How I Quit Doomscrolling One Habit at a Time: My Dopamine Maxing Journey

I used to start my day at 4 a.m. with a nicotine pouch already in my mouth, chasing it with coffee to get focused for work. By mid-morning I’d pop another pouch, maybe a third later in the day. I was “plowing” through work, life, and endless scrolling, all while living off nicotine and caffeine, filling down time doomscrolling the most recent posts. Sound familiar? That was me—wired, anxious, and burning money without even realizing how deep I was in it.

The wake-up call came at the gas station. A pack of Zyns was seven bucks, and I was blowing through ten in a day or two. A coworker casually mentioned the cost, and it hit me: I was adapted to the point where the buzz was barely there, but the habit was expensive and constant. Nicotine started out making me feel worse when I first tried it years ago (you can’t just slam a 6 mg if you’re new—lesson learned). Then tolerance kicked in, and it became my version of coffee: one after another, stacked on top of my caffeine intake.

Caffeine? That addiction started at 19 in Iraq. Red Bulls and coffee kept me awake on zero sleep, and I never stopped. It was “just how I functioned.” But the anxiety? It had been riding shotgun for years. I finally looked at the spending, the jitteriness, and the mental fog and said enough.

First, nicotine went cold turkey. Zero withdrawal. I grabbed a tin of Altoids instead and never looked back. The relief was instant. Then I tackled caffeine. I swapped endless coffees for one 200 mg energy drink in the morning. That’s it. No more cups throughout the day. The difference was night and day—mental clarity through the roof, and the anxiety that had been my constant companion? Virtually gone. I felt… calm. Focused. Like I had actual energy instead of manufactured jitters.

With those two big stimulants out of the way, I looked at the next energy vampire: doomscrolling. Phone, YouTube, Netflix, TV—rage bait, endless “what if” news, influencers yelling about everything wrong with the world. I’d come home after a long day (personal training clients, three kids, keeping the household running) and just zone out. It wasn’t relaxing; it was draining.

So I cut it. Cold. No more passive scrolling or background noise. Instead of “one more video,” I either truly relaxed or poured that time into what actually matters: playing with my kids, helping my wife, yard work, house projects, or just sitting with my family without a screen in my face. The extra energy from ditching the stimulants made it easy. I wasn’t crashing at 8 p.m. anymore—I had bandwidth.

I started calling this “dopamine maxing.” You’ve probably seen the trend of people “raw-dogging” long flights—no headphones, no movies, no distractions, just staring ahead and sitting with their thoughts. I took that idea and ran with it across my whole life. Cut the cheap dopamine hits one by one and see what happens when your brain has to find satisfaction in real life: fitness, family, purpose.

Because I’ve always been an extreme personality, I went extreme in the right direction—extreme fitness, extreme presence with my wife and kids, extreme ownership of the house and yard, extreme time with friends and family. No more wasting hours on things I didn’t even enjoy. The result? More energy, zero anxiety, deeper relationships, and a household that actually feels calm instead of chaotic.

As a personal trainer, I see clients every day battling the same modern traps: constant stimulation, quick fixes, and endless scrolling that leaves them drained. The fix isn’t another complicated program or supplement stack. It’s usually simpler—and harder—than that: one habit at a time, cut the noise, and let your real life get louder.

If you’re feeling wired, anxious, or just stuck in the scroll, start where I did. Track the cost (money or time). Swap one thing. Then another. Dopamine maxing isn’t about perfection—it’s about getting your brain back so you can show up for the life you actually want.

Ready to quit the doomscrolling and start living at full power? Drop me a message. Let’s build your own version—one habit at a time.