Prologue

You’re stuck in a rut.

Apathy, lethargy. Entire days wasted away on Reddit, YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok.

You find yourself procrastinating on basically everything, coasting through life in a haze of mediocrity.

This isn't the life you want. You're dying to break free—to work hard, to improve your lifestyle, to get fit, find a better job, start a business, pursue a creative dream… but for whatever reason, it’s just been impossible.

The motivation to start, and more importantly, to persist, always seems out of reach.

But that's when you see it.

A viral TikTok video that explains exactly why you waste time, why you procrastinate, why you’re so stuck.

"Your issue? You're simply adrift in life, lacking clear purpose and direction.

You need to establish your many WHYs behind the many WHATs of your dream life.Why do you want to work hard and achieve your goals? Why is it so important? Why were you put here on earth?

If you make all that SUPER clear... if you turn your answers into visualizations, vision boards, motivational posters, affirmations… then—YES! You'll start to feel a burning drive and motivation to achieve your goals."

So you do all that. And for the first time in a while, you feel a flicker of hope and a tinge of eagerness to get stuff done.

Ready to take action, you open up a work program—but then it hits you.

The feeling.

That feeling.

That dreaded “ugh, I just don't feel like it.”

You try to willpower through it, but not 5 minutes later, you're back on Reddit.Then onto YouTube.Then TikTok.

By the end of the day, you’re just back.

Back to your old ways. Back to where you started. Back to feeling like a pathetic failure.

What gives?

Hey there, Simon D. here. Thanks for checking out my tapbook.

So, I've designed this thing to be ADHD accessible, but I'm finding that pacing text this way makes reading long-form a lot less daunting and more enjoyable.I hope you come to agree.

The book content itself is several years in the making—research, prototyping, writing, rewriting, rerewriting—and I'm just stoked to finally bring it to you.

Its purpose is to break down that what gives? predicament into clear, digestible pieces that just make sense (Part 1).Then to provide a solution that actually works (Part 2).

Specifically, we'll do a deep-dive on the three phenomena that have come to define your life:Doomscrolling, Procrastination, and Stagnation.

By the end of Part 1, you'll come to understand why 5 minutes on, say, YouTube, always leads to an all-out binge.

You'll understand why this pattern repeats nearly every day; why you always wait until the last possible minute to get critical tasks done—to say nothing about the creative projects, business ideas, or lifestyle goals that would lead to an awesome life.

You'll then understand why that pattern repeats over and over. First for weeks, then months, and now for years.You'll come to see why you're seemingly content to let your youth flit by with nothing to show for it; why you’re stuck living life on the sidelines, consuming crap you barely even enjoy, watching others do cool and interesting things.

And it's not what you think.

All your doomscrolling. All your procrastinating. All your stagnation...The reason you do that stuff; the reason you're so stuck... it is not what you think.

It's not because you're flawed, weak, or fundamentally broken.

It's not because you lack self-control or self-discipline.

It's not because you haven't found the right productivity method or habit-forming app.

And it's certainly not because you're lazy, pathetic, idiotic, useless... the absolute worst human ever—all thoughts I've had myself a million times over.

No.

There’s other stuff going on here.

Deep stuff. Hidden stuff. Not-so-obvious stuff.

My job here is to expose to you exactly what's happening. It's to dig deep and uncover the actual root cause of your time-wasting habits and chronic underachievement.

That's Part 1.It's a 20ish minute read, of which you can get about two-thirds through before hitting the $29 paywall (minus any promised discounts).

I suggest you go through it. See if it resonates. See if you're able to see yourself in the examples. See if it comes to redefine the way you see all your past failures.

From there, we'll transition to the solution.Part 2 is a 75-minute read. It provides a systematic method that addresses the root cause head-on, walking you through the best way to break bad tech habits, manage the inevitable pain period, and build up sustainable work and lifestyle habits.

Best part is, when it comes time to actually apply the method, you won't have to do it alone.

↙ See the ⓘ icon that just appeared?

↓ See the ⓘ icon that just appeared?

Well, first, it's there to provide a clickable table of contents.But if you scroll to the bottom, you’ll find a text box with which you can ask me anything.

Like if something's unclear or needs expanding, hit me up. Ditto for when (not if) you reach a sticking point or are unsure how to apply a step to your own life circumstances.

Reaching out with questions, feedback, or updates on your journey also provides value back to me. It shows me how the method is working out in the real world, which then helps me refine the method, improve the writing, and add supporting material.

So don't hesitate to hit that button at any time.

Alright. That's about it for the intro stuff, but before we continue, I want to acknowledge why you might still be hesitating.

You cringe at the idea of grand sacrifices, strict rules, and rigid routines—at a set of interventions that just won’t fit you… or that you won’t be able to sustain; that you’ll abandon after a few short days.You worry that, like it always seems to go with self-help, you’ll take one step forward—only to slide nineteen steps back.

I get it.

All that is valid. You’ve tried to rein in your habits before and it sucked. Ultimately, you failed.

Just know that I've been in your exact situation. And not for like a month when I was eighteen, before turning my life around and starting 11 companies.

No.

I was the guy who got addicted to Reddit and YouTube way back in like 2007. I was the guy who tried to get better using every self-improvement program I could find, but who always fell short.I was the guy who almost gave up. Who almost decided to surrender to a life of apathy, depression, and regret. Who almost stopped trying.

But then I found a way out.

I mean it took a long time. Like over 10 years.It also took a lot of pain; a lot of trial and error (oh, so much error); a lot of being lost and angry and frustrated.

It took everything I had, basically.

But I found a way out.

And so can you.

This book. It's here to show you the way.

And I'm beyond glad you found it.Happy reading. ✌️

PART 1 - THE PROBLEM

Chapter 1: Why You Doomscroll

You’re at your desk, doing some work on a project.

It's going okay, when you get the idea to take a break. You tell yourself:"Two minutes. Two minutes to check what’s new on Reddit, and then it's right back to work."

Two minutes soon becomes fifteen.

Fine. It happens. But let's pause the tape right there.If that was the end of it—if you thought, "You know, that was an interesting post and worth the extended time, but now let's get back to work"... and then you actually did get back to work, it wouldn’t be a big deal.

But that's not what happens.

Instead, you decide to check TikTok—again, just for a few minutes—aaand an entire hour’s passed.

Why did that happen? Why does that sort of thing always happen?To answer, we’ll need to rewind this mental movie and take a closer look in slow-mo.

So, there you are, scrolling through Reddit. Then it hits you: you're wasting time. You resurface to the present moment. You look up and away from your phone and—there. Right then. Pause the tape.It's subtle as heck and easy to miss, but in that crucial moment… you felt something.

What was it exactly?

Perhaps guilt as you realized that you broke your promise to focus, to have a distraction-free work session.Or maybe you were irritated because fun time was over, and it was time to get back to work, back to the grind.Whatever the precise emotion, it just felt... bad.

Logically, this negative feeling should compel you to get the heck back to work. Like how the pain of a burn stops you from touching a hot stovetop again... the pain of wasting time should compel you to, well, stop wasting time.But that's not what happens. In fact, the opposite happens. You waste more time.

On the surface this seems irrational, but if we dig a little deeper, it actually makes perfect sense.

See, for you, browsing the internet is a vice. And the thing about vices—beyond their ability to entertain and gratify—is their unmatched ability to relieve bad feelings.

This may not yet ring true to you, so let’s fast-forward another hour to see the vice in action again.

Here you are flicking through... whatever, when you surface again for a moment. This time you throw your phone at the couch in anger.With the deadline looming closer, cortisol floods your brain. You feel stress. Anxiety. Panic. Doom.Your brain kicks off a barrage of self-criticism:

Why do I always do this?Why am I such an idiot?What's wrong with me???

All of that is uncomfortable. It’s overwhelming. It physically hurts.So what happens next?You get some sense knocked into you, right? You do the one thing that'll actually relieve the stress. You do the damn work.

Nope.

You get hit with an intense compulsion to do something—anything—to escape the discomfort.And wouldn’t you know it… the very thing that can deliver just the right kind of relief... yeah, it’s still sitting right there beside you.

None of this means you're flawed or a bad person, by the way.

On the contrary. This is you reacting on an instinct. It's a survival instinct that kicks into high-gear when it senses a threat.Sitting down and doing the work? That takes time and effort. It’s just too risky. As far as your primitive brain is concerned, stress and anxiety mean you could die. You need the quickest, easiest, surest path to relief, and you need it now.

That’s messed up, right?

The cause of the bad feelings—the guilt, the stress, the anxiety… what's even behind much of the shame, depression, and regret that weaves in and out of your life—is the same thing that's incredibly effective at instantly relieving all those bad feelings.

Source: Michael Sweater comics, posted to Reddit by the author.

It becomes a cycle. Distraction, pain, relief. Distraction, pain, relief.Which is bad in and of itself, but with each cycle, the consequences of time-wasting intensify, and with it the drive for escape.

Before long, you're completely ensnared in a vicious closed-feedback loop.

One I call the Doomscroll Feedback Loop.

As with all addictions, the drug both causes and cures the disease.

The poison is also the antidote.

And that, dear reader, is how you end up doomscrolling.

Source: Adam Ellis comics

Chapter 2: Why You Procrastinate

In the previous chapter, I had you first imagine yourself sitting there being productive with some work.But maybe even that requires a stretch of the imagination, as being productive and motivated at all is hard to come by these days.

So, what’s going on?Why do we often (always?) lack energy, drive, enthusiasm, motivation—not just for our school or job obligations—but also (and sometimes especially) for the things we care deeply about, like a fun creative project or a clever business idea?

And why is it impossible to "just do it" when we really do want to work—if only to prevent the inevitable stress, panic, and consequences of procrastination?

Recalling the TikTok advice provided in the prologue, why doesn't setting grand goals, doing visualization exercises, and watching inspirational videos actually work for us?

Well... here’s the deal.

You're confusing inspiration with motivation.

You're assuming they're essentially the same when really, they're not.

The word motivation has its origins in the Latin word for “to move.” Interpret this not as the will to move—that’s the domain of inspiration—but as the capacity to move.All the “why” stuff is important… but it’s the stuff of inspiration. And inspiration is the conscious intention to get your work done and achieve your goals. But you have plenty of that. More is not the answer.

Motivation is the domain of the subconscious. It’s where expending precious energy gets the green light. Without it, you'll feel blocked and unable to get any work done.

Imagine this with a car analogy.Inspiration is pressing the gas pedal—and you might be flooring it if you have a David Goggins audiobook going.

Motivation is the car's fuel injection system.It's located deep in the engine such that you have zero direct control over it. It includes an electronic console that “decides” to pump and inject fuel to the pistons, which, when ignited, is what actually propels the car forward.

Now, I’m not saying it’s unimportant to get clear on your "whys"—a car won’t go fast or far if the pedal is barely tapped.I’m saying… your fuel injection system’s been disabled. It’s refusing to release any fuel when prompted to.

And that's your real issue. That’s what’s causing you to feel lethargic, uninterested, and demotivated. That’s what’s causing you to procrastinate to no end. And that’s what you need to fix before anything else.

Motivation Suppression

Us humans have serious survival needs. There’s the obvious stuff like food and shelter, but we also have psychological needs like love, intimacy, status, novelty, fun, and connection.

Back in the day, the cost to satisfy those needs was egregiously high.It took boatloads of effort, time, and risk. We needed to be enticed to do the work; to be rewarded after paying the cost... otherwise we’d sit around and do nothing.

We therefore evolved a motivation-to-reward neural pathway: a system that subconsciously droves us to put in work, to take on tasks, missions, and risks when opportunities arose… all in the pursuit of survival-affirming rewards.

For the pleasure of food, you had to hunt.For the pleasure of intimacy and sex, you had to socialize and risk being rejected and ostracized.For the pleasure of status, you had to acquire resources and form alliances.

In other words, to feel good, you had to pay a price. And that price was always just worth it, meaning a tight and fair balance evolved between the reward and its cost.

But that’s all changed in a blink of an eye.

With today’s vices, we trick our brains into perceiving that these base needs are satisfied with virtually no work or risk.

For the pleasure of food, there's DoorDash.For the pleasure of intimacy and sex, there’s porn.For the pleasure of status, there’s social media.

Every single one of our physical and psychological needs can be “met” through the shortcut of a vice—a consumable product that can trick our brains into delivering a reward via artificial or vicarious means.

Today’s tech, food, and entertainment industries have left no stone unturned:

For the thrill of adventure and taking on quests, there are video games.For the gratification of acquiring knowledge and being part of an opinion-aligned tribe, there's Reddit and TikTok.For the satisfaction of contribution, there's slacktivism and virtue-signaling on X, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

Source: Adam Ellis comics, posted to Instagram by the author.

With these shortcuts, the time-to-reward is milliseconds.The energy cost? A thumb swipe.The risk? Zero.

Sounds amazing, right?

In many ways, sure, our modern utopia of abundant, easy rewards is exactly that. Amazing...

But there are side effects.

On a societal level, we're seeing unprecedented rates of addiction, ADHD, anxiety, and other mental health issues. Chronic procrastination and underachievement have become real societal issues.But without the frame of reference of what our lives were like before all these modern vices, we're left to blame it all on our apparent impulsive, lazy, and indulgent nature.

But that’s neither true nor fair.

Because we just weren't built for this world.More importantly, you weren't built for this world. You, the real you, aren't lazy. You, the real you, aren’t careless. You, the real you, don’t lack discipline or self-control.You're just being cognitively compromised by vices. And you're not even realizing it.

Hidden Consequences

We all live in a world of scarcity. For most organisms, conserving energy is a matter of life and death. We're thus super averse to expending energy without a really good reason.

I mean, it makes sense.A lioness is not driven to chase a herd of aggressive gazelles if she just ate a giant zebra steak. An elephant is not motivated to walk for hours under a hot sun to find a new source of water and plants if his belly is already full.These animals know it’s time to rest, to chill, to veg.

So, what do you think happens when you spend the entire afternoon indulging in your vices—consuming junk food, social media, video games, streaming content, porn—and experiencing all sorts of rewards?What message is your nucleus accumbens (the motivation center that guards the fuel injector of motivation) receiving from your parietal lobe (the area that processes sensory information)?

I know these regions of the brain communicate through electric pulses and neurochemicals, but I like to imagine them communicating via an endless stream of office memos:

As a result of this messaging, the motivation center will squash any request from your cerebral cortex (conscious mind) to use up energy.

It just won’t let you do the work.

It doesn't matter if your conscious mind is is flooring the gas pedal, as it stresses and panics about the impending doom of reckless procrastination.It doesn't matter if your conscious mind is pointing to the potential for real, earned, satisfying rewards that come from actual life achievements, rather than experienced vicariously through a screen.

Your subconscious—the electronic console responsible for pumping and injecting fuel—is utterly convinced that you’re surviving exceptionally well, and that you need to rest.

Doing the work is non-negotiable. The desire is simply not delivered.

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The takeaway is this: vices do more—a lot more—than just waste time.

Vices lead to a short-circuiting of your motivation-to-reward pathway.

They decimate the need for motivation and work to survive. They lead to psychological impacts, greatest of which is that near-constant state of lethargy—that dismal, “ugh I just don’t feel like it” sensation.And when you don’t feel like it, you can’t help burning away time—that is, until something external—some real and urgent survival threat like getting fired or expelled—reactivates your dormant motivation system, and gets you to cram in the work.

In short, your vices are the true cause of your lack of motivation.And without motivation—without the physical ability to burn calories and desire to do work—you can't help but procrastinate.

Chapter 3: Why You Stagnate

"I spend the whole day rehearsing what I will do when I get home (i.e. be on my best behavior) only to find that as soon as I'm alone I get right back on my bullshit. It's extremely disheartening to feel so not in control of my own actions.”

“I have so many passion projects that I want to put more time into, and when I am able to put some work into them, it makes me feel great. [And yet,] I don't know why it never seems to stick.”

“The guilt of having wasted so much time has been weighing heavy on me and making it more difficult to finally change. I struggle with a lot of negative self-talk and judgement. This negativity is often accompanied by depression and anxiety - which only leads to feeling more paralyzed and not taking action.”

So those are just a few quotes I pulled from a group program I ran a few years back.

To me, they capture perfectly what it’s like to live a life of stagnation—of knowing, painfully well, what would lead to a better, happier, more rewarding life… and then doing the complete opposite, day after day, all while hating yourself for it.

So if you saw yourself in one or more of those quotes, first, know that you’re not alone.

And second, know this: there is an explanation. There is a cause behind you coasting through life—behind you feeling “paralyzed” and “not in control,” to use the language of those downhearted participants.

The previous chapter touched on lethargy and a lack of motivation. But when it comes to the psychological and cognitive impacts of vices, that’s really just the tip of the iceberg.

Research in this area is accelerating, and pop-psychology writers haven’t been far behind in translating those findings for a broader audience.

Anxiety is a big one.

In The Anxious Generation, social psychologist Jonathan Haidt points out that the rise of smartphones aligns almost perfectly with a surge in anxiety and emotional fragility—especially among young people.

Screens themselves aren’t inherently harmful, he argues. But they’ve created an environment of constant social comparison and validation-seeking, layered on top of nonstop exposure to outrage and pessimism about a world perpetually on fire.

Then there’s the impact of dopamine-driven reward-seeking on the brain’s ability to regulate serotonin.

This dynamic—where chronic overstimulation leads to subtle but persistent states of low mood, dissatisfaction, and even depression—is explored in The Hacking of the American Mind by Robert Lustig.

Johann Hari’s Stolen Focus tackles another dimension entirely: the erosion of our attention span and our capacity for deep concentration, reflected in the sharp rise of attention disorders like ADHD.

Beyond these, there are a few other consequences I’ve come to recognize through personal experience.

One is what I’d call generalized disinterest. This is the state where you find yourself bored by, or indifferent to, activities that once excited you and kept you engaged.I suspect this is a direct product of how modern vices have been streamlined. Algorithms now make the decisions for us. There’s no more “work”, nor is there any waiting—no needing to pay attention for a while for a payoff. Rewards arrive instantly, endlessly, on a damn conveyor belt of a feed.

Over time, this trains the brain to expect stimulation at an unnaturally high cadence. Anything that requires sustained attention, decision-making, or even a modest amount of thinking starts to feel intolerable. The result is impatience, boredom, disinterest, and a constant urge to move on to the next thing.

And finally, there’s what I call apathy.

Apathy is what emerges after repeated attempts to improve yourself or chase your dreams—followed by repeated failures. It’s the slow shutdown. The decision to stop trying and resign yourself to the status quo, no matter how bleak it feels.

It’s a defense mechanism. By becoming emotionally disengaged—by not caring, by extinguishing the last traces of hope—you protect yourself. You shield against disappointment, frustration, and embarrassment.

When you add all of this together—lethargy, apathy, disinterest, low motivation, low mood, anxiety, impaired focus—you don’t end up with a loose collection of symptoms.

You end up with a syndrome.

This is what I believe many people are experiencing today, at least to some degree.I call it Vice-Induced Depressive Syndrome, or VIDS for short.

And I use the word depressive deliberately, in its literal sense. Something external is pressing down on you. There’s a weight. A force that keeps you stuck—stuck in your habits, stuck in your environment, stuck in your ability to change, to act differently, or even to want something different.

When you’re stuck, you don’t move.

And when you don’t move…

You stagnate.

Goodwill Hunting

So what’s the take-home in all this? What am I asking you to understand, acknowledge and actually absorb?

It’s this: it’s not your fault. None of it is on you.

You don’t stagnate because you’re broken. Or lazy. Or weak. Or incapable.

You don’t procrastinate because you don’t care. Or because you’re impulsive. Or reckless. Or idiotic.

You don’t doomscroll because you lack self-control. Or willpower. Or discipline. Or integrity.

It only feels that way, because this syndrome is so damn good at convincing you that nothing else could possibly be true.It’s especially convincing when what needs to be done is so painfully obvious and "easy". And yet, somehow, you still can’t do it.

For the longest time, you've been turning inward, toward yourself.You've been berating yourself for not doing the bare minimum. For letting the hours slip away—then the days, then the months, and eventually the years.

The thing about blame, when unchallenged, it never lifts. It only accumulates. From there, the pressure builds. The resentment thickens.I too know just how unreal it can all start to feel.

My hope is that by understanding just how deeply your vices cut, you can begin to offer yourself a measure of self-compassion. Some forgiveness. Some patience.

Because it really is not your fault.

Your current situation—the frustration, the stagnation, the regrets—is not a personal failure.

It’s like you’ve been hooked up to a slow poison drip. One that produces a predictable set of symptoms, delivered gradually and discreetly, so you never quite notice it happening.

Nothing dramatic. Nothing sudden.

Your life doesn’t collapse the way it might with more severe, fast-acting substances. Instead, it slowly becomes harder to operate. Harder to focus. Harder to care. Harder to move. And because you never felt the moment it started, the only explanation that seems to make sense is you.

So you blame yourself.

But you don’t need to do that anymore.

What’s happening in your life is not a moral failing. It’s not laziness. It’s not weakness. It’s not a lack of discipline or character.

It’s not you.It’s what’s been done to you.

It’s the environment you’ve been placed in. Your phone. Your computer. Your TV.

It's their algorithms. Their feeds. Their reward mechanisms.Systems engineered to get you hooked. To keep you stuck. To keep you scrolling.

So let me say this again, because it matters:

What’s happening in your life is not your fault.

Not the procrastination.Not the stagnation.Not the doomscrolling.

Not the feeling of being unable to change.

It’s not you.It’s not your fault.

It’s not you.It’s not your fault.

It’s not you.It’s not your fault.

So… are you ready?

Ready to drop the self-blame?Ready to stop believing that you are the problem—and instead begin addressing your issues at the true source?

Because if you don’t, you’ll stay stuck, looking inward again and again for a solution.

You’ll buy another planner.Try another technique.Make another vow to “be better this time.”

Meanwhile, the true cause of your problems stays exactly the same.And that’s convenient. Convenient for the companies whose products quietly hollow out your attention. Convenient for systems that profit when you stay distracted, docile, and endlessly self-correcting instead of questioning what’s being done to you.

Self-blame keeps you busy.It keeps you compliant.It keeps the spotlight off the real drivers of the problem.

Well… not anymore.

Now the spotlight is where it belongs: on your vices. On the real source of your doomscrolling, procrastination, stagnation—and that lingering sense that you’ve lost control.

The question is…

How do we finally take it back?

PART 2 - THE SOLUTION

Chapter 4: The Actual Solution

So where does everything we learned in Part 1 leave us when it comes to an actual solution?

Well, the obvious takeaway from Chapter 1 is to just not check your phone when the initial urge hits. Avoid entering the runaway feedback loop thing using willpower or whatever.

I don't know about you, but that's not particularly helpful.

As it stands, you could be lectured all day about this terrible, life-goals-gobbling Doomscroll Feedback Loop monster lurking under your bed. You could stand on a table and swear to the world that you’ll never open Reddit again—not even for a second.And still... you will forget.

You’ll eventually rationalize “just one minute” as a break. As something you’ve earned.It’s utterly inevitable.

Similarly, the takeaway from Chapters 2 and 3 comes down to this:“Oh, you want never-ending motivation to achieve your dreams? You want to not be mired in depression, apathy, anxiety?Well, just stop wasting time on your reward-dosing, brain-rot-inducing vices, dummy.”

Again, this advice is patronizing.

Obviously, we already know that the solution to procrastination is to not procrastinate. We know the one and only “solution” to addiction is to just... stop.But it’s just not that simple, right?

If only it were...

So then, what is the actual solution?How do we break bad habits? How do we stop engaging in behaviors that we now know lead to a host of negative consequences, yet continue to draw us in anyway?

The answer is simple

You have to find a way to want you vices less.

You have to target the parts of your brain responsible for desiring your vices, and take direct, deliberate action to undo that ingrained mental programming.

Almost no other “method” does this. In fact, most do the opposite: they drive desire up, then expect you to keep resisting with self-control, willpower, affirmations, or some fancy app or productivity hack.

Think about it.Think about the last time you tried to quit using a conventional approach.

Maybe you made an oath to yourself after reading an inspiring self-help book. The first few days sucked, right? You were immediately forced to deal with urges and cravings using sheer self-control.

It’s was uncomfortable—nearly unbearable—mess. Like trying to stop yourself from scratching a throbbing mosquito bite, while an ex–Navy SEAL was yelling in your ear likeCome on, man. Shut up and just don’t it.

Meanwhile, outside the demands of the program, life continued to swing between exacting and stressful, and routine and boring.

But now, relief was denied. YouTube. Reddit. Video games. All of it was off-limits. There was no temporary escape.You just had to sit there and take it.

The first week felt like an awful, pleasureless—almost irritating—existence; a prison of continual self-monitoring and restraint.

And so, you couldn’t help but daydream about the small, seemingly innocuous things that might give you a break from it all. Your thoughts inevitably landed on this:Is this it? Is this what my life is going to be like now? Is this how it’s going to feel? This feeling… it… sucked. Maybe I don’t want to quit after all.

But still, perhaps that Post-it note you’d tacked to the bottom of your computer screen reminded you to power through with grit and determination.
The misery could be endured. The cravings resisted. The thoughts ignored.

The problem was with those thoughts endlessly pestering you—plus life delivering its usual gauntlet of stress, boredom, and disappointment—your inner desire for vices only went up over time, not down.

To make it past day 1, then day 2, then day 3, then day 573, you needed more and more and more of an ability to resist.

Eventually, you gave in. No one (but that navy-seal author, I guess) has a limitless supply of willpower. All it took was one convenient little rationalization to present itself:Bah, five minutes on Reddit won’t kill me. In fact, it might make me less grumpy and fidgety—and therefore more productive.

And with that taste, the dopamine-fueled hit—the feeling of blissful relief—felt better than ever.

This further solidified in your mind (literally, through the insulation of neural pathways) that your vices are wonderful, life-saving, beneficial things—and that life without them is not worth living—and that you should just be more flexible and intentional with your consumption—and that, man… what the heck was I thinking, anyway?!?

From there, it wasn't long before you rationalized another taste. And then another. And then... well you know the rest.

Here’s the grim reality: every time you try to quit your vices, you end up driving your subconscious desire for them up.

I say it’s time to do the opposite.It’s time to do what it takes to drive desire down over time, not up.

Your ability to resist—your self-control, your willpower—it is what it is. There’s not much you can do about that.

But the desire side of the equation—what actually prompts cravings and drives irrational, self-sabotaging behaviors and compulsions—that can be manipulated to your advantage over time.

The key is to slowly gnaw away at the deep mental wiring responsible for your desires for your vices, until one day you’re like...

Yeah, I see my phone there, chiming with all its easy stimulation.Yeah, I know it’d be fun and gratifying.Yeah, I know I could make up for lost time later.It’s just that… I’m good. I’d prefer not to, actually.I’d prefer to just get to work.

No willpower required.

That, dear reader, is the promised land.

That’s the mental reprogramming that has to happen for any behavioral change to stick.

That is the actual solution to the problems of doomscrolling, procrastination, and stagnation.

Now for the simple matter of getting it done.

Let’s summarize where we’re at, real quick.

If the “Trivial Solution" to all your problems is to drastically reduce your vice intake (okay, maybe not all your problems… but a lot of them), then the actual solution—the thing that would make the Trivial Solution possible and sustainable—is to reduce your desire for vices to the point where self-control, discipline, and other forms of resistance become largely irrelevant.

If there’s nothing pulling you toward the vice in the first place, your ability to say no it stops mattering.

To use an analogy: if our objective were to help you lose weight, the focus wouldn’t be on summoning more self-control and discipline to eat healthy, count calories, and resist temptation. It would be to find a way to feel less hungry, less often.

In that case, willpower and discipline become mostly moot.That’s essentially how GLP-1 agonist medications like Ozempic work: they don’t make people disciplined—they make discipline unnecessary.

So how do we do something similar when it comes to tech vices?Cause there’s no Ozempic for TikTok or Reddit.

Well, a natural place to start is with conventional self-help, which often holds that the best way to change behavior is to begin with identity.

The standard paradigm goes something like this...

If you want certain outcomes, you need to put certain processes in place. These are your daily habits and routines… which, of course, also includes what not to do—like wasting your time on bad habits.But instead of fixating on those habits directly (or on the outcomes like we saw in the Prologue), the advice is to go deeper. It’s to adopt the identity of the kind of person who would naturally perform the processes that lead to the desired outcomes.

And to be fair, this isn’t baseless self-help rhetoric. James Clear, as clever as he is, didn’t just make it up.The idea is grounded in social psychology and motivation research. It’s well established that self-concept influences behavior—that we’re more likely to act in ways that feel consistent with who we believe ourselves to be.

Perfect. That’s exactly where we’ll start. We'll start with you taking on an identity focused squarely on doing what you need to do—and not do—to stop doomscrolling, procrastinating, and stagnating.

The Tech Sober Identity

So, what identity is right for this? What’s required for this intervention to work—for it to stick?

Well, you could go with something clear, if a little generic… something like becoming a “Digital Minimalist,” or someone who now lives an “analog lifestyle.”

I’m certainly not against any of these. You just need something clear and concrete—something you can point at; that gives you clarity around what to do and what not to do.Go ahead and use whatever resonates.

But if you’re at all unsure—or if you’re looking to go all in on what this method actually prescribes—then I’d suggest something more specific.

I’d suggest you take on a sober identity. That you begin to think of yourself as sober. As Tech Sober.

Now, I know the word sobriety comes with a lot of baggage. Culturally, it’s still associated with total abstinence, AA, and a framing that says you’re powerless—that you have an incurable “disease” called addiction, and that you need constant meetings, recitations, and external supervision… or you’ll inevitably slip and relapse.

But there’s also a more modern sobriety movement that looks nothing like that—or at least, a lot less. It’s far more about empowerment and reclaiming self-control, rather than shame, secrecy, scare tactics, and dogma.

Becoming sober—as described by the likes of Laura McKowen, Catherine Gray, and Gabor Maté, all of whom have written excellent books—isn’t just about not drinking alcohol (or getting high, gambling, or whatever the addictive thing happens to be).

Maybe that’s what it looks like at first. But sobriety goes far beyond that. And in fact, many people leave themselves the option of moderation or occasional indulgences.

Sober people find a path toward growth and self-actualization. Toward healing old wounds. Toward rebuilding self-worth and self-trust. Toward genuine peace of mind, happiness, and life satisfaction.

They do this by leaning heavily on honesty, openness, and connection. There’s nothing anonymous about this kind of sobriety—nothing shameful or hush-hush. On the contrary, people wear this identity like a badge of honor, using it to connect with others through a shared language, a shared backstory, and a shared journey ahead.

In short, the modern sobriety movement isn’t about being doomed—shackled to a lifetime of sacrifice and constant scrutiny.It’s not a life where you can’t drink. It’s a life that's become good enough that you simply don’t drink.

Being sober is becoming free.

Being sober is becoming free.Free from your thing—and from all the harm it inflicts on you.Free to explore a new, better life.

A life where you, as a sober person, would rather not drink.

Only because the desire... is no longer there.

I get it, though. It does feel a little weird to assume that you and I—with our silly little tech habits—can just appropriate an identity used by people with “real” addictions.

After all, our thing mostly leads to wasted time and squandered potential. It doesn’t directly damage our organs or put our lives, reputations, or liberty at risk.

I can’t help but think of a scene from Half Baked. The main character introduces himself at an AA-style meeting as a marijuana addict—only to be immediately chastised by the group which included an irate Bob Saget.

“I used to [do something explicit you wouldn’t expect the dad from Full House to say] for coke… now that’s an addiction, man. You ever [do that explicit thing] for marijuana?”

😬

So yeah, it’s normal to be reluctant to stretch—or potentially dilute—the meaning of a potent word like addiction.

So we won’t do that, because the truth is, we don’t need to.In fact, in my research, I’ve found that many sober people themselves have a complicated relationship with that word. Plenty would never call themselves addicts or X-aholics.

All that’s required here is for you to relate to the feeling of being “addicted”… rather than actually being addicted-addicted.Know what I mean?

It's lived experience, rather than a clinical label. The feeling of having far less control over your actions than you’d like. The feeling of being hooked on something you’re finding yourself enjoying like less and less.Of being stuck, always thinking, Why do I keep doing this? How did I get here? Why can’t I seem to stop?

Because at the end of the day, whether it’s binge drinking or doomscrolling, the function is the same.

It’s an escape.

An escape from pain and discomfort.A coping mechanism that, long ago, stop being worth the price of admission.

Being sober—from whatever vice—means you no longer seek that escape. You do the work of confronting discomfort. To processing it. To deal with it directly, rather than reaching for a substance or behavior to numb it.

In short, the tech sober identity doesn’t dictate what you can’t do anymore.

It dictates, quite simply, what you don’t do.

And that happens because… you stopped wanting to.

Identity Is Just The Beginning (And The End)

Although this is an essential start, commiting to an identity doesn’t actually make much of a dent in our real objective: manipulating desire—downwards for our vices and upwards for the work and lifestyle changes we want to pursue.

That's because desire is generated and sustained in a part of the brain you have no direct control over; a part doesn’t really care what you identify as.

Meanwhile, self-help gurus have no qualms about making the process sound easy. As if it’s just a matter of deciding to change your identity… and then poof… what you do (and don’t do) simply materializes.

But of course, it’s not that easy.

Sober people will be the first to tell you that.Closely followed by all the self-declared “writers” who—thanks to chronic VIDS symptoms—never have it in them to move a pen very far.

The reality is, changing visceral desires and cravings—drives and motivations, attractions and aversions—is very difficult.And it only happens gradually through real life experiences and real felt emotions and sensations.It doesn’t just happen because you read a book or took a course.

We therefore need to go even deeper than identity change—to treat sustaining the identity as the end goal and then deliberately work backward through the inner layers to make it stick.

That means starting with the one thing in you that can change quickly—sometimes in just one or two readings.That thing is Mindset.

You need to take on the mindset required to build and sustain the sober identity (or whatever low-tech identity you’ve chosen). That’s coming up in the next chapter.

From there, the next layer out is Practice—the day-to-day thing you do while applying that mindset, using the identity as your North Star: something to aspire toward.

And I use the word practice very deliberately.

When you practice something—especially at the beginning—you almost always suck at it. But that’s not a problem. What matters is that you keep at it. That you show up and try again. And again. And again—each time learning, each time getting a little smarter, a little stronger, a little closer to the ideal.

Over time, practice leads to tangible change in the brain. It’s what scientists call neuroplasticity.And in our case, the change we’re after is, of course, desire.The Practice leads to a real shift in what you want to do, and not do—at a visceral, subconscious level.

And from there—from that place of genuine, lived identity change with a better set of internal desires—you naturally fold into better habits. Better systems. And eventually, better outcomes.

Just like all those self-help gurus promised.

The rules of meditation are pretty simple.

Rule no. 1: Focus your attention on your breath.

That’s it. That’s the one rule.

The genius thing about meditation, however, lies in its unspoken rule: you’re sort of allowed to lose focus.

There's just zero need or reason for self-criticism. Because a side goal of meditation is to detach and observe firsthand the frenetic circus that is the mind. Random thoughts and reveries are natural and expected.

In other words, self-compassion and forgiveness are not what you should apply to be nice to yourself. In meditation, it’s actively required.

Without these, you’d get frustrated at how often your mind wanders to thinking about your grocery list or that work deadline. That frustration then becomes more mental noise—more thoughts, more emotion—pulling you even further away from the practice.

No, your job with meditation is simple: sit and observe it all happening inside... then try your best to maintain focus, gently reining it in when, not if, it deviates.

It’s the same for you and your commitments to change your habits around vices.

As you'll see in the next chapter, the first step of the Practice will be to go cold turkey* on your vices (and the asterisk there adds some key nuance to ensure it sticks). Soon after, it'll be to aim for a predefined level of moderation if you so desire.Once you start, and just like in meditation, you're never "allowed" to deviate. You’re never "allowed" to break your rules.

But you'll also know not to forget that you’re human, and humans evolved to act on instinct; to be flexible and agile when it comes to planning; to grab at survival rewards quickly and without thinking before they vanish.

You simply need to embrace the unspoken rule that says: it’s "okay" to slip up. It’s "okay" to deviate. It's "okay" to not be perfect.

You can let go of the fantasy of being perfect forever.You can stop punishing yourself for breaking a streak that no one’s tracking but you.You need to accept—and even expect—that you’ll falter. That you’ll scroll, spiral out, and binge. And instead of shame, reprimand, or self-hate, you’ll respond with understanding and self-compassion.

This is crucial because, in addition to it being fully deserved—again just like in meditation—self-compassion is actively required with this method.

Remember: much of the reason we actually engage in our vices is to relieve or distract away bad feelings. So if you lose the usual stress, regret, and self-reprimand of your “self-control failings” (I use quotes because, as you now know, they’re not really that), you lose much of the inner turmoil and pain that, ironically, drive the desire for more vices.

So I'll say it plainly:As with meditation, the skill to gain with this method isn't so much the ability to sustain perfect adherence to the rules (although that is important).No, the skill is honing your ability to catch yourself when you deviate, and to return to the proper path as quickly and painlessly as possible.

And the only way to do that is with instant and unconditional self-compassion.

The Reps of the Practice

If you think of meditation as a kind of strength-building exercise, what do you think a “rep” would be?

Is it the act of perfectly sustained focus?Is it the time spent in some enlightened state?

Nope.

A rep is the act of gently reverting your focus when your attention deviates.

That’s why, in meditation, slipping into distraction isn’t considered a failure. It’s not you doing it “wrong,” even if it happens relentlessly.It’s the opposite. In meditation, what actually counts—what is the practice—is the work of returning your focus.

And it really is work.Sometimes the thing pulling at your attention is all-consuming (an itch on the tip of your nose). Sometimes it’s practical (add eggs to the grocery list). Sometimes it’s deeply enticing (a fantasy where you finally impress your crush). Often, you won’t feel like letting it go.

But when you manage to do so, you get a little better at the practice. You get a little stronger.

It's the same with this method.

To grow—to become strong, healthy, and resilient… qualities that are essential for sustaining positive behavioral change—you have to put in that same kind of work.

You have to do your reps.

And just like in meditation, “reps” don’t happen when you’re living perfectly. They don’t happen when you hit a 30-day streak with a new habit or you breeze through an eight-hour work session unperturbed by thoughts of Reddit.

A rep happens when you feel the urge to grab your phone—and choose not to.

A rep happens when you catch yourself halfway through a YouTube video, pause long enough to exhale the reflexive frustration or self-criticism, and then redirect your focus back to the task at hand.

A rep even happens when you fail spectacularly—when you doomscroll away an entire workday—but then pick yourself up, dust yourself off, offer yourself forgiveness, and recommit to the process.

In other words, what you’re about to do—perhaps for the first time—is build a habit of leveraging your slip-ups, rather than letting them fuel the usual harsh, judgmental inner narrative that’s kept you stuck.

Instead of digging the rut deeper, your failures help you start climbing out of it—which is precisely the kind of difference having the right mindset will make.

On Self-Control

One last thing about Mindset before we move on to the Practice and its day-to-day application.

At this point, you might be wondering about website blockers or screen-time limits.Like, why do all this internal work around self-control when we can just let software handle it for us? If the Trivial Solution is to avoid vices—to get Tech Sober long enough for our VIDS to dissipate—why not make it impossible to access them?

Two reasons.

The first is purely practical.Sometimes you genuinely need YouTube to, say, learn how to use a piece of software you just installed.Sometimes you need Reddit because a niche thread shows up in a Google search.Sometimes you need Instagram to network, research someone, or respond to a message.

So it’s never long before a perfectly reasonable excuse appears: I just need to watch this one YouTube video real quick...

From there and with your guard down, you're completely vulnerable to that rationalization that goes… one more quick video while this thing is disabled... and before you know it, you’re tumbling headfirst down the algorithmic rabbit hole.

There are other reasons too (one of them being the whack-a-mole effect of blokcing one site only to see out the next distraction), but I'll spare you the details and say—just on a purely practical level—relying on website blockers alone simply isn’t the solution.

You're free to use them sparingly, which I'll get to in a minute, but you can't rely on them.They simply aren't the solution—the one beneath the trivial one that makes it possible.

Yet that’s only half of it. The other, and more important half, is this:Relying on external behavior-controlling tools undermines, and actively interferes with, the most essential mindset shift of this method: rebuilding a belief in your own self-control.

Because your problem hasn’t been one of self-control. Not really.

The truth is, you don’t engage in vices because you somehow lack control over your actions—that you're acting in ways that, in real time, you physically don't or can't control.No, you consume your vices because of self-control. You are choosing what, in that moment, you genuinely want to do. This is you choosing what feels right, what feels best for you and your pursuit of happiness.

The truth of the matter is simple: you are always 100% in control of your actions.So a "lack" of self-control is not your problem. Never was. Never will be.

Your true issue is the belief that you lack self-control.

And when you rely on website blockers, you reinforce that belief without realizing it. You’re telling yourself, implicitly, I can’t be trusted around temptation. Around vices.This then primes you for a heedless binge: the moment a single opportunity appears, like when you’ve disabled your blocks for a legitimate reason, you never put up any defenses. It never occurs to you that you can stop—that you can unplug from the situation.The belief, the prophecy, it goes on to fulfill itself.

Not only that... but by using blocks you end up outsourcing restraint. You’re eliminating the very “reps” that are essential for long-term growth.

Blockers don’t just block websites. They block the development of self-trust.And that belief—that growing sense of internal control and confidence—is one of the most valuable things you’re trying to rebuild here.

All that said, it doesn’t mean you can’t use blockers at all.

If you have a mindless, autopilot habit—like opening Reddit every time you launch a browser—it’s fine to install a simple tool to add a bit of friction. And if you want a gentle reminder that your fifteen minutes on Instagram are up, a screen-time limit will definitely do the trick.

It just needs to be easy to disable. One click. Two, at most.It should function less like a wall, and more like a tap on the shoulder, followed by a discreet, British-sounding throat-clearing.

In short, don’t solve one problem by creating another bigger one.

Use blockers sparingly, as light friction against vices—but don’t rely on them. Don’t let them interfere with reconnecting to a fundamental truth...

You always have 100% control over your actions.Always did. Always will.

Chapter 7: The Practice
_{Part 1 - The Iterative Approach}

When it comes to self-help, it’s natural to want—and maybe even expect—clean, linear progress, even if that progress is slow.It’s natural to buy into the latest “14-day new you™” program, where the promise is simple: do X, Y, and Z, and you’ll get these amazing results.

Those things always sound promising. But in practice, you do X a few times, Y turns out to be too hard or too cumbersome, and Z just plain doesn’t apply to you.Then, when the whole thing fizzles out, it's somehow your fault. Not the magical, one-size-fits-all system.

The reality is, we’re not baking a cake here.There’s no simple recipe you can follow for a neat, predictable outcome—one free of setbacks and failures.

So instead of a straight, linear system, what I’m going to propose is an iterative approach to your self-improvement.

That means... you do something for a while.
↓
you fail
↓
you extract the lessons
↓
you then try again—with a few small tweaks.

Progress, with this method, instead looks like this:

What we’re aiming for—what we want to see emerge over time—is illustrated by these intervals.

We want a gradual widening of each iteration.More time spent in periods of reduced vice consumption (blue). And shorter, less destructive binges when things do go off the rails (red).

Eventually, you may reach an iteration that lasts several days, then weeks, maybe even longer. But getting there takes multiple attempts and a lot of time—months or more, for most people.And that’s perfectly okay.

What matters isn’t any single iteration. It’s the overall trend.

We want each cycle, on average, to be a little wider than the last. We want the relapses or “failures” to be less severe. We want you to recover faster—to restart sooner, with less emotional fallout—and then stay in cool, no or low-vice sober territory for longer.

We're not aiming for perfection or smooth, linear progress. We're aiming for gradual, overarching improvements, but only if averaged out across a long enough timescale and multiple iterations.

That’s the method.That's how you can come to realistically apply and sustain the solution of “cut out the vices” long-term.

Inside a Single Iteration

Let’s zoom in and look at the components of a typical iteration (and each of these will get its own chapter).

From this vantage, we can consider the typical progression of your vice intake (red - the “bad” stuff), and the progression of your productivity and engagement with lifestyle habits (green - the “good” stuff).

Let's focus first on vices.

You'll begin each iteration with what I call the Cold Turkey* phase (and I'll explain the implications of the asterisk in that chapter).

From there, you'll progress into the Ideal Dose phase, which you'll try to sustain for as long as possible.

Then comes the inevitable Ramp Up, followed by the Binge.

And finally, the Reset—which kicks off a fresh iteration, and where you once again return to a cold turkey* level of vices.

This pattern repeats indefinitely, as we saw earlier.

The goal, once again, isn’t to eliminate the cycle altogether, but to expand the duration of the early and middle phases. It's to remain Tech Sober for as long as possible.

We're also looking to shrink the end phase—reducing the duration and severity of the "relapse" to use the sobriety culture term.

Speaking of goals, and throughout this process, we're also looking to gradually and naturally ramp up your habits, which could mean both productivity and lifestyle.

You'll want to maximize your output before things spiral out with your vices.

But first, there really needs to be a bit of a low-productivity limbo period at the beginng of each iteration.

Well, it's less that it needs to be low-productivity, and more that you realistically just won't have it in you.Your VIDS symptoms and especially the motivation suppression will carry a bit of momentum as you reset and you go cold on your vices.So that latency period needs to be fully expected and accounted for. You need to offer yourself that leniancy.

And that's it. That there is the Practice.The next several chapters expand on all these phases, laying out the exact steps and rules needed to achieve our underlying goal of manipulating visceral desires (down for vices, up for habits).

By the end of the book, you'll know not just to begin applying the method with your first iteration, but how to then turn the iterative process into a lifetime practice.

Chapter 8: The Practice
_{Part 2 - The Cold Turkey* Phase}

So. What does it take to begin applying the method?

Answering that question is made easy and clear simply by considering the proposed identity. If you were to become Tech Sober, what is the obvious first step?

Well, by definition, it's to do all you can cut out the vices completely.So that's exactly how you'll start—by going cold turkey* on your vices.

The “cold turkey” part means exactly what you think it means.When starting this method—and at the beginning of every new iteration—you resolve to cut out all of your vices, immediately, with zero exceptions.

This is black-and-white by design.

No baby steps. No weaning.Nothing to plan, measure, or keep track of.No ambiguity. No judgment calls. No decisions to make as you go.

I’m making this as easy as possible for you: every time you’re confronted with a vice, the answer is an automatic no.

That hard rule is your guiding light as you move through the messy, uncomfortable process of interrupting deeply ingrained desires, habits and automatic compulsions.The asterisk adds an important layer of nuance—but your success here depends on you fully understanding, accepting, and committing to this initial rule.

Got it?

Good.

Now for the asterisk—the missing and crucial piece that makes going “cold turkey” actually work in the long run.

Because it’s never long before you hit the first real obstacle of sobriety: feeling worse off than before.

You know what I mean, right?Just recall the last time you quit. I'm sure you felt confused and deeply frustrated... because the entire point of the intervention was supposed to be the opposite.

It was supposed to bring you to an awesome, amazing, productive, happy life.

Yet that’s not what happened—that's not what will happen… at least not at first.

I’m tempted to use the term “withdrawal effects,” but that’s not quite right.Unless your application of this method involves giving up drugs, alcohol, or very high levels of sugar, you’re unlikely to experience physical withdrawal symptoms. And even in those cases, withdrawal—though it can be intense and even dangerous—is a temporary and treatable phase of recovery.

So what’s actually going on here? Why the sudden drop in happiness and well-being?

To understand this, you need to recognize one thing: you didn’t start your vices for no reason.

They likely began long ago—often in early adolescence—when you first discovered that they provide relief from what pained or overwhelmed you: insecurities, stress, disappointments, worries, anxiety.They might have also offered you an escape from heavier things: trauma, neglect, abuse... or the relentless pressure of impossible parental or societal expectations.

Put simply, you learned to use your vices as a coping mechanism.

And it worked. It still works.

It's just that, now, the coping habits themselves are generating their own set of negative consequences—which then demand ever-increasing doses of the same vices for relief and escape.

So when you suddenly cut those vices out cold turkey, the discomfort they were expertly suppressing doesn’t disappear.

It comes back.That’s why it can feel, very convincingly, like your life has gotten worse—not better—just when you thought you were finally doing the right thing.

So... if the issue here is the sudden return of negative emotions, what then is the remedy?

First, simply knowing this is coming matters—a lot. This whole thing is more unexpected than anything else.As you begin applying the method, anticipate and brace for a wave of uncomfortable sensations and thoughts. They often show up around day two or three, and can linger for a few days to a week.

When it hits, treat it like the flu.

Let time pass.Give yourself permission to rest. To sleep.Give yourself permission not to immediately launch into a dozen new “good” habits. Not to chase your dreams just yet. Not to force productivity simply because you stopped doing the bad stuff and that’s what everyone says is supposed to happen next.

Whoever claimed the key to breaking bad habits is to instantly replace them with good ones clearly never started from a place of real pain and exhaustion.

So don’t put on a performance.Don’t force yourself to feel upbeat, chipper, or grateful for every breath just because you’ve decided this is how you’re supposed to feel now that you’re tech sober and “free” from vices.

Just allow what is to be. Then let time pass.And since that won’t always be easy, give yourself permission to tier down with your vices.

Grab A Tiered-Down Vice

I’ve noticed a common—yet oddly unspoken—theme across nearly every sobriety memoir I’ve read over the years.

Once the writer gives up alcohol, they almost always allow themselves some lesser comforts. Think Netflix binges under a pile of blankets, while tearing through a Costco-sized bag of Chicago Mix (if you know, you know).

They do this to cope with the bad feelings alcohol used to pacify. And for a while, that behavior is perfectly okay, because at that stage, the only thing that truly matters is getting through the difficult early stretch of abstaining from their most destructive vice.

The same logic applies here.

To help yourself through the discomfort of going cold turkey, you need to give yourself full permission to tier down with your vices.

As you’ll see next, dealing directly with the source of those bad feelings is difficult and draining work. No one has the stamina to do that nonstop.You’re not failing because you need a break—because you decide to kill some time with a Tier 3 vice. You’re only human.

Just make sure the consequences of your coping vices are an order of magnitude smaller than the consequences of your original ones.Make sure it's not so stimulating that it continues to feed your VIDS symptoms.That’s the whole idea.

When tiering down (so in our case, Tier 2 to Tier 3), what matters is that the side effects of the medication are acceptable relative to the original problem.

Like sure, you might gain some weight after quitting alcohol—but that’s better than blacking out and waking up next to a stranger... again. You can deal with the extra pounds later.And sure, you’re still procrastinating if you spend the afternoon listening to old CDs—but that’s vastly preferable to repeated dopamine-driven hits of gratification from TikTok doomscrolling.

The whole purpose of this phase is to give the VIDS and motivation-suppressing effects of higher-tier vices time to dissipate.We’re just buying time. Waiting for the seeds of wanting to work to take root and begin to sprout.

And you can do that using any Tier 3 vices of your choosing.

Or... Just Do Nothing

If the second-best thing you can do during this period is kill time with a tiered-down vice, the first best thing is... nothing at all.

Sit on the couch.Stare at the wall.Go for a long walk.Take a day trip into nature, or wander through the low-level bustle of Main Street.

From there, your only job is to let everything internal—the stuff you’ve been reflexively escaping from with your vices—surface and run its course.

You can do this simply by observing.

Look at your feelings and emotions. Look at the frustration, stress, regret, worry, and fear.Listen to the thought loops, the ruminations.Feel the cravings. Feel the pull toward relief. Get curious about what all of this actually feels like in your body.

And when they inevitably show up, look directly at the feelings of hopelessness, apathy, or even depression itself.

Through this act of gentle but deliberate observation—or mindfulness, as it’s often called—you’re able to take a seat in the back row of your mind’s very own three-ring circus.

Because normally, you and I don’t just attend the circus. We get dragged into the ring—pestered by the MC, harassed by clowns, and chased by hungry tigers.

This is different.

This is choosing to attend the circus—that mandatory human spectacle—but doing so from up in the stands.It's watching the noise and chaos from a safe distance, instead of being thrown into the performance.

And if it gets boring, repetitive, or too intense... just step out of the tent.Crack open a book. Put on a podcast. Return to that half-finished puzzle.

Then come back for a little more mindful self-therapy when you’re ready.

Chapter 9: The Practice
_{Part 3 - The Ideal Dose Phase}

I know I’ve framed much of this around the idea that vices are at the root of all your problems and frustrations.They may seem all innocent and benign—but really, they’re quietly ushering in, not just your demise, but the slow collapse of civilization itself.

In some ways, it really is that dire, but in others... well, we can allow for a little bit of nuance.

Because, as impactful as they can be, vices aren’t inherently bad.I mean, there’s nothing wrong with getting absorbed in an immersive video game, or losing yourself to a well-made Netflix series.And sure, social media is filled to the brim with low-effort engagement-bait... but there are quite a few diamonds there amongst all the slop.

I’ve just come to believe that discovering your ideal dose—one that’s both sustainable and genuinely supportive of your best life—is an essential part of any real self-improvement journey.

Like being sober, by its dictionary definition, just means not being drunk. Having a drink or two can be fine if it ends there (and I get that's a big if).

I like to say that it's not about what you do... it's abut why you're doing it (although the more common maxim in sobriety circles is "It’s not what you use. It’s what you’re using it for").

Having a beer cause it pairs well with your steak ← that's a good why.Drinking alone to escape unprocessed guilt ← that's a bad why.

Spending the day on an immersive video game after exam season ends ← that's a good why.Playing COD all night to delay the stress of neglected schoolwork ← that's a bad why.

It's not about what you do... it's abut why you're doing it.

At some point in applying the method—somewhere along the way, in the middle of an iteration—you’ll start feeling good again. More positive. More stable.

And that’s when you can take a stab at what you assume is your ideal dose, by deciding on the specific contexts and conditions under which you can indulge.

For example, in my case, I designate one day during the weekend in which I allow myself to fully indulge in my online vices, without limits. On the other days, I do my best to abstain—and at this point, I most often prefer to abstain anyway.I like this approach far more than trying to moderate myself every single day. Forcing myself to stop when I’d really prefer to keep scrolling is a constant drain on willpower—and frankly, it’s just annoying to manage over and over again.

This is simply what works for me.

And I didn’t arrive here on my first try.I got here through many iterations of the method—through many cycles of attempted moderation or total abstinence. Through small wins and colossal failures. Through real, lived experiments that gradually revealed what actually works for me… and what doesn’t.

It's just where I landed: something sustainable and aligned with my goal of living my best life (for now, anyway).

Now—is that what’s best for you?

Maybe. Maybe not. I honestly don’t know.What I do know is, if you commit to the process—if you apply the method earnestly, with patience and as much self-compassion as you can muster—you too will land on what’s best... for you.

So what’s most important right now is not worrying about getting it right on your first try.

Because you won’t. This is just a starting point. It's an assumption: your least accurate guess at what your best life might actually look like.

Think of it like machine learning. You start with an initial model—simple, crude, and essentially dumb. You run it in the real world, observe how it performs, collect data, and then iterate. Over time, with enough feedback, the model gets smarter.This process is no different.

So just start with something. Anything. And then just roll with it.

If you want a practical tip, focus on being clear and specific, especially when it comes to exceptions. For example:

Whatever works.All that matters is you enter this period with an open mind. With the willingness to experiment, observe, and adjust. To be as kind and patient with yourself as possible.

Let the journey ahead be your teacher.

Chapter 8: The Practice
_{Part 4 - The Ramp Up and Binge Phase}

So far, I’ve been describing your progression through the method under some pretty ideal conditions.

You go cold turkey*. You get through the initial pain period. You settle on a specific dose of vices. You then coast along in perfect moderation, riding off into the sunset.

Of course, the elephant in the room is that all of that is much easier said than done.

Because, recalling the meditation analogy, you’ll have your rules when it comes to vices… but you will deviate. You will indulge a little more than what you’ll have set as “allowed.”

And when that happens, your job is to offer yourself self-compassion.

Specifically, you need to do the equivalent of gently returning your focus to the breath.That means actively letting go of anger, frustration, or resentment toward yourself. That means taking a few measured breaths and simply returning to what you were trying to do (or else unplugging from the situation and returning later).

And it's through this practice—what I like to call Reversions in keeping with the meditation analogy—that you can come to maintain a more or less ideal dose for as long as possible.

Of course, there's a slight complication...

By their very nature, once you begin indulging in vices, they tend to generate two things at once: a visceral pull for more, and a growing trail of consequences. Both create discomfort—which then calls for even more vices for relief or escape.

So… you find yourself drifting toward your vices more frequently, always with a tidy rationalization ready to go.And once you’re there, you stay longer.

In other words, at some point, this will happen:

Which accelerates and amplifies.

Until you’re utterly stuck in permavice territory—unable to do anything but doomscroll, delaying the full weight of reality for as long as possible.

This last part—the binge—can last anywhere from an hour to a few days.

This isn’t bad... not is this you being bad.

This isn’t you being sent back to square one.This isn’t you “failing” at the method—needing to discard it to try the next thing in line.

No. This is progress. This is you about to perform the most impactful kind of rep there is.

This is the method.

Seriously—if you haven’t already—do yourself a favor and let go of the fantasy of becoming some Perfected Self who never doomscrolls or procrastinates ever again.Put an end to the belief that, until you get there—until you fix yourself—you’re not allowed to love and accept yourself as you are right now.

And drop the idea of clean, linear, “1%-better-each-day” progress. It looks great in a book, but it’s just not how real change unfolds.

Instead, come to accept the inevitable: that slipping and failing is the way forward.

What matters is this: first, that you don’t let this entirely predictable and normal outcome crush your morale or trigger further drops in your self-image and self-esteem.And second, that you do everything you can to leverage these failures—to:
(A) use them to drive desire down for vices, rather than up, and
(B) actually learn from them, letting them meaningfully reshape your system and strategy going forward.

We’ll expand on (A) now, and on (B) in the next chapter.

Subconscious Associations

Your vices make you laugh. They entertain you. They distract you from stress, anxiety, or boredom.After years of these experiences, your brain now has these vices “pinned” to a variety of positive emotions.

Because of that, they’re enticing. They’re attractive. The desire is always high, so much so that the idea of reaching for one always feels... right.

So what can we do about that? How can we lessen desire to the point where it no longer nags at you nonstop? Where you can shrug and just "take it or leave it"?

Logically, we need to start linking negative sensations to your vices. And the good news—“good” being a relative term here—is that there’s usually a long window after you’ve broken a rule and indulged when things don’t feel so good.

It might be an emptiness. Or a spike of anxiety from procrastinating on something important. Or that sinking regret after wasting time you’d set aside to chase a creative dream.Even the bloated queasiness from junk food counts.

In theory, your brain should pin those unpleasant feelings to the vice itself. It caused the problem after all, so it fully deserves the association.

But that’s not what happens.

The vices don’t get the blame. The hyper-stimulating algorithms don’t get the blame. Nor do the chemicals in junk food or the variable-reward mechanics of that mobile game.

You get the blame.

It’s you who’s at fault for the apparent self-control failure—and for the repercusions.It's you who messed up.

I mean, just look at the mental chatter that kicks in during those low points:I faltered. I have no discipline. I am a slob...I am wasting my time—wasting my life.It’s all my fault…

And so, instead of the bad feelings being pinned to the vice, they get pinned to you. They get attached to your self-image—which helps explain the chronic self-contempt and low self-esteem you've come to feel.

Meanwhile—and because another indulgence can relieve that bad feeling almost instantly—the vice keeps getting associated with nothing but positive, pleasant, flowery emotions.La la la. So pleasing. So lovely. So reliable. So great.

All of this... it needs to stop.Like now. And then forever.

If you’re going to feel bad, and if it’s going to hurt, then you sure as hell better leverage those bad feelings to your advantage.You may as well start pinning the pain to what actually caused it... to the vices.

The Art of Pinning Bad Feelings

When you falter on your rules about your ideal dose, start by observing and being mindful of the resulting bad feelings.Stop to observe and really take it in.Look at it all dispassionately, as if it's a tangible thing separate from you.

Then, consciously—mindfully—associate that feeling with its cause. "Pin" the discomfort to the vice.

There’s no formula for this. No single right way to do it. But here's a straightforward approach.

Let's say you waste an entire evening on Reddit (or whatever) and you feel that pit in your stomach. You can then stand up, point at the screen, and say aloud:That. That damn thing. That's what’s making me feel like this feeling right here. Not me—it's that.

Take a moment to anchor that association. To burn it to your psyche. You want your brain to remember it.

What matters is that you’re being honest. I’m not asking you to play mind games or chant affirmations you know aren't true.There’s a real, observable cause-and-effect happening:You overindulge in a vice → you feel awful.

It’s time your subconscious brain came to appreciate that. To remember it.

In short… never let a bad feeling go to waste.

If you’re going to feel bad, then really feel it... just make sure it goes on to do what it can do best: drive desire down for whatever caused it.

Chapter 9: The Method
_{Part 5 - The Reset Phase}

Eventually, all binges must come to an end.

That happens when inner preference shifts toward stopping—if only out of sheer exhaustion.You might have a few false stops, moments where you think it’s over… but sooner or later, it is.

And that ending simply marks the end of an iteration.

That’s your cue to do a Reset: to start fresh with a new iteration, recommitting to the Tech Sober identity while going cold turkey* with your vices.

And this is actually a pretty important moment.Once the self-critical thought loops have quieted, the bad feelings have all been pinned, and your nervous system has settled… this is when you need to pause and reflect.Ask yourself what just happened. Like, for real… what just happened?

Because if you’re honest—you never do this. At least not properly. Not from scratch, and not without emotional bias or dragging along the same tired assumptions and self-blame script.

“It’s because I’m the worst.”“It's because I’m pathetic.”“It's because I have zero self-control.”

You’ve been telling yourself some version of that story for years. The same explanation, on repeat, for why you do what you do.But here’s the thing: you don’t have to accept that story anymore.

In the aftermath of a derailed work session—or an evening lost to vices and binging—you can pause. You can take a cold, impartial look at what actually happened. You can arrive at a different explanation. One grounded in reality. One that’s actually useful.

And it’s not just that you can do this. It’s that, if you want this to work, you must.

Building the habit of examining your failures in a detached, impartial way is essential if you want things to improve over time.

And the only way to do that is through reflection that is hard and objective—yet grounded in self-compassion and kindness.

That means asking questions like:

Seeking honest, unbiased answers to questions like these is crucial. Because—like me—you’ve probably spent years trying to fix yourself. And that’s understandable.

But it hasn’t been working.

Not because you’re broken—but because you don’t actually know the real reasons things keep derailing into distraction.You can’t solve a problem if your assumptions about its causes are wrong—which, as I told you at the very beginning of this book, they almost certainly are.

So here’s that uncomfortable truth once again.

The thing you may have been hoping for—a perfected, step-by-step system that will instantly and permanently make you “disciplined”—it doesn’t exist. It can’t exist.

Because neither the people writing self-help (myself included) nor you have the full picture yet.You simply haven’t collected enough data. You don’t yet know all the hows, whys, whens, ifs, and other conditions that shape your compulsive behaviors and derailed work sessions.

Figuring that out requires two things:First, real experiences of honest attempts and failure—which you’ll have plenty of.And second, calm, objective, dispassionate reflection—which you never do, but can learn to do, starting now.

This was a huge breakthrough for me.

Seriously. The moment I committed to reflecting on my time-wasting objectively and compassionately—no matter how flagrant, reckless, or consequential—was the moment that I started actually getting better.Suddenly, my derailed work sessions had meaning. They were useful. They were filled with crucial information—information I needed to better understand myself, my subconscious preferences, and the behaviors they drive.

So remember: the entire method is built around working in iterations.

It’s about experimenting. Testing hypotheses. Refining your assumptions. Trying again.It’s about cultivating the ability to get back up after you fail, extract the lesson, make small adjustments, and move forward.

Ultimately, it’s about establishing—and gradually optimizing—the specific rules that actually fit you. It’s also about testing and refining the broader conditions of your life: your systems, routines, and environment—the things that make it easier to live the life you want to live.

Each iteration is not a failure. Each iteration is not starting over.

Each iteration is you learning. Each iteration is you adapting. Each iteration is you performing a solid effing rep.

Each iteration is you doing the real work needed to break free from doomscrolling, procrastination, and stagnation… for good.

Chapter 10: The Method
_{Part 6 - Productivity & Habits}

Your progression with this method, at least when it comes to your vices, will tend to look something like this.

You do your best to find—and sustain—moderation. Things go well for a while. Then, gradually, they start to slip. You binge. And eventually, you reset.

That may, of course, seem similar to your usual attempts at cutting out vices. Yet because you’ve adopted the Tech Sober Mindset—because you’ve built the reflex of pinning bad emotions, offering yourself unconditional self-compassion, and extracting lessons from your missteps—each of these attempts (or iterations) leads to things getting a little better.

Over time, your iterations widen. You spend more time in that "sober" middle territory. And your binges grow shorter and less destructive.

This is what real, sustainable progress looks like.

Now, you might be wondering… what about productivity in all of this? What about lifestyle habits and self-care?

Let’s answer that by picking up where we left off in the previous chapter.

Say you’ve just had a pretty bad binge. You wake up the next morning feeling a little frazzled—but also ready for a reset. You’re ready for a new iteration and a fresh cold turkey* period.

This initial period needs to be matched with an intentional removal of all expectations for productivity and habits.

This is crucial. Just as much for your first iteration as for your fifteenth.

Because what do we normally try to do? What does our instinct tell us?

Get super productive NOW!Hurry and make up for lost ground.Stop crying and just effing do it—do the damn work already.

I mean, it makes sense. You’ve just burned a ton of precious time, so it’s normal to feel a strong urge to play catch-up and compensate.As a result, your expectations for productivity get hyper-inflated.

But it’s too much, too soon.The effect of your recent vice consumption carries momentum. Motivation doesn’t snap back instantly after a Reset. It often takes days for the VIDS symtoms to fully dissipate—for your motivation (aka green-light to burn calories for work) to replenish back to natural baseline.

This, of course, is a colossal problem, because it leads to a crude imbalance between what you expect yourself to do and what you’re physically capable of doing.And it’s that imbalance—or what I’ve come to call an Expectation Gap—that generates frustration, stress, and shame… the core catalytic ingredients for another relapse.

So go ahead and give yourself permission to take a prolonged pause, where you allow yourself to do nothing. Half a day or more should be enough.

Put away your phone.Shut down your electronics.Squash all lingering thoughts about getting super productive

And just be.

As I like to say: the cure for procrastination is to procrastinate... a little more.

I can’t stress this enough.Throughout this process—and really throughout the entire application of the method—you need to continuously assess (and reassess) your motivation levels before engaging in any work or activity. Under no circumstances do you want to create an Expectation Gap.

Expectations are the silent killer of progress.

That First Blip of Motivation

At some point—maybe a few days in, maybe sooner if you’ve already been through a few iterations and the binge was short—the dark clouds of VIDS will start to break.That’s when a few rays of optimism and confidence come through. That’s when you’ll feel something you haven’t felt in a long time:Hope. Hope in your own capabilities. Hope in your future.

And with that, the first real blip of motivation will appear.

This is a good thing. It means the process is working. It means you’re getting better.

But this feelings is also, as the kids would say, dangerous AF.

Because the temptation here is to use this first spark of energy to immediately ramp up your productivity—to have it ignite this idealized but dormant version of yourself.That’s the version of you crushing an absurdly long task list. Or sitting down for a heroic, 10-hour work session. Or finally getting all caught up on everything and feeling that finally-it's-all-done relief.

That vision is great. And yes—this method is ultimately working toward you getting exactly as productive as you'd like.

But when you experience that first blip... you just won't be there yet.

I know. Bummer.

You can absolutely use that motivation to get a little work done—easy stuff, low-friction stuff, even fun stuff...

And it doesn’t have to be work-work. Those first blips of motivation can—and often should—be used for lifestyle stuff: exercise, cooking, chores, basic self-care.

But don’t take it so far that you start trying to force productivity.

Let that self-propelled momentum run for a few days. But expect wobble. You might feel less motivated on day 11 than you did on day 8.That’s part of the deal. That’s fine. What matters is that you don’t get carried away or frustrated.

So yes, 100%, during this phase, go ahead with writing that list of important-but-non-urgent work—the stuff you've been procrastinating on.Go ahead and “show up” by sitting at your desk. Or opening a textbook or spreadsheet. Or heading to the gym.

But when you get there, don’t expect much to happen.Like if the motivation isn’t there... then you bounce.

Because if you force it—if you pressure yourself to do more than your motivation allows—yes, you might get it done that one time.But you’ll also be pinning a cluster of negative sensations—toil, agony, tedium—onto the brain circuits associated with that work or habit.In other words, you’re teaching your brain that this thing is something to avoid; that it doesn't warrant the burning of precious calories.

This is the exact opposite of what you want to be doing—the opposite of what actually cultivates the desire and motivation needed to make positive habits stick.

The Art of Pinning Good Feelings

So at this this point you feel a bit of motivation.You feel like taking actions, so you simply do so... naturally... effortlessly... expectationlessly.

Where do you go from there?Because it’s natural to want to accelerate the process—to take an active role in rebuilding desire and motivation, rather than waiting passively for VIDS to dissipate and for them to return on their own.

This can be done. And the way to do it is by "pinning" your work to positive feelings.

Like imagine you’ve just finished a solid workout. You feel energized and satisfied. Maybe you get that runner’s high, yogi’s bliss, or lifter’s bicep-kissing confidence.

Now imagine pausing for a moment to really take that feeling in.Imagine doing your best to mentally associate—or “pin”—that good feeling to the actions that led to it.What would come of that?

Well, over time and repetition, your subconscious would begin to want to repeat those actions—without you having to force it. The desire would increase.

Now apply the same idea to a good work session.

Say you’re using something like the Pomodoro method. Imagine doing this at the start of every break, again and again, consciously linking the relief and satisfaction you feel to the work that preceded it.

And what if you didn’t just think it... what if you acted it out too?

This is what I do. I focus intently on the sensation. I then point to the screen, saying to myself:“That right there. That work caused this good feeling.”

From there—and if I'm actually feeling it—I let my body take over.Fist pumps are standard.Raising the roof? Approved.Stupid dance? I just go where my body takes me.

Really, there’s no best way to do this. No right or wrong—as long as you clearly link the celebration back to the work.

With enough repetition, something subtle but powerful happens. You’ll find that resistance toward these habits gradually softens—eventually replaced by a subtle desire for them.

More broadly, each act of pinning turns self-improvement into what it actually needs to be: a sustainable sequence of small wins, subtle joy, self-directed satisfaction, and micro-boosts in self-trust, confidence, and self-worth.

And it’s those feelings that pull you back toward healthy actions again. Toward self-care and positive lifestyle choices, toward preferring to do what’s good for you rather than wasting time on vices.

It’s ultimately about setting off a subtle yet powerful positive feedback loop—where productive actions improve your well-being, and improved well-being fuels to the desire to take more productive actions.

That’s the kind of closed feedback loop you want to find yourself in.

It’s also how habits form and consistency emerges.It’s how you step into a new chapter of growth, maturity, and well-being you didn’t know was possible.It’s how you move beyond merely not doomscrolling, not procrastinating, and not stagnating.

It’s how you become your best, happiest self.

Epilogue

From time to time, I find myself browsing self-help type subreddits and other online forums.I’ve also had the privilege of connecting with hundreds of people, either in comment threads, DMs, or through the group programs I've come to host.

Though it’s often initially hidden or masked, I invariably see a lot of pain and frustration. I also see a great deal of shame and self-judgment—sometimes rising to self-directed resentment, loathing, and anger.

There's just a lot of suffering in this world.

And after years of thinking, writing, and living with these ideas, I believe—plainly—that many people would benefit from the core lessons in this tapbook.I believe you, dear reader, can benefit too, if you choose to apply the method to your daily life and treat it as a lifelong practice.

But if I could only get you (and everyone else) to take to heart and carry forward just one single message, it would be this:

Love yourself.

To love yourself means centering your self-improvement journey around self-understanding, kindness, compassion, patience, and mindfulness—rather than discipline, willpower, force, expectations, or pressure.

I mean, I use time management strategies and productivity techniques like anyone else... but I’ve learned from experience that none of it will ever work until you learn to love, accept, and be kind to yourself.

And I speak of self-love and self-compassion not because I’m a positivity-obsessed hippie or because “it sure feels nice.”I speak of these things because they’re practical. They're useful.

Self-Love is straight-up pragmatic.

When you love yourself, you'll invariably get more mental clarity and inner peace.

More inner peace leads to less of a need for vices for relief, escape, and stimulation.

Less vices leads to in increases in motivation and drive.

More motivation and drive leads to more productive and healthful action.

More action leads to a better life.

Ergo, self-love equals a better life.

In short, loving yourself causes self-improvement—and it’s not the other way around, as so many people mistakenly believe.The idea that goes “Only once I become better with my productivity and habits will I finally love myself” is all too common and tragically flawed.I know, because I believed it myself for most of my life.

To build good habits and leave the harmful ones behind… to make the world a better place… to live in peace and happiness… you must accept and love yourself first.

Period.

So, with that final message, it’s time for me to wrap this up. Much love to all of you, and thanks so much for reading.Be well,— Simon ㋛P.S. If you’ve found this book useful, and you’d like to help getting it into the hands of others like you, here are three quick things you can do…

Next Steps

1 - Write a review

In your write up, consider touching on what led you here—the specific struggle or pattern you were stuck in. Consider sharing what made you skeptical at first, or hesitant.When someone sees themselves in your story, they find hope that change is possible for them too.From there, add any insights that resonated—anything that helped you see things differently and led to tangible improvements.

You can write your review in the message box, or—preferably—send it by email to [email protected] (a more official channel is coming soon).

2 - Share the method

I've set this site as invite-only.

That’s because I want to maintain control over who has access.I respond to all questions and help requests, so this ensures that whoever’s here is, as they say, good people.So if you're here… it means you are good people. Which also means you know good people—people stuck in the same rut, who want to live a better, more meaningful life, and who would most definitely appreciate (and apply) the help.

Just encourage them to check out the free preview over at dmscrll.com using the invite code: alumni.Or share this link, which has that code already prefilled.

https://dmscrll.com/?invite=alumni

3 - Become (or stay) a quarterly subscriber

Your financial support goes a long way. It not only covers hosting costs, but also helps to fund paid partnerships helping more people discover the method (which, in turn, support smaller content creators).Click here to become a quarterly (i.e. every 3 months) subscriber. So you don't get charged double, I set a trial period of 90 days.

Whether it’s leaving feedback, writing a review, sharing the Tapbook with a friend, becoming a patron, or just hitting me up with updates on your life and what’s been good... every bit of it makes a bigger difference than you might realize.So thanks. Thanks for being part of this.

✌️

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