In this video, we're going to discuss how you can increase your motivation.
But before we jump into that, let's talk about what actually affects our motivation.
What expecting a rewarding stimulus such as eating good food, kissing someone or
something as simple as sleeping.
The brain responds by increasing the release of dopamine.
Dopamine is important because it plays a role in craving pleasure.
It affects many parts of our behavior and physical functions, such as learning,
motivation, mood, attention, movement and more.
The pathway associated with dopamine and the reward system is the Mesolithic pathway.
This pathway starts in an area of the brain called the ventral tegmental area, or VTA.
When we are exposed to something rewarding, dopamine in the VTA is activated.
The activation of dopamine in the VTA causes dopamine levels in the brain to rise.
This pathway is consistently activated during rewarding experiences.
Now, let's take a look at an experiment by Lee and colleagues to see how dopamine
affects our motivation.
In this experiment, rats would press a lever for food they liked.
Since they presumably liked the food, they were motivated to press the lever and eat it.
In a separate group, they took other rats and eliminated the dopamine in their brain.
This was done by injecting a toxin which destroys dopamine, meaning they had no
ability to release dopamine.
These rats were given a lever, and they were still able to press it and enjoy the food.
However, if they move the rat one body length away from the lever, they found that
the animals that had dopamine would move over to the lever, press it and eat the rats
without dopamine. However, it would not even move one body length to the lever in order to
press it and get the food.
This proves that dopamine is not about the ability to experience pleasure because the
rats without dopamine in their brain were still able to enjoy the food.
But it's about the motivation to actually experience the pleasure.
Pleasure comes in different forms.
Specifically, in craving when experiencing craving events such as eating, satiating
food, sexual activity or drug use, the body releases dopamine.
Dopamine is more so associated with reinforcement of the reward, reward and
reinforcement. Help us create our personal habits.
Humans gravitate towards positive experiences and avoid negative ones.
Dopamine is what drives us to create these patterns.
Imagine a person eating a juicy hamburger as you're eating, the brain releases dopamine.
The initial release of dopamine is what makes you feel good and motivates you to do
it again or the next time you're craving to eat a hamburger.
So dopamine is more so associated with reinforcing that reward and motivating you to
create that behavior of craving the hamburger.
So the next time you crave the hamburger, your motivation to repeat that behavior is
associated with the release of dopamine.
The byproduct of releasing dopamine is motivation, and motivation allows you to
maintain and fulfill tasks.
So with all that being said, how can you increase your motivation to excel at your
job? Maintaining a regular exercise schedule and even push your limits?
One thing that you can incorporate into your routine is something you might have heard a
lot on social media, and that is dopamine detox or dopamine fasting.
Dopamine fasting can be simply defined as staying away from dopamine inducing
activities, which have minimal long term benefits.
Some of these activities can include scrolling through social media, playing video
games or indulging in pornography.
Many people have the misconception that during dopamine fasting, you're trying to
reduce dopamine in your body, but that is not the case.
The main idea is that you're trying to adjust your dopamine sensitivity.
What do I mean by that?
When you indulge in some sort of dopamine inducing activity that is easily accessible,
you're training your brain to receive a low or high reward in the form of dopamine with
minimal effort. A low reward can come from the entertainment you get from rapid exposure
to different social media posts, whereas a high reward is achieved through watching
pornography. If you think about it a thousand years ago, for you to see new
scenery, you had to travel a lot or to find a may, you have to put much more effort than
clicking three buttons.
So over time, your brain starts to associate rewards or dopamine release with minimal
effort. This is problematic because you will have less motivation to tackle day to day
challenges that require extensive effort.
You might have heard from motivational videos,
Just say even Cazale.
A part of being a beast is the heart.
Don't take this advice with a grain of salt, as it is important to put emphasis on your
hard work and not just your end goal.
This will help you stay consistently motivated.
For example, you should feel accomplished through doing hard work, which will over time
train your mind to release dopamine through accomplishing your day to day tasks.
Don't go overly celebrating when you finally accomplish your goal and said, train your
mind to recognize your hard work as the accomplishment so that you don't just feel
satisfied after completing a task, but also along the journey.
This will help keep you motivated as the end result can at times be very far into the
future. One motivational speaker that preaches this is David Goggins.
Now you're your hands. Stay hard.
Another way to improve your motivation on a daily basis is to take cold showers.
As irritating as it looks, cold exposure has been proven to increase levels of dopamine in
the bloodstream by as much as two hundred and fifty percent.
Low levels have been linked to poor mood.
Brain fog and lack of focus called exposure may lead to feeling happier, more energized
and productive. Lack of sleep Lack of sleep is also a major motivating factor.
A study has compared sleep deprived individuals with others who slept well and
has proven their lack of sleep inhibits dopamine transmission.
Sleep deprivation ultimately decreases the effect of dopamine on the brain.
This is because the dopamine receptors, which create the motivating feeling are down
regulated, which means there are less receptors for the dopamine to bind on, which
is why you might feel less motivated to do anything when you're sleepy, so make sure you
sleep for a healthy amount every day.
Also, I am sure everyone has heard of the saying Show me your friends and I'll show you
your future. This definitely has some truth behind it, as friends affect the way you
think and feel about yourself and influence each other's personal preferences and
lifestyles. Their influence definitely goes beyond the moment, and in terms of
motivation, it isn't much different.
Finding a true friend who can motivate you to always do better is essential.
Whether you have an exam job interview, a true friend will always push you to achieve
your goals. There are many other ways in which you can boost your overall motivation,
such as exercise, having a balanced diet and exposure to sunlight.
Just make sure you don't get sunburnt.
And if you notice you are doing everything right and you will always still feeling down
and can't seem to get motivated, you can also visit a doctor as you might have a
deficiency in your dopamine producing system.
Doctors might recommend supplements or medications that can help keep you motivated.
We are not health professionals.
We advise you to talk to a doctor and understand the risks before taking any
supplements. Thanks for watching our vigil on dopamine.
We hope you now have some insight on how to keep yourself motivated.
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