physics and tries to come up with better sails in order to get more energy out of the wind.

On top of all of this, he loves to try all the latest equipment and really does a lot to get the boat faster and better.

Yeah, he takes good care of the bot for sure, but if we take a closer look we start seeing something crazy...under the surface the boat is extremely dirty.

There is all kinds of old gue and even ropes hanging from the bottom of the boat.

Sailing with the anchor down...

Why doesn’t he take care of that since all that extra crap has got to be slowing the boat down…but wait a minute, he is even trying to sail the boat with the anchor down...what the hell is he doing?

Well, this is what I see so many guys doing wrong today, and I used to do this myself when I was younger, so I’m not pointing any fingers here.

In fact, what I’m about to tell you is something I wish I would have started to pay more attention to sooner.

A lot of young men do heavy biohacking and self development stuff.

And me too, it’s an interesting world, but here’s the deal... 

Many guys are into biohacking, trying to tweak small things, while neglecting the basics...

So many guys are desperately trying to find stuff that might potentially help improve their life a bit, all while at the same time they keep drinking two-three 12 packs of beer every single week. 

Or trying all kinds of expensive supplements, paying for fancy HRV measuring technology, all while eating junk food 6 days a week.

Or spending copious amounts of money on some pick up artist boot camp, all while being highly addicted to adult sites, to the point that it’s making it extremely socially awkward.

In other words, many guys are doing exactly like Michael, and they try to find some small stuff that may or may not improve the boat, all while trying to sail with their anchor down.  

Clean up your life first...

In many cases, what they should be focusing on first is to get the outside bottom of the boat cleaned up, and then try to lift the Goddamn anchor, or if you can’t lift it...

...cut the rope!

That would instantly propel them forward in life.

It’s a bit like the saying goes, "perfection is achieved not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing more to take away."

Now, I’m guilty of this myself.

I remember, many years back, I was obsessed with trying to not eat sugar. 

A phobia of sugar, all while drinking way to much alcohol...

And sure, eating a lot of sugar is not good for you, but still, since there are tendencies towards prediabetes in my family, I was almost obsessing about how I must keep my blood sugar levels low and my insulin levels low. 

While at the same time I was on google searching for stuff like, "does vodka raise your insulin levels?"

I was trying to sail my ship with the alcohol anchor down, not seeing that that will actually hold me back way more than some fluctuations in insulin levels here and there.  

So, what's your anchor?

I'm sure you have at least a couple of small ones that you need to cut the rope to.

Or like Jordan Peterson says, “Just try to not do things you know that are stupid and wrong for a month and see what happens”

And I agree.

I mean, why would you try to start tuning your car engine if you were trying to drive around with your breaks on?

This is so simple, yet it would be what gives you the biggest bang for your self development buck.

There are two sides of everything, yin and yang...

Another extremely simple thing is understanding that there are two sides to everything.

Yin and yang, night and day, work and rest.

If you constantly keep adding self improvement tools, but you forget to rest, you are also shooting yourself in the foot.

Imagine if you were trying to build muscle and you would be in the gym 16 hours every day 7 days a week.

You would burn out so fast it would make your hair spin! 

Some people don’t realize that it is not in the gym we are growing, but it’s actually after the gym session during the rest period that the muscles grow stronger.

We need both.

First we need the stimuli, and we get the stimuli in the gym, and then we need the rest to repair and to grow.

Skipping on rest thinking it will make you grow faster is foolish because that will actually do the opposite.

Practice resting!

It’s the same with your self-development journey.

A few years back I started asking myself, ok bob, since I like to get better and improve things about myself, what if i would try becoming better at resting?

And whoa, let me tell you that right there, it really started to take me to new levels.

And by resting I do not mean becoming lazy, but when I do rest, trying to get more quality rest. 

For example...

Playing video games can be quite relaxing and something we do when we have free time. And that’s fine, but it’s still dopamine driven and pretty stimulating.

So, it won’t charge your batteries as well as if you turn off all technology and you spend your evening being mindful while cooking a healthy dinner, taking a nice hot bath for example.

The same goes with alcohol.

Make the first half of your day dopamine driven and later part serotonin driven...

Sure it can be relaxing to have a drink or two, but again, it’s dopamine driven so it won’t recharge you the same way as if you were to lie on an acupressure mat and do deep breathing exercises. 

Or playing online poker...

 Again, sure that can be fun and to some degree also relaxing, but again as far as recharging your batteries, it pales in comparison with taking a slow walk in the forest on a warm summer evening.

It's about balance...

Guys, let me tell you, if you start making an effort to get a more yin and yang, balanced, self-development journey you will start noticing even faster results.

So use that dopamine driven go go go attitude during the day, when you are working on your goal, but then try to  find the more serotonin driven night time activities, that will really charge your batteries the best. Serotonin actually helps reset your dopamine system.

Balance also means faster results...

Balance is the key, and this is not me trying to sound all wise and all, no, it is actually the key to faster results as well. 

And speaking of cutting the rope, f addiction to adult sites is holding you back then take a look at this video right here, where I talk about three things you need to consider in order to quit for good.

Alright this is Scandinavian Bob signing out for today.

Thanks for reading.

Related posts:

Can dopamine detoxing fix low dopamine levels?