Introduction: Why your focus is dying

In today’s fast growing world, maintaining focus on what really matters has become very hard. You open Instagram “for 2 minutes,” but end up wasting hours scrolling Insta reels. 

But, when you sit to study – and in less than 5 minutes, you’re bored, distracted, and back reaching out to your phone.

If you are  relating to the above scenario, it’s not because you’re lazy.

It’s not because you have no discipline.

It’s because your brain is being overloaded every single day of your life – without you even noticing.

Your focus isn’t dying by accident, it’s because you’re only consuming motivation not doing the things you can do – It is the work

To combat this issue, many people are turning to a method known as dopamine detox.

It’s being slowly destroyed by constant micro-hits of dopamine from:

• Reels

• Notifications

• Youtube shorts

• Checking your phone every 5 minute

You’re not giving your brain – any moment of silence.

It’s always being over-stimulated.

This constant overstimulation changes how your mind works.

Instead of wanting to do meaningful deep work sessions of studying, writing, or building something…

Your brain starts craving only the fast, easy, instant dopamine rewards.

The results?

You can’t focus anymore – not because you’re weak, but your brain is exhausted.

This blog will show you exactly why your focus is damaged without you realizing it, and how a simple dopamine detox can reset your mind back to normal – or even better than “today’s normal people mind”.

What is Dopamine? (In simple words)

Before understanding dopamine detox, you need to know what Dopamine actually is.

It’s not a chemical or something which makes you feel happy or lazy.

Dopamine is your brain’s motivation and reward chemical.

 Whenever you do something that makes you feel good or excited,  your brain releases dopamine.

For example –

•  When you Scroll reels

• When you eat tasty food

• When you win at something

• When you watch something entertaining

In basic words – Dopamine tells your brain to “Do it again”

That’s why your brain loves activities that give you quick, easy dopamine… even if they are worthless.

Here’s the problem with this:

Before 50 years, dopamine was released when:

• You solved a problem

• You discovered something new

• You created something new

• You finished a task

In 2025-2026, dopamine is released when:

• You receive a notification

• You scroll reels
• You watch entertaining things on TV

• You play online games

Your brain is overwhelmed.

It gets so used to fast dopamine that real valuable skills like – reading, deep work, exercise feels so boring to do or too hard to do.

This is why your focus is dying.

The Real Problem here is – Overstimulation

Overstimulation is hijacking our brain by overwhelming it – with a constant barrage of stimuli that trigger dopamine release. This leads to a stage – when you constantly crave things without being satisfied by anything.

One of the most important parts of success is “The ability to think long term”.

And, constant reel scrolling is killing your ability to think long term.

The CEO of Apple, Steve Jobs is one of the biggest innovators we all know. His business was to make and sell millions of iphones. But, he prohibited his own children from using smartphones.

Watching motivational videos all day won’t help you, me, or anyone else. But, performing consistent actions, with persistence over a long period of time will. Stay calm in every situation and be focused on the tasks that really matter.

Amazon was created in 1994 but had to wait until 2003 to have its first profitable year. Jeff Bezos, could have given up – but he didn’t. He kept doing it. Then in 2003 Amazon reported a net profit of $35 million dollars.

How did he have the ability to focus on the long-term instead of having small profits from the start?

Because he prioritised his ability to focus on long term growth and avoided all kinds of distractions of his time. Reels didn’t exist in his time, or even the things that existed he avoided. Even now he works with laser sharp focus without getting distracted by the Instagram algorithm.

The real “secret” to achieve your goals is to have focus on the tasks that really matter. And to achieve laser sharp focus you have to keep a few things in mind that I have discussed below.

A Simple Dopamine Detox that Will Return You your Focus

What is a dopamine detox?

It is a period of time when you –

• Don’t watch any reels

• Don’t listen to any songs

• Don’t check your phone every 2 minute

• Even don’t use your phone, laptop, and PC

• Don’t eat junk food

• Don’t day dream excessively

Instead you do –

• Meditation

• Journaling

• Coding

• Cleaning your home, or office

•  Take Cold shower

• Stretching

• Yoga

Here is the simple rule you have to follow in the Dopamine Detox period –

If anything provides you instant pleasure – don’t do it.

There are mainly 3 types of Dopamine Detox –

1. 24 Hour Detox

2. 48 Hour Detox

3. 1 Week Detox

Doing more than could be very hard for any normal human being whose average screen time is 4-6 hours.

Let us talk about the 24 Hour Detox first:

24 Hour Dopamine Detox

This is the easiest of all – and the simplest of all Dopamine Detoxes we are talking about

In this you have to completely cut-off all kinds of distractions noted above for 24hrs. And can do the things instead stated above.

By doing this, you will feel more calm, and in a better state of mind. By doing this you will not become the most calm person in the world. But a better version of yourself.

You can practice this once a week  and also a bonus tip – You could do a partial Dopamine Detox everyday.

 Like – you can skip all kinds of distractions, or stimulations for a particular period of time in your day to day schedule – You can do it between 1pm-5pm or From the time you wake-up to 5pm.

1 day Dopamine Detox a week+ daily partial dopamine Detox = A better and focused life.

48 Hour Dopamine Detox

This is actually harder than what we all think. It’s 2x more time taking and much harder than 24 hours.

If you do this by doing the things you can do and avoiding the things you can’t. You will have much more peace of mind and better quality of focus for deep work.

I recommend doing this – once every 10-15 days. And with partial Dopamine Detox it’s much better. Remember all the rules and enjoy the reality. Because reality is much better than reels. Reality > Reels.

1 Week of Dopamine Detox

This is the hardest of all – It is performed by the top innovator or the top 0.1% of any field. People usually go out alone on a trip or vacation with no cell phone, etc. Just you alone cooking, eating, sleeping, going for a walk, etc.

 Bill Gates usually goes on a “Think Week” with no constant email checking, using the internet, etc. Just writing, reading, and thinking deeply.

It helps him to maintain his focus and attention span – He once said that he is glad that he didn’t grow up with smartphones.

And here we are wasting our precious hours scrolling reels.

Remember this – It takes a lot of effort, techniques, and work to perform something like – a Week of Dopamine Detox. So if you’re doing it – be proud of yourself. The journey would seem very hard, but Never Ever Give Up.

How To Make This Journey Easier ?

The answer is simple – By adding friction.

The harder it will be to access – The less likely that you’ll do it.

If you can’t stop yourself from eating junk food, replace everything which is not good for you from your home. And put fruits in front of the refrigerator every time you open it.

The places you spend the most time – keep a bucket of fruits there, keep a book in every room of your home.

While you’re in the washroom – keep your phone in another room and take a book even while doing day to day tasks.

Throw all the unhealthy food out, and remove instant delivery apps from your phone.

Bonus Point – Use a Keypad phone like – The old flip phones. Keep it with you everywhere you go and keep your smartphone on airplane mode – use it when you need it, not when you want.

                  Conclusion

Thanks for reading, and one last thing. If you have read the full blog – Thank You.

Don’t forget to take action on what you have just read. Take action, don’t just sit and complain about life. The only person responsible for where you’re in life is “You”.

Stop Complaining, Start Growing.

About the Author 

I am Kushagra Shukla—passionate about blogging, AI automation, and coding. I run Peak Persona, where I break down marketing, AI, and online growth into simple, beginner-friendly insights. I’m constantly learning, experimenting, and building things that can create long-term impact.

– Kushagra Shukla