The Dopamine Crossroads — A Guide to Hacking Energy and Motivation
Why You Have No Energy or Motivation (And How to Fix it)
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Every time I had homework or a project that needed to be complete but found myself lacking the energy to even pick up a pencil, I’d search the internet for motivational videos.
Procrastination was taking hold fast and I was trying to fight back. Looking for whatever spark I could to light the fire of productivity so I could actually get to work and do the things I needed to…
But like most, I’d still fail to overcome “I’ll do it tomorrow” syndrome.
The Dopamine Crossroads — A Guide to Hacking Motivation and Getting Things Done
Why does it always feel so painfully difficult to start important tasks?
When doing mentally or physically intensive tasks, (traditionally the ones that need the most “motivation” to get started) the first 5–10 minutes are almost always unpleasant.
This feeling of resistance is caused by your tonic dopamine levels dropping below the baseline.
This means that your body is constantly pumping out a little bit of dopamine throughout the day and when you start doing something difficult, you get less of the good stuff.
Starting tasks we perceive as fun → More Dopamine
Starting tasks we perceive as difficult → Less Dopamine
With this knowledge, you can begin to hack your motivation…
7 Minute Rule (Flow or Exploit)
After pushing through the first 7 minutes of starting a difficult task, your brain and body begin to calm down and you will do 1 of 2 things.
Option #1: Flow State
Flow state, also known colloquially as being in the zone, is the mental state in which a person performing an activity is fully immersed in a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and enjoyment in the process of the activity. Sounds nice, huh?
This is the optimal outcome for wanting to get stuff done while feeling motivated, but unfortunately, you can’t get into a flow state 100% of the time. However, that percentage starts to quickly increase if you take the proper precautions…
Prepping for Flow State:
Setup a Deep Work Environment: The more distractions you can get rid of, the better. Flow State allows you to feel motivated and fully immersed because you are focusing on one thing. Switching context — even checking your phone — can pull you out of a state of deep focus.
Start with an Objective: It is much easier to overcome the initial resistance of a difficult activity if you have clear and achievable objectives. Replace “write essay” with “write a shitty first draft of the introduction” this takes the pressure off of your brain and lowers the bar for making progress. This also makes those first 7 minutes feel less horrible.
Get Hyped: Dopamine and adrenaline are 2 of the core components of entering flow and getting in the zone. Caffeine has been shown to increase levels of dopamine and loud music increases adrenaline. Use them both in moderation.
Option #2: Exploit (Hacking Your Brain)
If you didn’t manage to get into a flow state there is still one more option.
You still need to get work done, even if you’re not motivated. Luckily there are ways of tricking your brain into doing just that. These productivity techniques are designed to psychologically reduce the ‘resistance’ you feel when doing a difficult activity.
Productivity Exploits:
Track, Don’t Plan: When you are already unmotivated, looking at a long to-do list of difficult activities can make you want to give up entirely. This is when it’s time to track. Even if you just sit on the toilet using Twitter for 30 minutes, write it down. Tracking what you do shifts your mindset from thinking in the future to being in the present and alleviates some of the anxiety from tasks further down your to-do list. This makes starting difficult work easier and stopping harder.
Lo-Fi: (as in “low fidelity”), is a music production style that uses technical flaws to make the recording sound different compared to the live sound being recorded, such as distortion, hum, background noise, or limited frequency response. These kinds of flaws in the music can trigger the cerebrum and produce various positive, neurophysiological effects that can help you focus on the tasks at hand. Why do you think Lo-Fi Girl is always studying?
Pomodoros: This is a time management technique that encourages people to work with the time they have — rather than against it. Using this method, you break your work into 25-minute chunks separated by five-minute breaks. These intervals are referred to as Pomodoros. After about four Pomodoros, you take a longer break of about 15 to 20 minutes. The idea behind the technique is that the timer instills a sense of urgency.