Dave is a driven, successful senior manager at a consulting firm.
It's a Tuesday, he gets up at 6.30 AM. Dave has a routine - A strong, pre-workout coffee and his pre-workout supplements. Whilst his coffee is brewing, he scrolls through Twitter, pleased with how many likes his last tweet got. He always puts on his favorite business podcast whilst working out, stopping mid-rep to tweet some clever lines. After his workout, he has a post-workout smoothie to look forward to. He's not sure why, but the workouts themselves used to be more rewarding, but Dave's now just going through the motions. His workouts don't feel right without that smoothie.
It's a big day for Dave, he's got an important presentation lined up. Whilst waiting for the train he checks his email impulsively. He listens to four podcast episodes on 2x speed. It's only a 30-minute journey, but he got bored halfway through each one. Is there nothing good in the podcast world anymore?
Dave gets to work, he nails the presentation the first thing in the morning. It's strange Dave thinks, I don't get the same high that I used to anymore even though I've just closed a huge deal. He reflects on the fact that on paper it's been one of the best years of his career, and yet, he's not getting the same satisfaction out of his job. Maybe it's time for a change?
It's lunchtime, Dave has a minor panic on the way to the toilet when he realizes he's left his phone on his desk. He turns around to get it. Better not waste a minute.
Works done. Dave's actually training for a marathon, he laces up his shoes for the 6-mile jog home. 1 mile in, his AirPods died, cutting off a business biography on Audible. Damn it. He curses and swears - this is more time wasted. He's too angry to notice the leaves changing, and the beautiful colors of the sunset on an autumn day.
Dinner with his wife - she tries to tell him about something that has happened at work. But this is boring. Where are the insights here? Dave is too preoccupied with looking for his next dopamine hits to be truly present with his wife. He reaches for his phone more than once to find the next nugget or insight that's going to be "the thing".
It's after dinnertime. He sits down to read but gets bored after five pages. He ends up on his iPad and suddenly the evening's gone by and he's spent 2 hours on YouTube. What exactly did he watch again? It was something motivational and he feels pumped, but he's not sure what he's going to do about it.
And somehow, Dave has a sense that something is wrong. Everything is going well objectively, but he just doesn't feel as happy as before.
Before he can get his hands around this feeling, he feels the "pull" again. This time, he pulls on his soft sleeping headband with earbuds in them. He bought this last week to optimize the time he could spend learning as he falls asleep. He puts on a motivational audiobook as he drifts off to sleep...
Dave life has become hit, after hit, after hit of dopamine. It didn't happen all at once, but he has become reliant on little hits of pleasure to get through his day. Under the guise of productivity and optimization, he's forgotten how to enjoy the simple things in life like silence, quiet, or a simple book.
Dave is a dopamine addict, do you see yourself in Dave?