Lenses: Data dopamines, adaptation, and attempting

A lighter format experiment: three recent quotes that made me think again.

The Lenses series collects thoughts that might shift how you see things.

This doesn’t replace standard Perspectiveship’s articles about mental models and thinking frameworks. I’m trying something new today.

Enjoy today’s lenses:

1. Data dopamines

I check Stripe 100 times a day. I wish that was an exaggeration.

— Orel, My SaaS crossed $100K/year. I’ve never been more anxious.

I was guilty of it too! I looked at stats at least a few times a day.

Whenever an article reached the top of the subreddit r/programming, I would stare at the live analytics to see how many people were there, and which subpages were being clicked.

Looking at statistics can’t change them. But our actions can.

When I realised that these dopamine hits feel good in the moment but I’m not gaining anything from the observation, I decided to stop checking stats.

What worked for me was to block all sources of statistics. The more time the brain saw a blocked screen from the Freedom app, which locks all my devices, the easier it was to automatically stop opening a new tab and going to pages with stats.

I don’t have clear data, but given how much blocking helped me since the beginning of the year: I bet not looking at my stats improved them significantly because the energy I saved was redirected into acting.

And yes, sometimes I unblock myself, just to check the progress, but with a timer.

Do you check something unconsciously to get a dopamine hit? New e-mails, messages, statistics, likes?

2. Keep calm and adapt

W** is OpenClaw? I’ve been on paternity leave for a few weeks, and another completely new project exploded…

The pace of change in the last year has been completely crazy, and it’s not stopping.

But even if you don’t give in to the constant FOMO - it’s impossible to argue that the way we worked hasn’t changed. Almost every part of our work looks different, and will continue to evolve.

— Anton Zaides, Don’t become an Engineering Manager

Being completely offline for 10 days during my silent retreat sparked similar thoughts on our relationship with progress. AI is evolving a lot, new things are popping up fast. I got a great summary of recent events from my friend when I got back, and OpenClaw was the highlight, too.

The ability to learn and adapt remains one of the most important skills on the market.

Are we actually adapting to progress, or just reacting to the noise?

3. Attempting over learning

Learning more will increase knowledge, but only attempting more will reduce fear. The more you try it, the less you will fear it.

— James Clear, 3-2-1 (February 26, 2026)

Songs and poems sometimes align perfectly with our current state of mind.

For the last 5 days, I can’t stop listening to the poem IF by Rudyard Kipling. It just plays so well with my recent experiences. I’ve examined it through many lenses, but the ability to let go of our current ways of working, and learn new ones, got me thinking. It perfectly corresponded with the quote from James Clear:

(...)
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
(...) — IF by Rudyard Kipling

What if we needed to discard everything and start again?

Does trying AI more actually reduce our fear? Or does it make us fear it more, especially as new tools emerge?

Post Notes

It’s already more than a week since I got back home from a 10-day silent retreat. The next article in the queue will be focused on lessons from the retreat, on fighting my ego, time perception, and pain.

You can read about my previous experience, which was more focused on its shape and form:

This week, I’m also iterating heavily on the 2nd edition of 5D Decision-Making Pipeline cohort to deliver an even better framework for its participants. See you there!

Thanks for reading,
— Michał

P.S. Let me know if you enjoyed the experiment with a new format.