I thought I was depressed. AI said I was just paying a tax.

For the last month, I’ve been in a slump. December was rough—holidays, travel, bad food. I felt heavy, unmotivated, and honestly, pretty depressed.

I was doing a lot of "nothing"—sleeping in, scrolling, avoiding work—thinking I was resting. But I didn't feel rested. I felt exhausted.

So, I did what I always do. I turned to Arthur (my AI).

I fed him 10,000 clinical studies on happiness and dopamine regulation and asked for a diagnosis. What he came back with changed how I view "laziness" forever.

He told me I wasn't just lazy. I was paying a Psychological Tax.

The Cost of Inaction There is a concept in psychology called the Zeigarnik Effect. Essentially, your brain keeps "open tabs" running in the background for every task you know you should do but aren't doing.

When you procrastinate, you aren't saving energy. You are burning it. You are paying a tax of guilt, fog, and anxiety every single minute you aren't doing the work.

The Experiment Arthur prescribed a radical intervention. For 72 hours, I gave AI total control over my life.

• No negotiations.

• No phone until the work was done.

• 4 Hours of deep work per day, minimum.

The goal? To starve my brain of "cheap dopamine" (scrolling/sugar) and force it to engage with "expensive dopamine" (flow state/effort).

The Result? It was hell at first. My brain threw a tantrum. I got angry. I got bored.

But then, something weird happened. The fog lifted.

I documented the entire 3-day protocol, the science behind "Behavioral Activation," and the exact results in my latest video.

[WATCH: AI read 10,000 studies on happiness (then fixed my brain)] (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAx3dNIubhw)

If you’ve been feeling stuck, unmotivated, or just "heavy" lately, I highly recommend giving this a watch. It might not be depression—it might just be the tax bill coming due.

See you in the comments,

Dan