A couple of months ago I tried a modafinil tablet when I had to do one of the many assignments I have for my current course (studying to be a high school maths/science/IT teacher). I have developed huge, unbearable ugh fields with the assignments for this course because they require me to write lots and lots of bullshit, which I am quite good at but despise doing.
Anyway, at the advice of another LW member I made a to-do list before I took the modafinil, and I found that I powered through the assignment without even feeling like a break. It took longer than expected (as usual) and I didn’t end up accomplishing anything else on the list, but I found I felt really positive and switched-on the whole time. I didn’t use modafinil again for a while.
So the other day, after a friend cajoled me for not experimenting again, I tried it out once more for a different context—this time playing a board game (Small World) at a friend’s place. I was curious to see if it would have any effects in a social context. Unfortunately this time I didn’t really notice any change at all, and afterwards I asked a couple of friends if I’d seemed different in any way and they hadn’t noticed anything either.
So I’m now thinking about trying some testing. I’ve debated buying a capsuling machine and making some placebo capsules but it seems like grinding and capsuling would be a lot of effort; someone suggested I could just just encase the pills in peanut butter or nutella or similar and swallow them that way. I have two housemates who could easily help me set up a double blind test.
I strongly advise against using modafinil casually. I advise conditioning yourself to work hard when you are energetic. Don’t get in the habit of being energetic and not getting things done.
If you’re going to be experimenting with placebos, I would suggest pre-committing to work hard after taking a capsule regardless of the apparent contents. Then you can examine the differential impact of modafinil versus just pre-committing to work hard for X hours. (I also recommend deciding on a break scheme for your X hours in advance. For example, take a ~10 min. walk/internet browse every 50 min., or have a certain number of timed breaks you can spend at your discretion. This sort of stuff has worked really well for me in the past.)
I’m going with the capsuling and placebo capsules. It seems like twenty minutes to prepare a few handfuls of capsules is a very small investment of effort to do this sort of test. (Although peanut butter sounds like a good idea too.) I’ve also never prepared capsules of anything before, so I get to do something new as a bonus.
Something that has proven successful for two people you and I know (Yuri, Ben) that might be helpful is making the to-do list, putting “today’s tablet” somewhere prominent, and then saying “I will only take the tablet if I can’t be otherwise productive.” This seems to produce productivity more reliably for them, than modafinil does for me.
Modafinil pills are always pretty small. They would fit in 00 pills without a problem—you would, in fact, need filler (like flour) to avoid any sort of rattling or movement or crumpling.
I’ve used the nutella/peanut butter method for regular pills, and it’s good for hiding the taste/texture of the pills but much less good for hiding their shape, especially if the pill is large. There’s also a non-zero amount of practice required to make sure that it’s completely encased, that you don’t accidentally expose it while swallowing, and so forth. I’d suggest practicing with vitamins/placebos first for a bit before you move on to the test.
A couple of months ago I tried a modafinil tablet when I had to do one of the many assignments I have for my current course (studying to be a high school maths/science/IT teacher). I have developed huge, unbearable ugh fields with the assignments for this course because they require me to write lots and lots of bullshit, which I am quite good at but despise doing.
Anyway, at the advice of another LW member I made a to-do list before I took the modafinil, and I found that I powered through the assignment without even feeling like a break. It took longer than expected (as usual) and I didn’t end up accomplishing anything else on the list, but I found I felt really positive and switched-on the whole time. I didn’t use modafinil again for a while.
So the other day, after a friend cajoled me for not experimenting again, I tried it out once more for a different context—this time playing a board game (Small World) at a friend’s place. I was curious to see if it would have any effects in a social context. Unfortunately this time I didn’t really notice any change at all, and afterwards I asked a couple of friends if I’d seemed different in any way and they hadn’t noticed anything either.
So I’m now thinking about trying some testing. I’ve debated buying a capsuling machine and making some placebo capsules but it seems like grinding and capsuling would be a lot of effort; someone suggested I could just just encase the pills in peanut butter or nutella or similar and swallow them that way. I have two housemates who could easily help me set up a double blind test.
Any advice?
I strongly advise against using modafinil casually. I advise conditioning yourself to work hard when you are energetic. Don’t get in the habit of being energetic and not getting things done.
If you’re going to be experimenting with placebos, I would suggest pre-committing to work hard after taking a capsule regardless of the apparent contents. Then you can examine the differential impact of modafinil versus just pre-committing to work hard for X hours. (I also recommend deciding on a break scheme for your X hours in advance. For example, take a ~10 min. walk/internet browse every 50 min., or have a certain number of timed breaks you can spend at your discretion. This sort of stuff has worked really well for me in the past.)
Thanks for this, the committing to work hard sounds like really good advice. I’ll do this too.
I’m going with the capsuling and placebo capsules. It seems like twenty minutes to prepare a few handfuls of capsules is a very small investment of effort to do this sort of test. (Although peanut butter sounds like a good idea too.) I’ve also never prepared capsules of anything before, so I get to do something new as a bonus.
(Background: I’m that friend)
Something that has proven successful for two people you and I know (Yuri, Ben) that might be helpful is making the to-do list, putting “today’s tablet” somewhere prominent, and then saying “I will only take the tablet if I can’t be otherwise productive.” This seems to produce productivity more reliably for them, than modafinil does for me.
Modafinil pills are always pretty small. They would fit in 00 pills without a problem—you would, in fact, need filler (like flour) to avoid any sort of rattling or movement or crumpling.
I’ve used the nutella/peanut butter method for regular pills, and it’s good for hiding the taste/texture of the pills but much less good for hiding their shape, especially if the pill is large. There’s also a non-zero amount of practice required to make sure that it’s completely encased, that you don’t accidentally expose it while swallowing, and so forth. I’d suggest practicing with vitamins/placebos first for a bit before you move on to the test.