Two liters of diet soda and an entire box of zebra cakes

Cognitive enhancers are substances, supplements and drugs people use to improve memory, increase mental alertness, expand creativity and boost energy levels.

We have everything from stimulants to natural nootropics to exotic herbs to synthetic compounds to prescription medications.

They’re called smart drugs. Or if you’re still in school, study drugs.

I saw a popular paper reporting that approximately twenty percent of college students have used prescription stimulants to enhance academic performance by increasing focus and productivity. By the second year of college, roughly half of college students have been offered the opportunity to use a prescription drug for that purpose.

What’s not to like? All of us at one time or another have dreamed of becoming more intelligent, learning things faster, thinking better, and being able to remember information.

Limitless is one of my favorite book turned movie of all time. I will never get tired of a story about a struggling writer who takes a mysterious pill that enables him to access one hundred percent of his brain’s abilities, and transforms himself into a financial wizard who can predict the future.

Kind of reminds me of my junior year of college.

I stayed up all night cramming for a marketing exam. I pounded two liters of diet soda and ate an entire box of zebra cakes to keep myself awake and focused. Those were my smart drugs.

Which sounds pathetic now that I think about it, but we all do dumb shit when we’re young.

The next morning I walked into class tweaked out of my mind. I finished the exam in forty minutes, and then slept it off for the rest of the afternoon. And can you guess what grade I got?

Seventy seven. Barely above average.

That was the first, last and only time I used that study strategy.

Maybe I should’ve taken an actual smart drug, rather than crushing caffeine and high fructose corn syrup.

Fast forward to twenty plus years later. It’s still never even crossed my mind to use a cognitive enhancer. For anything in my personal or professional lives.

Partly because I enjoy being sober. But the other thing is, do I realistically need to perform that high at anything I do? Not every task or situation requires peak cognitive execution.

Don’t get me wrong, I am an ambitious, hard working, high achieving, disciplined person. I love to excel, learn and grow.

But so far, my existing cognitive abilities, discipline, and productivity tools are already meeting most of my performance needs. I’m not sure what leveling up would do for me.