Should I Push Myself Hard Even on Days When I Have Low Dopamine?

Ah, those low dopamine days.

How nasty they can be.

So, what do we do on those days when it seems impossible to get any productive work done?

I mean, those days when we completely lack any form of energy and it's almost like we have a physical barrier between us and what need's to be done.

I'm sure everyone knows what I'm talking about here (because we're all humans).

Should we still push ourselves when we have really low dopamine levels?

Can we still go hard, with pure mental force?

Well, the truth is that we can always do a more than we think, but the real question is, how much should we push?

Here's my philosophy...well actually, it's a bit more than a philosophy (you'll see why in a moment).

• A) We should always do some work towards our goals, even on bad days.
• B) But the amount depends on the state of our dopamine system.

A) is important in order to keep our confidence and momentum up. 

B) is also important to consider, because if you push too hard on those super bad days (and if you have poor dopamine reserves) then it can, and probably will, backfire on you.

The healthier you are - the harder you can push!

The beter mental, dopaminergic and physical reserve you have, the harder you can push and get away with it, without suffering from it the following days. 

If you're in really bad shape, however, and you push yourself very hard on those bad days, you'll pay for it with even lower drive the following days. Yes, you will...there's no way around that.

You see, it's not just about dopamine receptors (that I so often talk about in my YT videos), we also have something called "the readily releasable pool of dopamine". 

And, as you can probably figure out by the name, this pool needs to "refill" in order to be able to be released again.

Solution for low dopamine days...

First half of the day...

So, if you're having one of those super bad days, a good rule of thumb is to force yourself to still work on your goals, but only do it during the first half of that day - and not too hard.

Second half of the day...

Then, during the second half of the day, you rest and do real relaxing activities.

Because it's during relaxation -in particular during the second half of the day- that your refill your readily releasable pool of dopamine.

And by rest, I don't mean engaging in low value dopamine activities. Because, like I talk about in my Dopamine Focused Fasting course, low value dopamine activities may prevent refilling your dopamine.

Refill your readily releasable pool of dopamine like this...

At the very least, it won't refill as quickly as it will if you rest my doing things like...

• Breathing exercises (non sleep deep rest)
• Taking a walk in nature
• Mindfulness practice
• Having a deep conversation with a friend
• Reading a book
• Meditating
• Mindfully making dinner
• Etc. etc.

...you get the picture.

So, there's my "philosophy" of what to do during those super bad days, and as you could see, it depends on in what shape you're in and...yes, it's more than just a philosophy :)

Supercharge your dopamine system...

If you really want to supercharge your dopamine system and say good bye to those super bad days, then check out my brand new online course Dopamine Focused Fasting here. 

That course will completely skyrocket your drive and productivity.

Even though it's no longer at launching price, it is still heavily discounted, and I will soon take it up to the price where it belongs. 

You can click here to read more about the course. 

In strength,

-Bob

Related posts:

• Can dopamine fasting help with low dopamine levels?
• What would happen if you had no dopamine? (or really low levels)

P.S. at least take the dopamine quiz you can find below 👇