Become More Productive Overnight - With These 4 Simple Steps

For months, I desperately tried to start improving my life and to overcome my social Media addiction and laziness, always unsuccessfully.

This changed 2 weeks ago when I set 1 special alarm that finally got me out of my rut.

Paralysis by analysis:

I've always been a sucker for self-improvement and the idea of fulfilling my potential. Unfortunately, I've also been a sucker for video games, social media, and parties for a long time now. You might notice the contradiction here.

As I mentioned in my other articles, my life had just hit rock bottom a few weeks ago. Social Media and dopamine overstimulation made me lazy, unfulfilled, and unsatisfied.

Even worse, I constantly consumed self-improvement content online, which enhanced my dissatisfaction even more. I knew what I had to do to finally get better, but I didn't have the energy to do so.

Bombarding my brain with input 24/7 paralyzed me. I bombarded my brain with self-improvement advice and knowledge all day long, yet I was unable to act on it.

"Begin at once to live, and count each separate day as a separate life."

-Seneca.

My revelation occurred in my car. I was driving somewhere and had lately started listening to audiobooks about stoicism, an ancient philosophy that is very practically orientated and focuses on living a virtuous, stable life.

When I heard the quote above, I realized, that maybe I can improve my life overnight, maybe I wasn't stuck in a rut but only had a bad day.

If you think you are in a rut, ask yourself if it might just be nothing more than a bad day.

I decided then and there to approach the next day completely differently and these are the 4 steps that I took to finally get out of my rut in one day.

Step 1: Setting the Alarm

Sitting in front of my pc, unmotivated to play something, I picked up a notebook, as I had a mini-epiphany. These are the words I wrote:

Don't: Social Media, Netflix, Game, phone, YouTube

Do: Read, walk, write, clean room, declutter,

Above these words, I had written "Dopamine-Detox"

I blocked 3-hours with that name in my Google calendar and set an alarm for 8 am (about 2 hours earlier than when I usually got up).

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Step 2: Starting the day with a challenge

"There is no better way to grow as a person than to do something you hate every day." -David Goggins.

I wanted this day to start differently: No more sleeping in and social media in bed, no more comforting, lumpy, unstructured morning routine.

I kept it simple and did 4 things:

1. 1 I got up right when my alarm rang, no 5-minute rest in bed
2. I took a cold shower
3. I took decent clothes (which I had laid out the night before)
4. I took my medicine/supplements and drank 2 glasses of water

Some of you might think, this is nothing special, but if you ever have been in a rut or will ever end up having one, you will thank me for this.

Start your day with a challenge, it will make you resilient

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Step 3: Resist Temptation

The idea of a "Dopamine Detox" is to reduce the dopamine sensitivity of your brain to normal levels by neglecting any dopamine-releasing activities, aka, everything that is fun and entertaining such as Social Media, Netflix/TV, and video games.

Instead, you want to focus on tasks that challenge your brain, instead of overstimulating it.

Maybe read some non-fiction, clean your house, or go for a walk.

I started cleaning/decluttering my house and writing down my thoughts, for example.

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Step 4: Take Action

What that means depends on you. For me, it meant writing my first words to post on medium.

The core idea here is that you aren't allowed to do anything entertaining anyway, so you might as well just do what you've been procrastinating about.

It doesn't matter if you want to start writing, cinematography, or working out, just pick up the camera, the weights, or the keyboard and do it.

Taking Action vs. Being In Motion

Anyone who read Atomic Habits by James clear will know the concept of taking action vs. being in motion, and I want to explain what I mean by "taking action", exactly.

Taking action means working out, being in motion is making a gym plan. Action is getting you somewhere, motion is not. Action is writing, motion is marking in your calendar to write every day.

In this 4th step, you want to make sure you take action, aka. Work out, write or take a video, instead of just being in motion aka. Plan, strategize and do research.

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Once you started taking the action, laziness will vanish soon.

After I had finished this process, I spent the entire day writing and researching about blogging, I was productive and had a screen time of 1h (compared to 3.5 hours the week before.)

It's been 5 days since then, and I published 3 blog posts on medium and other Platforms, almost quit social media, spent quality time with friends and family, and transferred my savings into a crypto investment portfolio. All things I've been wanting to do for weeks.

Stoicism, an antidote to modernity

Voluntary hardship, temperance, and resilience are all Stoic virtues. This Stoic approach enabled me to improve my situation, and I believe it can do the same and more for others, especially younger people like myself.

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Have you ever been in a rut and couldn't get yourself to start? Let me know in the comments and feel free to leave me some feedback too! I'm always looking to improve my writing.

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