2 Dopamine ladder

Project update video:

tl;d(watch): If you just want something test, sit tight a few weeks for me to reach out. I use the survey / user interviews to know who to include and where to focus. Early version of Cognizant for sleep, electronics usage problems is up first — maybe some motivation subsets. Interest in spending control (“Sovereign”) is lower at the moment. Many, many things to make and share but few hands! Until then, these emails are the best way I have for you get at, try, and understand how and why this approach works

How I think about stimulation (and overstimulation):

(This is a video I ripped off my defunct youtube channel, back when I had a producer!)

The concept is pretty intuitive though, so feel free to skip that smooth jazz rendition. This is just a codification of how much an activity stimulates you — meaning your dopamine ladder differs a little from mine, but probably not too much. Here’s mine:

I bring this concept up because it’s literally how I intend to measure and predict how stimulated you are (now, recently, baseline). Biometrics and self-reporting are the other ways. You can also use this without any software at all.

Print it out (who needs black ink anyway?), put it where you’ll see it. Practice just noticing the highest rung you gravitate to. It’s been an effective rule of thumb for how dysfunctional I am

As always tell me if these nuggets did something, or resonated for some reason. Email can feel like talking to a wall sometimes

-Steven

P.S. Still experimenting with the update format. Uncut feedback appreciated. I don’t ever want to talk just to talk. If it’s boring, useless, or not impactful I really, really want to know.

Appearances this week:

I was on Dr. Loo’s Financial Freedom Podcast