---
date: 2017-12-12
modified_at: 2019-01-03
tags: [productivity, social-media]
description: An exploration of how short-term dopamine triggers like social media and food act as distractions that harm long-term productivity, arguing for eliminating these distractions rather than relying on willpower to resist them.
---
# What if dopamine triggers fuck up your long-term productivity?

What if short-term pseudo happiness such as food, sweets, facebook, email,
WhatsApp and instagram are all mere distractions?

I have some low lows in which I feel really bad about myself and some high highs
in which I feel like the king on the world.

It doesn't seem to have much to do with productivity. But what about flow? Yes.
It does seem to have to do with doing what you want. Feeling well. Because I
believe that feeling good is a choice.

Accepting dopamine triggers and other distractions in your environment is like
shooting yourself in the foot. You don't want to be distracted, why do you allow
those things to be part of your life? This makes Mr. Will Power necessary every
single time you hear that Smartphone buzz or when you smell that delicious egg
from your housemate. And he's not always present!



> Mr. Will Power


Feeling good is about saying yes. It's about letting it happen. Going with the
flow. Feeling certain that this will lead you in the right direction.
Diminishing choice and decision, and especially diminishing having to choose for
the lesser short-term result (a.k.a. needing Will Power's help again).

That's why I choose to immerse myself with tools that align well with
productivity. That's why I choose to diminish distractions. Will isn't your mom.
He doesn't clean up after you.