The Counterintuitive: Quitting Coffee

At Nova May we like to experiment. To challenge existing norms and groupthink. To question the commonly held beliefs in search for progression and perhaps advantage. The elusive edge.

90% of this process produces nothing. It is all part of the feedback loop though. 10% of the time the process hits pure gold: making the experimentation process extremely worthwhile.

Recently the process struck pure gold when I decided to give up coffee. I am currently trying to establish a regular meditation practice and I found that I was struggling to settle into the meditations.

The decision to give up coffee appeared, on the surface, to be counterintuitive and possibly foolhardy. Less sleep and massive amounts of caffeine are held to be badges of honour. There is a bizarre delight in telling others how little sleep people endure.

I decided to test the opposite of this logic by quitting coffee. After a month though I can say that this experiment produced some profound and positive effects.

For brevity I’ve given my top 5 insights below.

 1) Fewer Mistakes. Mistakes are costly. In every area of your life. The adage of measuring twice and cutting once is a sound one. Ask anyone who has toiled with a project only to find a critical mistake has ruined all the previous work. There appeared to be fewer mistakes made whilst abstaining from my usual high caffeine intake.

2) Mental Clarity. Surprisingly life without caffeine produced a high degree of mental clarity. Less jittery angst. This was a particularly unexpected side effect.

3) Better Sleep. This area definitely increased greatly. With the same amount of sleep the reduced caffeine intake definitely made the sleep more refreshing, deeper and regenerative. The other benefits are perhaps attributable to this one factor.

4) Better Decisions. A compound benefit definitely of the knock on effects from the experiment. Entirely noticeable and definite. After the initial 30 day period I thought about returning to caffeine. Until I realised the major benefit with decision making and the positive spiral.

5) Increased Confidence. Perhaps in part due to the other benefits I noticed a definite confidence boost. The discipline of sticking to the experiment perhaps contributed, however the calm and steady stillness definitely brought an increased level of confidence.

Nova May helps businesses to grow and increase profits using a wide range of digital services: social media management, website design, digital advertising and search engine optimisation. If you would like to get in touch for a free initial consultation use the contact form below.

7 thoughts on “The Counterintuitive: Quitting Coffee”

  1. Right here is the perfect site for anyone who would like to find out about
    this topic. You know a whole lot its almost tough to argue with you (not that I actually will need to…HaHa).
    You certainly put a fresh spin on a subject that has been written about for a long time.
    Wonderful stuff, just excellent!

  2. You can certainly see your enthusiasm in the article
    you write. The sector hopes for even more passionate writers like you who are not afraid to say
    how they believe. At all times go after your heart.

  3. Magnificent beat ! I wish to apprentice even aѕ you amend your
    site, how can i subѕcribe for a weblog site?
    The account helped me a applicable deal.

    I were tiny bit acquainted of this your broadcast ߋffered vibrant transparent concept.

    1. Glad to hear you liked it! Under the blog post is a link to put your email address into. Never miss a blog post again!

Comments are closed.