Apex.

“When you’re exhausted, weak, and tired and everyone around you looks just as bad as you or even worse – that’s the perfect time for you to make a statement.  You let everyone around you know that when their life ends, that’s when yours begins.”

Success isn't handed out, it's forged in the fires of discipline. Wake up with determination, go to bed with satisfaction.

What would you do with power? Ultimate power?

People nowadays don't understand how messed up there attention span is, therefore completely neglecting the need of a dopamine detox. In this post let's cover that up ~ 🏷Now, what I want you to do is to put your device far away from your reach. Then note down the correct time on a piece of paper or just simply remember it. Your goal is to sit in a comfortable place, find a spot ( could be anything from the wall, fan or the sky). 🏷 Try to focus on the spot for exact 90 minutes with the help of your internal mind clock. 😀This specific experiment has 2 major significance. ✅ Firstly you'll know the accuracy of your time perception which is generally fuked up due to the over stimulation you've been getting in the past years, just think how fast time passed in the last 3-4 years( I still think it's 2022 fr). Secondly you'll know how much attention span you really have when given no high incentive or reward. ℹ️Why 90 min? Because after 90 min your ultradian cycle shifts, which induces release of many chemicals and neurotransmitters in your brain. Now, there are 3 possibilities that are possible. 1. You'll not even do this challenge, most of you will probably find an excuse to not do this or procrastinate it untill you forget it. This just means you can't function without instant gratification, and trust me it's the only trait every miserable and unsuccessful man has in common. 2. You do the challenge and often find yourself getting distracted, daydreaming or making excuses etc. The one who completes the challenge with near to 90 min are a unit of a human. This trait is what separates success from misery. Outworking others will get you at the top of what you want to achieve. That's it for this post, in comments tell your experience with this experiment.

Time for some practical strategies. Write down your problems in the comments of any post or join @estoics

You don't lack potential, You lack focus. You don't lack ability, You lack consistency. You don't lack resources, You lack strategy. You don't lack opportunities, You lack discipline. Stop being a victim jackasses, go work.

Can't reduce screen time? Try these productivity apps- : Android -

1.New Pipe(download from Google)

- For those who want to study from youtube but gets distracted due to the recommendation and shorts, this app is for you. In settings you can remove home page, subscriptions page, trending page etc. -It has background play and pop up screen option too, with no ads and premium features, and download to directory. Note - you can use YTDLnis for better downloading options Use Google calendar for routine chart.

ONESEC -

Link : Here - It will prompt a quote of your liking before you open any distractive app, it stays for some seconds then it closes. It helps to give time to I introspect and give time to repress urges.

Alarmy ( Play store)

- Best alarm app in play store, easy to use UI, science based alarm tones. Many resources related to sleep. And the best part is challenges, in my case I have to write a quote I like and scan the bar code of my shampoo to close the alarm. It has settings such that you will not be able to uninstall it while alarm is ringing. (find in setting)

Stay Focused

- It's all you need to either block apps for specific time, or restrict launches more than your desired number. Etc. Watch a yt vid to know about all its features Windows : If you use Chrome, then some good extensions will be. Stay focused - block sites, block launches. Similar to the Android app. Unhook - close YouTube home page, comments, shorts etc Any gray shading apps for better circadian rythm. If you want trick to disable incognito mode  from chrome permanently, ask in comments.

You know what's the trait of an unsuccessful person? He can't even read this whole post without getting distracted or completely ignoring the post just by seeing the sheer size of this thing. Willpower ~ Willpower neurologically refers to as the voluntary interruption in electrical messages in the brain induced by the conscious mind over the actions of the subconscious ( involuntary) mind. Subjectively it symbolizes 'control' or resistance over things which let's say either we are naturally or unconsciously inclined towards. Take addictions for example, one might want to increase his/her will to resist urges and increase rationality based action-performing skills.

How can someone increase his/ her will?

In our brain, there's a specific area called the anterior mid-cingulate cortex (just call it AMC) just think of it the place where will power functions. The AMC has the ability to interfere and change the electrical signals in our brains reward system at will. Nature of AMC : While AMC is a physical entity in our body, you might think it's function is purely related to genetics but you're wrong. The best part about AMC is you can shift it's size just by simply exposing yourself to tough situations. Think about the action that you don't want to do, that stimulus will make the AMC grow and hence it's ability to work. You know what's funny about this? I just told you that suffering creates will powerin a nerdy way, the concept which was known for ages lol. Now the real protocol ~ - The AMC grows when you do  an action that you don't want to do i.e low dopamine action. - It won't function if you like the action, it will only grow when you hate the action, but do it anyways. So if you love bench pressing or deep diving for example, your will won't increase. - The AMC shrinks to the original size if you do not repeat the action that  "sucks" the next day. - That means in order to improve will power, you'll have to suffer, every fuckin day for the rest of your life, if someone suffered too much in the past it isn't necessary he's still capable to endure the same scenario depending on his newer lifestyle. - The concept of will being depletable is well known in psychology, it's called ego depletion. It states that will power is not unlimited, it's depletable. It gets replenished when you sleep and when glucose is synthesised by AMC. This is the very reason how someday the morning is the ideal situation you imagine then it all gets to waste untill the afternoon kicks in. To prevent this learn to increase friction and remove cues(we'll cover this in the habits post). At conclusion, hating one thing and doing it anyways every fucking day you possibly can , is the only way to increase your will power. Will power helps in resisting sudden urges and actions, even if you're in a habit, even you're routine is fixed, there will be times you will be lacking and the demons will try to fuck you up. Will power is the best weapon at those times.

For further research my suggestions are - Thinking fast and Slow(book, nature of conscious and subconscious )  Andrew Huberman Podcast Ft. David goggins (must )

Being mysterious holds great power. When society expects everyone to fit into defined roles, standing out by refusing to conform sparks interest. Embrace a mix of traits— Be both masculine and feminine, bold yet charming, subtle yet daring. Don't worry about fitting in; , those who do are boring but you're aiming for something greater. Most people feel insecure and will be curious about you. Eventually, they'll admire and emulate you because you confidently express yourself." Robert Greene.

Tell the biggest mistake or advice that you want every other guy to know and be aware of. Take your time and think about it.

Yea. Got some questions or need advice? Ask on @Estoics , the official overcurb discussion chat. You may join to appreciate or suggest changes.

"Suffering is desideratum of Glory" It's not realistically possible that all of us will be millionaires soon. It's even possible that none of us will be rich at all. We've been conditioned to like the materialistic fulfillment that was set by our society. I am not targeting millionaires specifically but you see, society cannot function without a structure of hierarchy and generally the aimless souls wandering about the earth are by default filled with the ambition to be highest in the societal power distribution and in this case millionaires represent the highest place in this hierarchy. Think about it like a main quest every man has by default untill he finds the purpose of his liking. Purpose is not supposed to be glorious every time, it could be mediocre and it's fine until you're good with it. See the point is that many of you still don't know what or why you exist for, society has put these general preposition of purpose unto your brain. You won't ever notice it because pleasure is the distraction for a purposeless man. Which will completely delay the self talk which is necessary for finding one's purpose. A glimpse of the future ~ You will survive some years in this aimless state you're in but soon enough life will throw some real shit at you. And trust me you won't be ready for it. You'll thrive in this world because you have negatively progressed all these years thinking your purpose was valid and that you chose it. You'll stick to mediocrity regretting your actions throughout your life and being completely cynical about your condition. The dilemma ~ The options you have can be complicating, one is to reside in mediocrity your whole life which is not bad, and is more risk free and stable than the other option, live well, create a family, put some value to society and die peacefully thereafter. The other option is striving for glory, going all out in what you desire, with a  chance of losing it all at once and the suffering and struggle you would go through while accomplishing that goal, putting value to society and dying without regrets. Calculate all the pros and cons of both options and choose wisely.

At last I wanna say is finding your purpose is the first and most important  step you can do for yourself. Till then bye folks.

"Everything in life requires practice.

What makes practice so great is that you can put yourself into that environment whenever you choose. These practice environments are not permanent. To expand your mind to endure more, you must learn to practice suffering. Yes, I know some of you Oprah fans out there see the words “suffering” and “practice suffering” and immediately want to go to the comment box and start writing your weak-ass shit… I am not saying live a life of only suffering. If you want to expand your cardiovascular output, you must apply pressure to your cardiovascular system. If you want to expand your mind, become smarter, etc., it requires pressure. Anything in life that you want to expand requires applying pressure. If you want to grow your muscles, it requires applying more pressure and force. The same thing applies if you want to expand your mind. You must learn to apply and sustain more pressure."

In life, you will figure out own thing. When you are trying to make something of yourself, you will have more bad days than good. That is the separator of those who make it and those who don’t. A person who is able to function at a high level on bad days will make it far in life. The problem is that most people can’t consistently perform on those bad days. What I came to realize is that my life was full of very bad days so I had to learn to perfect the conquerer’s mindset. The conqueror’s mindset is like this- a conquerer doesn’t care what is going on in life. A conquerer knows that life is always going to bring challenges. It is how we handle those challenges that determines where we end up in life. Like it or not, it must be done.

“You can always have the option of having NO OPINION” The Stoics saw opinion as the source of most misery. Opinions take objective situations and make them good, bad, wrong, unfair, essential, deserved or outrageous. It’s also what takes things that have nothing to do with us and makes them problems for us. Not liking what some other person is doing, not believing something outside of our control should be done the way that’s it’s being done, and on and on. One of the most powerful things we can do in life is to limit the amount of opinions we have.

Whoever asks you just say that - “I simply do not have an opinion ”

To focus on the things in front of us that matter, or more importantly, that are in our control. There is plenty there for us. Plenty to keep us busy, and not miserable , also , there are ample amount of people in world already doing the job of giving unasked opinion, we don't necessarily need to engage ourselves. Moreover , everything bit of matter existing doesn't seek our opinion, neither it will cease to exist without it.

Paramount Concept #10 : 'Manage dopamine and stress' ×My personal setup: Average time to resensitize dopamine receptors is about 21 days but you can do for 14 or 7 days too.

1. Sleep schedule 2. Controlling urges (next post) 3. Exercise 4. Meditation 5. Reading, journaling (Important) 6. Boring breaks (Important) 7. Commitment and oath 8. Connecting with nature (serotonin)

Sleep - - sleep and wake at the same time everyday. - sunlight : sunlight quickly after waking up and at the time of sunset can help in producing melatonin which adapts circadian rhythm to the new clock. - No lights before sleeping : do not interact with any kind of light 1 hr before going to bed. - Eat at least 2 hr before bed. - No drinking - stretching or NSDR before can significantly increase sleep quality. - Exercise daily (imp) - try to sleep in a dark and cold environment. - sleep with something below your legs for some degree of elevation. Credits: Andrew Huberman Exercise - Any sustained physical activity about 1 hr should be enough. Meditation- You need a hack to improve focus and concentration? This is it. Technique : Focus on breathing first, allow your nervous system to calm down. Generally after starting meditating people tend to get anxious in the first minutes due to the sudden disload in neural inputs, cause normally your brain is bombarded by inputs from everywhere and this social media which engage all our sensory pathways. Once you are in the calm state, any thought that comes to someone it gets analyzed at will, you find out that there is no significance of it, at that point you could distinguish b/w good or bad without bias. Set a timer beforehand for at least 20 min and whatever happens, don't lose focus. Distractions will always come but you have to resist them. Reading and journaling - Read about great men, their philosophies. Reading is the best alternative to social media you can ever get so use it wisely. Journaling or writing, the only way someone can be articulate or better at critical thinking is by writing. Write your perspective on anything, write out how your day went. Write out what you learned today. Explain it with the best you can think of. Trust me you won't regret doing it. I used to write the problems I faced in my detox today and used to find solutions just by the act of writing my problems out. Just try it. Boring breaks - You are not supposed to be productive every second of the day. Let loose do nothing. Taking a break should be like talking a walk playing and outdoor game talking with friends or in my case, just stare at the wall. Doing literally nothing helps in resensitizing dopamine receptors and the work you normally found boring will seem more pleasurable than ever. Commitment and Oath - It's something new that I found out that at the beginning of the day with upmost passion if you commit to not indulge in any addiction(shout out what it is) and follow your routine which is to do x for y time etc and shout out what's at stake (your whole damn life) there is a high probability that you will be accountable for your shit the whole day. Suggestions- - Huberman and Anna Lembke podcast. -Rian doris dopamine Detox Video -Atomic Habits Book.

Note - I can't write every single detail or hack you could do so comment the problem you face and I will try to help.

Edit :- Note (v.imp) - Make damn sure that after your detox is done and that is to remove the triggers or cues of addictive stimuli. This is a dopamine detox, not a will power generator - you are the most vulnerable for addiction after you complete detox so beware ~ I will post about resilience and will power soon To Know the Need of Detox , Visit this Post

Paramount Concept #9 : How to change! Do you always find yourself at the same situation despite all the effort you put in? Any struggling individual would say yes they do.

How do you change that?

You see whatever you do is the result of all things that you have gone through. All the knowledge facts or information you gathered from various sources and all the situations you've been in. You objectively have no free will at all and the passion you have for change is just due to the low dopamine state or the post nut clarity state that occurred after you indulged in peaks, or sometimes it may be the pleasure of social feedback that you would get when you improve. Your brain indulges in high dopamine activities and then gets low on dopamine. To balance this it uses your desire to change, it indirectly forces you to seek motivation from everywhere you could think of but at the end when your circuit's rhythm is restored , It will fade away like always. What to do? From my perspective the foremost manipulative components of your thought process are-

1. Pleasure, stress or social pressure 2. Will power, mindfullness 3. Subconscious mind, manifestation or self actualization 4. Testosterone (for men) 5. Habits. 6. Purpose or rationality

Basically overall mental health. The following posts will be on how to use these components for changing you upside down

On the path to greatness, there will be long periods of time where you HATE what you must do. You must do it anyway. If it were easy, everyone would be champion, everyone would be rich. It will be HARD. As it was always meant to be.

Good women act how they feel. Good men act how they must.