Designed for modern life — no extremes, no fake “dopamine detox”

⚠️ Important science note
This is not dopamine elimination.
This is dopamine re-sensitization — restoring motivation, focus, and effort tolerance.

You will still:
✔ Use your phone
✔ Work, talk, walk
✔ Eat normal food

You will change the sequence of rewards.

🧠 CORE RULE FOR ALL 7 DAYS

Effort → then Dopamine
Never dopamine → then effort.

This single rule fixes procrastination.

🗓️ THE 7-DAY RESET (DAY-BY-DAY)

🔹 DAY 1 — AWARENESS & BASELINE

🎯 Goal: See your dopamine leaks

What to DO

• Use phone normally

• No restrictions today

• Just observe

Track ONLY this (Notes app):

• ⏱️ Time spent scrolling

• 📱 When you escape tasks

• 😵 What triggers avoidance (boredom, confusion, stress)

🧠 Why this works:

• Awareness activates the prefrontal cortex

• You can’t rewire what you can’t see

✅ No guilt
✅ No fixing yet

🔹 DAY 2 — REMOVE MORNING DOPAMINE

🎯 Goal: Reset daily dopamine baseline

Morning Rule (first 90 minutes):

❌ No:

• Social media

• News

• YouTube

• Entertainment

• Music with lyrics

✅ Allowed:

• Silence

• Water

• Walking

• Journaling

• Reading

• Planning

• Work

🧠 Science:

• Dopamine baseline sets in the morning

• Early spikes make the whole day harder

📌 Expect:

• Boredom

• Restlessness
  That’s recalibration, not withdrawal.

🔹 DAY 3 — EFFORT BEFORE REWARD

🎯 Goal: Re-teach the brain effort = reward

New rule (whole day):

Before any dopamine hit, do:
➡️ 10 minutes of effort

Examples:

• Before Instagram → write 1 paragraph

• Before YouTube → clean desk

• Before music → read 2 pages

🧠 Brain effect:

• Dopamine prediction flips

• Effort becomes the gateway, not the enemy

📌 Keep rewards — just delay them.

🔹 DAY 4 — KILL INFINITE NOVELTY

🎯 Goal: Reduce dopamine noise

Do this today:

• Turn off:

  • Autoplay (YouTube, Netflix)

  • Background refresh

• Use only one content platform today
  (Not all)

❌ No multi-platform hopping

🧠 Science:

• Novelty causes dopamine spikes

• Less novelty = more focus

📌 You’re not reducing content
📌 You’re reducing randomness

🔹 DAY 5 — RE-INTRODUCE BOREDOM

🎯 Goal: Restore natural motivation

Mandatory boredom blocks:

• 2 × 20 minutes today

• Sit, walk, or stare

• No phone

• No music

• No stimulation

🧠 Why boredom is powerful:

• Boredom triggers:

  • Planning

  • Creativity

  • Action impulse

📌 This day feels uncomfortable
📌 That means it’s working

🔹 DAY 6 — SMALL WINS DAY

🎯 Goal: Rebuild effort-dopamine pathway

Rules:

• Choose 3 tiny tasks

• Each ≤ 15 minutes

• Finish them fully

Examples:

• Reply to emails

• Clean one drawer

• Write 200 words

🧠 Science:

• Completion releases clean dopamine

• Reinforces task-completion loop

📌 Finish > Perfect

🔹 DAY 7 — DESIGN YOUR NEW NORMAL

🎯 Goal: Lock gains, avoid relapse

Review questions:

1. What felt easier than expected?

2. What dopamine sources were most harmful?

3. Which rules helped the most?

Lock in 3 permanent rules:

Examples:

• No phone first hour

• Effort before entertainment

• One boredom block daily

🧠 Habit science:

• Systems beat motivation

• Fewer rules = better adherence

📊 EXPECTED NEUROLOGICAL CHANGES

⚠️ COMMON MISTAKES (AVOID THESE)

❌ Extreme isolation
❌ No talking / no joy
❌ Removing all pleasure
❌ Perfection mindset

These increase rebound procrastination.

🟨 ONE-LINE SCIENCE SUMMARY

Dopamine fasting works by lowering artificial spikes so effort can feel rewarding again.

🎯 INTERVIEW / CONTENT GOLD LINE

Procrastination is not a lack of discipline but a dopamine sequencing problem — this reset fixes the sequence.