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Humans are motivated by just two things: avoiding pain and experiencing pleasure.
However, when we look at the details, things are a bit more complicated. It's all about subjective perception of the concepts.
Pleasure has different forms - tasty food, social approval, gaining new knowledge or completing a labor-intensive task.
Pain also comes in different forms. Physical, caused by injuries and illnesses, or psychological, which occurs when we experience grief, feel fear, or worry about the future.
In 2020, a study on “Motivation Theory” was released that looks at the effects of neuromodulators on the body. The authors state that dopamine determines people's everyday behavior. This “happiness hormone” motivates us to seek out pleasant experiences and avoid negative experiences. You get pleasure from certain activities because you eliminate dopamine deficiency, returning to its baseline level.
You could say that feeling satisfied with life is the norm. However, periodically each of us is faced with anxiety, feelings of depression. The strongest charge of motivation that existed yesterday evaporates tomorrow. In such moments it seems as if the world has collapsed and nothing else matters.
Next, we will look at ways to help you keep going and get back to your normal rhythm faster.
The power of dopamine
Increased dopamine levels help you focus on achieving your goal. The body is satisfied and knows that it will experience even more pleasure once it has achieved what it wants.
Sometimes it becomes a real obsession. Then the process and the final result merge into something unified. A person wakes up thinking about the goal, moves towards it during the day and falls asleep thinking about how to achieve it faster and more efficiently. The obsessed person looks exhausted, but will never agree to reduce the intensity of activity. After all, he has found a calling and really enjoys the process.
Low dopamine levels, on the other hand, keep you chained to the couch. You'll certainly have to go to work and do other mandatory tasks, but nothing over and above the list.
However, people have learned how to produce artificial dopamine without any particular goals or hobbies. The ways are very simple: alcohol, drugs, gambling, promiscuous sexual relations. However, such a burst of energy only motivates for certain actions for a short period of time.
The problem, however, is that the brain does not care from what source the dopamine is supplied. There is a need, even an addiction, that must be satisfied. That is why there are so many alcoholics, drug addicts and other marginalized people in the world.
On the other hand, there are plenty of motivated people whose motives are sometimes unclear. You've seen them. They are the athlete who comes to the stadium every day, the workaholic who loves his job, the traveler who enjoys the inconvenience.
Excess dopamine
The baseline level of dopamine is determined by genetics, which is why people behave so differently. One feels fine just spending another evening watching a TV show. The other is always in need of something new, something bigger, something different.
That said, as Socrates said, there must be a measure for everything. Excessive dopamine levels can be harmful. Having achieved personal success in some matter, a person feels a sense of euphoria. However, it never lasts long. Only a few minutes, or rather even seconds, you enjoy the applause of the crowd. After which a rapid decline begins, a return to normalcy.
Euphoria is pleasant, you want to repeat the experience, to experience the exhilarating feeling again. For the sake of it, a drug addict increases the dose, an extreme athlete performs even more dangerous stunts, a mountain climber ascends to the next peak, a gambler makes another bet. Sooner or later it leads to a crash.
A healthy relationship with dopamine is built on maintaining a baseline level without sudden ups and downs. Otherwise, a person loses motivation or takes actions that are too risky and no longer justified.
Maintaining baseline dopamine levels
People have different baseline dopamine levels because their interests, life experiences, values and hobbies differ. Therefore, it is difficult to find a one-size-fits-all strategy that works for everyone. Nevertheless, Stanford University neuroscientist Andrew Huberman suggests a few methods that at the very least won't hurt.
Sunlight
Get more sunlight. To do this, just go outside - 20-30 minutes a day is enough. At the same time, do not wear sunglasses, even in summer. The fact is that bright natural light helps to increase concentration on thoughts and tasks.
If it is dimmed, the effect will decrease or disappear altogether. Light affects the circadian rhythm associated with the production of dopamine. In fact, this is why we are in an elevated state of mind in the summer and spring.
The right foods
Eat more hard cheese, nuts and red meat. These foods contain the amino acid tyrosine, which increases dopamine production. There are also special supplements that are sold in pharmacies.
However, such extraction of tyrosine can lead to addiction. After giving up pills, there will be a slump, a feeling of apathy is not excluded, depression is also possible.
Spontaneity
Do spontaneous things, especially when you really want to. Of course, you need to keep a share of rationality, but remember how many bright emotions remain after such adventures. Planning as if prepares the brain for what is to come. It knows when and how much dopamine it will get. Spontaneity becomes a surprise, a pleasant surprise, which is so lacking in everyday life.
Appreciate the process
Moving towards the chosen goal, learn to enjoy the process. Naturally, there will be some not-so-pleasant stages that simply cannot be enjoyed. But the process consists of many elements, most of which are neutral.
It is in your power to repaint these fragments of the picture, adding colors and meanings to them. A task that has become interesting cannot be boring. Comparisons can be useful here, especially if you are doing better than others. This is guaranteed to give motivation.
The effect does not add up
The rule of loss of efficacy should be kept in mind. The simultaneous effects of different sources of dopamine do not add up.
If you are drunk, you will no longer get the usual satisfaction from a delicious meal. After an intense workout, you should be resting, not doing other tasks that in theory should be enjoyable.
When mixed regularly, the effectiveness of each individual source is reduced.
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