The Nothing Rule: Understanding and Overcoming Addictions

The "nothing rule" suggests embracing discomfort to reset dopamine levels, aiding in habit formation and addiction recovery.

### The "Nothing Rule" and 10-Minute Trick for Building Habits and Breaking Addictions
* 🧠 The "**Nothing Rule**" is a strategy for habit-building and addiction recovery that involves doing **nothing to allow dopamine levels to return to baseline**.
* 🚫 When you stop pleasurable activities, dopamine levels drop below baseline, causing feelings of **low motivation, tiredness, and anxiety**.
* ⏰ The **10-Minute Trick** involves delaying gratification by telling yourself you can engage in a pleasurable activity in 10 minutes, reducing the **discomfort of uncertainty**.
* 🏋 Just as post-workout soreness is a sign of **physical growth**, the discomfort of dopamine withdrawal is a sign of **mental healing**.
* 💊 The urge to engage in addictive behaviors is often an attempt to **alleviate the discomfort of low dopamine levels**.
* 🧘 By allowing yourself to experience this discomfort without seeking immediate relief, you can **gradually reset your dopamine baseline**.
* 👥 Seeking support, such as therapy through platforms like BetterHelp, can also be beneficial in **untangling mental struggles** and **building healthier habits**.
* 🌱 Over time, as dopamine levels recover, previously mundane activities may become **more pleasurable**, creating a **healthier balance of habits**.

welcome back to the tamed course. We recently came across an idea that has changed the way we look at building habits. This is an idea that will make it easier for you to stick to good habits and avoid bad ones, and we call it the nothing rule. How does it work? Well, when you go to the gym and have an intense workout where you know you pushed your body to its limits, you'll probably feel pretty sore for the next couple of days. But when this soreness comes around, you don't feel bad about it, you actually feel kind of good, right? Even though it literally hurts to get out of bed and move, you feel good because you know that you put in a lot of effort during the workout, and now your body is rebuilding itself back stronger. You know that this type of pain is part of the strengthening process. On the other hand, let's pretend that you're a complete newbie and you didn't know that being sore was part of the process. If you suddenly woke up two days after your

first intense leg workouts with incredible pain in your thighs. You might be worried, you might think that you did something wrong because you were fine yesterday, and all of a sudden you can barely walk. This pain might even cause you to take some medication to try and alleviate the symptoms. The only difference is that you don't know that the pain was supposed to be expected and a part of the process. The pain is a good sign. The reason I'm bringing this up is because pain works in a very similar way when it comes to our addictions, not just our addictions but all of our behaviors. You see, whenever you indulge in any pleasurable activities, whether it's playing video games, watching naughty videos online, or chomping down fast food, you're spiking your dopamine to levels much higher than normal. Now what's interesting is that when you stop these activities, your dopamine doesn't just return to the baseline level that you started at. It actually drops below baseline, directly correlated to how high the spike was, which means that the

higher and longer the high you've been chasing, the lower you will drop for longer. Now, what does low levels of dopamine feel like? According to Google, a lack of motivation, tiredness, inability to focus, anxiety, can't feel pleasure from previous enjoyable experiences, feeling of hopelessness, trouble sleeping, and more. Essentially, you feel like crap. This, in a way, is a type of pain. It's not really the physical pain you get from a hard workout. This is more of a mental thing, a boring, uncomfortable, sad type of pain. Now, what's interesting is that this pain is actually a good thing, just like how the soreness after working out is a good thing. You see, the only way for your dopamine levels to recover to baseline levels, to the levels it used to be at when you were younger, where it was easy to find motivation and pleasure in life, the only way to get closer to that level is to do nothing. This boring, sad, tired feeling you get after taking a break from pleasurable activities is a sign that your dopamine levels are slowly

starting to recover. So instead of reaching for more dopamine-spiking activities to relieve yourself of this pain, do nothing instead, and that you will eventually heal with time. Of course, I don't actually mean literally do nothing all day or like stay away from as many pleasurable activities as possible and wait day by day. Your baseline levels will increase, and many things recently felt boring will start to feel slightly pleasurable again, such as getting some work done or chatting with some friends. Here's your chance to focus on building up these good habits so that you can eventually get a life where turning to your bad habits is in your way of spiking your dopamine levels. You'll have a healthier alternative that satisfies you. Speaking of healthier alternatives, having someone to speak to about your issues is always a good idea because it allows you to untangle the mental mess that lives in many of our heads. Which is why this episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. BetterHelp is the world's largest therapy service, and it's 100% online. You can message your

therapist at any time and schedule live sessions. When it's convenient for you, if your therapist isn't the right fit for any reason, you can switch to a new therapist at no additional charge. With BetterHelp, you can get the same professional and quality you'd expect from in-office therapy, but with a therapist who is custom-picked for you, with more scheduling flexibility, and at a more affordable price. BetterHelp has a special offer today where you'll get 10% off your first month. Just go to betterhelp.com. Improvement pill. Thanks again to BetterHelp for sponsoring this video. Now back to the topic at hand. Here's another tip I want to leave with you in regards to dealing with these negative emotions. It's called the 10-minute trick, and I picked it up from the Diary of a CEO podcast. This is something you can use if you feel like the nothing rule isn't effective enough. When you feel a strong negative emotion, such as boredom or stress, where you want to do something to spike your dopamine bits to

help alleviate the pain. Such as playing on your phone. You simply tell yourself, Okay, I'll play on my phone in 10 minutes. This helps relieve some of the pain. For there is the pain of not knowing when you'll be able to relax that causes you to feel even more uncomfortable. On top of the already negative emotions you feel during the dopamine recovery process. This is actually a huge source of uncomfortable feelings we have every day. Uncertainty. When you're trying extremely hard to stay away from a bad habit. It will constantly be in your mind. But when you give yourself a time slot to deal with a negative emotion. Your brain can relax knowing that there's already a plan in place for relieving that pain. And that's it. I hope the 10-minute trick and the nothing rule are helpful in your habit-building journey. If you haven't watched the rest of this tamed course. You can find links in the description box below. Besides that, stay tuned.

A Quick Way To Overcome Addiction

Improvement Pill

The Nothing Rule: A New Approach to Habit-Building

The "Nothing Rule" is about changing the perception of pain in the habit-building process, similar to post-workout soreness.

It emphasizes that the discomfort of breaking bad habits is a natural part of the strengthening process.

Pleasurable activities cause dopamine spikes, and when they stop, dopamine levels drop below baseline, making the "Nothing Rule" a crucial concept in understanding and changing addictive behaviors.

The Impact of Low Dopamine Levels on Mental Health

Low dopamine levels can cause a lack of motivation, tiredness, inability to focus, anxiety, and anhedonia.

This state of mind is actually a sign that the dopamine levels are slowly recovering.

Instead of seeking more dopamine-spiking activities, doing nothing can help the brain heal and increase baseline dopamine levels.

Building good habits and seeking therapy can provide healthier alternatives to boost dopamine and improve mental well-being.

The Benefits of BetterHelp for Online Therapy

BetterHelp offers the convenience of scheduling live sessions with a custom-matched therapist at a more affordable price.

The platform provides the same professional quality as in-office therapy, with the flexibility to switch therapists at no extra cost.

With a special offer of 10% off the first month, BetterHelp makes professional therapy more accessible.

Giving yourself a specific time to engage in a pleasurable activity can help alleviate the discomfort of resisting a bad habit.

The uncertainty of not knowing when you can indulge in the habit can intensify negative emotions, making it harder to resist.

By creating a plan to address the discomfort, such as using the "10-minute trick," the brain can relax, knowing there is a strategy in place.