I have a love-hate relationship with caffeine.

On the one hand, it’s something warm and delicious that improves mood, productivity and life enjoyment.

On the other hand, it’s something that destroys sleep, steals your natural energy and holds your potential hostage.

This duality was something that got etched into my mind early in life.

Back when I’d first started working out – I got really into coffee.

I noticed that the more caffeine I consumed, the better my workouts would become.

And so I started implementing it into the other parts of my life.

I noticed that I could study for longer, perform better on tests and be sharper in conversations.

Back in those days, my daily routine consisted of waking up, making coffee, commuting to school and opening up my thermos. 

I would then sip on some more coffee, commute to the gym, have 2 or 3 more cups there, get back home and make a pot of black tea.

Soon enough, my entire life was caffeinated.

But it didn’t take long until I got to see the dark side of caffeine.

I started laying awake for hours staring at the ceiling before my brain would finally shut off.

I began feeling disconnected from the world, like there was this veil between me and reality.

I noticed that when I didn’t get my coffee I couldn’t think, enjoy the things I used to love or even be myself.

That’s when I made a crucial observation.

The caffeine that had previously made existence so sweet was now the only way I could experience life at all.

Determined to fix my reality I dove into the research of caffeine.

But wherever I looked – I couldn’t find a perspective that made sense.

On one side, people would paint it as completely problem free, that it had only benefits and was even healthy.

The other side would compare it to the devil and preach about the annihilation of all caffeinated beverages.

My mind was split.

After having seen both sides of caffeine I felt like there had to be a way to walk the golden middle way.

Was there truly no way of getting the benefits from caffeine without sacrificing my life?

Was it in fact impossible to get the enjoyment and productivity without sacrificing my sleep and experience of life?

The feeling that there had to be a better way never left my mind.

So instead of adopting either a black or white perspective – I decided to create my own path.

A golden middle way of caffeine.

The Problem With Living Life Drugged

90 % of the population consumes caffeine daily.

To put it another way, the majority of people are living life drugged.

This is not to judge anyone, but to highlight the problem with caffeinating your entire life.

You become dependent on it to experience reality.

Without it, you lose your motivation to do anything and the things that used to bring you joy slowly fade into irrelevance.

But the worst consequence of being dependent on caffeine is that you lose yourself. 

You stop being able to access your personality without that morning cup of Joe.

This is fucking terrifying.

When you’re chronically consuming caffeine (as 90 % of people) your personality and potential is being held hostage.

You can’t be yourself or do the things you want to without it.

The countless memes of “don’t talk to me until I’ve had my coffee” are seen as innocent jokes when they’re in reality a silent cry for help.

This is the biggest problem with caffeine. 

It takes the joy out of life.

Let me paint you a picture.

You become dependent on an illusion to experience life because reality morphs into something too painful to deal with.

We often like to fantasize about dystopian futures. 

We imagine civilizations where everyone is sitting at home, trapped inside VR headsets as their bodies decay.

We don’t realize that the same thing is happening right in front of our eyes.

People are escaping the world into a more pleasant one. A world with more energy, motivation and enjoyment.

But it’s not technological, it’s biological. 

Just make an effort to observe the morning crowds at coffee shops. 

Your family and friends before they’ve managed to reach for a cup of coffee or energy drink.

And observe yourself. 

Watch your mind desperately trying to escape reality and its complete lack of energy.

But in the same way that your body decays outside the virtual world – your body and mind decays while you’re living life caffeinated.

To understand this (and avoid it), we need to know how caffeine works.

Caffeine Doesn’t Give You Energy

Using caffeine is taking an energy loan from your future self.

Let me paint you a picture.

When you’re using your mind and body – you’re creating waste products.

The most important one is adenosine.

When your body becomes filled with these waste products – your body needs to sleep and rest in order to flush them out.

If you don’t – your mind and body literally can’t function.

Think of a computer without a cooling system. At some point, you have to turn it off or its circuits will melt.

This is why your brain is equipped with “adenosine receptors”. They bind to the adenosine and create the feeling of tiredness.

The way caffeine works is by binding to your adenosine receptors and inhibiting them – rendering them useless.

It sweeps the waste products and tiredness under the rug, tricking your brain into thinking it’s not tired.

In other words… 

Caffeine doesn’t give you energy – it hides your tiredness. 

It creates an illusion of energy by clouding your exhaustion.

But the longer you stay inside this reality – the worse both the illusion and the real world becomes.

When you’re constantly caffeinated – your body can’t flush out all the waste products (because it doesn’t know they’re there).

But you still experience the negative effects of tiredness

• Exhaustion

• No motivation

• Apathy

• Low energy

And when the caffeine starts to war off, the whole world comes crashing down.

All the adenosine you’ve previously blocked with caffeine floods your brain and makes you next to pass out of tiredness.

The energy loan you took from your future self, now has to be paid back.

The common way to deal with this is by drinking even more caffeine.

But this sets an arms race with you & your brain in motion.

When the adenosine isn’t being noticed – your brain creates more adenosine receptors, making you even more tired (because you notice every little speck of tiredness) You then drink even more caffeine to plug up the new receptors in order to “feel normal”.

But in so doing, you enter a downward spiral reaching all the way down to caffeine hell. 

Caffeine hell is a place where your body and mind is completely exhausted and broken. But because you’re so caffeinated, your mind doesn’t realize it.

You still feel the effects of being completely destroyed – but the caffeine doesn't let you feel tired and rest. 

This creates a weird situation where the reality outside and inside of your mind blends together. You don’t know who or what you are anymore, you’re in pure chaos.

This may sound a bit exaggerated, but I don’t believe it is needlessly so.

It’s a place I’ve had to climb out of many times, and it is NOT something I would recommend. 

The problem is that you don’t notice it until you’re there. A telltale sign that you’ve passed through the burning gates is drinking a cup of coffee and feeling even more exhausted.

That’s real fun… 

When you’re in caffeine hell, you have to keep drinking it just to be at 50% of your potential. If you don’t, the giant oceans of adenosine receptors will make you pass out of exhaustion.

The fact that 90 % of people consume caffeine daily, means that every one of them experiences this to some extent. 

But because they never get off caffeine – they never realize that they’re in such a place.

They get used to their current reality and think of it as normal.

This is the thing with all health problems. 

You adapt to a way of living. Low energy, a gray reality and no motivation. It all becomes your new normal. 

You don’t realize that it’s a problem because you’re incapable of seeing another way to live. 

It’s the reason people keep eating like crap, don’t workout and drown their exhaustion in caffeine. 

Their minds can’t imagine another way of living. They can’t see that the reality they’re living in is subpar. 

You won’t know how good life can be until you’ve seen it for yourself. Because you won’t believe it. 

Improving your health is an act of faith. 

You have to believe that a better way of living is possible – because it is.

And it is possible to live without caffeine.

But more than that, it’s possible to actually benefit from it.

But you have to do it intelligently.

Caffeine Is The Devil If You Think It Is

Think of the duality of social media.

Social media can be a mental trap of empty content that sucks the life out of you.

But it can also be a vessel for learning quality information, developing skills and changing your entire life (for the better).

Nothing is black or white – only perception is.

If I’ve done my job correctly, you probably don’t want to look at another cup of coffee again. 

But I want you to keep an open mind for just a little bit longer.

Let’s go back a few hundred thousand years.

Back when we were primates – we were terrified of fire (and snakes).

It would burn away the savanna, tearing down trees and killing our species hundreds at a time.

It’s the reason why dragons are the representation of chaos and evil (they are literally giant fire breathing snakes).

But if one primate hadn’t become overly obsessed with fire and the idea of harnessing it — our species would never have gotten to the place it is today.

It’s actually the reason why we are so captivated by fire, it’s a literal gene mutation that allowed us to harness it.

In the same way as that first primate used fire to fuel our evolution – caffeine has the potential to enhance our quality of life (if it is used correctly).

Curiosity drives evolution.

Just as it was curiosity that drove the first primate to master fire, it is curiosity that will drive us to master our biology.

I’m not talking about bionic arms or implanting microchips in our brains.

What I’m talking about is taking advantage of the wonderful construction that is our biology to fuel our lives.

Just look at the communities of people obsessing over health optimization. You can see it as overly pedantic or as a clue to a mental shift in our population.

In the same way as fire improved our lives until we invented electricity – caffeine can be harnessed to fuel our lives until we find something better.

You can think of caffeine as a multiplier for mental and physical performance. 

If you have a lot of natural energy – your experience gets multiplied. 

But if your natural energy is down in the dumps – caffeine won’t help you. 

Zero times infinity is still zero.

And as we’ve already gone over – it will also make it worse. 

But when you use caffeine intelligently – you open up doors to an almost infinite potential. 

You can write for whole days, workout with intensity for hours and perform above your ultimate capabilities.

This is what everyone seems to miss. 

Every perspective seems to be either black or white. 

The perpetual coffee drinkers don’t realize the harm of it while the caffeine extremists don’t realize its utility.

When you walk the golden middle way of caffeine. A new world opens up.

You’re no longer dependent on it to experience reality, but can still use its effects when in need.

Your natural energy is high without having to caffeinate yourself. And when in need, you have the ability to tap into a higher level of energy.

But to walk the golden middle way of caffeine…

We need a set of rules.

The 10 Caffeine Commandments

There are 10 commandments for using caffeine for optimal performance (without sacrificing your life)

Let’s dive in.

1.“Thou shall not consume caffeine past holy times”

Sleep is the foundation of all things health. 

It’s non negotiable. 

If you want more out of life, or if you want anything out of life at all — you can’t ignore sleep (But we’ve already talked about this).

Caffeine and sleep are bitter enemies.

There are 2 reasons for this.

1. Caffeine will make it incredibly hard for you to fall asleep (you’re forcing your brain to stay awake)

1. Even if you somehow manage to fall asleep, caffeine will disturb your sleep architecture (REM, NREM). Your sleep quality will plummet and so will your quality of life.

To stay asleep and have these beautiful and restful waves of REM and NREM sleep – you need adenosine.

It helps you prolong REM sleep (Rapid-Eye-Movement, or “dream sleep”)

As we’ve already talked about, caffeine blocks adenosine from binding to its receptors. This makes your sleep cycles less restful and lower in quality.

As a result, you wake up exhausted.

I would not recommend that.

The biggest problem with caffeine is that it stays inside your body for a very long time.

The ¼ life of caffeine is 12 hours.

• If you drink 1 cup of coffee with 200 mg caffeine at 10 am 

• You will have 50 mg in your system at 10 pm

The maximum amount of caffeine you can have in your system and still get a reasonably high quality sleep — seems to me to be 50 mg.

It’s an amount that doesn’t totally wreck your sleep architecture & allows you to actually have some caffeine throughout the day.

Taking all this into account… 

To protect the foundation of your entire life – you need to control the timing and quantity of your caffeine consumption.

By using the half life of caffeine (6 hrs) we can create a simple formula:

Take (the amount of caffeine) times (0.89) raised to (the hours left before you go to bed)

This will show you the amount of caffeine that will be in your system as you’re trying to sleep.

But doing this every time can be difficult and a nuisance.

You can’t always know how much caffeine is in every cup of coffee, tea or what have you.

So if you’re more simple in nature, you can use the holy times of caffeine consumption as a guideline.

There are 3 holy times of caffeine consumption.

1. 10 am

2. 12 am

3. 2 pm

Aim to get:

• 90 percent of your life’s caffeine intake before 10 am.

• 9 % of your life’s caffeine intake before 12 am

• 1 % of your life’s caffeine intake before 2 pm

2. “Thy shalt wait for adenosine clearance before ingesting caffeine”

Have you ever woken up with the energy of a thousand suns, ready to blast through the day?

Me neither.

It always takes some time to get the mind and body fired up.

This is because adenosine (the sleepiness chemical) is still being flushed out after waking.

It’s why you feel groggy when you wake up.

A cold shower and some exercise can help speed up the process – but it almost always takes 90 - 120 minutes

Most people solve this morning grogginess by slamming a cup of coffee as soon as they wake up.

This is a rookie mistake.

Taking caffeine as soon as you wake up won’t help you.

It only perpetuates the downward spiral we talked about earlier.

If you ingest caffeine while your body is still getting rid of the adenosine, you prevent the process.

When caffeine binds to the adenosine receptors, adenosine is left freely lingering in the brain, like people without a chair at a party.

Adenosine keeps building up through the day and when the caffeine finally starts to wear off, all the adenosine comes flooding in and binds to all the receptors.

What happens as a result is the infamous afternoon crash.

More than that, the adenosine system that caffeine works on isn’t active until 90 - 120 minutes after waking. 

But your cortisol and adrenaline system is. 

Caffeine activates your fight or flight system as a result of the increased brain activity. 

If you slam a cup of coffee immediately after waking – you’re just making yourself unnecessarily stressed.

And as we discussed in the energy letter, stress is energy. There is some utility in just slamming a cup immediately after waking. 

But even then – why not be patient and get all the benefits?

To avoid the dreaded afternoon crash and actually get the benefits from caffeine… 

The 2nd caffeine commandment leads:

Wait 90 - 120 minutes after waking before consuming caffeine.

Let’s move on to the most important of all the commandments.

3.“Thou shall not function on caffeine alone, but on every word that proceedeth the mouth of God”

There is only one way to steer clear of caffeine dependence (and avoid caffeine hell):

Caffeine fasting.

This is how you prevent and escape caffeine hell. 

Abstaining from caffeine resets your brain. The unnatural amount of adenosine receptors begins to decrease and your energy is actually allowed to recharge.

Your sleep cycles skyrocket in quality and your body is able to recover from all the stress caffeine has put upon it.

When you implement caffeine fasting, you unlock the true power of caffeine.

If you consume caffeine chronically (as 90 % of people) you don’t get any benefits from it. 

You have to drink it just to function normally. 

You’re also stuck inside the downward spiral that will only continue to get worse.

The only way to get the benefits from caffeine is by abstaining from it. This is because your mind will be more sensitive to it.

Your body will also have recharged meaning that the boost in productivity, enjoyment and mood will be that much greater.

Bonus: It will taste a hell of a lot better

When you mention abstaining from caffeine a lot of people cringe.

Most people can’t imagine going 1 or 2 days without a cup of coffee or tea. 

And it’s actually understandable. 

Caffeine is extremely addictive. It’s why a lot of manufacturers put it in soda etc. 

And if you decide to quit (after having become dependent) you get bombarded with terrible side effects.

You don’t want to do anything, your joy for life disappears and you feel completely useless. 

When you suddenly quit caffeine, you escape the illusion you’ve created for yourself.

You notice the state your mind and body is in.

But know that the effects are temporary.

To make this simpler, I will show the system I use for getting off caffeine.

I’m a big fan of green tea. It improves mood, improves your mitochondria and sharpens your focus. 

It has some caffeine but a lot less than coffee. 

Whenever I want to get off caffeine, I start replacing coffee with green tea until I’m functioning normally. It usually takes 1 - 2 days. Then I switched from green tea to non caffeinated herbal tea.

And before you know it – you’re caffeine fasting. 

The funny thing is that you don’t notice a difference because you’ve created a new normal for you. You have the same amount of energy (if not more) that you did when you were on caffeine (and without the side effects)

When you’ve caffeine fasted for 3 - 4 days, your brain has re-sensitized itself. When you implement just a speck of caffeine, like a cup of green tea – you’ll feel supercharged.

I used to always do this before I had a big test coming up.

The coming week I would completely abstain from all caffeine. And when test day came, I used to slam 2 cups of coffee and blast through the test.

When you caffeine fast you want to have this principle in mind:

The majority of days in a week should be spent without caffeine. 

It may take time to get there if you’re a chronic consumer – but it’s well worth it.

It is how you avoid caffeine hell and at the same time get the benefits from caffeine.

And it’s why caffeine fasting is the 3rd commandment.

4.“Thou shall live below the caffeine ceiling”

Caffeine is a plant defense chemical.

In other words, it’s not meant for consumption. Consuming too much caffeine can and will kill you. 

The limit is ridiculously high but you should still keep it in mind.

If you consume 1200 mg of caffeine or 12 cups of coffee in a go… you're in the danger zone.

But even if you survive, you will still experience the dreadful side effects it brings:

• Jitters

• Brain fog

• Anxiety

• Irritation

• Stress

There is a caffeine ceiling. A limit to how much caffeine you can ingest.

The FDA will tell you that 400 mg is the limit for daily consumption. 

But that’s a lot.  

It goes back to the 1st commandment.

There isn’t enough time in a day to get rid of 400mg of caffeine from your system. Your sleep will collapse and so will your mental function, enjoyment and life. 

It will then force you to consume even more caffeine the next day – leading you down the spiral to caffeine hell.

If you’ve made yourself caffeine sensitive with the 3rd commandment — you don’t need a lot of caffeine to increase your performance.

So by taking into account the 1st, 2nd and 3rd commandment…

We can set a maximum intake of 200 mg.

This will create enough time for the caffeine to leave your system and is not enough to completely stress out your mind and body.

Note: This is the upper limit. If you’re caffeine sensitive 100 mg will still do wonders for you.

Going over the limit one time isn’t a big deal, it’s when it becomes a habit that you should look out for the warning flags.

5.“Thou shalt remember the sacred balance between caffeine & hydration”

This one will be quick.

Caffeine dehydrates you. 

If you’re consuming caffeine without being adequately hydrated your mind will feel like it’s about to explode.

It’s simple, quick, easy but very important.

Drink 2-3 glasses of water before ingesting caffeine.

That’s it.

Let’s move on.

6.“Thy shalt refrain from invoking caffeine's aid in thy craft, lest it rob thee of its essence”

Caffeine will take the joy out of your life (if you’re not careful).

Caffeine increases the chemical dopamine in your brain. The molecule of pleasure seeking and motivation.

It’s the feeling you get when:

•  You’re taking in a very interesting book, article or lecture

• You’re having a conversation with someone where both of you are learning 

• You’re about to finish a project you’ve been working on for a long time

This is natural, good dopamine. 

It points you in the right direction for your life.

The problem with caffeine is that it increases dopamine no matter what. 

When you use caffeine to work out, practice your craft or have conversations – you’re releasing giant amounts of dopamine inside your brain.

You become addicted to the feeling of writing with a cup of coffee, working out with a pre workout or having a conversation over a cup of tea.

When you then do the activities by themselves (without caffeine), your brain won’t enjoy them anymore because there isn’t enough dopamine.

This is the problem.

When you couple caffeine with the things you love, working out, writing, talking to your favorite person – you fall out of love with the activity itself. If you’re not careful… 

Caffeine will take the joy out of your life.

When I was constantly working out with 3 cups of coffee in my system – I couldn’t enjoy working out without it.

Whenever I tried to, it just didn’t feel the same. I couldn’t push as hard, didn’t enjoy it and felt like I was about to fall asleep.

Working out is not something I dread doing, it’s something I love. Losing my passion was a real gut punch. When I realized the part caffeine played, I immediately started cutting it out (see the 3rd commandment).

99 % of my workouts are now without caffeine. And I’ve regained the love for training.

I still use it from time to time. And when I do use it, I actually experience the benefits from it.

And so, the 6th caffeine commandment leads:

When doing the things you love, perform without caffeine more often than with.

This is how you protect the things you love in life (and see to it that caffeine doesn’t fuck it up).

7.“Thy shalt refrain from relying on caffeine to mask thy fatigue”

You know what happens when you seek energy in caffeine.

You enter the downward spiral that leads you down to caffeine hell. You're fighting your brain and biology by insisting on living inside an illusion. 

You’re never letting your mind and body recharge, and so you stay down in the depths of your caffeine dependence

The days you feel the most tired are the days you should refrain from caffeine the most.

But most people do the opposite.

When they don’t get enough sleep, they try to escape their exhaustion with more caffeine (but you know where that leads you).

When you feel completely exhausted and broken, it is the most important not to mask it with caffeine.

Your body is a wise old man (it’s literally millions of years old), it knows what’s best for you. When you don’t get enough sleep – your body will see to it to make up for that the next night.

But if you try to force energy and drag yourself up by the bootstraps with caffeine… 

Your body won’t be able to recharge and you continue down the spiral.

When you wake up broken, exhausted and listless. Don’t turn to caffeine. Trust your body to do its thing the coming night and withstand the tribulations of the day. For just that is what makes man great.

And so, the 7th caffeine commandment is this:

Don’t cloud your exhaustion with caffeine. Use it only when your energy is high and your body well rested. 

Let’s continue.

8.“Thou shall beware of the mind altering properties of caffeinated beverages”

Caffeine programs your brain.

Let me explain.

When your brain is flushed with the chemicals dopamine and adrenaline – it reinforces your mental wiring.

This is what happens when you learn something.

When you do something new that works – you get a hit of dopamine and adrenaline. 

This reinforces the pattern of thought, emotion and behavior that got you there.

When our ancestors hit a tree with a stick and a fruit fell down, their brains would light up with dopamine and the stick hitting behavior would be reinforced.

This mechanism is the reason people become addicted to anything. 

The more times you do something and dopamine is released — the more the behavior will be reinforced in your brain.

This is where caffeine comes into the picture.

It floods your brain with dopamine, adrenaline and other feel good chemicals.

But in doing so, it reinforces the behavior that led you there.

This can be very easily abused (or used if you’re smart).

If you’re not mindful of this (like most people), you will just randomly program your brain for different behaviors.

If you drink a cup of coffee while relaxing on the couch – your brain will start to move you towards spending more time there.

If you drink a cup of coffee after reading a fascinating book – your brain will start to move you towards exploring the universe.

By being aware of how caffeine reinforces your behavior, you can make your brain work for you instead of against you.

You’re using addictions instead of getting used by them.

The basic rule is this:

When you couple caffeine with a behavior, your brain will reinforce that behavior.

You can either program your brain to move you towards success or failure (according to your own definitions).

But keep in mind that this can be taken to an extreme (as seen in the 6th commandment)

It’s a powerful tool but one that should be wielded wisely.

9.“Thou shalt honor the sanctity of selecting thy sources of caffeine with care”

Caffeine comes in many forms

• Tea

• Coffee

• Yerba mate

• Pre-workout

• Caffeine pills

Some better, some worse.

Coffee is the most common caffeine source (but it has its drawbacks).

If we were to define coffee real quick it would be something like:

“Burnt seed water”

It’s a good practice for not putting too much value on things (It also helps if you’re trying to abstain from it).

Case study: It’s the same stoic practice Marcus Aurelius used to keep himself grounded while ruling Rome. He would often remind himself that his purple robes were the mere blood of shellfish.

The problem with burnt seed water is this.

Seeds are not meant for consumption (as we talked about in last week's letter). 

They are the most protected parts of plants. 

Most coffee beans are also sprayed with pesticide which is often very harmful to humans.

Add the fact that most coffee beans are burned and the combination makes coffee… not so great.

I’m not telling you to throw coffee away. But be mindful of where you get it from and don’t go overboard with it.

Another popular caffeine source is tea (which I’m a big fan of)

I haven’t found anything that points to tea being harmful (except for the fact that it can disturb sleep).

The heavy hitter for health seems to be green tea.

It:

• Improves cellular function

• Reverses aging

• Protects your joints

• Improves brain function

And the list goes on.

What you need to be on the lookout for is low quality tea.

When tea is made, it creates levels of different quality leaves. The highest quality falls at the top, the second highest at the 2nd and so forth. 

The lower levels are not supposed to be used – but a lot of corporations still grind it up and sell it in tea bags.

So when you get your tea, make sure it’s high in quality.

Tea is overall a much healthier way of getting caffeine than coffee.

The fact that it has a lot less caffeine makes it a great way to maintain caffeine sensitivity and avoid drifting into caffeine hell.

Note: The consumption of tea has to follow the caffeine commandments just as any other source of caffeine.

And so the 8th caffeine commandment is this:

Be mindful of the quality and quantity of your caffeine sources. 

10.“Thou shall honor the source of thy sacred energy”

Caffeine dependence is a real thing.

But at some point it becomes more mental than physical.

You start to believe that the reason you can do anything at all is because of caffeine.

You become stressed when you don’t get it and doubt about your ability starts creeping in.

Will you be able to finish the project, complete the workout or have the hard conversation?

When people live their entire lives caffeinated, they forget what they’re capable of.

They never get to experience their true potential and start doubting if it’s even there.

They start wondering if everything good that has ever happened in their lives was just a result of some external force (like caffeine) — that they’re actually nothing without it.

But dare to take the leap of faith, thrust yourself into life without caffeine and trust that the higher version of yourself will catch you.

Have faith that you and nothing else, is the source of your energy and potential.

It may sound wishy washy, but it’s true.

“But I can’t work without it. I can’t do anything without it”

Have some fucking faith in yourself. 

The reason you can work all day, push your body to its limits and do all these other amazing things – is not because of the caffeine – or anything else.

It is because of you.

The caffeine may have helped you channel your energy – but it was never your source of strength.

Dare to find your natural energy.

Improve it by mastering your sleep, diet and exercise routine.

Channel it by learning to control your emotions.

And use caffeine as a fine tool to enhance your life – not as something to depend on.

Such is the golden middle way of caffeine.

The Big Picture

Caffeine can either unlock your potential or trap you in a life of exhaustion & pain.

The key is to use it intelligently

The 10 Caffeine Commandments:

1. Time your caffeine for sleep

2. Wait for adenosine clearance

3. Embrace the caffeine sabbath

4. Beware of the caffeine ceiling

5. Balance caffeine & hydration

6. Mind caffeine & life enjoyment

7. Don’t drown your exhaustion in caffeine 

8. Program your mind with caffeine (for good)

9. Choose caffeine sources wisely

10.  Honor your natural energy

When you walk the golden middle way of caffeine you actually experience the benefits without having to rely on it to experience reality.

You avoid caffeine hell while still optimizing your performance.

You see that nothing in life is black and white, that the answer always lies in the middle of 2 extremes.

That the truth is found in both combined.

Learn to channel your potential with caffeine with the 10 commandments, but know that the source of the energy is always you.

You are the reason you are capable of amazing things.

Not some drug.

I asked ChatGPT to summarize the art of using caffeine. And I believe it’s the perfect segway into closing this letter.

But before that…

Thank you for investing your time and energy into something that will improve your life.

If you’ve enjoyed this or learned something, share, like and read through previous letters that spike your curiosity.

And now, I leave you in the metaphorical hands of my AI friend.

Peace.