We all want to achieve big things in this world, in fact, we all need to achieve in order to keep society running. Without inventors, entrepreneurs, and explorers, our society would not be where it is today. Motivation is found in many sources, with people attributing their motivation to people they are close too, a problem they want solved, or to correct an injustice. Where ever people find motivation, we can all agree that without it, we'd be toast.
Help! I've lost my dopamine! Wait, have I?
Before the convivence era, people found most of their motivation through "if I don't do this, my quality of life will suffer". For example, if you didn't grow, prep, and store enough food, you would starve. Being able to feed yourself and family would then make people feel competent, capable, and have a release of 'feel good' chemicals. This can also be applied to any 'old fashion' skill, such as hunting, clothes mending, building, or childcare. All of these skills were mandatory, and gave us high physical, mental, and spiritual rewards. This cycle kept us motivated, not only because of the rewards, but often because of the threat of death if we didn't complete these tasks.
In the current Western era, many of us don't rely on those skills for our survival and rewards. All of the actual work for those skills no longer happens directly. Our cycle is no longer just Done Task = Reward. Most of us go to work or are students, work for income or rely on someone's income, and then can easily purchase the items and services we need to live. While being able to do this is a privilage and has benefited all of society, there is a down side to the disconnection between what we need to do and how we feel about it. The Done Task=Reward cycle has been disrupted, making us look for rewards elsewhere.
By rewards, I am specifically talking about the flood of feel good hormones' and positive emotions you get after completing a task, most notably dopamine. Almost every typical working brain loves dopamine, and we will subconsciously seek out dopamine, even if we don't mean to. Most modern day rewards are sought out after we do something hard, instead of receiving dopamine from that hard task completed. Some of these modern day rewards include:
Internet
Social Media
Video Games
Movies/TV
Drugs
Alcohol
Processed or Instant Foods
We've becoming hooked on these rewards because of their accessibility, consistency, and because some of them (looking at you social media) are made to keep you on them. They provide a multitude of dopamine, much more then completing a single task can give us. Receiving a lot of dopamine can make us really happy in the moment, but makes us less apt to feel rewards when we receive smaller amounts of dopamine. This makes us dopamine-tolerant, and dependent on these activities to receive the amount of dopamine that makes us feel good. The amount we need to feel good will increase over time, and make the moments with less feel even worse.
For any of those who have struggled with addiction or are educated in the study of addiction, this cycle will feel very familiar. None of the above things are inherently 'bad', but the over-use of them can negatively affect other parts of our lives.
So that's why I find myself endlessly scrolling through Instagram Reels (any quick video is my personal trap!) when I know I need to be doing school work, taking care of myself, or chipping away at my long term projects. I started using social media about 10 years ago, and am so used to the high level of dopamine easily available to me that I've lost the drive to do other tasks, even when they will benefit me. And I know many of us can relate.
***NOTE: Some mental health instances can cause an inflated want for dopamine, make you less susceptible to dopamine affects, or an inability to produce dopamine. Please consult your health care provider or license therapist if you think your tendencies stem from something bigger. It is okay to need and ask for help****
Dopamine Detox, no lemon juice required.
So now we know our problem. We crave higher and higher amounts of dopamine, so we do increasingly more high dopamine activities to compensate, while ignoring lower dopamine options. While the want for dopamine is motivation in itself, we need to make the ways we acquire dopamine productive. We need to change our habits off of high dopamine stimuli, and get re-used to receiving normal amounts of dopamine from productive activities. Lowering the amount of dopamine we are used to makes us motivated to do more, as we will become happy from tasks that give us less dopamine.
As an example, watching a movie on a Wednesday night is much more fun the studying. But if you stop watching movies altogether and become bored, studying will seem like a great use of time during your normal movie watching hours.
To achieve this, a dopamine "detox" can be very helpful. In short, you want to remove any highly stimulating and high dopamine rewards from your life, in order to re get used to a neutral state of not receiving dopamine all the time and at the touch of a button. This can be done in several ways.
Evaluate your Consumption:
You may not even know how hard it could be to not engage in a dopamine activity, or know how often you actually engage in these activities. Try tracking your screen time, writing down how many substances you have in one night, or take inventory of how much of your food is processed.
Decide whether these things are mandatory or need changing. Some people have no choice to eat process foods, and others have no choice but to be connected to their phones for work. This process will help you decide what needs changing and what you want to focus on first.
Evaluate your Mindset:
Sure, education can really suck, especially if your needs aren't being met, you are over worked, or if you aren't interested in the topic at hand. But, at core, education is a privilage that many people in the world do not get. Some people, in 2022, are forced out of education, don't have access to even basic education levels, or are unable to get education due to war or poverty. Having a computer and access to a decent school district isn't even guaranteed in the United States.
This example is to show how sometimes, our mindset about a situation can dictate how much joy we receive from it. In Western society, education is often framed as something we aren't supposed to like (think about how many children's TV shows your watched where a character hated school for no direct reason). Changing our mind set from "I have to do this" to "I get to do this" can reframe how much gratitude and pleasure we get out of even the most ordinary activities. So, ask yourself how you actually feel about a less pleasurable activity, and whether or not it is a privilage.
Make sure you are not negatively affecting you mental, physical, or spiritual health just because of gratitude or because something is a privilage (Ex: Totally warranted to hate going to school/doing homework if you're experiencing bullying or harassments) . But, evaluate if a situation is truly horrific, or if you just don't want to do it.
Starting Small:
Chose one day in which you chose one of your high dopamine sources, and don't use it at all. Sometimes, a small break in habits can be enough to reset your mind and physical habits, especially if you don't feel particularly attached to any one dopamine source. This can also be a less intimidatingly way to start for someone who feels like that couldn't live without one of their dopamine sources. Depending on where you are, this method may be a good first step or feel surprisingly easy.
Going Cold Turkey:
Chose a day or two where you don't partake in ANY high dopamine activities (including anything that may be on your personal list). This typically includes no technology, no processed foods, no drugs/alcohol, or even any highly stimulating activities. Basically, chose a day where you will purposefully become bored, and let yourself feel it. See what comes from your boredom and where it can take you. As you get increasingly used to less dopamine, these feeling of boredom will subside and you will feel more motivation to do lower dopamine tasks.
Make a time for High Dopamine:
Lets be real, I don't think anyone wants or needs to fully give up any of the above things (unless that works for you). Social media is a great way to stay informed and keep in touch, video games are cool as hell, and processed foods can be a nice treat. Plus, there is a healthy level of joy to receive from all of these activities. The main idea is to be consistent and to isolate the times in which you partake in any high dopamine activity, so dopamine tolerance doesn't rise or distract you from what needs to be done.
This can range from...
-Designating break times from tasks, or reward time after completing tasks (ex: 1 hour tasks= 10 mins of internet)
-Only participating in high dopamine activates after you have completed your entire day or tasks (Like having a drink after work)
-Reducing processed food consumption to holidays, weekends, are whatever schedule works for you
-Turning off notifications for an hour, day, or weekend
Journal Prompts to reflect on you relationship with high dopamine activities
What activities do I struggle with doing the most?
Do I feel like I am addicted to my phone, social media, or watching content?
What tasks make me feel most fulfilled, competent, and productive?
What tasks am I not excited to do or procrastinate on?
Do I feel guilty about any of my habits, or have any that I wish would change?