There are two ways to engage with this world:

1. Consuming
2. Creating

Consuming activities include:

• Watching TV/Netflix/News
• Reading the newspaper
• Watching Porn
• Playing video games
• Buying stuff (especially material objects, from gadgets to cars and houses)

Creating activities include:

• Building a business
• Building your body (exercise)
• Any kind of thing that you build
• Producing a product
• Writing… and so on..

You got the point.

Any time you don’t create, you consume.

Any time you don’t consume, you create.

You either build and create, or you consume, absorb.

While it already seems like I am against consuming and supports creating, there is actually 1 type of legitimate form of consuming in my opinion that might be beneficial for you, when it comes to being successful and living a fulfilling life.

And that is: Learning.

Learning, aka absorbing information, is the only form of consumption you’re allowed to consume if you are serious about achieving success.

Learning is how you grow. Learning is how you build yourself, by engaging with the world in “consuming mode”.

This is the only acceptable type of consuming/absorbing.

If you want to be successful, you either learn (the only good good type of consuming) or create (building something). Nothing else is allowed. And so, you make aure you don’t consume stuff that has zero or low potential return for you.

Needless to say that real learning involves action, not only absorption of information. So it will be more accurate to include all these in the category “allowed”:

Consuming information. Studying. Doing Research. Exploring. Traveling. Reading.

What all of those have in common?

Benefit.

Those are all allowed and have a place in a successful person’s life.

I don’t know about you, but I’ve eliminated any type of non-profitable consuming.

I don’t watch TV/Porn/Netflix/Movies/YouTube.

I don’t listen to music quite often anymore.

I don’t smoke weed.

I don’t eat junk food.

I am not a typical western consumerist. I don’t buy stuff I don’t need.

Being an obsessive consumerist will kill you without and before you even realizing it.

How to Know If Something Is Worth Consuming?

You should be aware of what you are consuming.

A good rule of thumb to follow: If it’s junk, don’t consume.

Also, if the ROI is low – don’t consume it.

Consumption is either low-ROI or high-ROI.

For example,

• Watching porn is a low-ROI type of consumption. Meaning, you wouldn’t benefit much from watching porn, would you? The maximum porn will give you is a transient illusion of happiness, a very short burst of dopamine which will pass in several moments, not to speak of the detrimental effects it has on your dopamine receptors in general.

On the other hand…

• Listening to a great podcast, and enriching your mind with fresh material while commuting is a high-ROI type of consumption.
• Self-education is high-ROI type of consumption.

 

Dopamine as an “Energy Unit” (Where Should I Invest My Energy?)

Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that plays a huge role in our focus, productivity, and motivation.

Dopamine is your “motivation molecule”, meaning it will make you chase natural goals that helped your ancestors survive and reproduce (food, drink, sex, shelter etc…) as well as trigger you to get ANY task done (even not a survival need).

If you want to achieve your goals, dopamine is a key factor in that process, with more and more dopamine being released in the reward system every time you make a step forward toward that goal. Making you feel good about the progress until you’ll finally reach that goal and you’ll feel the proverbial “Yeah! I did it!” kind of emotion.

With that being said, you may be surprised that ANY type of consumption involves dopamine release. The junkier it is, the more dopamine will be released (i.e. porn & junk-food, are both known to increase dopamine significantly, but in a harmful manner).

What do I mean by ‘harmful manner’?

Great question.

Our ancestors lived more balanced life in terms of stimulation of the reward system. They didn’t have a never-ending access to high-speed internet pornography and Netflix. They had to work much harder to get way less in return.

When too much dopamine is being released, it can be dangerous, since the receptors will be desensitized, thus preventing from dopamine being used properly by the body.

As dopamine levels start to decline, multiple negative effects start to follow, such as:

• Anxiety
• Eating disorders
• Low-quality sleep
• Lack of focus
• Fatigue
• Low libido
• Lack of concentration
• Loss of memory
• Depression
• Low self-esteem
• Lack of self-awareness
• Less motivated to be social & to have a conversation with a stranger
• Hard to make eye contact
• Less expressive
• More likely to develop addictions

Fortunately, there are activities through which we can indirectly increase the dopamine effect on our body (Improving dopamine’s recirculation, normalizing receptors’ sensitivity, etc.), such as:

• Exercise (Lifting weights, HIIT)
• Eating healthy foods
• Good night sleep
• Cold shower
• Being in touch with people you love
• Getting shit done

Guess what…

Those activities have nothing to do with low-ROI type of consumption, but with

• Creating (building)
• High-ROI type of consumption

The combination of both can lead to self-actualization and contentment in life.

High-ROI consumption & Creating stuff (Building) => Growth

How? simple. Any investment in yourself is BUILDING you.

When you eat healthily, you consume fuel that helps BUILDING yourself. As you can see, it’s not low-ROI consumption, because low-ROI will get you nowhere. That’s why they’re called low-ROI.

When you take a cold shower, for example, it benefits you, thus it’s not a low-ROI consumption.

Eliminate all low-ROI type of consumption & stick to creation and high-ROI type of consumption and you’ll immediately experience the benefits.

Until next time,

Gal.