The Right Way To Drink Caffeine For Finding The Flow State

July 23, 2023

I've always been against caffeine. I never wanted to depend on it for energy.

However, I recently watched an amazing video by Rian Doris on how to use caffeine correctly to enter the "Flow State."

This video was so valuable that I want to share its lessons with you in this short post.

Rian starts by breaking down the different types of views around caffeine.

4 Types Of People When It Comes to Caffeine:

  1. The Reformed: This is you if you were once a caffeine addict but have now completely given it up. You've experienced the negative effects and decided to stop taking it.
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  2. The Skeptic: This is you if you believe caffeine is harmful or unhealthy, disrupts your energy balance or sleep, and you're not comfortable relying on external energy sources. So, you avoid caffeine altogether.
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  3. The Unmindful User: This is you if you consume caffeine without much thought or intention. You often overdo it and, while you're not certain of its potential harm, you know you're not using it optimally.
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  4. Mindful Master: This is the goal, the one who uses caffeine like a pro, leveraging it to dive deep into focus and achieve peak performance.
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I've personally always been a caffeine skeptic. I didn't take any caffeine for my first 26 years. I don't really like coffee that much. I've never wanted to be like people who say: "I don't function without my morning coffee."

I thought that if I built the habit of taking caffeine, I would end up like those people. Even worse, the caffeine wouldn't even do anything anymore. I would just end up needing it to maintain baseline energy.

Since I don't really enjoy coffee, I had to find an alternative. My brother introduced me to Yerba Mate, which I like a lot better. It's a traditional South American drink that looks like tea, but it's prepared in a special way and drunk with a straw. This is what mine looks like:

I've been drinking mate for the past year. However, I often fall out of the habit and only have it once or twice a week. After learning more about the correct ways to use caffeine, I want to finally start incorporating it into my daily routine.

Rian came up with "The 6 Commandments of Caffeine." Here's my simplified version of each commandment:

The 6 Rules of Caffeine.

1. Train Yourself To Enter The Flow State With Caffeine

Use caffeine to improve your work and focus.

2. Use Caffeine To Overcome The "Struggle" Stage To Find The Flow State.

In order to reach a flow state, we need to go through a stage of struggle. Caffeine can help us overcome that stage.

3. Improve The Timing Of When To Drink Coffee.

It is better to wait at least 30 minutes after waking up before consuming caffeine, ideally 90 minutes. To avoid disrupting sleep at night, it is better to stop consuming caffeine 10 hours before bedtime.

4. Adjust How Much Caffeine You Consume Depending On Your Level Of Tiredness.

Caffeine works much better after a good night's sleep, which helps us enter the flow state. However, after a bad night's sleep, caffeine can be used to power us through. In those cases, it's better to take 50% more than usual, but this needs to be a rare exception since, above all else, we need to prioritize improving our sleep.

5. Combine caffeine with L-Theanine (A supplement).

L-Theanine is a supplement that works really well with caffeine to give us that extra boost of energy to help us find a flow state.

  • There are a few methods to take caffeine:
  • Coffee
  • Yerba Mate
  • Tea
  • Energy Drink

L-Theanine is a supplement usually found in green tea. Personally, I try to complement my caffeine intake with some additional tea. However, it seems like L-Theanine can also be found as a separate pill supplement if you prefer that method instead.

6. Take Breaks From Caffeine Every Now And Then

It's good to avoid caffeine once a week to ensure that you are still sensitive to its effects. Additionally, it's recommended to take a full week break every three months.
This resolves my concern about not wanting to become desensitized to caffeine.

There you go, that's what I've learned from Rian's excellent video. To go deeper highly recommend checking it out on YouTube:

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