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Hi, my name is Broody, and it seems that one of my main hobbies is staring at my phone for 5 hours every day, which is a little disturbing because I don't remember how I chose this hobby. Whenever I have a free minute, I don't think about reading, going for walks, or even meeting up with friends. I'm just reaching for the phone. This is my usual action. And the scariest thing is that when these small moments add up, it actually means spending 12 to 17 years of your life just looking at this shiny box, doing nothing. So I decided to do something about it. But the problem is that I've tried every common method I can think of. They work for a few days, and then I'm back to where I started. So that's enough for me. Everyone just repeats the same
advice. So I wrote down everything I had tried so far and used AI to do some deep research and find something new for myself. That's when I came across an idea called the "dopamine menu." A dopamine menu is essentially a personalized list of things to do instead of just reaching for your phone. It's like instead of getting a dopamine hit from your phone, you choose something from a menu, " consume" it, and get your dopamine. So I sat down and started creating my own. There are many versions of dopamine menus online, but I decided to divide mine into five categories based on what I usually crave when I reach for my phone. So, comfort food is for when I have zero energy and I'm feeling really lazy. Energy drinks-for the moments when I'm restless,
have too much energy, and don't know where to put it. New flavors-for the moments when I'm bored because every day seems the same. Shared entertainment-for when I think I'm bored, but I really want to socialize, because scrolling through the feed looks like socializing, but you're not actually talking to anyone. You just watch other people live their lives, and it's depressing. Chef's signature dishes are things that require a little more planning, time, or money. So I can't choose them every time I'm bored. Once I have five categories and a list, it looks pretty useful, right? But the only problem is that it looks like this.
The fact that this list is sitting in my Obsidian probably won't change anything for me. Isn't that right? Because the next time I reach for my phone, I probably won't even remember making this list. So, I decided to use Jen Spark to turn this into an aesthetically pleasing menu that could be hung on the wall. That way I'll see it every day and remember to choose something from this list instead of aimlessly scrolling through the feed. I want Jen Spark to turn this boring list into an aesthetic " dopamine menu" that I often see on social media and that actually looks cool. People spend hours on it, but I know myself: I'll start, and after an hour or two I'll get bored and just quit. So I asked Jen Spark to turn this into an attractive,
easy-to-read menu where I can quickly select a class the next time I look at it. When it was ready, I printed it out and hung it on the wall where I see it every day. As soon as I did this, I thought I had solved a big problem, because every time I sat down at the table, I immediately saw this menu in front of my eyes. This really helped me spend less time aimlessly scrolling through the feed. But after a few days, I was back to where I started. After thinking about it, I finally understood why. Even that requires me to stop, look at five different categories on the menu, and make a decision. This assumes that I have energy to choose from. I realized that the reason I reach for the phone is because it doesn't demand anything from me.
It just works. I always thought the problem was the lack of available options right in front of my eyes, right? Everything is so simple with a phone. But in reality, the problem was never a lack of choice. The problem is that in moments of boredom, especially after a hard day at work, I don't have the resources to choose at all. Who has the power to choose at times like these, right? So instead of giving myself more options and trusting that I would make active choices when I was bored, what if the system itself suggested activities based on my time and energy? It's like roulette: I get a task and I just do it. Sounds like a lot of fun. But the problem is that I don't know how to code. Although we live in a
wonderful era when you can create anything with the help of AI. So why not take advantage of this? Instead of creating random AI content, what if we used it for our own productivity? So I sat down and started creating my own dopamine menu maker in GenSpark. GenSpark is essentially a universal workspace with artificial intelligence. Instead of paying for ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and all the other models separately, you simply subscribe to GenSpark and can run all the leading AI models. Depending on what you instruct GenSpark to do, it will choose the best AI model to perform your task. And the real reason to have one is that it doesn't just communicate with you, it actually does things for you. So, I opened up my GenSpark AI, and
now I'm going to insert the dopamine menu that it already created-the printable version-and ask it to turn that into a dopamine builder. He will ask me two questions, and the first of them is how much time I have. Do I have a short free minute, or do I have a lot of time? And secondly, how much energy do I have, right? Because even if I have a lot of time but no energy, the actions he suggests won't suit me. So he will ask these two questions and pick a class for me. Oh, wait. Okay, I made a request and it's ready. He says, "Order something for your brain." Step one: how much time do you have? Let's check for 5 to 15 minutes, and what is your energy level?
Exhausted, normal, restless. I feel pretty good now. Tea on the balcony, something warm in your hands, and the world passing by. Okay, that sounds nice. Let's click "give another". If you don't like the option, you can click " give another" and it will suggest a new activity. Stretching break. 5 minutes to relax shoulders you forgot you had. I actually always tell myself that I need to stretch, but I never do. So this is also a great option. And let's say, if I want to start over, how much time do you have?
Let's say I have a lot of time. Okay, and my energy level is like this. He writes: picnic by the sea. Grab everything in the kitchen and settle down by the water. Okay, but there's no water near me. So maybe we need to adjust some parameters. Okay, let's say 15 to 45 minutes. Let's say I feel anxious. A spontaneous run. Just go outside and run until the energy runs out of you. It's actually a great option because I'm often very energetic, I feel restless, and there's this energy that I can't contain, so I like to go for a run. Pilates or cycling. It's not realistic to have time to go to a Pilates class and
return in 15-45 minutes, because you still have to spend time traveling. So maybe we should tweak these small details so the app can recommend the best for us. The best thing about this is that if you, for example, remember something later, you can always ask to add it. And if, say, it requires more energy or time than you initially thought, you can say so directly and everything will be set up, which is very convenient because you don't have to do it manually. She also offers you different ideas. You can even improve this site. Maybe it's worth launching this as a site and using it as a community. That would be very interesting. As you can see, it's Now I want to show you the version that I tested for
a few days. Okay, I'm going to break down the " dopamine menu" that I created, and it turned out really, really nice. You can also use my dopamine menu at the link in the description below, because I turned it into a website. As you can see, we have a series counter, as well as the number of things I've completed from the menu. You can see it. You can also add this to your phone's home screen so it looks like an app and you can access it anytime. So when you come in here, they ask you: How much time do you actually have? Is it 5-15 minutes? Is this a full break, a piece of time after lunch, or are you willing to dedicate more to it? Let's say I have 5-15 minutes, okay? And what is my energy level? Am I " dead"? Do I feel okay? Do I feel
anxious? Let's say I'm "dead." So the program will offer options, and the "price" will be indicated here. If it's $1, it's a $1 effort, if you know what I mean. So if I click "give more," there's an option for $1, and as you can see, there's an option for 50 cents. That is, it seems easier. So the harder the task, the higher the price, which shows the level of return required. For example, changing the window: rearrange the chair so that it faces the window instead of the wall, and just sit there. 5 minutes of watching the light change instead of just flipping through the feed. And when you mark the execution, the inscription " ordered" appears and a card is issued. Is n't that cool?
Okay, let's say I have 15 to 30 minutes and I'm feeling pretty good. They offer me tea on the balcony. Catalan style, watch the world go by, don't take your phone with you and just enjoy the moment. You know, if we click " give more," we can organize a family dinner. As you can see, it costs $3.5 because it's a little more complicated. You accept the invitation, and everyone else accepts the attendance. Invitation-that's what today's activity is all about. It's actually so interesting because it actively reminds you to connect with other people, engage with the world, be more mindful, and do something other than mindlessly scrolling through your
phone. You may find it embarrassing, and I do too, but the worst thing is actually spending the whole day looking at your phone. Okay, let's say I have a lot of time in the afternoon and I'm feeling restless, then he suggests a deep cleaning of my workplace. This is actually what I did today. My room was such a mess. It's still a bit messy, but I spent about an hour and a half cleaning the room and getting rid of unnecessary things. Before, the mess was a 10 out of 10, now it's a 6. It changed the atmosphere in my room: six small tasks that you've been putting off, done in one fell swoop, completing all the unfinished cycles.
Done. So, if you have a lot of time, you can do something like this. He offers you these options. At first, it was pretty boring and ugly, but I used an AI image generator and an AI designer to make it attractive. And even during the deployment on the site, I just asked GenSpark how to do it, and it gave me step-by-step instructions on how to turn it into a real website. It's incredibly simple, and it's actually incredible that you can create it in an instant, without even having any programming knowledge, which is simply amazing. Any interesting project you have in mind can be created instantly. So, did this magically cut my screen time from 5 hours to 40 minutes? Shall I show you a screenshot of these changes? No, because
I don't have such a screenshot. To be completely honest, it hasn't changed my screen time much, but what has really changed is my approach to how I spend my days. I used to be that friend who would always say, "just come to my place, let's relax at home or at your place," and we would do something indoors. And even on the weekends, I never liked the idea of going outside. Over time, I realized that in the end, I was just doing the same things over and over again. And even when someone came to visit, we just scrolled through social media, which was terribly depressing. But when I was creating menus and coming up with ideas for activities, it made me see options I never paid attention to. There are so many things I could be doing instead of
just staring at my phone that I have n't actively thought about. It also made me realize that over the years, especially in early adulthood, I had become increasingly attached to screens, and it became the norm for me to not go outside, work from home, stare at a monitor all day, and not even talk to a real person. And when I think about my life, is this how I'm going to spend it? Work, screen, coming home, screen again, before bed- screen again. And on the weekends, I'm too tired to do anything outside the house. When I really think about it, it depresses me even more. And the excuse that I don't have time is n't entirely true, because I actually have those 5 hours. And it does n't have to be something special that I do during the day. It can even be
a walk in the fresh air while listening to an audiobook, which brings me much more pleasure than 30 minutes of flipping through a tape. Because after those 30 minutes, the only thing I feel is guilt. But when I go outside, I feel refreshed, and, to be honest, like I come alive, if you know what I mean. So this year I really decided to actively change the kind of person I am. This is one of the most important missions I have right now. I decided to become an active adventurer and do something memorable every week. And actually, this is exactly the reason why I reached out to many of my old friends, with whom we haven't spoken for maybe a few years. I wrote to them, we went for coffee, I spent time with friends, and I really felt much better. Because
before, I thought, "Oh, the trip there and back will take hours, and there's too much to do." But if you think about it, what am I doing instead? I just sit at home, flip through the feed, and don't even go out to eat. I just order food home. But I would rather go to a park or a library and sit there instead of doing that, and that would bring me much more joy. It doesn't even have to be expensive. It just made me more aware that there is life beyond our screens, and we have to make choices in favor of it. And in the process of finding ideas for activities that I could do instead of scrolling through the feed on my phone, you know, I was just amazed. So many things I could do that I never thought of. And when you can't
come up with an idea, you can just look at the list and pick something, right? But I think the main thing that will give you change is an exercise in thinking about all the things you could do and would like to do. And constantly remind yourself of this. We have to really live life, seriously. We need to finally lift our heads from these screens and do something different. Even if it's a small thing, it's almost like going back to childhood. Because every day I think, "Oh, what should I do?" Yes? Even going to the movies, having coffee with a friend, going for a walk, going to the library- anything. Any option is much better than just scrolling through the feed. We are at such a low point now that any little thing is a victory. A great
way to look at things, isn't it? And if you're curious, and if you can't come up with any ideas, I have a "dopamine matchmaker" on the website. I posted it. So you can go there and choose an activity to your liking. And so, lift your head from that screen. A life worth experiencing awaits you. GenSpark is a great universal AI product that anyone can use without any technical knowledge. If you want to try it, sign up using my link in the description to get free credits. And thank you to GenSpark for sponsoring this video.
