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Leverage Dopamine to Overcome Procrastination & Optimize Effort | Huberman Lab Podcast

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This podcast episode delves into the neurobiology of dopamine, explaining its role beyond pleasure to encompass motivation, drive, and overcoming procrastination. It provides practical, science-backed tools to leverage dopamine dynamics for enhanced mental health, physical health, and performance.

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welcome to the huberman Lab podcast

where we discuss science and

I'm Andrew huberman and I'm a professor

of neurobiology and Ophthalmology at

Stanford school of medicine today we are

discussing dopamine dopamine is a topic

that I've covered before on this podcast

and many people have heard of dopamine

most people know that dopamine is

involved in pleasure to some extent or

another and nowadays people are starting

to appreciate that dopamine is also

intimately involved with motivation

drive and pursuit

well today you're going to learn that

indeed dopamine is responsible for all

of those things but you are also going

to learn that dopamine is critical for

overcoming procrastination for ensuring

ongoing motivation and indeed for

ensuring confidence in fact we are going

to talk about the relationship between

dopamine and motivation and confidence

at the level of neurobiological

circuitry and we are going to cover

tools that will allow you to leverage

your dopamine in order to have a maximum

motivation to overcome sticking points

which include things like

procrastination but also by

understanding the neural circuits in the

brain and body that release and use

dopamine but more importantly by

understanding what are called dopamine

dynamics that is what gives rise to Big

peaks in dopamine or troughs in dopamine

or what's referred to as our Baseline

level of dopamine which turns out to be

our Baseline levels of motivation and

feelings of well-being by understanding

how those things relate to one another I

assure you that by the end of today's

episode you will be in a far better

position to understand why you become a

motivated why you procrastinate how to

ensure motivation on an ongoing basis

and even how to leverage effort and the

desire to become motivated as a way to

do just that to become more motivated

today's discussion is not about

psychology although I will center around

practical everyday examples and offer

many many tools that you can Implement

if you choose today's discussion is

really about pulling apart these things

that we call motivation reward pleasure

procrastination and understanding them

in terms of their dopamine Dynamics so

whether you've heard me or others talk

about dopamine before or whether or not

today is your first exposure to the

topic of dopamine today's episode is

really designed to give you the

biological and practical knowledge so

that you can leverage your dopamine

circuitry and your dopamine levels as

well as tools to adjust dopamine

circuitry and levels in order to

optimize mental health physical health

and performance before we begin I'd like

to emphasize that this podcast is

separate from my teaching and research

roles at Stanford it is however part of

my desire and effort to bring zero cost

to Consumer information about science

and science related tools to the general

public in keeping with that theme I'd

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livmomentis.com huberman okay let's talk

about dopamine what is dopamine dopamine

is what's called a neuromodulator which

simply refers to the fact that it's a

chemical that modulates or changes the

electrical activity of other cells and

the cells I'm referring to are neurons

neurons are just nerve cells so you have

a brain and a spinal cord and the

neurons in your brain and spinal cord

connect to one another and they connect

to different areas of the body including

basically every organ of your body and

every organ of your body communicates

back to your brain and spinal cord

through Direct act or indirect Pathways

for instance you have neurons in your

gut that sense what sorts of nutrients

you've eaten or drank and then send

neural signals electrical signals up to

the brain and indeed that whole process

happens to be modulated by dopamine

dopamine as a neuromodulator has the

basic property of either ramping up

increasing or decreasing the activity of

other neurons and that's done by

adjusting things like electrical

potentials and things of that sort that

we really won't go into this episode but

that I promise to get into in detail in

a future episode if you're interested in

the biochemistry and biophysics of

neurons and things of that sort

so we have this neuromodulator dopamine

and we know that that neuromodulator can

increase or decrease the activity of

other neurons

so then we have to ask ourselves where

is dopamine released in the brain and

body and what specific types of neurons

is it impacting in other words what

specific types of functions does

dopamine have so there are basically

five circuits within the brain that use

dopamine as the primary neuromodulator

and those five circuits engage different

but related functions so I'm going to go

through them one by one relatively

quickly giving you a little bit of

nomenclature and some sense of what each

of those circuits looks like and what it

does the first circuit is the so-called

Nigro striatal pathway so in the back of

the brain there's an area called

substantia so named because the

neurons that are actually very dark they

actually contain pigment you'd be able

to see this if I were to slice up a

brain you'd see two dark regions in the

back that substantia Niagara substantia

Niagara contains neurons that are chock

a block full of dopamine but they

release that dopamine in a brain

structure called the striatum the

striatum is involved in movement both

the initiation of movements and the

suppression of movements in so-called go

action and no go suppress action

pathways topic for a future podcast the

second brain circuit that uses and

leverages dopamine to a great extent is

the so-called mesolimbic pathway now

you'll also in a moment hear about the

mesocortical pathway so today I'm going

to talk about these somewhat

interchangeably at times but where it's

important for me to differentiate

between them I will do that both of

these Pathways initiate from a set of

neurons in the so-called ventral

tegmental area or VTA I will use that

acronym VTA the VTA functions in close

partnership with a different brain

structure called the nucleus accumbens

or n a i don't think I'll call it n a

today I'll talk about VTA ventral

tegmental area and I'll talk about

nucleus accumbens for sake of today's

discussion you can lump those together

if you want

neurons in those areas project a bunch

of different places but in the

mesolimbic pathway those neurons are

projecting to areas of the brain like

the hypothalamus which sits right above

the roof of your mouth and is

responsible for a lot of basic functions

things like maintaining your body

temperature for libido in the pursuit of

sex for Hunger for the generation of

signals to the pituitary gland that

cause the release of

hormones and other things into the

bloodstream so the connections which I

sometimes refer to as projections from

the neurons in the VTA and nucleus

accumbens to the hypothalamus are

basically using dopamine to modulate the

output of a lot of different things that

happen in this hypothalamus that

controls a lot of we could call them

primitive functions but they're really

basic functions for survival now the

other pathway out of the VTA and nucleus

accumbens is to the cortex that's why

it's called mesocortical pathway so this

is a very different pathway out of the

VTA and nucleus accumbens than the one I

just described a moment ago the pathway

I'm talking about now the mesocortical

pathway projects to the prefrontal

cortex which is a structure that many of

you have perhaps heard of but even if

you haven't it's important to know this

is an area that resides right behind

your forehead

and that in humans compared to other

species is greatly expanded in terms of

its size and complexity of function so

it's involved in everything from

planning and executing of action to

making good or bad decisions depending

on context in fact one of the primary

functions of prefrontal Cortex is to

really understand context whether or not

for instance you are alone in your room

where certain behaviors are appropriate

whether or not you are at work where

other behaviors are appropriate

understanding what the context is and

therefore what sorts of actions need to

be generated and suppressed in fact a

guest on the huberman Lab podcast and

this is a guess whose episode hasn't

aired yet described this beautifully

he's a neurosurgeon and he said the way

to think about the prefrontal cortex is

it's basically an area of the brain that says

says

or no not now to other brain regions in

order to suppress action we know this

because people that have damage to the

prefrontal cortex

often can't suppress their impulses okay

so the pathway from VTA and nucleus

accumbens to the prefrontal cortex is

absolutely critical for today's

discussion because we are largely going

to be discussing motivation Drive

Pursuit procrastination and all sorts of

things that have to do with our feelings

about context whether or not we want to

do something or not whether or not we

feel we should or we shouldn't whether

or not we feel we failed the last time

or there's a high probability of success

the next time prefrontal cortex does

many many things but when thinking about

dopamine's role in the prefrontal cortex

that is when thinking about this

mesocortical pathway we really want to

think about how dopamine is activating

or changing our propensity to do certain

things and get us into action or prevent

us from doing certain things and prevent

action so basically you can think about

the mesocortical pathway as a circuit

that really governs all of the major

choices that you're going to make in

life about what to do and what not to do

toward your goals and away from the

things that you want to avoid now the

fourth dopamine pathway in the brain is

the so-called tubero infundibular

pathway and this is not one we're going

to focus on too much today this is a

pathway that relates to connections

between the brain and your pituitary

gland your pituitary gland being that

gland that's as I mentioned a moment ago

is also receiving input from the

hypothalamus and is releasing a bunch of

hormones into your bloodstream things

like luteinizing hormone follicle

stimulating hormone things like

melanocortin hormone these are hormones

that are impacting everything from the

function of the ovary and females to the

function of the testes and males it's

governing things like cortisol release

under stress thyroid hormone meaning

it's regulating thyroid hormone release

and on and on dopamine has a very

powerful impact on the output of the

pituitary so again that's probably a

topic for a future episode but it's

important in reviewing the different

brain circuits that use dopamine as a

neuromodulator that I mentioned that one

then there's a fifth one and this fifth

one is not often discussed and again

won't be the main topic of today's

discussion but for thoroughness and for

clarity it's important that we mention

it this is the circuit within your

retina that is the pie crust-like lining

of neural tissue on the back of your eye

because remember your eye is actually

part of your brain that got extruded

from your brain during development you

know those two eyes that you see in the

mirror and that you see in other people

are actually two pieces of central

nervous system and within the retina

which is the neural portion of the eye

within the neural retina

dopamine is responsible for adapting to

different light conditions so that you

can see clearly both in the evening and

when it gets darker you can still see a

bit and in the morning when it's very

bright you don't really have to make

adjustments to your visual system in

order to see clearly your visual system

does it for you and one of the ways that

it does that is through the

neuromodulator dopamine so today we are

not going to discuss the retinal

dopamine Pathways or the

tuberinfrendibular dopamine Pathways and

we won't really talk so much about the

Nigro striatal pathway I'll say one more

thing about it and then I'll leave it

alone we are going to talk about the

mesocortical pathway and we might touch

on the mesolimic pathway a little bit as

well so today we're mostly going to talk

about mesocortical circuitry and

function and dopamine within the

mesocortical circuit and the reason that

we're doing that is that today's

discussion is really about motivation

procrastination goal setting and pursuit

it's very important to understand that

neither dopamine nor the mesocortical

circuit cares about any specific goal or

Pursuit this is a circuit that uses

dopamine in order to pursue anything

now of course some people have a greater

propensity to pursue things like work or

goals and Athletics or relationships or

a combination of those other people

unfortunately have a greater propensity

to pursue things like drugs of abuse

what are drugs of abuse drugs of abuse

tend to be drugs that increase levels of

dopamine to the extent that other types

of Pursuits in life that are adaptive

for us like work relationship School Etc

become Irrelevant in fact the definition

of addiction that I use and that I

believe really matches the neurobiology

very well is that addiction is a

progressive narrowing of the things that

bring us pleasure healthy functioning of

the mesocortical pathway however allows

us to toggle or switch back and forth

between different types of Pursuits of

all the sorts that I've mentioned

earlier so if we can understand how that

means the cortical pathway works just a

little bit in particular when dopamine

is released and when it's not released

what dopamine does when it's released to

our sense of motivation and drive

and if we can understand a little bit

about how our recent dopamine history

that is whether or not there is dopamine

in our system already

dictates whether or not we are going to

feel motivated in the next 5 10 15

minutes hours days and weeks that is all

very easy to understand I promise I'll

explain it to you in a simple way but I

want you to get a circuit into your mind

I want you to Envision that there are

these neurons little nerve cells in the

VTA and nucleus accumbens those neurons

make dopamine they send their

projections that we call axons which are

like little wires and they can release

dopamine into the prefrontal cortex and

now you already know because you learned

it a few minutes ago that the prefrontal

cortex then can ensure that certain

behaviors take place and other behaviors

do not take place that or quieting that

we talked about earlier

with that in mind let's now take a look

at how dopamine is released and let's

keep two things in mind there are peaks

in dopamine that is dopamine is released

into the frontal cortex where it has

these effects of activating or

suppressing action

and we can think of those as peaks in

dopamine so if I call it a spike that

means an increase and then a decrease if

I call it a peak it's an increase and

then a decrease there can also be

troughs in dopamine what do I mean by

that well we have Peaks and dopamine and

that Peak and dopamine can rise up and

then go back to what we call baseline or

there can be a trough it can go below

Baseline so the two key things to

understand about dopamine is that we

have dopamine Peaks that are triggered

by certain behaviors certain compounds

drugs or substances food

Etc and that we have a dopamine Baseline

our dopamine Baseline is our reservoir

of dopamine it's how full or empty our

dopamine pool is and that dopamine pool

is the pool of dopamine that we use in

order to create those dopamine Peaks and

when those Peaks come down sometimes

they go back to Baseline and sometimes

they go to lower the base slime which we

call the trough

if any of this seems confusing I want

you just to imagine a wave pool this is

an analogy that was given to me by one

of our podcast guests which is Dr Kyle

Gillette who's an obesity specialist and

works on a number of things related to

endocrine hormone function including

testosterone estrogen in both men and

women you want to check out his episodes

on Hormone Health

now they're fascinating and actionable

he's a tremendous wealth of knowledge

and he has this analogy for how dopamine

Works in our brain and body and that

analogy is this notion of a wave pool if

you've ever seen a wave pool it's

basically a concrete pool and there are

waves within it okay duh those waves can

be of different heights so they can be

little Ripples and we can think of those

as little mini Peaks or they can be big

waves they can be really big crashing waves

waves

if the height of those waves and the

frequency of those waves is very very

large so some of that water which here

I'm using as an analogy to dopamine can

slosh out of the wave pool and the

Baseline drops However if those Peaks

are small enough

or they are seldom enough

well then the Baseline that is the water

level in that pool stays more or less

constant I think this is an excellent

analogy for how dopamine works in the

mesocortical pathway as it relates to

motivation and pursuit and all those

sorts of things because we really need

to think about how the Peaks and the

Baseline relate to one another

and this is very important the Peaks on

the Baseline are not independent of one

another they relate to one another so

now you have in your mind a wave pool

and just understand that if you get a

great big huge wave maybe one of them it

will crash out and some of that water

will Splash out the Baseline will go

down a little bit but if you get big

peak after big peak after big peak

pretty soon you're going to empty that

pool whereas if you have smaller waves

or less frequent big waves well then the

Baseline will stay relatively constant

so let's think about dopamine Peaks and

bass lines and let's remember that for

every Peak there's a trough what do I

mean by that well when you have a wave

you also have the bottom of the wave

when you have a mountain you have the

bottom of the mountain

when we think about dopamine Peaks and

dopamine baselines we have to include

that trough because that trough that is

the level of dopamine below Baseline

really dictates whether or not you are

going to feel motivated to pursue

something or not so I'm going to give

you a visual in your mind the visual in

your mind is an increase in dopamine

that's triggered by your desire for

something and really could be your

desire for anything if you're hungry and

you're thinking about I really want a

sandwich I really want to let's think

what sandwich would I want right now a

really nice roast beef sandwich on

sourdough with a slice of Swiss Tomatoes

slice of pickle here I'm describing the

sandwich that I would want so if you're

hungry and you're thinking about that

dopamine starts Rising this is crucially

important to understand dopamine is not

just released when we get the reward

when we get the thing that we're

pursuing dopamine is released in

anticipation of what we want

that increase in dopamine

is by no happenstance no mistake

relates also to our propensity and

desire to move remember earlier I told

you there's a separate Circuit of

dopamine that triggers movement and that

when it's depleted is causing things

like deficits and movement related to

Parkinson's or other movement disorders

well that's not pure coincidence that's

because desire and the need to move in

order to pursue and reach goals are one

in the same process

so if I desire a sandwich or I desire a

cup of coffee or I desire some water

when I'm thirsty there's an increase in

dopamine that we could call a little

mini Peak and dopamine

but then here's the key thing very soon

after I realized my desire for something

that Peak that was caused by the desire

comes down and drops below Baseline

below the level of dopamine that it was

prior to even thinking about the

sandwich or the coffee or the glass of water

water

and it's that drop below Baseline that

triggers my desire to go out and find

that sandwich that coffee that water or

that blank insert whatever it is that

you happen to desire action or substance

of any kind or person Etc

so that drop below Baseline is

fundamental to the whole process and

that drop below Baseline was triggered

by the preceding Peak so let's say that

I desire a sandwich there's an increase

in dopamine then very quickly it comes

down below Baseline just a little bit

now I'm in pursuit of the sandwich I'm

looking for where I can get that

sandwich I can order it perhaps to be

delivered I can go out and find it

now is the stage in which I have to

think about what are the different

stimuli that is the things in my

environment that signal whether or not

I'm likely to get that sandwich or not

okay so for instance if I were to go to

my phone and order food on an app or

walk down the street and see the sign

for a deli that's a cue that I'm likely

to relieve that drop in dopamine and get

not just back to Baseline but then I'll

get a peak in dopamine and indeed that's

what happens if I find that Deli I go

into the deli they're open they're

making the sandwich that I want they

make my sandwich and great I get that

sandwich and that sandwich will have

some degree of inherent reward to it

some degree of my liking it or not

liking it so let's say I like it it's

not the best sandwich I've ever had but

all I'm doing is comparing my desire for

that sandwich to the sandwich that I

actually got and ate and chances are

it's going to relieve that craving

meaning it will take that dopamine that

had fallen below Baseline up up back to

Baseline and if I like the sandwich it's

going to indeed increase that dopamine

again to another Peak

now if I love the sandwich like it's the

most delicious thing that I've ever

tasted in my entire life well then I'll

get a big peak in dopamine when I

consume that reward however chances are

that sandwiches more or less as I expect

it to be which is pretty good I'll eat

it and I'm fine what do I mean by fine

well there's a concept called reward

prediction error reward prediction error

says that the dopamine that it is

experienced that is that's released from

the VTA and nucleus accumbens

is going to be of a certain value and

that value is going to be compared to

the desire and expectation of what I

thought I was going to get so if you

take what you actually got minus what

you expected that's reward prediction

error so if the sandwich is basically

what I expected to get fine dopamine

comes down basically to a baseline level

that's pretty standard for me and is

basically the Baseline level I had

before I ever thought about the sandwich

at all

if the sandwich completely surprises me

and is completely amazing just an

amazing sandwich well then the level of

dopamine that I experience when I

consume that sandwich is going to be

even greater and it's going to be that

minus what I expected so there it's a

bigger reward prediction error in the

direction of higher Peak by consuming

the sandwich

and then of course there's the other

possibility which is the deli's closed

or the sandwich they make me is lousy or

doesn't taste good or something happened

in the consuming of that sandwich that

just makes a bad experience in which

case if we take that reward experienced

minus reward predicted from the initial

craving well then it's going to be less

than what I expected and therefore the

Baseline drops below where it was prior

to even Desiring the sandwich okay so

all of this might seem a little bit

complicated but it's all very simple

desire for things increases dopamine

but then our level of dopamine drops

below Baseline and it's that drop below

Baseline that triggers the motivation to

bring that dopamine level back up by

going and pursuing the thing that you

wanted in the first place now of course

as this is happening you're not

conscious of your dopamine levels you

experience this as context-dependent

craving and pursuit because remember the

prefrontal cortex is involved in context

setting and craving and pursuit because

it relates to action and movement which

is one of the general features of the

dopamine system so you can start to see

how this is a beautifully designed

system and you can also see how it's a

perfect system for desire and pursuit of

anything not just sandwiches as I'm

giving you in this somewhat trivial but

every day and therefore applicable

example so just by understanding reward

prediction error and especially by

understanding that a craving triggers a

peak in dopamine that makes you

motivated but then drops your level of

dopamine below Baseline which makes you

even more motivated

you are already halfway through the

conceptual aspect of today's podcast

because if you can understand that you

will understand why for instance when

you initially want something or you

think you want something

it puts you into motion but then pretty

quickly you're starting to feel the pain

of not having that and that is also

contributing to your desire to pursue

that thing this is a subtle effect but

if you watch for it you'll start to see

it or experience it within yourself your

craving for things is not just about

craving for those things per se it's

also a desire to relieve the pain of not

having those things and if you can

internalize that and start to develop an

awareness around it you will be in an

amazing position to leverage all sorts

of aspects of the dopamine system in

order to increase your motivation

especially when things get really hard

or when you have the propensity to

procrastinate which is something that

we'll get into a little bit later in the

podcast I'd like to take a quick break

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to get the five free travel packs and

the year supply of vitamin D3 K2 now I'd

like to talk about the Dynamics of

dopamine release with a little bit more

detail and this is something I've never

covered on any social media post or on

any podcast either this one or as a

guest on other podcasts because on the

face of it it might seem a little too

detailed like why is he telling me all

this isn't it just enough to know that

there are Peaks and troughs and bass

lines and dopamine well it turns out

that if you can understand what that

Peak and trough are really about in

other words what's really happening when

we zoom in on that Peak and trough

you'll be in an amazing position to

overcome procrastination and essentially

pursue any goals in an ongoing basis so

I'm very excited to share this

information with you because I do think

that it has tremendous actionable power

what I'm about to describe relates to a

number of different findings that have

been made mostly over the last five to

ten years although to be quite direct

mostly within the last five years and it

has to do with the fact that the peak

and trough and Baseline that I talked

about a moment ago that are associated

with craving

they look like a peak followed by a

trough followed by a return to Baseline

and maybe another Peak if you get the

reward or a drop below Baseline if you

don't or you don't like what you got

but if we were to zoom in on that Peak

and the reward in other words really

zoom in on the whole process and start

thinking about the circuitry that is the

neurons in VTA and nucleus accumbens and

how it relates to the frontal cortex in

a bit more detail what we discover is

nothing short of amazing

what we discover is that whenever we're

pursuing something we are always looking

for cues as to whether or not we are on

the right path

to achieve that thing and we are also

setting a mindset or a context within

our brains

as to whether or not we are confident or

pessimistic as to whether or not we're

going to achieve that thing now this is

vitally important for anyone out there

who finds it hard to get motivated and

stay motivated it's also vitally

important for anyone who's

psychologically minded in any way you

don't have to be a psychologist but

psychologically minded in any way and

wonders why is it that some people are

just so motivated and other people have

such trouble with motivation why is it

that some people require perfect

conditions in order to achieve things

and other people just seem to manage to

pursue things no matter what it also

relates to the fact that some of us are

very good at achieving our goals in one

context and not so much in another so

here's what you need to understand

I'll stay with the example of the roast

beef sandwich just because we already

have that in mind but you can replace

roast beef sandwich with essentially any goal

the cue that we're going to likely

get what we want so for instance the

sign that there's a deli on the corner

or that I open my phone and that there's

an app

that represents a restaurant that sells

the particular sandwich that I like that

cue as I mentioned before increases

dopamine you see that like oh okay and

subconsciously there's already a signal

that's initiated by that dopamine that

I'm on the right path

then as I mentioned dopamine drops below

Baseline that's further contributing to

my desire to go pursue that sandwich

either with my thumbs on my phone

through the app or with my feet and

walking to the deli standing in line and

so forth

then as I mentioned before there is a

peak in dopamine of varying height

depending on how satisfying I find the

reward to be

when I actually get that sandwich get

that goal

now keep in mind there is some time

delay between the queue

the app the deli

Etc and when I get my sandwich

that Gap is going to be different for

different things so in pursuing uh you

know four-year degree it's going to be

four years if the diploma is your goal

if if it's an exam you're studying for

it might be a week long

and there will be many other signals in

between that initial cue that hey the

the reward likely lies down this path in

this textbook in um on you know this

dating app or at that Deli there are

many other cues

those cues come in subconsciously and

involve everything from how long the

line is at the deli to you know whether

or not you're you know seeing the types

of people on a dating app that you'd

like to see whether or not they're

responding to you whether or not

someone's texting you back or not

all of those cues are integrated and

adjusting your Baseline level of

dopamine all the time

as you go to pursue that goal

so what the dopamine system does is it

doesn't just compare the height of the

Peak at the beginning right the I desire

that to the reward that you got we

talked about reward prediction error

that's the that's the

kind of first grade version of reward

prediction error it's also taking into

account all the things that happen in

between and all of that is serving as a

cue for the eventual reward and all of

that is funneling into what we call

reward prediction error

in other words the dopamine system is

very good at subconsciously parsing what

are the things that happen between

wanting and getting

and that's part of the learning that

dopamine achieves and indeed there are

specialized circuits from the VTA and

nucleus accumbens that are involved in

just the learning of how we achieve or

don't achieve specific types of rewards

that we desire so this is called reward

contingent learning because it's

learning the contingencies of what led

up to a reward or what didn't lead up to

a reward

at the same time end in parallel there's

an ongoing release of dopamine in the

background and that ongoing release of

dopamine that has nothing to do with

learning is really just sort of a

propeller that's driving us in the

direction of whatever it is that we're

trying to pursue

so I realize for some of you this might

seem like unnecessary or perhaps even an

overwhelming amount of detail

but it's actually quite simple

your brain is trying to figure out what

happened prior to getting or not getting

a reward and it's comparing what you

wanted compared to what you got

at the same time the dopamine system

initiates a motivation signal that takes

you through that entire round of pursuit

and those three things there's the

stimulus the desire the I want that

that's the first thing that leads to

that Peak the peak drops a little bit

below Baseline and it triggers

motivation the motivation is the second thing

thing

the motivation is dopamine release also

but from a separate set of neurons

within this circuit driving you forward

and the entire time that it's driving

you forward

it's paying attention to what's there

along the way even if you don't realize

it consciously and then there's the

reward itself or the lack of reward

itself so those three components

the learning contingency which has to do

with the stimulus and the reward

and everything that happens in between

and the propeller nature of dopamine as

I'm referring to it those all combine

into a total learning so that after you

get the sandwich or after you finish the

exam or after you go out on a date or

after you do anything that you desire to do

that system that originates in the VTA

and nucleus accumbens and goes up to

your cortex it learned it learned many

things it learned the contingency

between stimulus and desire motivation

and whether or not you succeeded or not

it's basically a scoreboard for how you

did given what just happened

so actually it's all very simple in fact

if you can understand even just half of

what I just said

you are now in a far better position to

understand everything from addiction to

motivation to procrastination and it

will make sense of all the tools that

I'm going to talk about next which will

allow you to overcome procrastination

points to overcome deficits in

motivation and indeed to reset your

motivation in an ongoing way so that you

can reach your goals okay so let's take

everything that I just told you and set

it aside it's still important but let's

just say this you don't have to think

about any of those details or names or anything

anything

let's just think about addiction

because in biology and in Psychology

frankly it really often pays to think

about the extremes first and then work

our way towards more typical

circumstances and with that said

addiction unfortunately is very common

nowadays I just heard a statistic in

fact that

there is an 8080 percent increase in

alcohol use disorder among women in the

last 30 years I talked a little bit

about this in the episode that I did

about alcohol and health

again I want to be very clear I'm not

somebody that is completely against

alcohol for adults provided they're not alcoholics

alcoholics

turns out two drinks a week probably

fine health-wise zero would be better if

we're honest zero is better than any

alcohol but two drinks a week is

probably fine past two drinks you start

running into problems and yet many many

people out there male and female alike

suffer from alcohol use disorder also

called alcoholism

the same is also true for things like

methamphetamine or cocaine or other

types of substance addictions

and the same is also true for a lot of

Behavioral or what are sometimes called

process addictions things like sex

addiction or video game addiction or any

type of behavior that frankly is

leveraging the dopamine system but that

engages this Progressive narrowing of

the things that bring someone pleasure

such that nothing else is really Salient

nothing else is really pulling them in

in the way that they're video games or

sex or pornography or alcohol

pick your substance or

you know behavior that you see out there

or hopefully not but that you might

suffer from an addiction too so what's

happening in addiction

well addiction involves dopamine among

other things often the opioid system Etc

but if we were to think about what's the

stimulus in an addiction and what's the

peak in dopamine and then what happens

after that Peak It all becomes very

clear as to why addiction happens and

why it's so pernicious

so for instance let's take cocaine

cocaine causes dramatic increases in

dopamine very very fast so if somebody

craves cocaine

what are they craving they're craving

that dopamine Peak they're craving the

increased level of alertness they're

craving a number of things associated

with the feeling of being under the

influence of the drug but the stimulus

for it simply becomes that line of

cocaine or in the case of crack that

crack rock that they're going to smoke

and God forbid they're mainlining it you

know they're shooting into a vein what

happens is they snort smoke or inject

cocaine and dopamine levels almost immediately

immediately

go up up up up up up to a very high peak

okay so the the time gap between the

stimulus and the dopamine is very very short

short

so short in fact that there's really no

other contingencies in between that the

mesocortical system has to learn in fact

what is the system quote unquote learn

it learns

cocaine equals massive amounts of

dopamine equals feeling euphoric and

energetic Etc

and in doing that

it reinforces the whole circuit so that

that short we can even say hyper short

contingency is really what the system wants

wants

so much so that longer contingencies of

say putting in the hard work of you know

generating a fitness program or a

professional program for yourself or a

education program which takes not just

many days but many weeks and years well

none of that is going to lead to peace

in dopamine that are as high as the

Pekin dopamine associated with cocaine

so that tells us something critical

it is both the duration between desire

end effect and when I say effect I mean

the rewarding properties of dopamine

that are experienced that's important so

very short gaps

teach the system to expect and want

short gaps

makes it very hard to pursue things that

take longer

so when we say it's the short or in this

case hyper short distance or time

between the stimulus and the dopamine

what we're really talking about if we

were to plot this out on a on a board or

on a piece of paper is the steepness of

the rise of that Peak it's very very

steep the peak in dopamine is coming up

and in addition to that and this is very

important the higher the peak in

dopamine and the faster the rise to that

Peak the further below Baseline the

dopamine drops after the drug wears off

okay so in the case of cocaine it's a

very fast and very large rise in

dopamine followed by a steep drop

and very deep trough in dopamine below Baseline

Baseline

you say okay so there's pleasure then

there's lack of pleasure ah but it's

worse than that because it's not just

lack of pleasure if you recall what we

talked about a little bit earlier that

drop below Baseline triggers

the desire and the pursuit for what for more

and so this sets in motion a vicious

Loop where people start pursuing peaks

in dopamine that can come very fast

without much effort

and that's one of the ways in which

addictions start to take hold

there's a simple way to think about this

and to remember if you want to avoid

this whole thing I mean the first one is

obvious don't do cocaine don't try it

don't use it certainly don't get

addicted to it

those are all sort of one in the same

frankly I don't know many people that despite

despite

opinions to the contrary that use

cocaine recreationally that don't at

some point run into either a financial

psychological physical or some other

problem the other thing that's

absolutely critical to keep in mind and

this was discussed in my colleague Dr

Anna lemke's book dopamine nation and on

this podcast excellent book by the way I

highly recommend it if you haven't read

it already it's a fascinating

exploration into dopamine as it relates

to addiction not just drug addiction but

other types of addiction again the name

of that book is dopamine Nation we'll

provide a link to it in the show note captions

the other thing that happens after those

big fast increases in dopamine caused by

things like cocaine is

afterwards when it quickly drops below Baseline

Baseline

it takes a much longer time to get back

to the original Baseline than it did

prior to using the drug

and worse still is that the peaks in

dopamine that are created from more

consumption of cocaine leads to

progressively lower Peaks

and deeper troughs below Baseline so the

whole system is Shifting away from

pleasure and more to pain and the desire

for pursuit of the drug now

now

this is a terrible situation and it's a

terrible situation that's not just

unique to cocaine in fact if we were to

look at the averages and again these are

averages of the height of the peaks in

dopamine that are created by different

substances and the rates at which those

Peaks take place because remember the

time to Peak is just as important as how

high that Peak goes

we see some pretty interesting numbers

so for instance and again these are

averages based on neuroimaging combined with

with

um what are called pet scans positron

emission tomography combined with blood

draws and a number of other data from

both animal and human studies

you find is that at Baseline just kind

of on a background of no drug taking of

any kind the neurons in the Venture

pigmental nucleus accumbens area are

firing at a rate of about three to four

per second releasing dopamine so that's

your Baseline of dopamine release your

your forebrain is always seeing a little

bit of dopamine from from that system

if you were then to anticipate food and

you're relatively hungry

that would double okay so this probably

happened when you decide to eat lunch

today if you were hungry prior to eating lunch

lunch

it doubles in the anticipation of the

food and then depending on how much you

enjoyed that food it might triple or

quadruple it might be lower than it was

during the anticipation as we talked

about before

so there's an approximate doubling under

conditions of Desiring and consuming food

food

let's take nicotine as the next example

for people that use nicotine either

smoking vaping snuffing or dipping

all routes of nicotine Administration

that I covered in our episode about nicotine

nicotine

there's about a 150 percent increase in

the rate of dopamine neuron firing

cocaine is going to increase the rate of

dopamine output into the prefrontal

cortex by about a thousand percent okay

so what you're really talking about here

is a tenfold increase

in the amount of of dopamine that's

released into the prefrontal cortex as

measured by the rates of firing of these

dopamine neurons

methamphetamine is going to be anywhere

from a thousand percent anywhere up to

ten thousand percent it really varies

depending on the potency of the drug and

a few other factors and here's where

perhaps it gets a little more

interesting some of you are probably

wondering about caffeine or about sex or

about video games now they're the

numbers vary tremendously and it's

really important to understand that

across the board not just for caffeine

sex video games but also for nicotine

alcohol and other substances and what we

call motivated behaviors some of which

are part of a healthy life like eating

and reproduction you know provided it's

you know age-appropriate context

appropriate you know species appropriate

consensual well then we consider it

adaptive if it's not well then

considered maladaptive

some people will sit down to play a

video game they really like video games

and as they're sitting down they will

experience a five-fold increase in the

rate of dopamine output from their

nucleus accumbens for other people it's

going to be a tenfold increase for other

people like me who don't like video

games very much I don't have anything

against them I don't dislike them but it

doesn't do much for me

it might not cause any increase

whatsoever it might even cause a

decrease in dopamine so there's a lot of

individual variability for sex it turns

out to be a range so the typical range

that's cited in the literature is

anywhere from a four to five-fold

increase in the rate of dopamine neuron

firing however there are certain

individuals for which that number is

doubled caffeine is a little bit of a

special circumstance because caffeine

has the property of not just causing the

release of dopamine but increasing the

amount of dopamine receptors over time

and there aren't a lot of excellent

measurements of the amount of dopamine

released as a function of caffeine

intake in different populations of

humans it's mostly animal studies but

what we think based on the Gestalt based

on the overall picture of the literature

is that it's an approximate doubling of

the dopamine signaling that's coming out

of the VTA nucleus accumens to

prefrontal Cortex when we anticipate and

when we drink our coffee

again I really want to be clear that for

all of these things these are relative

levels and they are distribution so if

we were to plot them out on paper you

would see that these are not bar graphs

these are overlapping curves to some

extent so some people are going to

achieve more dopamine release or less

dopamine release from one Behavior or

substance however it's very clear that

cocaine methamphetamine

even heroin for that matter are way out

on the right hand side of the curve

causing enormous increases in dopamine

very quickly and the other things that

we described have again a distribution

that is more leftward shifted on this

imaginary plot that I'm creating

it's a lot of individual variability

however it's fascinating that dopamine

is the single molecule that's causing

the craving and pursuit and experience

of all of these substances and behaviors

and the learning of all of that craving

Pursuit and actual experience is what

predicts whether or not we will

re-engage reuse that substance or not

re-engage in a behavior or not and how

frequently we will do that so that's

addiction but if you understand how the

height of those peaks in dopamine and

the rate to reach those Peaks and the

troughs that result and how long the

troughs take to get back to Baseline if

you understand or a little or all of that

that

you're really in a terrific position to

understand how to Leverage The dopamine

system for the pursuit of healthy goals

and behaviors I should mention one thing

about recovery from addiction which is

that the reset of all that dopamine

circuitry from unhealthy to healthy

often involves depending on the

addiction 30 days of complete abstinence

that 30 days of complete abstinence

inevitably involves a lot of pain and

discomfort and craving anxiety insomnia

Etc that relates to the big trough in

dopamine that inevitably occurs now of

course there are some addictions such as

severe alcohol addiction and in some

cases opiate addiction that immediate

and sustained abstinence cannot be used

as the tool somebody really needs to

work with an addiction specialist and

sometimes there needs to be a tapering

off of the substance for other

addictions it can be quote unquote cold

turkey and then of course there are

other addictions particularly food and

sex but sometimes even things like video

games for which the desired outcome is

not necessarily to eliminate the

behavior completely but to set some

constraints around the behavior so that

it's not occurring to the exclusion of

other pleasureful things in life and

adaptive things in life and for that

there is the requirement for what are

called binding behaviors we'll get back

to binding behaviors later but binding

behaviors or behaviors in which people

bind their behavior

around a particular substance use or

around a particular behavioral addiction

like sex Video Games Etc in space and or

time in space meaning they might only

engage in those particular behaviors in

certain places and certain times when

it's context appropriate there are

numerous examples of binding behaviors

in space and time it all has to do with

clamping or directing when the

engagement with the dopamine releasing

behavior is going to occur so what's

happening when people decide to go cold

turkey or they use these binding

behaviors well what's happening is that

people are engaging the specific

circuitry within the prefrontal cortex

that as I mentioned at the beginning of

the episode are important for context

setting so in the cases of binding

behaviors the prefrontal cortex is

essentially getting trained up to

understand that okay certain things like

food or perhaps sex or perhaps video games

games

they're okay if they are done or

consumed in

appropriate amounts or in particular

context that requires the context

setting goal directed behavior that the

prefrontal cortex is responsible okay so

for the last 10 or 15 minutes we've been

talking a lot about addiction and

actually this is not an episode about

addiction however if you understand a

little bit about the dopamine Dynamics

in an addiction you can leverage that

knowledge towards healthy adaptive goal

Pursuit and achieving your goals so

let's think about that in the context of

what generates dopamine Peaks what

generates desire to pursue goals what

causes our readout of whether or not we

achieved a goal or not in other words

what allows us to learn how to pursue

goals of different kinds not just get

good at achieving one kind of goal but

really understand and get really really

good at setting goals and pursuing goals

of different kinds that are adaptive in

different areas of life because we all

are going to have to pursue goals in

school work relationships Fitness mental

health and on and on in order to be our

best selves that's clear

well all of that is possible using the

same basic set of dopamine circuits and

the same basic dynamics of dopamine so

for instance if we are going to feel

motivated at all that is if we are going

to wake up in the morning or have any

period of time during our day in which

we feel like we are capable of pursuing goals

goals

we are going to have to have a healthy

level of Baseline dopamine in other

words we are going to have to have

enough dopamine in the wave pool enough

water in the wave pool that is

before we can generate any waves or

peaks in dopamine let alone troughs and

the rest so how do we achieve a healthy

Baseline level of dopamine well there we

can really look to some foundational

practices practices that perhaps you've

heard about on this podcast before and

that to some of you might seem a little

mundane although some of them are a bit

more sophisticated maybe even esoteric

the good news is that we can all control

these things and they don't require

purchasing anything but they do require

some degree of regular upkeep and effort

those things include what I call the

very Basics now the very Basics put in

the context of today's discussion are

the things that put water in the wave

pool those are going to be getting

sufficient amounts of quality sleep each

night something that we've done several

episodes on and then have online

toolkits for us you can see the master

your sleep episode the perfect your

sleep episode the light and health

episode if you want to skip all that and

just get right to the tools we have a

sleep tool kit or it's actually called

the toolkit for sleep that you can

access at hubermanlab.com completely

zero cost you just go there and download

that toolkit getting sufficient sleep

each night literally restores your

dopamine reserves it allows dopamine to

be present and for you to have a level

of Baseline dopamine that will allow you

to even consider your goals in any kind

of meaningful or reasonable way

second there are practices that are

supported by the scientific literature

to increase your Baseline level of

dopamine that are independent of sleep

but are similar to sleep and I like to

refer to these as non-sleep deep rest

this is not meditation there's actually

very little evidence that meditation of

the traditional kind of you know sitting

eyes closed third eye sent focusing on

your third eye center which is this area

behind your forehead there is very

little evidence that that increases

levels of dopamine there is a place for

meditation in the context of today's

discussion but I'll repeat

meditation itself is a focusing exercise

it is not known to increase dopamine

however non-sleep deep breaths so-called

nsdr very similar although different to

what's sometimes called Yoga Nidra which

is where you lie there you do a sort of

body scan some long exhale breathing and

SDR is very similar you can find a link

to a zero cost nsdr on YouTube it's a 10

minute long one there are also 20 and 30

minute ones out there also on YouTube

but I'll provide a link to the 10 minute one

one

those have been shown to increase the

amount of dopamine in your dopamine Reserves

Reserves

by up to 65 percent which is a

remarkable number so quality sleep

non-sleep deep breast AKA Yoga Nidra

very powerful ways to keep your Baseline

level of dopamine at a sufficient level

in addition to that nutrition no doubt

plays a role in your Baseline level of

dopamine because tyrosine the amino acid

is the rate limiting enzyme For the

synthesis of dopamine

tyrosine is present in varying levels in

different foods you can look those up

online you just simply put in a search

for tyrosine levels in different foods

everything from particular cheeses like

parmesan cheese has high levels of

tyrosine certain meat certain nuts

certain vegetables without getting into

details in specifics you can find those

there but you need proper nutrition and

therefore nutrients in particular

tyrosine in order to have

sufficient levels of Baseline dopamine

the third thing on the list and again

these are things that we come back to

almost every episode but I don't think

they can be repeated enough because

these are really things that we need to

focus on every 24 hours you might be

able to skip a day here or there if you

get sick or you're traveling or you have

some major life event but really every

24 hours we need to re-up our sleep we

need to re-up our nutrients

even if you're fasting you're re-upping

your nutrients from stored sources

within your body

the third thing is sunlight morning

sunlight in particular I've done

extensive episodes about this check out

the episode on lighting your health if

you want all the details but you want to

try and view sunlight as early in the

day as possible

five to ten minutes on a clear day

minimum 10 to 20 minutes on a cloudy day minimum

minimum

20 or 30 minutes on a very overcast day

minimum without sunglasses don't stare

at the sun please don't damage your eyes

look off slightly off from the Sun but

yes you want to face the Eastward

towards the Sun and on those cloudy days

that's especially important to do why

well viewing morning sunlight increases

cortisol early in the day which is

excellent because you want cortisol

elevated early in the day and you want

it lower later in the day and because of

the relationship between the cells in

your eye that sense sunlight

specifically morning sunlight believe it

or not that happens and signal to your

hypothalamus and the relationship

between the hypothalamus and the

pituitary and other endocrine organs

it sets in motion a dopamine-related

Cascade in

neuromodulators dopamine and hormones

that lead to states of well-being

elevated mood alertness Etc throughout

the day it also helps your sleep at

night but today we're talking about

dopamine so yes believe it or not that

morning sunlight exposure does increase

your levels of dopamine not just cortisol

cortisol

and fourth on the list is going to be

movement exercise of varying kinds be

resistance training could be

cardiovascular training that does

increase levels of dopamine here we're

not talking about achieving peaks in

dopamine right that could be

accomplished through setting a personal

record a PR or through Sprints or heavy lifts or learning some new Dynamic

lifts or learning some new Dynamic movement what we're really talking about

movement what we're really talking about here is getting into a regular exercise

here is getting into a regular exercise program of if not every day at least

program of if not every day at least five days a week a mixture of

five days a week a mixture of cardiovascular and resistance exercise

cardiovascular and resistance exercise that we also know is known to elevate

that we also know is known to elevate and maintain an elevated level of

and maintain an elevated level of Baseline dopamine so it's not just about

Baseline dopamine so it's not just about the Euphoria you feel during or after

the Euphoria you feel during or after exercise it's also about the Baseline

exercise it's also about the Baseline level of dopamine that's achieved

level of dopamine that's achieved through regular movement and engaging in

through regular movement and engaging in movement and if you're asking how could

movement and if you're asking how could that be well you already know the answer

that be well you already know the answer the circuits in the brain and body that

the circuits in the brain and body that generate movement not just goal seeking

generate movement not just goal seeking but movement itself as I mentioned

but movement itself as I mentioned earlier that Niagara striatal pathway

earlier that Niagara striatal pathway and yes that circuit is separate from

and yes that circuit is separate from the VTA nucleus accumbens to cortical

the VTA nucleus accumbens to cortical circuit the mesocortical circuit that

circuit the mesocortical circuit that we've mainly been focusing on today but

we've mainly been focusing on today but they interact and so by engaging in

they interact and so by engaging in regular movement you ensure that you're

regular movement you ensure that you're maintaining elevated levels of Baseline

maintaining elevated levels of Baseline dopamine which is what you want if

dopamine which is what you want if you're going to be able to engage in any

you're going to be able to engage in any kind of motivated Pursuit behavior of

kind of motivated Pursuit behavior of any kind so those are the fundamentals

any kind so those are the fundamentals that will set the level of Baseline

that will set the level of Baseline dopamine in your system

dopamine in your system a couple of key points yes there is

a couple of key points yes there is variation based on both genetics and

variation based on both genetics and Circumstance in Baseline levels of

Circumstance in Baseline levels of dopamine if someone's going through a

dopamine if someone's going through a particular hard time or if somebody

particular hard time or if somebody inherited a gene in the dopamine

inherited a gene in the dopamine synthesis pathway that simply affords

synthesis pathway that simply affords them higher levels of Baseline dopamine

them higher levels of Baseline dopamine we likely know these people they seem

we likely know these people they seem hyper motivated all the time not just

hyper motivated all the time not just based on prior success

based on prior success but they just seem to have a lot of

but they just seem to have a lot of energy and a lot of go drive you know

energy and a lot of go drive you know you talk about activation energy some of

you talk about activation energy some of you may know what that term means others

you may know what that term means others of you won't having low activation

of you won't having low activation energy is great I mean the amount of

energy is great I mean the amount of energy that it takes to get into action

energy that it takes to get into action to pursue adaptive and meaningful

to pursue adaptive and meaningful healthy goals some people just seem to

healthy goals some people just seem to have lower activation energy and higher

have lower activation energy and higher levels of dopamine are probably

levels of dopamine are probably associated with that some of us have

associated with that some of us have lower levels of Baseline dopamine

lower levels of Baseline dopamine regardless everyone needs to engage in

regardless everyone needs to engage in the foundational things that I just

the foundational things that I just mentioned a few moments ago every 24

mentioned a few moments ago every 24 hours or at least strive to there is no

hours or at least strive to there is no escaping that I'd like to just take a

escaping that I'd like to just take a brief moment and thank one of our

brief moment and thank one of our podcast sponsors which is inside tracker

podcast sponsors which is inside tracker inside tracker is a personalized

inside tracker is a personalized nutrition platform that analyzes data

nutrition platform that analyzes data from your blood and DNA to help you

from your blood and DNA to help you better understand your body and help you

better understand your body and help you reach your health goals I've long been a

reach your health goals I've long been a believer in getting regular blood work

believer in getting regular blood work done for the simple reason that blood

done for the simple reason that blood work is the only way that you can

work is the only way that you can monitor the markers such as hormone

monitor the markers such as hormone markers lipids metabolic factors Etc the

markers lipids metabolic factors Etc the impact your immediate and long-term

impact your immediate and long-term health one major challenge with blood

health one major challenge with blood work however is that most of the time it

work however is that most of the time it does not come back with any information

does not come back with any information about what to do in order to move the

about what to do in order to move the values for hormones metabolic factors

values for hormones metabolic factors lipids Etc into the ranges that you want

lipids Etc into the ranges that you want with inside tracker changing those

with inside tracker changing those values becomes very straightforward

values becomes very straightforward because it has a personalized dashboard

because it has a personalized dashboard that you can use to address the

that you can use to address the nutrition-based behavior-based

nutrition-based behavior-based supplement-based approaches that you can

supplement-based approaches that you can use in order to move those values into

use in order to move those values into the ranges that are optimal for you Your

the ranges that are optimal for you Your vitality and your longevity inside

vitality and your longevity inside tracker now includes a measurement of

tracker now includes a measurement of APO lipoprotein B so-called APO B in

APO lipoprotein B so-called APO B in their ultimate plan apob is a key marker

their ultimate plan apob is a key marker of cardiovascular health and therefore

of cardiovascular health and therefore there's extreme value to knowing your

there's extreme value to knowing your apob levels if you'd like to try inside

apob levels if you'd like to try inside tracker you can go to insidetracker.com

tracker you can go to insidetracker.com huberman to get 20 off any of inside

huberman to get 20 off any of inside tracker's plans again that's inside

tracker's plans again that's inside tracker.com huberman to get 20 off now

tracker.com huberman to get 20 off now there are things that can increase one's

there are things that can increase one's Baseline level of dopa being further

Baseline level of dopa being further and some of those get us into the realm

and some of those get us into the realm of supplements and prescription drugs

of supplements and prescription drugs but for now I just want to mention a few

but for now I just want to mention a few of them that are purely behavioral in

of them that are purely behavioral in nature are zero cost and that have been

nature are zero cost and that have been shown in the research literature to

shown in the research literature to increase Baseline levels of dopamine for

increase Baseline levels of dopamine for long periods of time and this is

long periods of time and this is important because if any of you are out

important because if any of you are out there listening to this thing about

there listening to this thing about Peaks and troughs and bass lines you

Peaks and troughs and bass lines you might be asking wait what's the

might be asking wait what's the difference between a Baseline and a peak

difference between a Baseline and a peak really because if for instance you get a

really because if for instance you get a big peak well that's a peak in the

big peak well that's a peak in the Baseline so how do you distinguish

Baseline so how do you distinguish between Peak and Baseline and well

between Peak and Baseline and well there's a trough and let's say that

there's a trough and let's say that trough lasts an hour is that hour-long

trough lasts an hour is that hour-long trough for your baseline or you know

trough for your baseline or you know where's your set point how do you

where's your set point how do you establish your set point or more

establish your set point or more importantly how do you raise your set

importantly how do you raise your set point ah well if you're not already

point ah well if you're not already asking that question I just asked it for

asking that question I just asked it for you I Define an increase in your

you I Define an increase in your Baseline level in dopamine to be

Baseline level in dopamine to be anything that increases dopamine for

anything that increases dopamine for more than one hour you know when we

more than one hour you know when we think about cocaine and amphetamine

think about cocaine and amphetamine pornography sex caffeine things of that

pornography sex caffeine things of that sort regardless of how long one engages

sort regardless of how long one engages in about of those behaviors or

in about of those behaviors or substances

substances the increases in dopamine are going to

the increases in dopamine are going to be relatively short-lived on the order

be relatively short-lived on the order of minutes to an hour sometimes longer

of minutes to an hour sometimes longer now I didn't say that's how long you're

now I didn't say that's how long you're engaging in the behaviors I said that's

engaging in the behaviors I said that's how long those increases in dopamine are

how long those increases in dopamine are going to occur even if you were to

going to occur even if you were to continually engage in those behaviors

continually engage in those behaviors and remember with continual engagement

and remember with continual engagement in a dopamine spiking Behavior

in a dopamine spiking Behavior a behavior that increases dopamine Peaks

a behavior that increases dopamine Peaks the height of those Peaks remember gets

the height of those Peaks remember gets lower and lower and lower especially in

lower and lower and lower especially in a short amount of time and then drops

a short amount of time and then drops below Baseline

below Baseline there are tools and techniques that you

there are tools and techniques that you can use to elevate your Baseline level

can use to elevate your Baseline level of dopamine for long periods of time and

of dopamine for long periods of time and here again this is done in addition to

here again this is done in addition to the basic tools that I mentioned a few

the basic tools that I mentioned a few moments ago the simplest one for which

moments ago the simplest one for which there are excellent data and here I'm

there are excellent data and here I'm referring to data published in the

referring to data published in the European Journal physiology I'll provide

European Journal physiology I'll provide a link to this is that

a link to this is that exposure of your body up to the neck to

exposure of your body up to the neck to cold water and it doesn't have to be

cold water and it doesn't have to be super cold by the way to cold water has

super cold by the way to cold water has been shown to increase Baseline levels

been shown to increase Baseline levels of dopamine and the other so-called

of dopamine and the other so-called catecholamines which include

catecholamines which include norepinephrine and epinephrine but

norepinephrine and epinephrine but for sake of today's discussion dopamine

for sake of today's discussion dopamine in particular

in particular for not just one but at least two and

for not just one but at least two and probably as long as four or five hours

probably as long as four or five hours there have been some additional

there have been some additional scientific studies after the paper I

scientific studies after the paper I just mentioned

just mentioned and it's really remarkable you can

and it's really remarkable you can accomplish this a number of different

accomplish this a number of different ways you could get into a cold shower in

ways you could get into a cold shower in the morning and I do recommend doing

the morning and I do recommend doing this in the morning and in that case

this in the morning and in that case it's okay to get the water on your head

it's okay to get the water on your head in fact I recommend it uh you could get

in fact I recommend it uh you could get into an ice bath you could get into a

into an ice bath you could get into a cold Plunge in these circumstances I'm

cold Plunge in these circumstances I'm not suggesting this for sake of

not suggesting this for sake of increasing metabolism or fat loss and

increasing metabolism or fat loss and the whole discussion around uh

the whole discussion around uh deliberate cold and metabolism and fat

deliberate cold and metabolism and fat loss has become a little bit

loss has become a little bit controversial so we won't go there now

controversial so we won't go there now mostly because we're focused on the

mostly because we're focused on the clear ability of deliberate cold

clear ability of deliberate cold exposure to increase dopamine for long

exposure to increase dopamine for long periods of time AKA your dopamine

periods of time AKA your dopamine Baseline

Baseline the ways to do this vary depending on

the ways to do this vary depending on the temperature so for instance

the temperature so for instance there are data pointing to the fact that

there are data pointing to the fact that if you want to get a long lasting

if you want to get a long lasting increase in your Baseline dopamine you

increase in your Baseline dopamine you could take a very cold shower or cold

could take a very cold shower or cold plunge or ice bath

plunge or ice bath for a very brief period of time anywhere

for a very brief period of time anywhere from 30 seconds to two minutes maybe

from 30 seconds to two minutes maybe three minutes but probably 30 seconds to

three minutes but probably 30 seconds to two minutes now you might ask what is

two minutes now you might ask what is very cold you have to be careful because

very cold you have to be careful because I don't want to recommend anything

I don't want to recommend anything that's going to cause anyone to have a

that's going to cause anyone to have a heart attack or go into shock or

heart attack or go into shock or anything of that sort

anything of that sort it's going to vary by person depending

it's going to vary by person depending on your level of cold tolerance what I

on your level of cold tolerance what I recommend is if you are going for the

recommend is if you are going for the short exposure long dopamine release

short exposure long dopamine release approach that is 30 seconds to two

approach that is 30 seconds to two minutes that you start warmer than you

minutes that you start warmer than you think you need to and then you ease into

think you need to and then you ease into it over a few days

it over a few days but we're really talking about ranges in

but we're really talking about ranges in temperature from anywhere from about 37

temperature from anywhere from about 37 degrees Fahrenheit to about 55 degrees

degrees Fahrenheit to about 55 degrees Fahrenheit again be careful approach it

Fahrenheit again be careful approach it with caution and ease into it I do

with caution and ease into it I do recommend doing this early in the day

recommend doing this early in the day and I should mention not after strength

and I should mention not after strength or hypertrophy training because within

or hypertrophy training because within the six hours after strength or

the six hours after strength or hypertrophy training this deliberate

hypertrophy training this deliberate cold exposure especially immersion up to

cold exposure especially immersion up to the neck can suppress the strength and

the neck can suppress the strength and hypertrophy adaptation that the training

hypertrophy adaptation that the training is designed to accomplish okay so that's

is designed to accomplish okay so that's one approach the other approach that's

one approach the other approach that's supported by the literature to increase

supported by the literature to increase Baseline levels of dopamine for very

Baseline levels of dopamine for very long periods of time in fact this is the

long periods of time in fact this is the original approach is to get into warmer

original approach is to get into warmer water so not warm but warmer so 60

water so not warm but warmer so 60 degree Fahrenheit water

degree Fahrenheit water up to the neck and to stay there for

up to the neck and to stay there for about 45 to 60 Minutes the reason I

about 45 to 60 Minutes the reason I don't think most people will do that or

don't think most people will do that or that most people would prefer a shorter

that most people would prefer a shorter colder exposure protocol is that most

colder exposure protocol is that most people don't have 45 to 60 minutes each

people don't have 45 to 60 minutes each morning to get into water and sit there

morning to get into water and sit there and in that study they actually had them

and in that study they actually had them sitting in lawn chairs basically in the

sitting in lawn chairs basically in the shallow end of a pool up to their neck

shallow end of a pool up to their neck for a full 60 minutes and then measuring

for a full 60 minutes and then measuring dopamine release and so forth so there

dopamine release and so forth so there are a bunch of different ways to do this

are a bunch of different ways to do this I should emphasize I don't think you

I should emphasize I don't think you need to be super precise about the

need to be super precise about the temperature and even the duration what I

temperature and even the duration what I recommend is

recommend is find a temperature that's uncomfortably

find a temperature that's uncomfortably cold to you meaning that you feel

cold to you meaning that you feel agitated you want to get out but that

agitated you want to get out but that you're confident you can safely stay in

you're confident you can safely stay in and again I can't give a simple

and again I can't give a simple prescriptive to everybody but this is

prescriptive to everybody but this is known to increase Baseline levels of

known to increase Baseline levels of dopamine significantly in fact double

dopamine significantly in fact double them or more for long periods of time

them or more for long periods of time meaning hours up to four maybe even six

meaning hours up to four maybe even six hours into the day which is one of the

hours into the day which is one of the reasons I suggest doing this early in

reasons I suggest doing this early in the day

the day I happen to get into a cold plunger take

I happen to get into a cold plunger take a cold shower first thing in the morning

a cold shower first thing in the morning I do go outside and get my sunlight

I do go outside and get my sunlight first sometimes sometimes I do the cold

first sometimes sometimes I do the cold first it really depends on my

first it really depends on my circumstances and how I'm feeling that

circumstances and how I'm feeling that day I don't think it really matters

day I don't think it really matters which one you do first but you want to

which one you do first but you want to try and get both of those in early in

try and get both of those in early in the day because you really want the

the day because you really want the catecholamines and cortisol elevated

catecholamines and cortisol elevated early in the day okay so that's

early in the day okay so that's deliberate cold exposure we already

deliberate cold exposure we already talked about exercise so if you're doing

talked about exercise so if you're doing your exercise early in the day there's

your exercise early in the day there's no reason why it couldn't be done in

no reason why it couldn't be done in concert with this deliberate cold

concert with this deliberate cold exposure I recommend doing the

exposure I recommend doing the deliberate cold exposure first for the

deliberate cold exposure first for the reasons we talked about a few minutes

reasons we talked about a few minutes ago and then of course there are

ago and then of course there are compounds both prescription and

compounds both prescription and over-the-counter compounds that can

over-the-counter compounds that can indeed raise your Baseline levels of

indeed raise your Baseline levels of dopamine for an hour or more and when I

dopamine for an hour or more and when I say an hour or more it really depends on

say an hour or more it really depends on individual variation in terms of how

individual variation in terms of how quickly you metabolize dopamine and it

quickly you metabolize dopamine and it depends on individual variation in how

depends on individual variation in how you manage or tolerate different dosages

you manage or tolerate different dosages of drugs and different types of drugs so

of drugs and different types of drugs so the typical drugs and here I'm talking

the typical drugs and here I'm talking about legal

about legal prescription drugs for increasing

prescription drugs for increasing dopamine are things like Ritalin

dopamine are things like Ritalin Adderall modafinil and arm modafinil

Adderall modafinil and arm modafinil also tap into the system and I did an

also tap into the system and I did an entire episode about ADHD which is the

entire episode about ADHD which is the typical context in which you hear about

typical context in which you hear about these prescription drugs but assuming

these prescription drugs but assuming it's prescribed by a doctor for either

it's prescribed by a doctor for either clinical reasons like ADHD or for other

clinical reasons like ADHD or for other reasons all of those compounds do

reasons all of those compounds do significantly increase Baseline levels

significantly increase Baseline levels of dopamine for many many hours that's

of dopamine for many many hours that's absolutely clear and it's one of the

absolutely clear and it's one of the major reasons why those drugs are so

major reasons why those drugs are so effective in increasing motivation and

effective in increasing motivation and attention then there are compounds that

attention then there are compounds that are sold over the counter things like

are sold over the counter things like amino acids such as l-tyrosine itself

amino acids such as l-tyrosine itself that's a very commonly sold and used

that's a very commonly sold and used amino acid it's present in a lot of

amino acid it's present in a lot of so-called pre-workout formulas I as many

so-called pre-workout formulas I as many of you know am a fan of single

of you know am a fan of single ingredient supplements for the most part

ingredient supplements for the most part aside from foundational supplements like

aside from foundational supplements like ag1 which give you many many

ag1 which give you many many micronutrients kind of all together

micronutrients kind of all together because it would be nearly impossible to

because it would be nearly impossible to consume each of those as individual

consume each of those as individual ingredients and get the right amounts

ingredients and get the right amounts Etc but for all other supplements I'm a

Etc but for all other supplements I'm a big believer in parsing what you need

big believer in parsing what you need and what's most effective for you in

and what's most effective for you in single ingredient formulations and the

single ingredient formulations and the typical ways in which people

typical ways in which people work to elevate their Baseline levels of

work to elevate their Baseline levels of dopamine

dopamine with supplements are using either

with supplements are using either l-tyrosine which as I mentioned earlier

l-tyrosine which as I mentioned earlier is the rate limiting enzyme for dopamine

is the rate limiting enzyme for dopamine or by using what's called mucuna purines

or by using what's called mucuna purines which is actually very similar to l-dopa

which is actually very similar to l-dopa which is the treatment for Parkinson's

which is the treatment for Parkinson's mechuna purines actually comes from the

mechuna purines actually comes from the velvety outside coating of a certain

velvety outside coating of a certain bean I know it sounds really esoteric

bean I know it sounds really esoteric but that's actually where it's found in

but that's actually where it's found in nature and it's really 99 l-dopa and I

nature and it's really 99 l-dopa and I confess having tried McCune appearance

confess having tried McCune appearance having examined the scientific

having examined the scientific literature on the cune appearance there

literature on the cune appearance there is some evidence that it can increase

is some evidence that it can increase dopamine especially in that

dopamine especially in that tuberinfrendibular pathway because it

tuberinfrendibular pathway because it can tap into some of the hormone-related

can tap into some of the hormone-related functions of the pituitary it does

functions of the pituitary it does increase alertness and mood it might

increase alertness and mood it might even increase libido motivation Etc but

even increase libido motivation Etc but the effects of mercuna purines tend to

the effects of mercuna purines tend to be very much of the increasing the peak

be very much of the increasing the peak in dopamine and then very quickly

in dopamine and then very quickly dropping that peak in other words the

dropping that peak in other words the peak trough phenomenon not for

peak trough phenomenon not for increasing Baseline levels of dopamine

increasing Baseline levels of dopamine now it's likely different for people

now it's likely different for people with Parkinson's who are taking

with Parkinson's who are taking prescription drugs that are similar to

prescription drugs that are similar to mercuna purine so if people have

mercuna purine so if people have Parkinson's oftentimes they are

Parkinson's oftentimes they are prescribed things like l-dopa which is

prescribed things like l-dopa which is in the pathway to dopamine synthesis or

in the pathway to dopamine synthesis or they are prescribed things like

they are prescribed things like bromocriptine which will indeed increase

bromocriptine which will indeed increase dopamine and I do realize that some

dopamine and I do realize that some people use those prescription drugs

people use those prescription drugs recreationally which I don't recommend

recreationally which I don't recommend those drugs can be used to increase

those drugs can be used to increase Baseline levels of dopamine but more

Baseline levels of dopamine but more typically they cause Peaks and dopamine

typically they cause Peaks and dopamine and troughs and dopamine which is why I

and troughs and dopamine which is why I do not recommend them they are not going

do not recommend them they are not going to allow you to accomplish what you want

to allow you to accomplish what you want if your goal is more motivation Etc

if your goal is more motivation Etc in fact they are likely to do the

in fact they are likely to do the opposite give you a big peak an

opposite give you a big peak an alertness and then a crash that can

alertness and then a crash that can include depressive symptoms and just not

include depressive symptoms and just not feeling very good

feeling very good l-tyrosine however has been examined in

l-tyrosine however has been examined in the scientific literature and at

the scientific literature and at reasonably low dosages has been shown to

reasonably low dosages has been shown to increase circulating and available

increase circulating and available levels of dopamine both in the brain and

levels of dopamine both in the brain and body and lead to increased cognitive

body and lead to increased cognitive performance and in some cases physical

performance and in some cases physical output I'll provide links to a few of

output I'll provide links to a few of these studies but the two that I really

these studies but the two that I really parsed most finely for sake of this

parsed most finely for sake of this episode really just focus on taking

episode really just focus on taking l-tyrosine under conditions where your

l-tyrosine under conditions where your Baseline levels of dopamine are reduced

Baseline levels of dopamine are reduced due to stress and under conditions where

due to stress and under conditions where there's no stress and people are trying

there's no stress and people are trying to increase their Baseline levels of

to increase their Baseline levels of dopamine for sake of improving cognitive

dopamine for sake of improving cognitive function the first paper is entitled

function the first paper is entitled effective tyrosine on cognitive function

effective tyrosine on cognitive function and blood pressure under stress I'll

and blood pressure under stress I'll provide a link to this in the show note

provide a link to this in the show note captions and it's one of many papers

captions and it's one of many papers really

really dating back to the early 90s exploring

dating back to the early 90s exploring how

how relatively High frankly relatively High

relatively High frankly relatively High dosages of l-tyrosine Taken under

dosages of l-tyrosine Taken under conditions of stress allow people to

conditions of stress allow people to rescue some of their cognitive function

rescue some of their cognitive function in terms of working memory tasks and

in terms of working memory tasks and other kind of cognitive tasks visual

other kind of cognitive tasks visual Pursuit tasks and so on

Pursuit tasks and so on the second paper is entitled tyrosine

the second paper is entitled tyrosine improves working memory in a

improves working memory in a multitasking environment and the second

multitasking environment and the second paper is perhaps more interesting

paper is perhaps more interesting because it involves exploring the use of

because it involves exploring the use of tyrosine supplementation basically

tyrosine supplementation basically taking tyrosine about an hour before a

taking tyrosine about an hour before a cognitive task or set of cognitive tasks

cognitive task or set of cognitive tasks that involve a lot of multitasking and

that involve a lot of multitasking and working memory working memory for those

working memory working memory for those of you that don't know is your ability

of you that don't know is your ability to maintain small batches of information

to maintain small batches of information in your mind for relatively short

in your mind for relatively short periods of time so for instance if I

periods of time so for instance if I tell you my phone number or the phone

tell you my phone number or the phone number where I grew up 493-2931

number where I grew up 493-2931 if you can remember that chances are

if you can remember that chances are you'll remember it for 30 seconds 60

you'll remember it for 30 seconds 60 seconds but that you won't remember it

seconds but that you won't remember it tomorrow because there's really no

tomorrow because there's really no reason to a lot of the tasks that we do

reason to a lot of the tasks that we do throughout the day involve working

throughout the day involve working memory and working memory is very

memory and working memory is very subject to interference from other tasks

subject to interference from other tasks that we happen to be doing like looking

that we happen to be doing like looking at our phone or having a conversation or

at our phone or having a conversation or trying to navigate through a city

trying to navigate through a city it involves a lot of attention and this

it involves a lot of attention and this study shows that tyrosine improves

study shows that tyrosine improves working memory especially in the context

working memory especially in the context of multitasking and having a lot of

of multitasking and having a lot of conflicting goals and they did a number

conflicting goals and they did a number of really nice experiments here it's

of really nice experiments here it's again it's a small study not that many

again it's a small study not that many subjects but it's one of several papers

subjects but it's one of several papers in fact this is the paper that kind of

in fact this is the paper that kind of set in motion the Domino of other papers

set in motion the Domino of other papers exploring the efficacy of l-tyrosine for

exploring the efficacy of l-tyrosine for cognitive performance and they looked at

cognitive performance and they looked at working memory tasks of course but also

working memory tasks of course but also auditory visual tasks and they involve

auditory visual tasks and they involve some interference of visual cues and

some interference of visual cues and things of that sort and they saw some

things of that sort and they saw some really interesting effects basically

really interesting effects basically when we need to attend to multiple

when we need to attend to multiple things at the same time l-tyrosine can

things at the same time l-tyrosine can help us do that at least as it relates

help us do that at least as it relates to memory when I say althyrosine what I

to memory when I say althyrosine what I really mean is having your Baseline

really mean is having your Baseline levels of dopamine elevated can really

levels of dopamine elevated can really help navigate multitasking environments

help navigate multitasking environments especially as it relates to working

especially as it relates to working memory and this is true under conditions

memory and this is true under conditions of stress and under conditions of not

of stress and under conditions of not stressful okay you might say well isn't

stressful okay you might say well isn't multitasking stressful itself yes it can

multitasking stressful itself yes it can be but when we talk about under

be but when we talk about under conditions of stress we're talking about

conditions of stress we're talking about people who are sleep deprived we're

people who are sleep deprived we're talking about people that are under

talking about people that are under other kinds of psychological or physical

other kinds of psychological or physical stress l-tyrosine can help in that

stress l-tyrosine can help in that context as well so as I mentioned before

context as well so as I mentioned before in these studies they use very high

in these studies they use very high dosages of l-tyrosine so high that

dosages of l-tyrosine so high that actually I don't recommend them they did

actually I don't recommend them they did measure stress hormones they did measure

measure stress hormones they did measure blood pressure and things of that sort

blood pressure and things of that sort but I want to caution you I do not

but I want to caution you I do not recommend I will say it again I do not

recommend I will say it again I do not recommend following the dosages that

recommend following the dosages that were used in these two studies

were used in these two studies because they are exceedingly high they

because they are exceedingly high they used 100 milligrams per kilogram of body

used 100 milligrams per kilogram of body weight of tyrosine one hour prior to

weight of tyrosine one hour prior to these cognitive tasks now I weigh about

these cognitive tasks now I weigh about 220 pounds I'm a little bit lighter than

220 pounds I'm a little bit lighter than that so that's a hundred kilograms

that so that's a hundred kilograms approximately

approximately translated from this study that would

translated from this study that would mean that had I participated in the

mean that had I participated in the study and I wasn't in the placebo group

study and I wasn't in the placebo group but I was in the l-tyrosine group I

but I was in the l-tyrosine group I would have been given 10 000 milligrams

would have been given 10 000 milligrams of l-tyrosine which is 10 grams of

of l-tyrosine which is 10 grams of l-tyrosine I do not recommend that in

l-tyrosine I do not recommend that in fact there are papers showing that as

fact there are papers showing that as little as 500 milligrams

little as 500 milligrams but perhaps up to one gram that is a

but perhaps up to one gram that is a thousand milligrams or 1500 milligrams a

thousand milligrams or 1500 milligrams a gram and a half of l-tyrosine Taken 30

gram and a half of l-tyrosine Taken 30 to 60 minutes before a cognitive or

to 60 minutes before a cognitive or physical task can increase Baseline

physical task can increase Baseline levels of dopamine for extended periods

levels of dopamine for extended periods of time and thereby improve performance

of time and thereby improve performance on those mental or physical tasks

on those mental or physical tasks so

so if you are somebody who's interested in

if you are somebody who's interested in trying l-tyrosine please know that the

trying l-tyrosine please know that the increases in Baseline levels of dopamine

increases in Baseline levels of dopamine can be substantial they are long lasting

can be substantial they are long lasting which qualifies them as Baseline

which qualifies them as Baseline increases as opposed to Peaks and I

increases as opposed to Peaks and I would say you should also start with the

would say you should also start with the lowest possible dose so for most people

lowest possible dose so for most people 250 to 500 milligrams is going to be a

250 to 500 milligrams is going to be a reasonable starting dose depending on

reasonable starting dose depending on your body weight smaller people start

your body weight smaller people start with 250 larger maybe 500 keep an eye on

with 250 larger maybe 500 keep an eye on whether or not you're combining it with

whether or not you're combining it with caffeine or with any other stimulants

caffeine or with any other stimulants and keep in mind that again the bigger

and keep in mind that again the bigger the peak in dopamine the bigger the

the peak in dopamine the bigger the trough in dopamine afterwards so pay

trough in dopamine afterwards so pay attention to whether or not you

attention to whether or not you experience a crash that same day or the

experience a crash that same day or the next day but chances are if you're using

next day but chances are if you're using a relatively low level of l-tyrosine so

a relatively low level of l-tyrosine so anywhere from 250 maybe 500 milligrams

anywhere from 250 maybe 500 milligrams or a thousand milligrams of l-tyrosine

or a thousand milligrams of l-tyrosine prior to cognitive or physical work and

prior to cognitive or physical work and taken early in the day by the way

taken early in the day by the way because this can act as a bit of a

because this can act as a bit of a stimulant that you're going to achieve

stimulant that you're going to achieve these long lasting increases in Baseline

these long lasting increases in Baseline dopamine but please also keep in mind

dopamine but please also keep in mind that that I always always suggest that

that that I always always suggest that you engage in the proper behaviors and

you engage in the proper behaviors and you disengage from the improper

you disengage from the improper behaviors as a first line of offense on

behaviors as a first line of offense on any health goal so now you know how to

any health goal so now you know how to set your Baseline levels of dopamine at

set your Baseline levels of dopamine at the highest possible level

the highest possible level you of course want to guard that

you of course want to guard that Baseline level of dopamine very

Baseline level of dopamine very carefully so for instance you want to

carefully so for instance you want to avoid any kind of behaviors or

avoid any kind of behaviors or substances that are going to Peak your

substances that are going to Peak your Baseline level of dopamine very high or

Baseline level of dopamine very high or very sharply or if you do engage in

very sharply or if you do engage in those types of behaviors whatever they

those types of behaviors whatever they may be that you are well aware that your

may be that you are well aware that your Baseline level of dopamine will drop far

Baseline level of dopamine will drop far below what it was after that Peak has

below what it was after that Peak has fallen you will be essentially in the

fallen you will be essentially in the quote unquote trough

quote unquote trough if however you find yourself in that

if however you find yourself in that trough you now have the knowledge to

trough you now have the knowledge to understand that that trough will resolve

understand that that trough will resolve if you wait enough time that Baseline

if you wait enough time that Baseline level of dopamine that you were at prior

level of dopamine that you were at prior to the peak will come back you will feel

to the peak will come back you will feel better however most people don't know

better however most people don't know that and as a consequence when they feel

that and as a consequence when they feel that low

that low that is they feel kind of a motivated

that is they feel kind of a motivated maybe a little bit depressed maybe a lot

maybe a little bit depressed maybe a lot ammotivated or a lot depressed following

ammotivated or a lot depressed following some quote unquote Peak experience

some quote unquote Peak experience what they end up doing is thinking about

what they end up doing is thinking about what caused that Peak experience and

what caused that Peak experience and then go back and try to re-engage in the

then go back and try to re-engage in the behavior and try and regenerate that

behavior and try and regenerate that Peak experience but you now know that

Peak experience but you now know that that is a terrible strategy in fact that

that is a terrible strategy in fact that strategy will only lead to diminished

strategy will only lead to diminished Peaks from the same experience it will

Peaks from the same experience it will lead to in many cases pursuing more and

lead to in many cases pursuing more and more intense experiences to try and

more intense experiences to try and recapitulate recreate that big peak

recapitulate recreate that big peak which won't work or even worse people

which won't work or even worse people start stacking and combining different

start stacking and combining different dopamine increasing behaviors in order

dopamine increasing behaviors in order to try and obtain something like that

to try and obtain something like that initial Peak when in fact all they need

initial Peak when in fact all they need to do all you need to do is simply wait

to do all you need to do is simply wait because the way that the dopamine

because the way that the dopamine circuitry is arranged is that it's not

circuitry is arranged is that it's not just about pleasure as you know it's

just about pleasure as you know it's about motivation desire Pursuit and

about motivation desire Pursuit and pleasure and it also has everything to

pleasure and it also has everything to do with pain and discomfort

do with pain and discomfort now when people hear the word pain they

now when people hear the word pain they often think oh pain okay so a physical

often think oh pain okay so a physical pain or an intense emotional pain but

pain or an intense emotional pain but today we're going to talk about pain a

today we're going to talk about pain a little bit differently we're going to

little bit differently we're going to talk about the pain associated with the

talk about the pain associated with the trough and dopamine that occurs after a

trough and dopamine that occurs after a big peak in dopamine

big peak in dopamine as a period in which

as a period in which pain and effort go hand in hand and I'll

pain and effort go hand in hand and I'll return to this in a moment but I want

return to this in a moment but I want you to just note that in your mind kind

you to just note that in your mind kind of earmark that in your mind because

of earmark that in your mind because what we're about to talk about is how to

what we're about to talk about is how to leverage that pain and to use effort as

leverage that pain and to use effort as a way to not just get out of the trough

a way to not just get out of the trough more quickly but actually to get back to

more quickly but actually to get back to a higher level of Baseline as you exit

a higher level of Baseline as you exit that trough meanwhile I really want to

that trough meanwhile I really want to harp on this one point that I made a

harp on this one point that I made a moment ago which is that after some big

moment ago which is that after some big experience so it could be a vacation or

experience so it could be a vacation or a night out partying or the birth of a

a night out partying or the birth of a new child all of these are well-known

new child all of these are well-known phenomena that lead to troughs or

phenomena that lead to troughs or deficits in dopamine afterwards which

deficits in dopamine afterwards which can cause a sort of postpartum

can cause a sort of postpartum depression postpartum depression is a

depression postpartum depression is a phrase normally used to describe

phrase normally used to describe literally postpartum post-birth of a

literally postpartum post-birth of a child depression and that has many

child depression and that has many causes not just related to dopamine

causes not just related to dopamine baselines although it does involve

baselines although it does involve dopamine baselines but it has hormonal

dopamine baselines but it has hormonal aspects and other aspects as well but

aspects and other aspects as well but postpartum depression is also used to

postpartum depression is also used to describe any time that our Baseline

describe any time that our Baseline dopamine has has gone down way way below

dopamine has has gone down way way below what it was prior to some recent Peak or

what it was prior to some recent Peak or exciting exhilarating win or behavior

exciting exhilarating win or behavior couple of things that one can do in

couple of things that one can do in order to get out of that trough more

order to get out of that trough more quickly the first one is simply to wait

quickly the first one is simply to wait with the understanding that you will get

with the understanding that you will get out I know that sounds overly simplistic

out I know that sounds overly simplistic and maybe a little bit brutal but I

and maybe a little bit brutal but I think most people don't realize this

think most people don't realize this they don't realize that the dopamine

they don't realize that the dopamine circuitry does take time to replenish

circuitry does take time to replenish and it has everything to do with

and it has everything to do with restoring both the synthesis of dopamine

restoring both the synthesis of dopamine as well as What's called the readily

as well as What's called the readily releasable pool of dopamine so dopamine

releasable pool of dopamine so dopamine is packaged in these little spherical

is packaged in these little spherical things that we call vesicles those

things that we call vesicles those vesicles are released from the ends of

vesicles are released from the ends of nerves so in this case we're talking

nerves so in this case we're talking about the nerves that originate again

about the nerves that originate again and

and VTA and nucleus accumbens and send their

VTA and nucleus accumbens and send their little wires up to the prefrontal cortex

little wires up to the prefrontal cortex and that's where dopamine is released

and that's where dopamine is released and that readily releasable pool of

and that readily releasable pool of dopamine takes time to replenish and

dopamine takes time to replenish and that can take several days in order to

that can take several days in order to replenish just knowing that can help you

replenish just knowing that can help you through that process and of course then

through that process and of course then it raises the question is there anything

it raises the question is there anything that you can do to accelerate that

that you can do to accelerate that process and indeed there is and indeed

process and indeed there is and indeed this is what I consider not just

this is what I consider not just something to get you out of a trench of

something to get you out of a trench of kind of lower mood and motivation but

kind of lower mood and motivation but actually what represents the Holy Grail

actually what represents the Holy Grail of motivation today I'm going to talk

of motivation today I'm going to talk about this pain effort process as a very

about this pain effort process as a very powerful way to get out of sticking

powerful way to get out of sticking points but more importantly to get into

points but more importantly to get into a mode where effort and reward can

a mode where effort and reward can actually accelerate your progress along

actually accelerate your progress along any path to any goal and in a way that

any path to any goal and in a way that you can do it repeatedly and this is not

you can do it repeatedly and this is not simply taking mechanisms from biology

simply taking mechanisms from biology and painting names on them rather this

and painting names on them rather this is leveraging mechanisms in biology that

is leveraging mechanisms in biology that are well defined in the animal and human

are well defined in the animal and human in literature that have parallels to the

in literature that have parallels to the addiction and addiction recovery

addiction and addiction recovery literature but that have been shown in

literature but that have been shown in specific circumstances to really allow

specific circumstances to really allow people to engage in motivational

people to engage in motivational Pursuits in a variety of context School

Pursuits in a variety of context School relationships work etc in an ongoing way

relationships work etc in an ongoing way and in a way that never depletes their

and in a way that never depletes their Baseline of dopamine to the point where

Baseline of dopamine to the point where they have to do a lot of extra work to

they have to do a lot of extra work to get it back and in a way that allows

get it back and in a way that allows them to be really motivated in a variety

them to be really motivated in a variety of contexts in an Adaptive way so what

of contexts in an Adaptive way so what we're really talking about here is

we're really talking about here is regardless of your genetics regardless

regardless of your genetics regardless of who your parents are which obviously

of who your parents are which obviously you couldn't select

you couldn't select being able to leverage your dopamine

being able to leverage your dopamine system in order to be maximally

system in order to be maximally motivated when you want to be and indeed

motivated when you want to be and indeed to avoid procrastination I'd like to

to avoid procrastination I'd like to tell you about a classic experiment that

tell you about a classic experiment that I've described once before on this

I've described once before on this podcast but frankly this experiment is

podcast but frankly this experiment is so crucial I don't think it can be

so crucial I don't think it can be described enough

described enough this was an experiment that was done at

this was an experiment that was done at Stanford many years ago and involved

Stanford many years ago and involved children but it's actually been repeated

children but it's actually been repeated in adults

in adults the experiment involved observing a

the experiment involved observing a classroom of young children so these

classroom of young children so these were kids about kindergarten age a

were kids about kindergarten age a little bit older and observing which

little bit older and observing which activities kids like to do in their free

activities kids like to do in their free time so their structured time where they

time so their structured time where they had to you know these are little kids so

had to you know these are little kids so they play blocks or they had to

they play blocks or they had to um sing or they had to write or or do

um sing or they had to write or or do what they could or I suppose draw

what they could or I suppose draw they're probably not writing um

they're probably not writing um significant prose at that age but then

significant prose at that age but then they had free time where they could do

they had free time where they could do whatever they wanted and what the

whatever they wanted and what the researchers did was observe the children

researchers did was observe the children who selected by their own choice to draw

who selected by their own choice to draw pictures so there were some tables out

pictures so there were some tables out with crayons and markers and paper Etc

with crayons and markers and paper Etc and there were some kids that would just

and there were some kids that would just naturally go to that activity every day

naturally go to that activity every day because they liked that activity

because they liked that activity and they measured how much of the free

and they measured how much of the free time these children elected to use their

time these children elected to use their free time drawing doing these different

free time drawing doing these different art projects

art projects and then what they did was they started

and then what they did was they started introducing rewards to these children

introducing rewards to these children they started putting a gold star or in

they started putting a gold star or in some cases a silver star on their pieces

some cases a silver star on their pieces of artwork and telling them what a good

of artwork and telling them what a good job they did and the kids really liked

job they did and the kids really liked that in fact who wouldn't right they're

that in fact who wouldn't right they're not only doing an activity that they

not only doing an activity that they like but they're also getting a reward

like but they're also getting a reward for it so you can probably see where

for it so you can probably see where this is all going what they were doing

this is all going what they were doing was they were increasing the amount of

was they were increasing the amount of dopamine that these children experience

dopamine that these children experience and again in parallel experiments done

and again in parallel experiments done with adults if you take adults who enjoy

with adults if you take adults who enjoy a particular activity you let them do

a particular activity you let them do activity and then you start rewarding

activity and then you start rewarding them for that activity especially when

them for that activity especially when you surprise them with a reward for an

you surprise them with a reward for an activity they already like

activity they already like they report that being a much more

they report that being a much more pleasurable experience than had they

pleasurable experience than had they just done the activity

just done the activity then what they did with these children

then what they did with these children and in the experiments with adults done

and in the experiments with adults done later on was they cease giving them the

later on was they cease giving them the reward and then they observe what

reward and then they observe what percentage of their free time they spend

percentage of their free time they spend doing that activity drawing and what

doing that activity drawing and what they observed was you guessed it a drop

they observed was you guessed it a drop in the total amount of time that the

in the total amount of time that the children elected to do this activity

children elected to do this activity that initially they were doing quite a

that initially they were doing quite a lot in other words

lot in other words their total satisfaction or desire or

their total satisfaction or desire or motivation to engage in this activity

motivation to engage in this activity drop below what it was prior to ever

drop below what it was prior to ever receiving a reward and again this has

receiving a reward and again this has been repeated in a variety of contexts

been repeated in a variety of contexts in different populations different

in different populations different cultures different countries men women

cultures different countries men women boys girls lots of different backgrounds

boys girls lots of different backgrounds so what this tells us is everything you

so what this tells us is everything you already know which is that reward

already know which is that reward prediction error is not just about the

prediction error is not just about the desire to do something and you carrying

desire to do something and you carrying it out and it being pretty good

it out and it being pretty good amazing or not good okay I always like

amazing or not good okay I always like to joke that the nervous system sort of

to joke that the nervous system sort of codes things into three bins you can

codes things into three bins you can think about this in terms of food or any

think about this in terms of food or any type of experience it can either be yum

type of experience it can either be yum yes I really like that yuck I really

yes I really like that yuck I really don't like that or meh it's kind of so

don't like that or meh it's kind of so so

so what the scenario led to where rewards

what the scenario led to where rewards were received for an activity that

were received for an activity that people already like to do and then

people already like to do and then removed was that an activity that at one

removed was that an activity that at one point was a yum becomes a meh and that

point was a yum becomes a meh and that all reflects a drop in Baseline dopamine

all reflects a drop in Baseline dopamine why because the activity that the

why because the activity that the children or adults liked combined with

children or adults liked combined with the gold star or the monetary reward or

the gold star or the monetary reward or praise that children and adults seem to

praise that children and adults seem to like compounded to create a bigger peak

like compounded to create a bigger peak in dopamine and therefore a bigger

in dopamine and therefore a bigger trough in dopamine and if you're already

trough in dopamine and if you're already wondering whether or not their desire to

wondering whether or not their desire to engage in that activity eventually came

engage in that activity eventually came back it did indeed so essentially what I

back it did indeed so essentially what I described all matches precisely with

described all matches precisely with dopamine reward prediction error and the

dopamine reward prediction error and the fact that peaks in dopamine give rise to

fact that peaks in dopamine give rise to subsequent troughs and dopamine that if

subsequent troughs and dopamine that if one Waits long enough

one Waits long enough allow Baseline levels of dopamine to

allow Baseline levels of dopamine to return to normal

return to normal and of course the amplitude of that

and of course the amplitude of that dopamine Peak has been varied by giving

dopamine Peak has been varied by giving more money or less money in different

more money or less money in different scenarios nearly all the different

scenarios nearly all the different derivations of the experiments that you

derivations of the experiments that you could imagine that map onto the Dynamics

could imagine that map onto the Dynamics of dopamine release that we've been

of dopamine release that we've been talking about during this episode all

talking about during this episode all played out exactly as one would have

played out exactly as one would have predicted based on the neural circuitry

predicted based on the neural circuitry and the Dynamics of dopamine I recommend

and the Dynamics of dopamine I recommend that you leverage this knowledge to make

that you leverage this knowledge to make sure that any activities that you enjoy

sure that any activities that you enjoy to do whether or not you enjoyed a

to do whether or not you enjoyed a little or a lot but especially if you

little or a lot but especially if you enjoy it a lot that you guard and

enjoy it a lot that you guard and Protect by making sure that you don't

Protect by making sure that you don't start layering in or attaching reward or

start layering in or attaching reward or other sources of dopamine releasing

other sources of dopamine releasing behaviors or substances to that specific

behaviors or substances to that specific behavior or if you do that you don't do

behavior or if you do that you don't do it terribly often now how often is

it terribly often now how often is terribly often we'll get to that in a

terribly often we'll get to that in a moment but let me give you an example

moment but let me give you an example from my life just as an example but you

from my life just as an example but you will likely have and you'll know people

will likely have and you'll know people that will have different examples

that will have different examples I love to exercise I know to some people

I love to exercise I know to some people uh this might seem foreign but I love to

uh this might seem foreign but I love to exercise I love to do resistance

exercise I love to do resistance training I love to run I am not one of

training I love to run I am not one of those people that doesn't like the

those people that doesn't like the experience of exercising but likes the

experience of exercising but likes the feeling afterwards quote unquote I hear

feeling afterwards quote unquote I hear that a lot I don't like to exercise but

that a lot I don't like to exercise but I love the way I feel afterwards I love

I love the way I feel afterwards I love physical training and I love the way I

physical training and I love the way I feel afterwards but I mostly love the

feel afterwards but I mostly love the feeling during I don't know why I'm

feeling during I don't know why I'm wired that way I can't say that I'm

wired that way I can't say that I'm somebody who likes to do hard things

somebody who likes to do hard things across the board there are plenty of

across the board there are plenty of difficult things in life that I dread or

difficult things in life that I dread or that I'm sort of meh about

that I'm sort of meh about but for me hard exercise intense

but for me hard exercise intense exercise of a particular kind resistance

exercise of a particular kind resistance training and running in particular

training and running in particular both give me a yum yes I love this kind

both give me a yum yes I love this kind of feeling and yes it persists for me

of feeling and yes it persists for me quite a long while afterwards both for

quite a long while afterwards both for sake of the way that it changes my

sake of the way that it changes my neurochemistry but also my sense of

neurochemistry but also my sense of satisfaction but I just simply love it

satisfaction but I just simply love it now years ago I discovered that if I

now years ago I discovered that if I drink

drink a cup of black coffee or an Americano or

a cup of black coffee or an Americano or a double espresso or some yerba mate

a double espresso or some yerba mate that my workouts can be quite a bit more

that my workouts can be quite a bit more intense I can run further and then I

intense I can run further and then I also discovered that if I were to take a

also discovered that if I were to take a pre-workout energy drink or I took say

pre-workout energy drink or I took say 300 milligrams of alpha GPC and 500

300 milligrams of alpha GPC and 500 milligrams of phenylethylamine and

milligrams of phenylethylamine and perhaps even 500 milligrams of

perhaps even 500 milligrams of l-tyrosine and perhaps did that

l-tyrosine and perhaps did that alongside the caffeine in the Yerba mate

alongside the caffeine in the Yerba mate then yes absolutely I really like those

then yes absolutely I really like those workouts I could be like a laser in

workouts I could be like a laser in terms of focus I could exert even more

terms of focus I could exert even more effort put on some music and I could

effort put on some music and I could achieve even better performance and then

achieve even better performance and then I also discovered that I could

I also discovered that I could export that protocol of caffeine yerba

export that protocol of caffeine yerba mate and various supplements to my

mate and various supplements to my cognitive work so I was when I was

cognitive work so I was when I was studying or writing papers or writing

studying or writing papers or writing grants or in the laboratory when I was

grants or in the laboratory when I was doing experiments with my hands in those

doing experiments with my hands in those days you know cutting brain tissue and

days you know cutting brain tissue and staining it and working really long

staining it and working really long hours and I discovered that all of those

hours and I discovered that all of those things all of those behaviors compounded

things all of those behaviors compounded with my love of exercise and my love of

with my love of exercise and my love of doing science and gave me these big

doing science and gave me these big peaks in what to me felt like even

peaks in what to me felt like even important experiences they felt you know

important experiences they felt you know unlike anything else they were just so

unlike anything else they were just so so peak in their nature

so peak in their nature which was great and it did indeed

which was great and it did indeed enhance my performance however

enhance my performance however while it did not create a dependency for

while it did not create a dependency for those different substances caffeine

those different substances caffeine supplements Etc what I noticed was that

supplements Etc what I noticed was that in the days and sometimes weekends

in the days and sometimes weekends afterwards even though for much of my

afterwards even though for much of my career I confess I've worked weekends as

career I confess I've worked weekends as well but I would notice that I'd

well but I would notice that I'd experience a real trough in energy I

experience a real trough in energy I just would not feel that good and then

just would not feel that good and then if I kept up those behaviors

if I kept up those behaviors consistently and I was consistently

consistently and I was consistently adding in these other let's just call

adding in these other let's just call them what they are dopamine releasing or

them what they are dopamine releasing or stimulating behaviors and substances

stimulating behaviors and substances that my enthusiasm for physical training

that my enthusiasm for physical training or running

or running or for doing experiments actually

or for doing experiments actually started to diminish and this was really

started to diminish and this was really discouraging to me at the time because I

discouraging to me at the time because I started to think okay maybe I'm burnt

started to think okay maybe I'm burnt out maybe I have adrenal burnout which

out maybe I have adrenal burnout which by the way doesn't exist folks your

by the way doesn't exist folks your adrenals don't burn out there is

adrenals don't burn out there is something called adrenal insufficiency

something called adrenal insufficiency syndrome you can over stimulate your

syndrome you can over stimulate your system by way of too much adrenaline

system by way of too much adrenaline epinephrine and norepinephrine but

epinephrine and norepinephrine but that's a separate thing there's no such

that's a separate thing there's no such thing as adrenal burnout per se

thing as adrenal burnout per se but I didn't know that so I thought gosh

but I didn't know that so I thought gosh I'm really burnt out when in fact

I'm really burnt out when in fact it's now obvious to me what I was doing

it's now obvious to me what I was doing I was combining too many dopamine

I was combining too many dopamine releasing or stimulating behaviors in

releasing or stimulating behaviors in substances for things that I already

substances for things that I already enjoyed doing as behaviors namely

enjoyed doing as behaviors namely exercise and doing experiments anything

exercise and doing experiments anything related to science actually

related to science actually so what this means is not to avoid

so what this means is not to avoid taking things or doing things that

taking things or doing things that amplify your amount of dopamine but to

amplify your amount of dopamine but to be very cautious about how often one

be very cautious about how often one does that and how many different

does that and how many different dopamine stimulating behaviors or

dopamine stimulating behaviors or compounds one stacks

compounds one stacks especially in terms of taking those

especially in terms of taking those things or stacking those things

things or stacking those things in and around behaviors that you already

in and around behaviors that you already really enjoy doing I was essentially

really enjoy doing I was essentially just creating another version of the

just creating another version of the kids in nursery school or first grade

kids in nursery school or first grade with the gold star experiment I was

with the gold star experiment I was basically just doing the exact same

basically just doing the exact same thing and when I realized that and I

thing and when I realized that and I changed my relationship to those

changed my relationship to those compounds I didn't eliminate them all

compounds I didn't eliminate them all together but I started realizing for

together but I started realizing for instance that I didn't need to double up

instance that I didn't need to double up on yerba mate and coffee every workout

on yerba mate and coffee every workout sometimes I would do one sometimes I

sometimes I would do one sometimes I would do the other frankly I always do

would do the other frankly I always do one or the other it's rare that I ever

one or the other it's rare that I ever do any kind of physical training without

do any kind of physical training without some caffeine first and I do my physical

some caffeine first and I do my physical training typically in the early part of

training typically in the early part of the day so that's fine doesn't interfere

the day so that's fine doesn't interfere with my sleep

with my sleep I might do a hike without caffeine but

I might do a hike without caffeine but if I'm in a weight trainer I'm going to

if I'm in a weight trainer I'm going to run I tend to drink coffee beforehand or

run I tend to drink coffee beforehand or have yerba mate

have yerba mate or if I occasionally meaning about once

or if I occasionally meaning about once every third sometimes every other but

every third sometimes every other but usually about every third workout I'll

usually about every third workout I'll take 300 milligrams of alpha GPC maybe

take 300 milligrams of alpha GPC maybe occasionally maybe every third or fourth

occasionally maybe every third or fourth workout and these are resistance

workout and these are resistance workouts mind you not running I'll take

workouts mind you not running I'll take 500 milligrams of l-tyrosine or more

500 milligrams of l-tyrosine or more typically 500 milligrams of phenol

typically 500 milligrams of phenol ethylamine and very very rarely maybe

ethylamine and very very rarely maybe once every two or three months I might

once every two or three months I might stack all of those things together prior

stack all of those things together prior to a workout but of course I'm always

to a workout but of course I'm always mindful to also include workouts or runs

mindful to also include workouts or runs or bouts of cognitive work so that could

or bouts of cognitive work so that could be grant writing prepping for a podcast

be grant writing prepping for a podcast Etc where I don't do anything prior

Etc where I don't do anything prior maybe just my caffeine because I have a

maybe just my caffeine because I have a baseline level of caffeine that I use

baseline level of caffeine that I use each day to function like many people

each day to function like many people there's a baseline level of caffeine

there's a baseline level of caffeine that just allows us to function if we're

that just allows us to function if we're a Perpetual user of caffeine I talked a

a Perpetual user of caffeine I talked a lot about this on the episode in

lot about this on the episode in caffeine but the key here is be cautious

caffeine but the key here is be cautious I would say be very cautious about

I would say be very cautious about stacking and layering in too many

stacking and layering in too many dopamine Peak inducing behaviors all at

dopamine Peak inducing behaviors all at once on a regular basis the key Point

once on a regular basis the key Point here is if you are somebody that can

here is if you are somebody that can engage in these intrinsically joyful

engage in these intrinsically joyful activities for you these activities that

activities for you these activities that you're really motivated to do whether or

you're really motivated to do whether or not it's skiing or playing music or

not it's skiing or playing music or dancing Etc without the need to layer in

dancing Etc without the need to layer in additional dopamine releasing mechanisms

additional dopamine releasing mechanisms or compounds or activities well then I

or compounds or activities well then I highly recommend you do that because

highly recommend you do that because then you are essentially making yourself

then you are essentially making yourself one of those fortunate few that does not

one of those fortunate few that does not require additional stimuli and therefore

require additional stimuli and therefore can hold on to that pleasure can hold on

can hold on to that pleasure can hold on to that intrinsic pleasure and

to that intrinsic pleasure and motivation to engage in these behaviors

motivation to engage in these behaviors over time which frankly there is no

over time which frankly there is no replacement for there is no pill or

replacement for there is no pill or bottle or potion or motivational speech

bottle or potion or motivational speech or podcast or book that can replace

or podcast or book that can replace intrinsic motivation intrinsic

intrinsic motivation intrinsic motivation is perhaps the Holy Grail of

motivation is perhaps the Holy Grail of all human Endeavors and behaviors

all human Endeavors and behaviors because it encompasses so much of what

because it encompasses so much of what brought us to this point in our species

brought us to this point in our species Evolution and also what brings each and

Evolution and also what brings each and every one of us closer and closer to our

every one of us closer and closer to our goals and if it's happening with

goals and if it's happening with enjoyment without the need to layer in

enjoyment without the need to layer in additional tools well then you have

additional tools well then you have really tapped into the source and when I

really tapped into the source and when I say the source I don't mean it in any

say the source I don't mean it in any kind of mystical way I think it's quite

kind of mystical way I think it's quite clear by now that when we hear about Chi

clear by now that when we hear about Chi from Eastern medicine or we talk about

from Eastern medicine or we talk about motivation drive and pursuit in on

motivation drive and pursuit in on Western neurobiological languages that

Western neurobiological languages that relates to dopamine or we hear about the

relates to dopamine or we hear about the source maybe in my podcast episode with

source maybe in my podcast episode with the one and only Rick Rubin incredibly

the one and only Rick Rubin incredibly productive music producer who's as an

productive music producer who's as an just an unbelievable track record

just an unbelievable track record in terms of creative Endeavors and he

in terms of creative Endeavors and he talks about the source we're really

talks about the source we're really talking about the same thing which is

talking about the same thing which is this set of circuits within us that

this set of circuits within us that allow us to identify what we want and

allow us to identify what we want and then lean into effort and then to do

then lean into effort and then to do that in a persistent way that allows us

that in a persistent way that allows us to reach our goals and if we can do that

to reach our goals and if we can do that with an intrinsic sense of pleasure well

with an intrinsic sense of pleasure well that is nothing short of magic but of

that is nothing short of magic but of course it's not magic it's science and

course it's not magic it's science and of course most people are not concerned

of course most people are not concerned about trying to protect the things they

about trying to protect the things they already enjoy in order to make sure that

already enjoy in order to make sure that they can continue to do those things and

they can continue to do those things and enjoy them most people are thinking

enjoy them most people are thinking about how they can engage and pursue

about how they can engage and pursue things that are less than pleasureful to

things that are less than pleasureful to them or how they can continue to engage

them or how they can continue to engage in motivated behaviors when the going

in motivated behaviors when the going gets tough or and this is a big one I

gets tough or and this is a big one I hear this over and over again as a

hear this over and over again as a request to cover on this podcast how

request to cover on this podcast how people can overcome procrastination what

people can overcome procrastination what we're going to talk about now is how the

we're going to talk about now is how the Dynamics of dopamine release that you

Dynamics of dopamine release that you already are aware of plus and additional

already are aware of plus and additional Dynamic that we haven't quite talked

Dynamic that we haven't quite talked about can allow you to leverage dopamine

about can allow you to leverage dopamine in a way that really will bring you to

in a way that really will bring you to the Holy Grail of motivation and drive

the Holy Grail of motivation and drive which is

which is when effort starts to become the reward

when effort starts to become the reward itself in other words when friction

itself in other words when friction becomes the reward I know that sounds

becomes the reward I know that sounds crazy to some of you but when friction

crazy to some of you but when friction becomes the reward you can pass from an

becomes the reward you can pass from an idea and a goal no matter how daunting

idea and a goal no matter how daunting to successful completion of that goal

to successful completion of that goal while experiencing what essentially will

while experiencing what essentially will feel like pleasure the entire time now

feel like pleasure the entire time now that doesn't mean it will be Bliss the

that doesn't mean it will be Bliss the entire time but what is very possible is

entire time but what is very possible is to leverage the Dynamics of both

to leverage the Dynamics of both dopamine Peaks and dopamine troughs

dopamine Peaks and dopamine troughs in order to not just maintain your

in order to not just maintain your Baseline level of dopamine but to also

Baseline level of dopamine but to also pull yourself out of any kind of

pull yourself out of any kind of procrastination or other kind of

procrastination or other kind of overthinking trenches very quickly and

overthinking trenches very quickly and get back into a mode of pursuit so how

get back into a mode of pursuit so how do we make effort the reward you may

do we make effort the reward you may have heard about this in the context of

have heard about this in the context of so-called growth mindset growth mindset

so-called growth mindset growth mindset is the incredible Discovery and research

is the incredible Discovery and research papers from my colleague Dr Carol dweck

papers from my colleague Dr Carol dweck in the psychology department at Stanford

in the psychology department at Stanford and there are others such as David

and there are others such as David Yeager at the University of Texas Austin

Yeager at the University of Texas Austin who have leveraged the so-called growth

who have leveraged the so-called growth mindset as a tool that young people and

mindset as a tool that young people and adults alike can use in order to get

adults alike can use in order to get better at anything and the basic Contour

better at anything and the basic Contour of growth mindset is to adopt the

of growth mindset is to adopt the mindset that if you can't do something

mindset that if you can't do something or if you can't do it well

or if you can't do it well that you can't do it or can't do it well

that you can't do it or can't do it well yet it's that word yet that's really key

yet it's that word yet that's really key and there are a number of different

and there are a number of different tools and techniques that people use to

tools and techniques that people use to adopt growth mindset but it all starts

adopt growth mindset but it all starts with that relationship to not being able

with that relationship to not being able to do it yet now that all sounds pretty

to do it yet now that all sounds pretty straightforward when you tell yourself

straightforward when you tell yourself but when we are in a performance context

but when we are in a performance context when we expect ourselves to be able to

when we expect ourselves to be able to motivate or when we expect ourselves to

motivate or when we expect ourselves to be able to perform and we can't that

be able to perform and we can't that often sets up a downward spiral of

often sets up a downward spiral of motivation because we are so used to

motivation because we are so used to being attached to the relationship

being attached to the relationship between

between desire motivation and outcomes reward

desire motivation and outcomes reward prediction error we want something we

prediction error we want something we want that a in class or we want to learn

want that a in class or we want to learn how to dance or we want to be able to do

how to dance or we want to be able to do this uh physical skill of another kind

this uh physical skill of another kind or learn a language or get the mate we

or learn a language or get the mate we desire or make the relationship work or

desire or make the relationship work or make the business work on and on and

make the business work on and on and then we get the outcome that we don't

then we get the outcome that we don't want and our confidence for lack of a

want and our confidence for lack of a better word drops over time oftentimes

better word drops over time oftentimes that leads to situations where we are

that leads to situations where we are not motivated we are a motivated it can

not motivated we are a motivated it can even lead to situations where we are

even lead to situations where we are downright depressed

downright depressed there's also circumstances where people

there's also circumstances where people myself included of course procrastinate

myself included of course procrastinate we know we should do something but

we know we should do something but somehow we can't get motivated we know

somehow we can't get motivated we know that if we put in the effort we'll get

that if we put in the effort we'll get there but we can't do it either because

there but we can't do it either because we don't like the activity or we're just

we don't like the activity or we're just not feeling great now we could

not feeling great now we could be quote unquote not feeling great not

be quote unquote not feeling great not feeling motivated because our dopamine

feeling motivated because our dopamine Baseline is low and so I absolutely

Baseline is low and so I absolutely encourage everybody to take a look at

encourage everybody to take a look at themselves anytime they're in a

themselves anytime they're in a motivated State take a look at the

motivated State take a look at the landscape of their life not just at that

landscape of their life not just at that moment but in the preceding days and

moment but in the preceding days and weeks and ask whether or not you've been

weeks and ask whether or not you've been tending to those foundational things we

tending to those foundational things we talked about earlier whether or not you

talked about earlier whether or not you are engaging any other of the tools that

are engaging any other of the tools that we talked about earlier to see if you

we talked about earlier to see if you can get into a motivated State however

can get into a motivated State however if all of those boxes are checked you

if all of those boxes are checked you answer yes I'm doing all those things

answer yes I'm doing all those things I'm just not motivator I'm just whatever

I'm just not motivator I'm just whatever reason I just procrastinating I don't

reason I just procrastinating I don't know I don't want to do it or I'm not

know I don't want to do it or I'm not feeling motivated

feeling motivated well then there's a very potent set of

well then there's a very potent set of tools that you can leverage to overcome

tools that you can leverage to overcome states of lack of motivation overcome

states of lack of motivation overcome procrastination and indeed can help you

procrastination and indeed can help you deal with things like overthinking as it

deal with things like overthinking as it relates to procrastination and lack of

relates to procrastination and lack of motivation as well so the way this works

motivation as well so the way this works is the following

is the following if you recall

if you recall a peak in dopamine is followed by a

a peak in dopamine is followed by a trough in dopamine that trough in

trough in dopamine that trough in dopamine is experienced as pain or

dopamine is experienced as pain or wanting or craving that pain that I'm

wanting or craving that pain that I'm referring to is actually a craving or a

referring to is actually a craving or a wanting

wanting and it's a craving you're wanting for a

and it's a craving you're wanting for a specific state that you would like to

specific state that you would like to achieve that is different than the one

achieve that is different than the one that you're in you want to get out of

that you're in you want to get out of that trough and as you recall from

that trough and as you recall from earlier in the episode that trough is

earlier in the episode that trough is the stimulus for the ongoing release of

the stimulus for the ongoing release of dopamine that provides the propeller the

dopamine that provides the propeller the motivation to go forward and seek some

motivation to go forward and seek some goal okay so when we are not motivated

goal okay so when we are not motivated when we are in a so-called a-motivated

when we are in a so-called a-motivated state

state or when we are procrastinating or when

or when we are procrastinating or when we just sort of can't seem to get in

we just sort of can't seem to get in gear the key to getting out of that pain

gear the key to getting out of that pain trough is one of two things I already

trough is one of two things I already told you earlier you can just wait you

told you earlier you can just wait you can wait till your motivation comes back

can wait till your motivation comes back and a lot of people do wait in fact they

and a lot of people do wait in fact they procrastinate they start doing other

procrastinate they start doing other things that are less painful than the

things that are less painful than the state that they happen to be in

state that they happen to be in when they are you know trying to get

when they are you know trying to get into gear to go work out because I

into gear to go work out because I realize not everyone wants to do that or

realize not everyone wants to do that or to study or to have a hard conversations

to study or to have a hard conversations whatever it is

whatever it is and what do they do they start engaging

and what do they do they start engaging in activities that we and indeed they

in activities that we and indeed they would not consider pleasureful

would not consider pleasureful activities they start for instance

activities they start for instance cleaning the house so seemingly out of

cleaning the house so seemingly out of nowhere they start engaging in these

nowhere they start engaging in these activities that normally are not

activities that normally are not intrinsically pleasureful for them

intrinsically pleasureful for them they're not highly motivated to do them

they're not highly motivated to do them as a replacement for doing the very

as a replacement for doing the very thing that they quote unquote need to do

thing that they quote unquote need to do or ought to do and that they're

or ought to do and that they're procrastinating to do

procrastinating to do what they're essentially doing here is a

what they're essentially doing here is a mild type of addiction replacement in

mild type of addiction replacement in other words rather than be in the

other words rather than be in the painful State and wait for it to pass

painful State and wait for it to pass they're doing things that give them some

they're doing things that give them some sense of accomplishment ostensibly

sense of accomplishment ostensibly to give them the sense that they're

to give them the sense that they're completing things and perhaps and I

completing things and perhaps and I don't know because I'm not um in the

don't know because I'm not um in the psychology of knowing what other people

psychology of knowing what other people are thinking

are thinking perhaps in order to generate the

perhaps in order to generate the momentum in order to get engaged enough

momentum in order to get engaged enough or motivated enough to study or work out

or motivated enough to study or work out or whatever activity it is that they're

or whatever activity it is that they're trying to avoid through procrastination

trying to avoid through procrastination now what's interesting about this

now what's interesting about this Dynamic is first of all it's extremely

Dynamic is first of all it's extremely common

common and second of all a lot of people will

and second of all a lot of people will use this as a tactic so that they get

use this as a tactic so that they get very close to the deadline to complete

very close to the deadline to complete something and then they go into a sort

something and then they go into a sort of pseudo panic and then use anxiety as

of pseudo panic and then use anxiety as a way to leverage their mental and

a way to leverage their mental and physical resources to complete that

physical resources to complete that thing how do I know the Contour of this

thing how do I know the Contour of this so well how do I understand the inner

so well how do I understand the inner dynamics of it well part of that relates

dynamics of it well part of that relates to my work as a neurobiologist and

to my work as a neurobiologist and reading the papers that I'll mention to

reading the papers that I'll mention to you in a moment but it also relates to

you in a moment but it also relates to the fact that I'm somebody who Waits

the fact that I'm somebody who Waits quite a while right up until the sort of

quite a while right up until the sort of last minute possible to complete

last minute possible to complete something for activities that I don't

something for activities that I don't want to do something I've been working

want to do something I've been working on my whole life in any case I'm very

on my whole life in any case I'm very familiar with the procrastination

familiar with the procrastination process

process so how can we overcome procrastination

so how can we overcome procrastination well it turns out that there are

well it turns out that there are findings from within the addiction

findings from within the addiction literature that turn out to be very

literature that turn out to be very powerful towards leveraging our way out

powerful towards leveraging our way out of procrastination and it has to do with

of procrastination and it has to do with this

this you already know because I've told you

you already know because I've told you probably a dozen times now that the

probably a dozen times now that the depth of the trough after a dopamine

depth of the trough after a dopamine Peak is proportional to how high that

Peak is proportional to how high that Peak was and how steep it was how

Peak was and how steep it was how quickly that Peak occurred it turns out

quickly that Peak occurred it turns out that not only is the depth of the trough

that not only is the depth of the trough proportional to that but the rate at

proportional to that but the rate at which you get out of that trough

which you get out of that trough is proportional to how steep that trough

is proportional to how steep that trough is

is let me explain this for you in as clear

let me explain this for you in as clear terms as I possibly can imagine you're

terms as I possibly can imagine you're in an a-motivated State you're just not

in an a-motivated State you're just not feeling motivated you're procrastinating

feeling motivated you're procrastinating you may think okay the thing to do here

you may think okay the thing to do here is something I'll clean the house I'll

is something I'll clean the house I'll take care of some bills I'll do

take care of some bills I'll do something or I'll just wait those

something or I'll just wait those approaches as we talked about before

approaches as we talked about before generally don't work or at least don't

generally don't work or at least don't work quickly or they lead you right up

work quickly or they lead you right up to the deadline and that's the deadline

to the deadline and that's the deadline that forces you to get something done or

that forces you to get something done or you just don't get it done and you don't

you just don't get it done and you don't succeed in your goal that happens a lot

succeed in your goal that happens a lot as well

as well however if you were to take that state

however if you were to take that state of being unmotivated or procrastinating

of being unmotivated or procrastinating and actually do something that's harder

and actually do something that's harder than being in that a-motivated state

than being in that a-motivated state in other words doing something that's

in other words doing something that's more effortful even painful

more effortful even painful you can rebound yourself out of that

you can rebound yourself out of that dopamine trough much more quickly so

dopamine trough much more quickly so what do I mean you want to put yourself

what do I mean you want to put yourself in a state that's worse than or harder

in a state that's worse than or harder than the state that you're in or do

than the state that you're in or do something quote unquote more painful and

something quote unquote more painful and here I want to be very clear I'll say

here I want to be very clear I'll say this three times but I'm going to say it

this three times but I'm going to say it for the first time now when I say more

for the first time now when I say more painful I do not mean doing any kind of

painful I do not mean doing any kind of tissue damaging or psychologically

tissue damaging or psychologically damaging Behavior or anything of that

damaging Behavior or anything of that sort that's going to render you injured

sort that's going to render you injured or not well even in the short term

or not well even in the short term that's not what I'm referring to okay

that's not what I'm referring to okay let's just get that one out of the way

let's just get that one out of the way what I'm referring to

what I'm referring to is the fact that for instance if you're

is the fact that for instance if you're feeling a motivated but you find

feeling a motivated but you find yourself cleaning the house as a way to

yourself cleaning the house as a way to procrastinate you can say well cleaning

procrastinate you can say well cleaning the house is harder than sitting down

the house is harder than sitting down and doing nothing but actually in that

and doing nothing but actually in that moment or in those moments that's not

moment or in those moments that's not the case or else you wouldn't be doing

the case or else you wouldn't be doing it the reality is that the dopamine

it the reality is that the dopamine system works according to what feels

system works according to what feels hard or easy in the Moment In other

hard or easy in the Moment In other words if you're feeling a motivated you

words if you're feeling a motivated you need to do something and put yourself

need to do something and put yourself into a state that's harder than the

into a state that's harder than the state you're in so for instance if

state you're in so for instance if you're sitting around feeling a

you're sitting around feeling a motivated or you find yourself tending

motivated or you find yourself tending to tasks that are irrelevant to the goal

to tasks that are irrelevant to the goal that you really should be focused on

that you really should be focused on you need to put your body and mind into

you need to put your body and mind into a state of discomfort

a state of discomfort quickly and the way to do that is to

quickly and the way to do that is to either engage in some tangential

either engage in some tangential activity meaning an activity not related

activity meaning an activity not related to your goal that puts your body into a

to your goal that puts your body into a very different state so here again I'll

very different state so here again I'll default to the obvious one which is

default to the obvious one which is something like cold shower or cold

something like cold shower or cold immersion which not only increases

immersion which not only increases dopamine long term or over several hours

dopamine long term or over several hours rather but for most people is

rather but for most people is experienced as pain that pain causes a

experienced as pain that pain causes a rebound out of that dopamine trough

rebound out of that dopamine trough faster than it would occur if you had

faster than it would occur if you had just stayed in that a motivated State

just stayed in that a motivated State and waited for it to go away or done

and waited for it to go away or done something like cleaning up that for

something like cleaning up that for whatever reason felt like it required

whatever reason felt like it required less friction when I say friction I mean

less friction when I say friction I mean limbic friction your limbic system is

limbic friction your limbic system is always in this dialogue with your

always in this dialogue with your forebrain and limbic friction goes two

forebrain and limbic friction goes two ways limbic friction can be you're tired

ways limbic friction can be you're tired and you don't want to do something

and you don't want to do something and so you have to quote unquote

and so you have to quote unquote motivate to do it energize yourself to

motivate to do it energize yourself to do it or limbic friction can be that

do it or limbic friction can be that you're nervous and scared and anxious to

you're nervous and scared and anxious to do something and you have to calm

do something and you have to calm yourself in order to lean forward into

yourself in order to lean forward into action in order to do that thing despite

action in order to do that thing despite the anxiety I realize this can be a

the anxiety I realize this can be a little bit confusing as a concept so I

little bit confusing as a concept so I want to go into a bit more detail let's

want to go into a bit more detail let's imagine that you or somebody else does

imagine that you or somebody else does not like to exercise you don't want

not like to exercise you don't want exercise and you're trying to get your

exercise and you're trying to get your minimum of five days per week exercise

minimum of five days per week exercise and you're just not motivated to do it

and you're just not motivated to do it there are a couple different techniques

there are a couple different techniques to doing this assuming you've taken care

to doing this assuming you've taken care of all the Baseline stuff all the

of all the Baseline stuff all the foundational stuff we talked about

foundational stuff we talked about earlier and you're just not getting in

earlier and you're just not getting in gear and you find yourself you know

gear and you find yourself you know checking your phone or maybe you're

checking your phone or maybe you're tending into some tasks obviously those

tending into some tasks obviously those things are quote unquote easier for you

things are quote unquote easier for you meaning they cause less limbic friction

meaning they cause less limbic friction than engaging in exercise

the typical advice would be just exercise for one minute okay just

just exercise for one minute okay just get one minute of exercise or five

get one minute of exercise or five minutes and then use the successful

minutes and then use the successful completion of that one or five minutes

completion of that one or five minutes as a milestone that allows you to then

as a milestone that allows you to then move to the next Milestone and indeed

move to the next Milestone and indeed that approach can work and it's exactly

that approach can work and it's exactly what I'm describing here when I say that

what I'm describing here when I say that you're in a state of lack of motivation

you're in a state of lack of motivation or procrastination or both and you need

or procrastination or both and you need to put yourself into a more painful not

to put yourself into a more painful not less painful state so what do you do you

less painful state so what do you do you push up against that friction and you

push up against that friction and you exercise for a short while and then that

exercise for a short while and then that pops you out of that trough that's

pops you out of that trough that's possible but for a lot of people even

possible but for a lot of people even that won't be possible because they just

that won't be possible because they just can't get motivated or they do that one

can't get motivated or they do that one minute or five minutes and they're just

minute or five minutes and they're just like okay I'm still in the trough I'm

like okay I'm still in the trough I'm not actually feeling that great

not actually feeling that great in those circumstances it makes sense to

in those circumstances it makes sense to do something that's tangential to the

do something that's tangential to the whole path that you're trying to pursue

whole path that you're trying to pursue this goal that you're trying to pursue

this goal that you're trying to pursue that is Believe It or Not much worse

that is Believe It or Not much worse than just being a motivated and when I

than just being a motivated and when I say worse I don't mean picking some task

say worse I don't mean picking some task that normally you don't like to do but

that normally you don't like to do but now you're willing to do I mean

now you're willing to do I mean literally thinking about what would be

literally thinking about what would be worse than being in this state again

worse than being in this state again without causing yourself tissue or

without causing yourself tissue or psychological damage what would be worse

psychological damage what would be worse well cold water would be worse for many

well cold water would be worse for many people very cold water so the key is to

people very cold water so the key is to figure out something that for lack of a

figure out something that for lack of a better way to put it really sucks really

better way to put it really sucks really sucks and yet is safe and by doing that

sucks and yet is safe and by doing that you steepen

you steepen the trough you steepen the slope of the

the trough you steepen the slope of the trough which we know brings you back to

trough which we know brings you back to your Baseline level of dopamine more

your Baseline level of dopamine more quickly now for some people that will be

quickly now for some people that will be deliberate cold exposure through cold

deliberate cold exposure through cold shower ice bath and I have to tell you

shower ice bath and I have to tell you that if you're cringing as I say this

that if you're cringing as I say this well then there you go you now have a

well then there you go you now have a tool that you know you cringe even when

tool that you know you cringe even when you just think about and therefore

you just think about and therefore represents a great tool for you so if

represents a great tool for you so if I'm procrastinating to do something I

I'm procrastinating to do something I really need to do should I just simply

really need to do should I just simply wait for that procrastination to

wait for that procrastination to evaporate no will it eventually

evaporate no will it eventually evaporate maybe will a deadline

evaporate maybe will a deadline eventually surface that will trigger me

eventually surface that will trigger me into an anxious or activated state that

into an anxious or activated state that will allow me to complete what needs to

will allow me to complete what needs to be done maybe

be done maybe hopefully

hopefully but better would be to get out of that a

but better would be to get out of that a motivated state that state of

motivated state that state of procrastination quickly and to do so you

procrastination quickly and to do so you need to leverage something that's

need to leverage something that's painful so for instance I heard a

painful so for instance I heard a beautiful lecture recently done by Dr

beautiful lecture recently done by Dr Anna Lemke at Stanford School of

Anna Lemke at Stanford School of Medicine discussing dopamine and some of

Medicine discussing dopamine and some of the things in her book and some newer

the things in her book and some newer findings as well and somebody in the

findings as well and somebody in the audience asked her the question does

audience asked her the question does meditation increase dopamine now earlier

meditation increase dopamine now earlier we talked about how non-sleep deep rest

we talked about how non-sleep deep rest In Yoga Nidra has been shown in the

In Yoga Nidra has been shown in the scientific literature to increase

scientific literature to increase dopamine but I also mentioned earlier

dopamine but I also mentioned earlier that classic forms of meditation whether

that classic forms of meditation whether eyes open or eyes closed so-called open

eyes open or eyes closed so-called open monitoring or closed monitoring

monitoring or closed monitoring meditation sitting there lying there and

meditation sitting there lying there and focusing does not increase dopamine

focusing does not increase dopamine levels per se however for most people

levels per se however for most people especially people who find it hard to

especially people who find it hard to meditate or who don't do that practice

meditate or who don't do that practice very often

very often meditation is effortful getting into

meditation is effortful getting into meditation and staying in meditation is

meditation and staying in meditation is effortful

effortful so if you find yourself in a state of

so if you find yourself in a state of procrastination oftentimes a brief five

procrastination oftentimes a brief five to ten minute meditation where you

to ten minute meditation where you absolutely do not allow yourself to do

absolutely do not allow yourself to do anything besides close your eyes focus

anything besides close your eyes focus on your breath and when your mind drifts

on your breath and when your mind drifts get back to your breath is not only

get back to your breath is not only extremely difficult and extremely

extremely difficult and extremely frustrating unless you're a

frustrating unless you're a well-practiced meditator but it's often

well-practiced meditator but it's often difficult and frustrating not just to do

difficult and frustrating not just to do but to get into that practice and not

but to get into that practice and not just to get into that practice but to

just to get into that practice but to maintain that practice for that mere

maintain that practice for that mere five to ten minutes because it's just

five to ten minutes because it's just not a natural state for us to be in we

not a natural state for us to be in we have to force ourselves so it is

have to force ourselves so it is effortful in fact it qualifies as a

effortful in fact it qualifies as a basically available almost anywhere

basically available almost anywhere anytime type of effortful activity that

anytime type of effortful activity that if you dislike it perhaps even as much

if you dislike it perhaps even as much as some people dislike deliberate cold

as some people dislike deliberate cold exposure well then perfect you now have

exposure well then perfect you now have an additional tool in your kit that you

an additional tool in your kit that you can use anytime you are feeling a

can use anytime you are feeling a motivated and procrastinating

motivated and procrastinating now there are numerous examples I could

now there are numerous examples I could give and hopefully there are numerous

give and hopefully there are numerous examples that you're thinking about the

examples that you're thinking about the key is to have a short list of about

key is to have a short list of about five different effortful AKA painful

five different effortful AKA painful activities that you can employ anytime

activities that you can employ anytime you're feeling a motivated or in a state

you're feeling a motivated or in a state of procrastination keeping in mind that

of procrastination keeping in mind that the goal is not what you accomplish

the goal is not what you accomplish inside of that activity although it is

inside of that activity although it is important that you actually engage in

important that you actually engage in that activity I actually have to make

that activity I actually have to make myself meditate in that five to ten

myself meditate in that five to ten minute little bout of effortful or

minute little bout of effortful or painful activity but it's not about

painful activity but it's not about achieving an outcome it's about forcing

achieving an outcome it's about forcing your body and mind into a deeper state

your body and mind into a deeper state of pain and discomfort in other words

of pain and discomfort in other words taking yourself from that trough that

taking yourself from that trough that you're already in and steepening and

you're already in and steepening and deepening that trough because in

deepening that trough because in steepening and deepening that trough we

steepening and deepening that trough we know that the return from that trough to

know that the return from that trough to normal and even elevated levels of

normal and even elevated levels of Baseline dopamine is going to be faster

Baseline dopamine is going to be faster and more robust and in doing that you

and more robust and in doing that you will quick quickly find yourself back

will quick quickly find yourself back into a motivated State because not only

into a motivated State because not only does it teach you that doing hard things

does it teach you that doing hard things is possible that's sort of more of a

is possible that's sort of more of a subjective cognitive learning but it

subjective cognitive learning but it actually Taps into the very

actually Taps into the very neurochemical system that allows you to

neurochemical system that allows you to then feel motivated and capable to

then feel motivated and capable to pursue the larger goal which is the

pursue the larger goal which is the thing you're really concerned about

thing you're really concerned about after all so as is often the case

after all so as is often the case perhaps always the case on this podcast

perhaps always the case on this podcast we covered a lot of material we cover

we covered a lot of material we cover dopamine and what it is we talked about

dopamine and what it is we talked about the circuitry and the different kinds of

the circuitry and the different kinds of circuitry focusing mainly on this

circuitry focusing mainly on this mesocortical pathway that is so vitally

mesocortical pathway that is so vitally important to motivation for any goals

important to motivation for any goals talked about the relationship between

talked about the relationship between Peaks and troughs and bass lines and the

Peaks and troughs and bass lines and the foundational tools that allow us to set

foundational tools that allow us to set and maintain a healthy Baseline level of

and maintain a healthy Baseline level of dopamine as well as ways to protect that

dopamine as well as ways to protect that Baseline level of dopamine and we talked

Baseline level of dopamine and we talked about how to get ourselves out of states

about how to get ourselves out of states of procrastination

of procrastination and a Motivation by not just waiting out

and a Motivation by not just waiting out those troughs in dopamine but actually

those troughs in dopamine but actually making those troughs and dopamine

making those troughs and dopamine steeper by engaging in things that are

steeper by engaging in things that are effortful and things that we really

effortful and things that we really don't want to do in those moments

don't want to do in those moments provided that those things are safe we

provided that those things are safe we can get out of those dopamine troughs

can get out of those dopamine troughs more quickly and back to our dopamine

more quickly and back to our dopamine baseline or even above Baseline and we

baseline or even above Baseline and we talked about what I really view as the

talked about what I really view as the Holy Grail of motivation which is to be

Holy Grail of motivation which is to be able to learn to attach reward to the

able to learn to attach reward to the effort process itself and to do so by

effort process itself and to do so by not just understanding but also learning

not just understanding but also learning to subjectively recognize and

to subjectively recognize and somatically experience release of these

somatically experience release of these different stressful chemicals within our

different stressful chemicals within our body I realized this was a lot of

body I realized this was a lot of information and yet throughout I've

information and yet throughout I've tried to highlight tools that you can

tried to highlight tools that you can use that range from behavioral to

use that range from behavioral to nutritional supplementation tools

nutritional supplementation tools cognitive tools and keep in mind that

cognitive tools and keep in mind that all of these different segments of the

all of these different segments of the podcast is always are time stamps so if

podcast is always are time stamps so if you feel the need to go back and listen

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to any of these in order to get clearer understanding we've made that easy to do

understanding we've made that easy to do so so simply look for the time stamps in

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YouTube Transcript:Leverage Dopamine to Overcome Procrastination & Optimize Effort | Huberman Lab Podcast