In this edition of the Peak Performance Newsletter, we will be discussing:

• Why your bad habits are so hard to quit

• How you can replace your bad habits by changing your basic attack

• How to take action

But first,

Respect to you for reading long form informational content like this one instead of those short dopamine-filled clickbait self improvement content that you see on social media.

I’m not trying to give you cheap dopamine, but instead giving you the lessons that I’ve learnt that will change your life.

You probably have a top 1% attention span by choosing to invest your time into this form of content that isn’t entertaining enough for the masses.

So if you’ve chose on click on this email, then I assume that you are here to apply what you’ve learnt and take action right away.

You’re not here to learn about some “cute” tactics that helps you cope with being lazy, you want actual results. If that’s you then you can subscribe to the Peak Performance Newsletter to receive high quality emails like this every week, it’s a win a win for both of us.

If not, then feel free to unsubscribe and find another creator that will tell you what you already want to hear instead.

Just a bit of background info,

And lastly,

And in this post, I promise to go over the 3 steps that I’ve used which helped me eliminate the bad habits from my life and replace it with more productive habits that improved my life in the long run.

Why your habits are so hard to quit

I’m sure you know by now even if you don’t know exactly why, is that eating junk food, playing video games, and scrolling on social media is inherently bad for you.

Hopefully you’re getting onto this path of self improvement by eliminating distractions from your life and committing to a long term dopamine detox, (Where you cut out all highly stimulating habits)

But there is just one thing in particular, or maybe a multiple of things that is holding you back from making that jump from an unfulfilled, ordinary life, to getting on self improvement full time and getting the results that you’ve wanted.

For most people, it’s going to be their vices, the limiting constraints to their untapped success, the habits that strip away your attention and waste hours of your time without even realizing it.

You want to stay disciplined by being productive but you seem to keep falling in the same spot, indulging, relapsing over and over again.

Now, I can give you the scientific breakdown on why these bad habits are so addicting, like how they spike your dopamine receptors and overtime increase their sensitivity so that you’ll need more stimulation over time.

But have you ever wondered “Why are they so addicting?” You know that it’s entertaining but why exactly do you feel an impulse to indulge in these vices?

Sure the simple answer is that, they’re just fun as fuck.

But, if we dive a little bit deeper into our own psychology and the fundamental needs of every human being, then we get a different picture on why they are so hard to let go of.

They evoke a psychological need inside every one of us

So the simpleton response is that their just entertaining to binge in. But I don’t think that it’s necessarily what the bad habit is about that makes us crave it. Like for example, if you like playing video games then you would play something like Call of Duty or Runescape.

It is actually that, inside of us, we all have these fundamental desires that were weird into our nervous system during the primitive caveman times to ensure our survival. But the problem is that these desires are being exploited and manipulated by the software developers, the workers at silicon valley, and the scientists in the food industry.

I know that this sounds like a conspiracy theory, but just bear with me here.

These people that I’ve mentioned above, sure we don’t see them in our everyday lives, we don’t see them being talked about in social media or the news, but they quite literally control 99% of the population because they understand the psychological desires that drives us all behind our actions.

These individuals are very smart, and very capable with their jobs, and they understand what the masses need…

Let me give you an example.

Say if you were addicted to video games like call of duty. You’re winning matches, leveling up, getting higher in the ranks, forming your own social group of people that you would play with.

Now let me ask you a question, what makes video games so addicting even though for thousands, millions of years ago, they never even existed?

The braindead answer is “OH beCause their fun”, but really think about it for moment.

Do you really believe that as humans, we were wired to just naturally like videos games?

For most of our lifetime as a species, video games were recently just a modern invention that hooked the attention and passion of young men just like myself, glued to our screens. Day after day, we could play the same thing and not get board of it.

Instead of asking “Why is it so addicting”, ask “What does it represent for us as humans, why does it hold so much importance to us?”

In the caveman times, we didn’t focus on playing video games, but do you what we were focused on?

Making progress to our goals, increasing our status in the tribe, competition, having achievements.

Now this isn’t so much for women but for men specially, those are the masculine, psychological desires that we all have, even if some don’t want to admit it.

So what do you guess? Those are the same desires that are being manipulated in video games, just in a repackaged system for modern times.

Subconsciously, you’re monkey brain never cared about getting the “Golden ray gun” in Call of Duty, you just wanted to fulfil the innate desire to make progress, to achieve some form of goal. You prestige in a video game to do what? To move up in the social ladder, to be respected by other men in your “tribe”. You wanted validation for your achievements, and you got that through the digital world instead of reality.

And before the masses say “WeLL no, thats just a conspiracy theory, I really like playing video games just for FUN!”

You don’t even realize the primal desires behind basically everyone that we do. Not just for progress, but for our relationships, our wealth, your status. These are the innate desires that increased our chance for survival and longevity 5 million years ago back when we were in small knit tribes.

Nowadays, it’s isn’t as extreme. But those desires still remain heavy in our soul, in our being.

And even when we can’t seem to fulfil those desires in the modern day, we feel like shit. We feel a deep sense of shame and regret because it puts us lower down in the social hierarchy.

And we can try to lie and say that it doesn’t bother us, but deep down we know that fulfilling those desires in the real world, not the digital world, will lead us to more fulfilled lives.

I know that this section has been on video games, but the same thing applies for social media and junk food too. It’s literally in the name, social media is just the digital replacement for social connection. Junk food seems like a weird one, but it’s actually a physical rather than a psychology desire for security, for comfort.

And in those primitive times, when food was way more scarce, having it symbolize security in your survival and being able to provide for your family.

But you know this isn’t the correct way to live…

You’ve came to this email to learn how to replace your bad habits. Now in the modern day, every single psychological need has been fulfilled by technological advancements.

Why do you need to progress in your health, your business, your own personal growth, when you can just get it easier in video games?

Why do you need to form a close social circle of brothers, who uplift and challenge you to grow, when you can just get it from social media?

Sure, can you live your life without fulfilling any of these desires in the real world?

Yeah, but do you seriously want to? Investing in the digital form of your desire is like putting a band aid over a gashing wound. Sure it can help scratch the itch, but it won’t fix it completely.

I hope that as you’re reading through this post and throughout the multiple posts that I send out in this newsletter, that you understand the life of mediocrity isn’t for you.

I want to help the young men who want to be successful in their lives, to become disciplined, to become influential leaders in their own tribes, to not wake up another day hating their life, and to have a clear since of direction and purpose with every action that you take which leads you there.

This is the movement, this culture that I’m building, where young men like myself reject modern addictions and reclaim their own masculinity again.

The only reason why I speak so passionate about this is because I know how it feels like…

I know how it feels like to not be able to focus on the task at hand, to indulge in the simple pleasures, to be at the absolute bottom in the social hierarchy.

To me, and I hope to you as well, that the pain of discipline far outweighs the pain that you experience of deep regret and shame.

I apologize for going off topic and going on this rant, but I just wanted to emphasize the importance behind this. This isn’t an ordinary self improvement newsletter where I give you some click bait advice that doesn’t even help you. This goes far bigger than just the newsletter space, and I have big plans in the future on how we can expand this to help even more young guys to start taking self improvement seriously as well.

How can you replace your bad habits by changing your basic attack

So far, we’ve covered why we get these impulses like to indulge in the bad habits and now in this section, we’re going to discuss the plan of attack to actually eliminate them. \

And there going to be a simpleton thinking “But, wait I only play 1 hour of video games a day and I eat junk food twice a week so it’s not that bad”.

Whoever says this is probably coping with themselves because the problem isn’t even that your indulging in the bad habit itself exactly. I should have covered this in an earlier section but it’s the fact that you can’t stop indulging in the habit which is the problem.

See, if you were actually playing video games for 1 hour a day like you said you were, then you be able to let go of that emotional attachment if you were fully in control of your emotions, but most people can’t.

That’s why the people who get really defensive "with their 1 hour of video games” are taking the piss because it just shows that this addiction has really taken a death grip on their own decision making skills.

We do not want to be the drug addicts in this situation, but rather the ones who rationally understands that these habit are addictive on purpose and that it will fuck up your life if you let it take control over you.

And the method that we’re going to use is our “basic attack”.

Your basic attack is a term that I’ve learnt from the online self improvement space which is basically the action that you do whenever you’re board.

So pretty much, when you having nothing else to do or when the urges start creeping up, what is going to be you’re first impulse for you?

For most people and including myself, it’s going to be indulging in the junk food, the video games especially for me, and just doom scrolling for 30 minutes straight.

Or in other words, in case I didn’t explained it too well is the first unconscious/automatic action that you take. So for most people, going to the gym is a conscious decision to force yourself to go, while most people can eat a bag of crisps without a second thought.

We want to change your current basic attack with a good productive habit that will keep you consistent with self improvement.

But here’s the catch.

This will only work if the good habit matches the same psychological desire as the bad, unproductive habit.

This is why I chose to tell you the psychology or reasoning behind it first so that you’ll know which good habit is going to pair well with your bad ones.

So the people that scrolled down to find the quick and easy answer is going to be confused as fuck right now.

And for my scenario, being a video game addict and all, do you want to know what I did to replace it?

I started going to the gym. Especially focusing on bodybuilding training and building a 10/10 aesthetic physique.

Now why would going to the gym replace the habit for video games?

It’s because it fulfilled the same psychological desires for progress, achievement, ranking higher in the social hierarchy. Just like how I was leveling up in the video game, I was progressing the same way in the gym, increasing the weight I can lift overtime, gaining weight and bulking up, and achieving a really aesthetic physique as a result.

And if you’ve read my previous post, then you’ll know that I got really hooked onto going to the gym and building muscle. So much so that it became my entire life for a long time, so of course I’m not going to go back to playing video games since I discovered my current purpose layer.

It doesn’t have to be only going to the gym necessarily, but it has to be a sport or hobby that is based on progression and making small achievements overtime.

So for you if it isn’t the video games that holding you back, figure out the good habit that meets the same psychological need as your vices.

If you’re addicted to social media, then you probably lack social connection in your life so that should be your number #1 priority.

Now this does have 2 sides to it though, since social media actually fulfills 2 completely different desires at the same time.

1. is being the desire for social connection and 2. is going to be the desire for information and knowledge`.

#2 is less common but the alternative to social media is…reading.

Currently, that’s the transition that I’m struggling with, since I would really like to read a lot more than I do right now, especially since it is 10x better than most informational content on YouTube.

How to Take Action

So you’ve learnt the reasoning behind we these bad habits are so addicting, the method to use by changing your basic attack, and now you want to know how to take action to get actual results.

Just like how I transitioned from being a skinny video gamer to now a healthier, more disciplined young man, it will be a gradual process.

Don’t expect to completely ditch your old habits right away, since it is being consistent with the new habits that is more important than getting initial results.

But there is one key rule that you must follow if you want this transition phase to go smoothly…

You must make sure that you are allocating more time towards the habit that you want to build than your old one. Basically start around 60/40 spilt and gradually start spending less time on your bad habit throughout the course of this time period.

I see so many people in the self improvement space that try this half assed approach to where they still want to, lets say play the video games but they also want to start going to the gym, then they end up getting progress in none.

You need to have an uneven split in order to make a significant difference, otherwise it will feel like going upstream again and again.

There are only a few handful, including myself, who were the lucky ones that had that strong positive feedback loop to completely do a 180.

But for those who don’t have the same desire or drive in the beginning, then it will take longer for you to get adjusted to doing a new productive habit.

Author’s Notes:

That is all I have for you today. And as promised, I went over the 3 steps that I’ve used which replaced my bad habits with the good, productive, habits that I wanted.

I hope that this post was valuable to you and you’re self improvement journey. And if it is, feel free to share it to someone who might benefit from reading this type of educational content as well.

I had a lot of fun writing this one, and I’m sure that I’ll be making more posts like this in the future.

If you want to receive personalized feedback from me, comment below the current problems that you’re facing in your self improvement journey and I’ll be glad to help as best as I can.

Just remember, in a world that tear men down, I’m here to build them back up.

Until next time, take care.

-Jason