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There are a lot of blogs and videos out there about how to deal with overstimulation, but very few discuss why it's so tough to focus on challenging tasks in the first place.
Why is it so difficult to get the inspiration to go out and accomplish big things in our lives?
Why is it so difficult to overcome hurdles, but so simple to revert to old behaviors, even when we know they're bad for us?
Why is it that we’re facing depression and anxiety in record numbers even though we’re living in the most prosperous time in human history?
Let's be honest: building a company from nothing is incredibly hard. It has been for me. I started my entrepreneurial journey at age 8. Yep, you read that right....8! Since then, I've started, run and sold multiple businesses with no partners and no funding. All my life I've had to build something from nothing, and that's what I've gotten really great at - tenacious, creative and extremely smart strategy coupled with hard work. Welcome to The Do What Is Necessary podcast—I’m your host, Andrew Moon.
Listen in as I share all the mistakes I’ve made and, more importantly, what I’ve learned from them, with no fluff, and no rose-colored glasses. The Do What Is Necessary Podcast is a show where we cut through the toxic hustle and grind mindset and dig into what it actually takes to start and grow a “calm business”. Calm is family first. Calm is more independence. Calm is sustainable practices for the long term. Calm is joyful. Running a calm company is a choice.
I’ll be giving unfiltered advice every week, 10 minutes per episode each. I want you to walk away from this podcast with the mindset and tools you need to be successful.
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Overstimulation is the cause of our
inability to focus on anything that is
going to drive the needle forward either
in our personal life or our business.
And it's also the cause of not
wanting to tackle the things
that are challenging in her life.
We'd rather lay in our bed,
scroll through social media.
Then accomplish things
that actually matter.
On the flip side we might in spend entire
day playing video games, DOR eyes, dry up.
We do this because we want to experience
that rush of discovery that comes with
finding something new or controversial.
Unfortunately not handling the hard
stuff of running your business.
Things like marketing.
That will eventually kill your business.
I was on a coaching call
recently with a new client.
And that was the challenge that he had.
He just, he couldn't seem to focus.
He couldn't seem to
get control of his day.
But the one thing that I
pointed back to is I heard all
the notifications going off.
I heard slack messages.
I heard teams messages.
I heard his email going off.
While we were on that
first discovery call.
Now there are a lot of blogs
and videos out there that.
About how to deal with
overstimulation, but very few discuss
why it is so tough to focus on.
Challenging tasks in the first place.
Why is it so difficult to get
inspiration, to go out and
accomplish big things in our lives?
Why is it so difficult
to overcome hurdles?
But so simple to revert back to old
behaviors, like scrolling our life away.
Even when we know.
That it's bad for us, even when we know.
That the outcome is not going to be great.
Why is it that we're facing depression
and anxiety and record numbers,
even though we're living in the most
prosperous time in human history.
The fact is we're constantly
overstimulated all the time.
The fact that we no longer have
to work hard to do anything.
Is the main cause of our
overstimulated world problems.
On a Friday night.
There's no purpose in going on dates.
There's we used to go to the mall
on Friday nights and hang out.
There's no point in going out and meeting
people when we can just swipe right.
Or swipe left.
On the flip side, when we can have any
type of meal brought to us hot and fresh.
Ready.
Right to our house without ever.
Putting pants on.
As a result of that.
Our senses are constantly being
aroused by artificial rewards.
And our overstimulated lives are causing
our brains to constantly be releasing
a concoction of feel-good chemicals.
Called dopamine.
Dopamine is released when we see a
new notification on social media.
And we begin to sweat in anticipation
of what that notification might be.
Is this going to make my day better?
Or is this going to
completely derail my day?
Dopamine has been around.
Going all the way back to him
in human history, back to our
hunter gatherer ancestors.
Back when it wasn't so easy that
we could just go down to the
supermarket and grab dinner.
Instead of smartphones and junk food,
our forefathers experienced a rush
of dopamine in a variety of ways.
They sensed it whenever they
came across a new deer to kill.
And in other words, their, their
brains released dopamine whenever
they accomplished anything
that required a lot of work.
And concentration.
Now we have an overstimulation problem
because we can activate that dopamine
reward system with very little effort.
And unfortunately it is ruining us.
If we're bored, we can
just jump on Instagram.
See three notifications waiting for us.
Oh, who liked my recent post.
We can always grab for that
chocolate cake in the refrigerator.
If we're hungry.
We're effectively transformed our
dopamine reward system into a vending
machine that's open 24 hours a day.
Seven days a week.
Now what's frightening is that we're
teaching ourselves to regard these
activities as necessities in our lives.
Our brains get addicted to that
feeling of dopamine that we'll go
to any length to obtain it, even
if it means harming ourselves.
Social media is a wonderful example.
Or I should say harmful
example of overstimulation.
When someone likes your Instagram
snap, your body releases, dopamine,
which makes you feel happy.
As you continue to release that
dopamine, your brain encourages
you to perform additional things.
Such as post an Instagram story in order
to reactivate those neuro-transmitters.
After a while, you'll find yourself
in a positive feedback loop where
you no longer are motivated by the
pleasure of using social media.
Instead, you continue to satisfy your
dopamine cravings and other ways.
You become a prisoner to
your own dopamine system.
As a result of that, your natural
reward system is tampered with.
It deceives your brain into believing
that participating in these activities
will increase your chances of surviving.
That's a risky proposition, but it
also creates a erroneous assumptions
of what success should entail.
We all know that the road to success is
paved with setbacks and disappointments.
And that achieving anything requires
a certain amount of willpower
to delay that satisfaction.
We got to put in the hard work.
This is counterintuitive because we
expect to feel wonderful immediately.
And when we don't obtain those
outcomes, we want, we become
frustrated and easily give up.
And that's what I see.
That's what I see with entrepreneurs.
That's what I see with business owners.
That they scroll their life away
for that instant dopamine fix.
So when working on sales and marketing
for their business so that they can
actually survive, maybe the coming
recession that we're looking at.
Maybe we can survive the
pandemic we've just went through.
No, rather than doing that hard stuff,
they'd rather scroll their life away.
Have their email inbox open all
day and be a slave to that inbox.
Now quitting is definitely.
Hard.
I'm not going to lie about that.
We seek stimulating activities
in life because we believe
that they'll make us happier.
Our hazy understanding of what
happiness entails, that's what
drives us to eat three big Macs only
to hate ourselves in the next day.
binge watch Netflix.
Only to feel bad for
wasting an entire day.
Instead, if we were to make the
opposite choice, if we were to make
a different choice, we might discover
contentment with what we already have.
We might discover contentment
with the need to break free
from those negative patterns.
Less overstimulation actually
increases your energy.
Because that's the other thing with
overstimulation all the time, your
brain and your body can't handle it.
So we feel tired all the time.
So we need to divert our focus away from
those things that are insignificant.
Things like social media.
The things like having email open all
day long and working out of your inbox.
And when you do that, you'll begin to
fill your days with activities that
genuinely matter when you make that choice
of making that decision that you're not
going to go for that quick dopamine hit.
And that you recognize that
social media is nothing more than
empty calories for your mind.
When you make that a practice.
Now you're going to be able to read a
book without being distracted by the
number of likes your photos have received.
You might be able to concentrate on
your children or your spouse instead
of constantly looking at your phone.
You can start spending your energy
more effectively once you recognize
those bad habits, you recognize that
social media is actually a bad thing.
I'm not going to, I'm not here
to rail against social media.
And I use it.
But it has its place.
Overstimulation is a modern problem.
It is a major impediment of having
peace, having a peaceful existence.
And it can eventually wreck your
business if you're not careful.
While we can't control
everything around us.
We can make a choice to take active
steps, to bring peace into our
life, business and personal life.
And strengthen our resilience
to overstimulate all the time.
If you struggle from being able
to tackle those big rocks in
your business or your life.
Maybe this episode, hopefully allowed
you to maybe connect a few dots.
If it is helped you, if you
need further help resisting
that urge for that dopamine fix.
Please reach out.
I'm here to help.
I'm here to help you get practical steps.
On how to get your life back into control.
So it doesn't wreck your business.
Thanks for sharing your earbuds with me.
I'll see you next time.