- There's this frustrating spot.
I'm finding myself in right now.
And that is that there's this old
Aaron version of me that makes daily,
that makes like videos every single week on YouTube
that has to stay consistent to that
because that's what's helped me build
everything that I have in my life.
Like back in 2017, when I was working
that 9 to 5 job I hated,
I then made the choice to go daily on YouTube.
And then my whole entire life transformed
within months of me committing to my vision.
Me committing to me being this ideal version of me.
And since then, it's been like three, four years now.
There's this old part of me
where like I'm attached to making YouTube videos,
even though I know that this isn't the actual focus
of what's going to take me to this like new version of me.
So I'm doing something that has brought me safety
of making YouTube videos.
And especially now, like,
I used to be really passionate
about making YouTube videos.
Like I'd be excited to make a video
that I thought would add value
and I would study like, you know, different video topics
and things I knew that I had my own perspective on.
And then I would make videos
that I thought you guys would like.
But then what happens is as things grew
and as there's like more and more people
getting brought to the channel,
more and more views and all that stuff,
there's like this internal pressure
that was created on me.
Where I'm like, I have to continually reinvent myself.
And then it turns into like this thing
where I'm always trying to come up with new topics
and new videos and it's like,
I've made 2000 videos on YouTube.
Like no joke, 2000 videos on YouTube.
How many more topics can I come up with?
And what I've realized is that
for myself to move to this new version of me,
I have to step out of my own comfort zone, in a way.
I don't really like that.
When you say step out of your own comfort zone,
the thing I don't like about that is
it is kind of true, in order for me to expand
my sense of self, of who I am,
of being the YouTuber that's making
like three videos a week,
doing something new is going to help me redefine myself.
And that new thing for me is doing live events.
And not only just live events in person,
but also virtual live events.
Like doing live events here on YouTube.
That's something that I know I want to do
is I want to do more live things,
things that push my own comfort zone.
But the thing about stepping out of your comfort zone
is that by the time that thing is stepping out
of the comfort zone, it then eventually becomes natural.
So like it used to be out of my comfort zone
to make YouTube videos
and to put my information out there
and to put myself out there
where people could criticize me and all that.
Now it's just natural for me.
It's a part of my identity.
So really stretching my own identity
is me doing new things.
And one new thing I knew that I need to do
is start doing live videos.
Live videos, both in person,
and also live videos on YouTube.
So if that is something, by the way,
you're excited about, go ahead and like this video
and subscribe or I don't know,
whatever we do on YouTube.
Comment below, let me know.
But in general, what I've realized
just with my own perception
is there's a lot, it's scary to let go of the old.
Like, not that I want to stop making videos,
but the way that I do it's going to completely change.
But I can tell that there's such a momentum there
and that when it's like that, it's just not as authentic.
Like now that I'm sharing authentically how I feel.
Because I literally sat down here earlier,
like was coming up with video topics of things to make.
And I was like, I feel like I need to make a video.
Cause I haven't made a video in like a week,
even though you guys see videos like, you know,
Monday, Wednesday, Friday, or whatever,
it's kind of changed a little bit as I've gone
where I'll make videos in a cluster
and I'll go like a week without making videos.
And I need to make one.
But why do I need to make one?
Like that's what I'm realizing is
I've always done things that I thought I needed to do.
And basically all of a sudden I'm realizing
that I'm doing a lot of things that bring me to safety.
But the main message of this video
that I want to share with you
is to stop doing things for the end result only.
Start doing things and make it an end of itself.
Back when I was doing well on YouTube
and like, you know, things were growing
and everything was exponential back in 2017, 2018,
it was because I was excited to be on YouTube.
And I was very in the moment with it.
Like I'd get up every day and I'd make three videos a day.
It was easy, it was a part of my identity.
And one of the things I want to share with you
is what and who and how do you define yourself?
Because how you define yourself is natural.
How you define yourself,
these things naturally fall in place with that.
Like your values naturally reflect that.
And the thing that I'm learning for myself
is the more I can be present to the moment
and enjoy the process along the way,
the more benefit gets out of it.
And also the better things do.
Cause then I'm able to like really be there,
really be present.
You know, a lot of times I would focus on,
back in the day, I'd go to work,
selling my 9 to 5 job, selling women's shoes.
Many of you know the story who you watch my videos.
And I'd be focused on making the money.
I'd be like, okay, I have a sales commission job
where I don't really get paid hourly.
And I just need to focus on making,
if I sell $5,000 worth of shoes, that's $300.
That's good, I need to focus on $5,000.
And every customer I helped, it's like,
are you going to help me get closer to my $5,000?
Are you going to help me, you gonna help me?
But then what I realized is then it gets into
where I'm not really connecting with people.
It becomes like this feenish thing.
And instead, you know, I'd go into work and be like,
I'm going to enjoy helping these people.
I'm going to have the intention of adding value to them.
How much more pure does that energy feel
when it's like, I want to add value.
I want to help people and I want to have fun.
I want to enjoy versus I want to get the thing,
the end result that I need, you know?
If I make a video and I just want to have fun
and I want to express an idea to you.
Like this one,
there's a little bit less structure in this video.
Normally the videos are like, okay,
there's gonna be three things you're going to do X, Y, Z.
And then it's going to go into this
and then there's gonna be an intro
and I'm going to pitch that thing.
(shudders)
You see what I mean?
That doesn't feel as good to you
as me just kind of maybe going with the flow
and just authentically expressing what I want
to already be talking about.
So when people focus on the money, okay,
you can have an intention, you can have a goal.
All right, that's the dopamine.
That's something I've been learning a lot about recently.
I've been learning a lot about dopamine.
I've been studying like the neuroscience behind dopamine
and think of it like this in our reality as well.
Dopamine, they say is the reward molecule.
So in our body we release dopamine.
One of the reasons it's so damn hard
to stop scrolling on Instagram
is because when you scroll, you get more,
the molecule of more,
that's kind of what they call dopamine.
And then it's like, you just keep doing it.
You don't even know why you're doing it.
You guys ever done that?
You guys ever got on your phone, you scroll
and then like five minutes later
you're like, what the hell am I doing in here?
And then, you know, here's the crazy thing.
You know, that it's not beneficial to be in there,
but you still fricking do it.
Why? Why did you do it?
You do it because it's just this,
it's just like natural, it's not natural.
Maybe, it is natural, but it's just dopamine.
That's all it is.
But here's the thing.
We can choose our dopamine.
We can choose the things that we put our energy into.
When I was making daily videos,
I became addicted to making videos.
It made me release dopamine.
And here's the thing.
As I'm releasing dopamine, when I'm making videos,
you and other people watching the videos
are feeling that dopamine,
because it's like mirror neuron.
So people who watch the video say,
I feel high watching the videos.
And then they binge watch the videos.
You like watching people that are,
that are already like feeling dopamine
because you feel like whatever I feel,
that's being reflected into the people watching it as well.
And you could feel like your version of that.
Well, guess what?
When I'm making like the old school style videos
where I'm just talking to the camera,
kind of like this right now,
but I'm having a little bit more fun right now.
So maybe there's a little bit more dopamine than normal,
you're feeling that.
But guess what?
When I go live, when I do like my live challenges,
like the 21 Day Magnetic Love Challenge
or the 21 Day Raise Your Vibration Challenge,
I'm going live each day.
I feel, like I'm bringing people on,
I'm coaching people.
It's the newness as well.
Like anything could happen, ooh.
And so, and because of that,
I'm feeling more dopamine
and then people watching it feel it.
It's like, it's a good thing.
So dopamine's not actually bad.
It's just that we've been
so overly stimulated in our society.
And because of that, we're always seeking these end results.
But what they found is that
if we're always seeking these end results,
by the time we get it, there's then a dopamine crash.
If we don't, instead of,
it's almost like if you celebrate too much,
it's like I did this thing, I did this amazing thing.
Then what happens is there's the crash after that.
But if you see it as natural for you to be successful
and you make it a part of the process,
that changes everything.
So in a way, think of it like this,
this is going to sound kind of esoteric,
but it's helped me understand this better
because I've been choosing my dopamine more consciously.
I realized that a lot of foods, like when we overeat,
when we eat more calories than our body,
so we ended up storing
some of it as fat and we're overeating
and the calorie surplus, we release dopamine
and people become addicted to that dopamine.
And they just keep doing it, they don't know why.
Well it's because it's dopamine.
And dopamine is pretty much telling you more.
It's something that, it's going to go somewhere.
When I started making videos in 2017,
I became addicted in a way to making videos.
Maybe it was the validation I got.
Maybe it was just that I knew that it was like
my freedom out of working that 9 to 5 job.
And I knew that it was my purpose.
But that's what became my focus.
And then after just YouTube videos, it became business.
I became so fascinated with business
and I put all my energy into that.
Anything I've ever, you know,
they say that people that have ADHD,
they naturally have like this intensity
to where they go all in.
And that's kind of the pattern I've had
where whatever I do, I go all in on it.
And that's something that I've noticed
is like your dopamine,
you're going to release dopamine regardless,
but you'll release dopamine when you're playing video games.
You'll release dopamine when you're watching
Game of Thrones, which I watched recently,
I binged that shit in a month and a half.
Before that it was Vikings, okay?
And it was like, I could just tell
that I was addicted to that dopamine.
I was like, what's on the next video?
What's going to happen to this?
The ending of Game of Thrones sucks.
But that was like, part of it led me
every episode before that led me
to the crash ending of Game of Thrones,
which had all this potential, and then it just
(grunts) that's what happened.
I don't know that was my own, I guess it's my own opinion.
I just want it to really get out.
But dopamine, is something we got to use regardless.
One thing I do is I do a cold plunge every morning.
Every single, if you follow me on Instagram
@AaronDoughty44, you will see that there
I post pretty much everyday, my accountability photo
of me getting into that cold plunge.
It's a little freezer that's been jerry-rigged.
I get into that thing.
And then after that feeling of, I guess you could say pain,
but like a minute or two of being in there,
I release more dopamine for two and a half hours.
And because of that, that's what I'm doing my focus stuff.
That's what I'm doing this right now.
So the reason that I'm sharing this with you
is choose yo damn dopamine.
Choose yo damn dopamine and do things,
so it's a mixture of these two things.
It's choosing your dopamine and realizing that
whatever you're focusing on,
you're inviting more of it into your life.
And okay, the esoteric thing I wanted to share with you,
and I'll share it with you in a second,
but it's realizing that because that is what's going to,
in a way it's kind of like the carrot on a stick.
But you don't celebrate once you get the carrot,
you kind of take a nibble and then you let it go
and you keep going for it.
But you also enjoy the process along the way.
Now, the esoteric thing that I wanted to share with you
is that imagine that sometimes there's these
macro views of reality I like to look at.
Now, imagine these are like 3D avatar bodies that we have.
And we are eternal spiritual beings
having temporary human experiences.
And imagine that dopamine is the molecule
we put inside these avatars that would get us,
that any time something would happen,
that we'd get some type of rewards,
that we kept doing it.
Now you could, that could be watching
and playing Call of Duty.
And that's why some people
are addicted to playing Call of Duty.
Pornography, some people are literally addicted
to the dopamine rush they get
from watching porn and masturbation.
They keep doing it because it's the reward.
It's like a reward molecule.
But the thing is, is if you're rewarding yourself
for things that are toxic,
then you're going to keep doing those things.
So now that I've done a cold plunge
for like a week straight,
I feel the reward, the high after
I get into an uncomfortable situation,
right when I wake up in the morning
of a 38 degrees or whatever it is.
But it wakes me up
and then I feel the dopamine for two half hours,
so I associate that pleasure with it.
And you can modify and put this
in the things that you want by making the choice.
Like getting on your phone is a choice,
but sometimes it becomes an autopilot choice.
And then you're, you know,
an hour and a half deep inside of Instagram algorithm.
And you don't know why it's so hard to stop doing it.
But if you were to take that energy back
and then put it into you living your dream life,
your life would change.
Once I became, in a way, the dopamine
started coming from me making YouTube videos,
it caused this momentum to where I was
then able to shift into my dream life.
And the thing with this though,
is you don't want to let it use you.
So there's this balance of using dopamine.
Most people are first off,
they're not picking and choosing their dopamine wisely.
So they may be addicted to porn.
They may be addicted to video games,
they may be addicted to sex,
they may be addicted to these different things.
And because of that,
they're draining their life force energy.
They're already using their dopamine.
So how would they have dopamine
to use towards their vision, towards their purpose?
Because it's already been completely drained
through these other activities.
So one of the things you first off want to do
is become aware of where you're putting your dopamine.
Secondly, once you become aware of what that is,
you want to become aware of
and eliminating different aspects of it
so that you have more energy to put in your vision.
You can make, this can be really easy
for you to live your dream life and to start that path,
once you start doing it,
it's somewhat challenging for a week or two.
And then it gets easier and easier and easier
because you start feeling the pleasure,
the reward that you get from it.
They say that dopamine is the reward hormone
or the reward molecule,
it's more so the anticipation molecule.
We're anticipating things and we always want more.
And even me, I moved to Austin, got this awesome house.
It was in the middle of downtown, perfect location.
But then I realized I actually want to be more in nature.
So then from there for three months,
I then got into this house,
now I'm in a new house and I'm renting out that house.
And it's like, I realized that I'm always wanting more.
Just my my garage just got taken care of.
So now I have this gym and it's like, what's next?
What's next? What's next?
I'm anticipating the new.
Instead of getting lost with that,
the key is to be here and now.
Here and now.
It's riding the razor's edge of the dopamine,
realizing yes, what is my vision for the future?
I know that when I'm making live videos
that are in end of itself, that I'm enjoying doing,
that I'm enjoying the process.
It won't feel hard for me to make YouTube videos
because I'll be enjoying it
and I'll be releasing dopamine,
feeling great and then I'm going to get,
not addicted, but I'm going to end up wanting to do
more and more of these all the time.
When I did the 21 Day Magnetic Love Challenge,
I went live 21 days in a row for an hour,
an hour and a half a day, brought on people.
But after I got into the habit of it,
guess what? I enjoyed doing it, I craved doing it.
And if you haven't joined
the 21 Day Magnetic Love Challenge, by the way,
you can click the link below.
We're going to enter that in our comment section.
Love 21 days, removing love blocks.
And becoming the most ideal version of you, anyways.
So these are different ways that we can look at
our own sense of like power,
of realizing that we can use dopamine consciously
towards our goals and desires or dopamine can use us.
The choice is ours.
And the choice is something that we can make
from a sense of awareness and not get lost in it.
But the other part of this video
that is just so important is doing things
and making it an end of itself.
I'm making this video right now,
not because of the views it's going to get me.
Cause honestly this video probably won't get a lot of views.
I didn't focus purely on the algorithm
and what it wants and all this stuff.
But I'm starting to lay a new foundation
where I do and make the videos that I want to make.
That I go live.
Soon, we're going to be doing that.
And it's like a new way of me wiring in,
like a new sense of my own energy
and how I prefer to be in reality.
Because I'm realizing everything is a story.
If I tell myself the story, the belief,
we're all lost, kind of stuck in our own belief systems.
I'm realized that I believe that I'm the YouTuber,
this is what I have to do.
And then if I'm feeling all this pressure,
then guess what?
It's not going to be as good
as if it's just more authentic, it's free.
And it's something that I'm actually passionate about doing.
So make things an end of itself.
Instead of focusing on the money,
realize money is a side effect
of you doing and being who you're meant to be.
And of the value that you can maybe give in the world too.
Like that's how, that's how the abundance,
the value system works with money.
Because money is just a reflection of that.
But when you stop focusing on the money,
then you can allow it to come.
When you stop focusing on the views,
then you can allow them to come.
So make things an end of itself
and realize that the way these avatars are set up
is anything we do consistently
that we start to get some type of payoff from,
some type of like pleasure or reward from,
we continue to do.
And you can change those addictions
or whatever you call it by eliminating it.
And then putting that energy into something else
that's actually going to progress your own reality
of what you want, your dream reality.
Living in that reality right now.
If you guys want those live videos
and are excited about those,
like this video, comment below, let us know.
Other than that, I hope you guys enjoyed
this more raw, authentic, vulnerable video
that's not, like optimized for views.
But guess what?
I'm doing what the fuck I want to do, okay?
And anyways, I'll talk to you guys later.
Peace, much love, and namaste.