📧 Elevate Letter #52: The Dartmouth Scar Experiment

Plus: The hidden dangers of caffeine, Build a 'Rat Park", A quote on living in the present and An overlooked way to improve your life

Jun 15, 2025

Hey Ambitious,

Welcome to Elevate Letter!

If you're new here, this is the newsletter where every Sunday, I share the 5 best ideas I find each week to help you improve by 1% each day.

Let’s dive in!

A quote about living in the present

One of my favorite quotes from philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer:

I'm noticing a theme with all the items in this week's newsletter.

Might just be a coincidence, but I'm gonna lean into it.

An overlooked way to improve your life

We spend our lives waiting for something exceptional.
The weekend.
The promotion.
The perfect moment to begin.

Yet life, in its quiet honesty, is mostly Tuesdays.

Shaan Puri reminded me of this in a recent newsletter—and I’ve written about it too:
The Average Tuesday Rule.

The true measure of your life is not in its highlights,
but in the quality of its ordinary days.

We chase milestones, yet tolerate miserable middles.

But when your Tuesday—not your birthday, not your vacation—is an 8/10…
Everything shifts.

Suddenly,
bad days don’t feel fatal.
Good days feel like gifts.
And life begins to feel like something worth inhabiting, not just surviving.

Most advice tries to raise your ceiling.

This?
It raises your floor.

And perhaps that's the wiser pursuit.

Transform your life by building a 'Rat Park'

Sometimes, wisdom doesn’t arrive from books or mentors.
It shows up quietly—on Reddit, no less.

This week, I came across a reflection on addiction.
A user asked why it felt so effortless to quit smoking, drinking, or doom-scrolling while on vacation…
Yet the moment they returned home, old habits reclaimed them.

The top reply didn’t offer hacks.
It offered perspective.

“You don’t have an addiction problem. You have a Rat Park problem.”

It referenced a 1970s experiment: Rats, when isolated in cages with only drugs for company, quickly became addicts. But when placed in a rich environment—full of toys, tunnels, and other rats—they ignored the drugs.

The implication?
Change the cage, not just the behavior.

So often, we try to fix ourselves inside broken environments.
We blame willpower.
But maybe it’s the setting that needs changing.

Before you judge your failures, ask first about your park.

Of all the things I read this week, this stayed with me the longest.
Maybe it’ll stay with you, too.

A mind-bending experiment that stayed with me long after I read it:

Shared by my friend Sahil Bloom, it’s called The Dartmouth Scar Experiment.

In 1980, a psychologist painted a scar on the face of each participant.
They were told it would remain visible during their interviews.
But just before the sessions began, the scar was quietly removed.

The participants—believing the scar was still there—walked into the room and began to notice things:

Glances.
Judgment.
Discomfort.
Powerlessness.

Except…
None of it was real.

There was no scar.
Only the belief in one.

And that belief shaped everything.

We often carry unseen marks.
Not on our faces—but in our minds.
Stories we tell ourselves about being less-than, misunderstood, held back.

But what if the scar was never really there?

The Dartmouth Scar Experiment is not just about perception.
It’s about power.

When we place our failures in the hands of the world,
we give it control.
But when we look inward,
when we reclaim our role in the story,
we begin to write a different ending.

Life is not fair.
It never promised to be.

But the question isn’t what’s in your way?
It’s what are you believing about yourself because of it?

Look inward.
Not out.
Take back the pen.

If you drink coffee every day, read this - Thread from Hussain Ibarra

I recently gave up caffeine.

Let me be clear, I DID NOT give up coffee (that would be crazy).

I simply switched to decaf.

Here are a few observations after 3 weeks:

There were some initial withdrawals: Honestly, the first few days were a bit rough. Headaches and fatigue set in as my body adjusted. This was a clear sign that I had developed at least a slight dependence.
I'm less anxious: As the withdrawals faded, a nice calm set in. As someone who is predisposed to anxiety, caffeine is not my friend. Switching to decaf has allowed me to enjoy my coffee without the accompanying jitters and racing thoughts.
I have ZERO problems falling asleep: In the past, I struggled to fall asleep on days when I had a second cup of coffee. Now I can drink decaf late into the evening with no issues.

I'm not saying everyone should give up caffeine.

But if you drink coffee every day, it's definitely worth cutting back to see the impact it's actually having on you.

If you don't use X (Twitter), you can read the thread here.