If you need a little extra energy or you need to pay really close attention to something
today here’s what you should do.
You should make a prediction about anything.
It can be a prediction of how many emails you’ll get in the next hour.
It could be a prediction about who’s going to win the baseball game tonight.
It could be a prediction of how many jumping jacks can you do in 60 seconds.
Make a prediction and then just wait to see if you’re right or not.
Every time that you make a prediction you get a little bump of dopamine in the reward
pathways of your brain.
And the reason why you get a little dopamine bump is that your brain is preparing itself
to learn.
So we often think of dopamine as the reward neurochemical when there’s something we
really want like a cookie or a pat on the back we get this dopamine hit in anticipation
of it.
So we think about it as being really related to pleasure and fun and satisfaction.
But the reason why dopamine feels good is that the brain is actually trying to trick
us into learning or improving our strategies for being successful or getting what we want.
So dopamine is going to prime your brain to pay closer attention, to process information
more effectively, to be more engaged with what’s going on and so just make a little
prediction about anything.
You’ll get the dopamine hit, your brain will go into high gear and you could really
use this in very strategic ways.
For example if you’re giving a presentation ask your audience at the beginning of your
presentation to make a prediction.
It could be about your presentation.
It could be about something in their lives.
You’ve given them a dopamine hit, now they’re paying attention.
They’re going to actually learn more from what you’re about to say.
So make a prediction.
It’s a really easy way to get the benefits and the learning benefits specifically of
a dopamine bump.
You’ll also just feel happier which is good too.