You know how you can easily spend hours playing video games or scrolling through social media? You can totally zone out in front of a screen all day.
But when it comes to studying for just one hour… ugh, suddenly it’s a struggle.
Or working on your side hustle for an hour… not so fun anymore.
You might be thinking, “How did he know?! Is he a mind reader or something?”
Nope, no magic here, just some good old-fashioned observation.
Well…that’s not the case. Or…maybe it is 😉
Let’s be honest, we all know that studying, working out, building a business, or doing other productive things are better for us in the long run.
But we still find ourselves glued to the TV, playing video games, or mindlessly scrolling through social media. I’m guilty of it too!
It’s easy to understand why this happens.
One set of activities is effortless and enjoyable, while the other requires hard work and discipline.
BUT some people actually enjoy studying, working out, or working on side projects regularly.
[Wait….let’s rewind…what?…there are people who actually like these…!?]
This raises the question:
Why are some people motivated to tackle difficult tasks?
Is there a secret to making hard things easy?
I bet you’re curious to know the answer too, so let’s find out!
So, to figure this out, we need to look at a brain chemical called dopamine.
People often call it the “pleasure molecule,” but it’s actually not about pleasure itself.
Dopamine makes us want things, and that wanting is what motivates us to get up and do stuff.
We’re still learning just how powerful dopamine is, but scientists have done some interesting experiments on rats to understand it better.
Researchers put tiny electrodes in rats’ brains and gave them a lever to pull.
When the rats pulled the lever, the scientists stimulated the reward center of their brains, releasing dopamine.
This made the rats crave pulling the lever so badly that they did it over and over for hours, even ignoring food and sleep.
They kept at it until they were completely exhausted.
But then the scientists did the opposite.
They blocked dopamine in the rats’ brains.
The rats became so sluggish that they didn’t even bother to drink water.
They stopped eating, mating, and craving anything at all. It was like they lost their will to live.
They’d eat if food was right in front of them, but they had no motivation to get it themselves.
You might think we eat and drink because we’re hungry or thirsty, but dopamine plays a big role too.
These rat experiments are extreme, but they show us how dopamine affects our own motivation and drive in everyday life.
It’s crazy, but your brain actually sets priorities based on how much dopamine it expects to get. If an activity releases too little dopamine, you’ll feel less motivated to do it. But if it gives you a dopamine rush, you’ll want to do it again and again.
So, what kinds of things trigger dopamine release?
Any activity where you’re expecting a reward!
If there’s no immediate reward, your brain won’t bother with the dopamine.
For example, before you eat your favorite comfort food, your brain releases dopamine because it knows that food will make you feel good.
But here’s the catch: your brain doesn’t care if high dopamine levels are harmful.
It just wants more.
Think of a drug addict who knows they’re doing something bad, but they can’t resist the craving. Cocaine and heroin release huge amounts of dopamine, creating an unhealthy cycle of addiction.
Simply speaking, nearly everything releases dopamine
The biggest dopamine rush happens when you get a reward unexpectedly.
It’s like playing a slot machine: even if you lose, you keep expecting a big win.
You just don’t know when it’ll come.
In our digital world, we’re constantly bombarding our brains with dopamine, often without realizing it. Whether it’s scrolling through social media or playing video games, we’re anticipating some kind of reward.
Think about how often you check your phone, expecting a text message or notification.
You’re chasing that dopamine hit, just like those lab rats.
You might think, “So what? It’s not hurting me.” But you’re wrong…
Our bodies have these cool systems that work to keep everything in balance.
One of them is called “homeostasis.”
It basically means our body likes to stay at a comfortable level, both chemically and physically. When things get out of whack, our body tries to adjust.
For example, if it’s chilly outside, your body temperature drops, so you shiver to warm up.
Or if it’s super hot, your body temperature rises, so you sweat to cool down.
Your body is always aiming to be at 37 degrees Celsius, no matter what the weather throws at it.
Homeostasis doesn’t just work with temperature. It also shows up in other ways, like with tolerance.
Ever noticed how someone who rarely drinks gets tipsy quickly, while someone who drinks often needs more to feel the effects?
That’s because their body has built up a tolerance to alcohol, making them less sensitive to it.
The same thing happens with dopamine.
Your body tries to keep things balanced, so it adjusts your dopamine levels downward when they’re constantly high.
Basically, your body gets used to having lots of dopamine, so it becomes the new normal, and you develop a tolerance to it.
This is a big problem because activities that used to give you a decent amount of dopamine now seem boring.
They don’t give you that same rush, so you lose motivation.
That’s why we’re drawn to things like video games and social media instead of studying or working.
These activities release more dopamine and make us feel good, while studying or working might not trigger that same feeling anymore.
This is why drug addicts struggle with normal life.
They use drugs so much that their dopamine tolerance skyrockets.
Their regular lives can’t match the intense dopamine rush from drugs. They become like those rats in the experiments, losing motivation to do anything else.
When we experience high dopamine levels, it becomes hard to enjoy activities that don’t give us that same intense feeling.
This leads to the question: can we do anything to prevent this?
Yes! The answer is a dopamine detox.
Basically, you set aside a day to avoid all highly stimulating activities.
You stop bombarding your brain with dopamine and give your dopamine receptors a chance to recover.
For one whole day, you’ll have very little fun.
No internet, no phone or computer, no music, no junk food.
You remove all external sources of pleasure and embrace boredom. Trust me, you’ll be bored a lot!
But you can still go for a walk, meditate, be alone with your thoughts, think about your life and goals, and write down any ideas on paper.
This might sound intense, but if you want to see big changes quickly, you need to take big action.
Why does this dopamine detox thing even work?
Imagine you eat at the fanciest restaurant in town every day.
Those amazing meals become your normal. If someone offered you a simple bowl of rice, you’d probably turn it down, right? It’s not as exciting as your usual gourmet food.
But if you were stranded on a desert island and starving, that bowl of rice would suddenly seem pretty good.
That’s kind of what a dopamine detox does.
It takes away all the usual pleasures, making those less stimulating activities more appealing. In simpler terms, it makes boring stuff seem more fun because you’re bored!
If a full dopamine detox feels too intense, you can try a smaller version.
Pick one day a week and completely avoid one of your high-dopamine activities. You can still do other things, but that specific behavior is off-limits.
You’ll probably get a little bored, but that’s the whole point! It gives your dopamine receptors a break from the constant stimulation.
That boredom will then push you to try other things, like tasks you usually avoid.
Since you’re already bored, those tasks might actually seem more appealing.
Avoiding high-dopamine activities occasionally is helpful, but ideally, you should try to minimize them altogether.
Instead, make the activities that are good for you more rewarding.
This will make you want to do them more often, which is a win-win!
You can do this by using one of your high-dopamine activities as a reward for completing those difficult tasks.
Here’s how I make those boring but important tasks a bit more fun: I keep track of low-dopamine activities like cleaning, studying, or exercising.
After I’ve done a certain amount of this kind of work, I reward myself with an equal amount of high-dopamine activity at the end of the day.
Notice I said “after” and “at the end of the day.”
If I do the fun stuff first, I won’t be motivated to do the boring stuff later.
So, it’s low-dopamine first, then high-dopamine as a reward.
For example, I might give myself 15 minutes of high-dopamine time for every hour of low-dopamine work I complete.
That means if I work for 8 hours, I can have around 2 hours of fun stuff at the end of the day.
You can adjust this to fit your own preferences.
But here’s an important note:
If your high-dopamine activity is something addictive like smoking or drinking, don’t use it as a reward. Find something else that’s not harmful to yourself.
If you’re curious, my own guilty pleasure is the internet. Mainly Tiktok.
I can easily get sucked in and lose track of time.
That’s why I use this system to manage my addiction.
But I still have days where I avoid all high-dopamine activities completely.
It’s totally worth it, trust me. If you’re feeling unmotivated, a dopamine detox can be a game-changer!
By separating yourself from those unhealthy dopamine spikes, you’ll start to find excitement in everyday activities and have the energy to do them longer.
We’re all dopamine addicts to some degree, and that’s okay. Dopamine helps us chase our goals and become better versions of ourselves.
But you get to decide where you get your dopamine hits.
The choice is yours!
