Some hard chargers in the workplace, especially in white collar jobs that involve “creativity”, employ a drug regimen called microdosing.
This is done outside medical supervision and often involves ingestion of the illegal drugs LSD or psilocybin or mushrooms in an attempt to improve job performance in areas such as perception and creativity. Microdosing psychedelics is also said to help with depression.
Some enthusiasts also say microdosing of those drugs improves their ability to focus and concentrate. Modafinil is prized as a way to help people work longer and harder and the microdosing phenomenon sometimes finds its way to modafinil usage. But it is really a matter of opinion as to what constitutes microdosing. While a narcoleptic patient may take 200 mg of the drug every day, a healthy person looking to work harder may take only 50 mg. Whether this counts as a microdose is unclear.
Performance Enhancing Drugs such as Adderall and Ritalin have been joined by Modafinil in recent decades. Modafinil is used in the workplace and among students. Because these uses are off-label and often without any medical supervision, the dosages are up in the air and unknown. Do some individuals take such a low quantity as to be considered microdosers? Do people vary their dosage depending on how they feel and the challenge they anticipate for the day? Almost surely.
Modafinil affects both “cold” cognition and “hot” cognition. This distinction is sometimes made to differentiate between logical, machine-like mental processes and mental processes colored by (emotion). The person operating with hot cognition is more aware of and reacts to environmental factors. People say modafinil is a smart drug, but it’s wrong to think that means it just increases processing speed. There are other mental phenomena affected.
Why I Might Be Microdosing with Modafinil as a Lifestyle Choice
This 25 mg dose of Modafinil is what I wish coffee would do for me. It’s the perfect pick me up, sans jitters. The key is to take Modafinil early, so I try to take it no later than 10am, with some food in my stomach first. Starting my day with a pharmaceutical drug on an empty stomach is like smoking a cigarette before noon in my opinion, a slippery slope. I feel it come on usually within 30 minutes. It feels like an emergence into crystal-clarity, pristine lucidity, like someone wiped the fog away from my brain and buffed it up all shiny and nice.
Not only do I cross shit off my to do list like a pro, it makes me want to do the onerous tasks that I have to do as a business owner, that my brain may have been resisting for weeks. In my opinion:
- Modafinil cures writer’s block.
- Modafinil eliminates procrastination.
- Modafinil unlocks creativity.
- Modafinil puts you in “the Zone”.
- Modafinil cures depression.
What? I’m no psychiatrist or doctor, so DO NOT take my observations as medical advice.
But one thing I can say, is that I have a long history modafinil of mild mood disorders, that is, I skew towards slightly depressed. Thanks to my period-tracking mobile app, I’ve discovered that the mild depression is very linked to my hormonal cycle, and can be positively impacted by taking the right supplements and regular exercise, both of which I sometimes fall off track doing. Microdosing with Modafinil immediately uplifts my mood, with no “down” the next day. Not only do I feel great, I see possibilities for my future that I genuinely look forward to, positive outlooks that tend to be obscured by the slightly depressed, brain foggy feeling I get during the 2 weeks before my moon cycle every friggin’ month.
Mood elevation is one of the positive side effects of Modafinil use. Even though there isn’t a lot known about how exactly Modafinil works in the brain to promote wakefulness, studies have shown it to have possible benefits in the treatment of depression
How to Achieve Maximum Productivity with Modafinil Microdosing – Step by Step
If you want to experience the productivity-enhancing benefits of microdosing with Modafinil here are my suggestions.
- Take it early in the morning, with food & vitamins. I take double multi B complex for clarity. I’ve noticed less energy and clarity if I forget to take my supplements with the Modafinil.
- Have a to-do list of all the most important tasks you want to complete in the day by your side.
- On your other side, keep a liter bottle of water. Remember to drink a lot of water throughout the day.
- Avoid visiting distracting social media sites like Facebook or YouTube. Otherwise you might find yourself deeply immersed in Facebook for hours.
- Drink a big steaming cup of Yerba Maté, if you find it wearing off. The green tea will make it kick back in in a nice, sustained way for at least 2-3 more hours. This usually happens for me in the early to mid afternoon.
- Remember to get up and stretch. It’s easy to get in the Zone and discover you’ve been hunched over your laptop for a solid 4 hours. I keep a yoga mat and large balance ball next to me for some nice back stretching.
- Don’t forget to eat real food. It’s easy to let this one slip, but you will feel a Zone-enhancing burst of energy after eating a good, healthy meal.
- Start taking Kava extract at least a couple of hours before you intend to be asleep. I’ve noticed that the Modafinil and Kava kind of counteract each other, so I have to take more Kava earlier to get to fall asleep at the time I want.
- Alternate days, or do 1 day on, a few days off. I find this keeps the freshness of the modafinil lucidity. While modafinil is not known to be modafinil tolerance-building, I find that taking Modafinil for several straight days reduces the feeling of elevation.
Here’s a great video about Modafinil use, pharmacology, risks and benefits.
Business Use Cases for Modafinil
I couldn’t resist using the phrase “Business Use Cases” with Modafinil. Oh to be able to stick that into a Powerpoint presentation in my last corporate job!
I found my Modafinil microdosing to be particularly effective in the following scenarios:
- GSD coaching sessions with my coach. I am invested in a high-end coaching program, where each coaching session I receive effectively costs $1000, twice a month. I find that I maximize my takeaways from these sessions when I am on Modafinil.
- Kicking ass on sales enrollment conversations. Sales is a skill that I’ve had to learn and master. There are days when I totally botch the calls. However, when I am on Modafinil, I offer precise, clear strategies, and conduct the call with calm, unattached confidence which positively impacts my sales conversion rate.
- Having difficult business conversations. In business, sometimes unexpected situations arise where, as a leader, you have to have a difficult conversations. Modafinil helps with conducting those calls like a boss.
- Cranking out legal contracts. Contracts are boring, time-consuming, and probably the least fun part of my business. But spending the time to create clear, detailed contracts will save you hassle down the road. With Modafinil, I can sit down and get it done.
- Delivering a kickass webinar. Because Modafinil enhances your cognitive abilities, a positive side effect is enhanced communication and public speaking skills.
- Building marketing funnels. Marketing funnels are a complicated, intricate blend of copy, offers, digital media, graphic design, web pages, and backend technology systems that all have to be strategically designed and correctly implemented lest they don’t work or burn up your ad spend. Modafinil makes the entire daunting thing seem doable.
Given the United States obsession with productivity, I’m surprised that Modafinil is a Schedule 4 drug in the US, meaning that you must have a doctor’s prescription to legally buy, use, or possess it. Since it has been around for quite some time and has been observed to have very few negative side effects, off-label use of Modafinil has become increasingly popular among Silicon Valley professionals, entrepreneurs, and students wanting to have a competitive edge.
Some consider this to be cheating. Others consider it to be “better living through chemistry”, a solution to managing the complexities and demands of modern life.
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