If you've ever seen the film Limitless, or heard the term 'smart drug', you are most likely aware of a drug called Modafinil. I personally discovered it around six years ago after watching the aforementioned Limitless. in the film the main character finds an experimental drug which gives him enhanced cognitive powers.
It's an extremely entertaining film that I've seen numerous times and would highly recommend, however after watching it for the first time, I thought to myself, obviously this is fantasy, but I wonder if there is a drug that can make you smarter.
At the time I had vaguely heard the term smart drug, so I knew that there was something out there, I just didn't know what. Anyway, I got onto Google, and it turned out that many people had had that exact same thought, by the time I got to Is there such a thing as the L, Google auto completed the sentence for me by adding imitless drug.
After around six weeks of research and about four scientific papers and countless reviews, I decided to order my first batch, it turned out that whilst it was illegal to sell Modafinil in the United Kingdom to anyone without a prescription, that law only seemed to apply to UK pharmacies, so various companies sell it completely legally online.
My First Time
The first time I took Modafinil was an amazing experience I'll never forget. At the time I was starting a sports betting website and needed to create a ton of content so that the site didn't seem empty. I took one half of a 200mg Modalert pill and within half an hour was zoned in.
All the tasks I needed to complete, seemed to line themselves up in order in my head, I picked the first one, concentrated on it for two hours, completed it, and without so much as a cup of tea, moved onto the next thing.
Eight hours later I had a ton of work done and not one ounce of fatigue plagued me, I was sold, hook, line, and sinker.
The Contempt of Familiarity
I basically became totally addicted to Modafinil, well, not the drug itself, as it doesn't give you any noticeable buzz, more I was addicted to the amount of work I could do on it. Before I knew it, I was taking it pretty much every day, and this went on for at least a year.
Then one day, I stopped.
I found that whilst I still appeared to have concentration, I seemed to have lost the ability to focus on the most important stuff I needed to do. Instead, I'd take a Modafinil, and then find myself on Facebook after four hours of mindless scrolling and clicking. My earlier productivity had dropped to zero, and to top that off I had just had a business that failed in the first few months of trying, which clearly added to my feelings of dejection.
So I stopped with no ill effects, no cravings or cold turkey symptoms, although I will say that my feelings of being an unfocused mess did seem to magnify somewhat.
The Old Friend Returns
At the moment I am trying to write a novel and of course am experiencing the same lockdown rules that most of us are. On the face of it, it would seem that it's the perfect time to write a book, day after day I have nothing other to worry about than feeding myself and my family, and walking the dog, no work, no going out, nothing to distract me.
The problem is, I have a wife and child, and a small two bedroom apartment with no spare room to go off and write in. To top this off, my wife is a teacher, and is still delivering lessons over Zoom and Google classroom.
All of that is just another way of saying, I just can't focus and write when other people are in the house doing stuff. If I was single, I'd wake up every day and write from about 5 a.m. to probably 5 p.m. but I'm not, so I don't.
So I've been thinking about my old friend Modafinil again. I realise that the last time I simply abused it, and went overboard, causing the effects to wane and in fact have the opposite effect of what they're meant to. This time I realise that I can do about 100mg for ten days out of fourteen, and then I need at least a few weeks rest before even thinking about doing them again.
I had my first 100mg this morning, and it was fantastic! It's like my old friend has come back to say hello and fill me with nostalgia. The book got the much needed boost I've been looking for, and hopefully in this next couple of weeks the Modafinil will help me get back into the habit of a disciplined writing schedule.
I'll report back in a couple of weeks, I think this time I won't let the allure of absolute concentration lead me astray again, hopefully in that fortnight I will be able to knock out around 25,000 words which in addition to what I have already, should be around half the book.
WHAT ABOUT YOU; HAVE YOU TRIED MODAFINIL OR ANY OTHER TYPE OF 'SMART' DRUG? HAVE YOUR EXPERIENCES BEEN GOOD OR BAD?
AS EVER, LET ME KNOW BELOW!
I've never tried any smart drugs myself but have heard Tim Ferriss and Joe Rogan talking about them extensively.
Amazing that you're writing a novel! I can't wait to hear more about it. When I wrote Alarm Clock Dawn we owned a house that had an attic. I would try to wear myself out physically on a bike ride or on the NordicTrak then go up there and write for hours at a time. A dedicated space that I could be guaranteed would be free of interruptions was the key for me. The threat of interruption is the main enemy of our creativity and productivity as writers. It takes around twenty minutes, on average, to refocus once we're torn away. The frustration of that can feel like torture. True inspiration, especially in the realm of fiction, can be a fleeting thing sometimes and when it strikes it can be like lightning.
We live in a small condo ourselves now and if I have the slightest inkling that there's the possibility of an interruption I simply can't get into the zone. This is one of my biggest frustrations during this lockdown. It seems whenever the laptop opens it's like a beacon to the heavens and everybody (including pets) wants your attention.
I only have two chapters left to finish in my sequel to The Perfect Pause. I'm going to experiment with taking the laptop to a local park to get those done. Once lockdown is over I'm going to find a workspace to rent, that is really the only way when you don't have a dedicated workspace at home.
Best of luck to you! I hope you and the family are well!
@ericvancewalton,
Great comment ... everything you say is true. I too need seclusion to be creative and interaction with others, for whatever reason, knocks me out of the zone.
Working from home, I've discovered a simple, yet effective, solution ... a LOCKED door (not just closed, locked). I've explained to my daughter that I cannot think creatively unless I'm alone for protracted periods of time. And so, I go to the kitchen, make a plate of food and then disappear behind a locked bedroom door for 5-6 hours at a time. As there's a bathroom attached to the bedroom, all life's necessities are taken care of.
Unless there's a huge racket in other parts of the condo, whatever sounds I hear fade into the background. The inability to "coccoon oneself psychologically" is largely the result of our subconscious minds' maintaining a "readiness to react to relevant stimuli in our environment" When you hear cars passing on the street or a plane flying overhead, you don't expect to react (no relevance) and so you don't. When you hear a plate break in the next room, that's relevant, so you do.
But all this is a matter of your having created a "stimuli rule set" - a rule set which can easily be modified as rule sets are based upon nothing more than expectations. So ... change your expectations.
Tell yourself and everyone else that, short of a catastrophe (in which case scream), you will not be interacting with them until you "come out" in x number of hours. When you do, you'll deal with whatever has come up at that time. When I'm cocooned and my daughter (sitting in the living room) needs to get in touch with me, she texts me ... just as she'd do if I was at an outside office. For whatever reason, that "non-personal interruption" is far less distracting than if she knocked on the door and came into the room for a minute. It's more abstract and therefore less intrusive.
The locking of the door has no functional purpose (as it takes only a second to unlock), but it has a potent symbolic and psychological one. It creates an "impassable barrier" that, absent a conscious decision to dismantle, cannot be breached.
After a couple of days, all this becomes routine. "Hon, Daddy's going to get some work done." I even give her a kiss before I go, just as I would if I were leaving the house for an extended period of time. Being creatures of habit, we become habituated. Indeed, even if I'm alone in the house and therefore immune to distraction, I still lock the door. If I don't, it feels like something's out of place.
"Just going through the motions," matters.
Quill
Thanks @qullfire. A locked door would be WONDERFUL, kind of like a mental force-field. It sounds like you have an environment that's conducive to creativity. That's a goal of mine to, before the end of this year, find a sanctuary like that!