How I Tricked My Brain To Like Doing Hard Things

Dopamine Detox

Many of us spend hours per day playing video games or browsing social media with a full concentration, but when it comes to doing duties, it becomes harder for us.

Your brain prefers to do enjoyable activities rather than the essentials, so you feel less productive doing sports, homework, cleaning, etc.

But some people seem to have no problem studying, exercising, working regularly.

So why are they more motivated to tackle difficult things?

Dopamine is a “pleasure chemical,” but that’s not quite what it does. Dopamine’s what makes us desire things that give us the motivation to get our tasks done.

To confirm the role of dopamine, some neuroscientists did experiments on rats, so they implanted electrodes in their brains. Whenever the rat put a lever, the researchers stimulated the rat’s reward system in the brain.

The result was that the rats became more passionate that they kept pulling the lever over and over for hours. They even refused to eat or even sleep; they just kept pressing the lever until they dropped from exhaustion.

The researches reversed the process; they blocked the release of dopamine in the brain’s reward center. As a result, the rat became more lethargic that they lost all will to live. They lost the desire for eating, drinking, or even mating; they seemed frozen.

Your brain develops priorities in large part based on how much dopamine it’s expecting to get.

If an activity releases too little dopamine, you won’t have much motivation to do it. Still, if an activity releases a lot, you’ll be motivated to repeat it, over and over.

So which behaviors release dopamine?

Whenever there is an immediate reward, the dopamine is released And the opposite, if there isn’t, then it won’t be released.

For example, before you eat your favorite food, your brain releases dopamine. After all, you already expected that it would please you, even if it makes you feel worse because your mind doesn’t care if the high dopamine activity is damaging to you.

For example, a drug addict feels good whenever he abuses drugs; it activates his brain’s reward center, which response by releasing an unnatural amount of dopamine that makes him crave them more.

Indeed, everything releases some amount of dopamine, even drinking water when you’re thirsty, but the more immediate the reward, the higher the dopamine release.

Our body has a biological system called homeostasis that aims to maintain the balance of the internal physical and chemical conditions of our body.

For example, our body reacts to the climate changes, so when it’s cold outside, our temperature falls from the inside; thus, we start shivering until we warm ourselves. However, when it’s hot out, our body temperature rises, and we start sweating to lose some of that heat because our body is looking to maintain a temperature around 37 degrees Celsius.

Homeostasis manifests itself, and that’s through tolerance. Whenever an imbalance occurs, our body adapts to it.

For example, someone who rarely drinks alcohol will get drunk fast than someone who regularly drinks alcohol daily because their body has developed a tolerance to it, which they’ve become less sensitive to its effects.

The same thing with dopamine; your body regularly tries to maintain homeostasis. When your brain gets used to having a high level of dopamine, your body adapts to it. Thus you develop a dopamine tolerance.

Which makes the things that don’t give you as much dopamine don’t interest you anymore, and it’s hard for you to stick with it. We end up doing high dopamine activities such as playing video games, eating fast food, spending time watching tv or browsing social media, etc.

Once our dopamine tolerance gets too high, we aren’t able to enjoy low dopamine. That’s why it’s hard for us to quit high dopamine behaviors.

Such as drug addicts who try to quit have a hard time adjusting to everyday life. Their dopamine tolerance gets so high that ordinary life isn’t able to match it.

So how do we balance dopamine in our bodies and be able to finish the challenging tasks?

The fastest way to start enjoy doing hard things is by using the “Dopamine Detox” method. Which you have to set aside a day where you’re going to avoid all the highly stimulating activities; thus, you’re going to let your dopamine receptors recover.

You won’t be using the internet or any technology like your phone or computer. You’re not allowed to listen to music, masturbate, or eat any junk food. You’re going to remove all sources of external pleasure for the entire day.

However, you’re allowed to go for a walk, meditate, and be alone with your thoughts, reflect on your life and goals. Write down any ideas you get, not on your computer or your phone, but a physical piece of paper. All of this might seem quite intense, but if you want a fast, radically results, you need to be able to take radical actions.

No:

-Internet -Phone -Computer -Masturbation -Junk food -Music

Yes:

-Walk -Meditate -Reflect -Journal

briefly, you’re going to feel a lot of boredom, that boring things become funnier, and that’s the point. When you feel bored, and you have nothing to do, you’ll try to find something to do, something that you used to put off because it doesn’t release as much dopamine. That reminds me of a retired person who occupies himself by doing many tasks such as repairing and gardening, etc.

To make it easier for you, pick one day each week that you’re going to avoid all the high dopamine behaviors ultimately. What’s going to happen is that feeling of boredom, going to recover your dopamine receptors from the unnaturally high amount of it.

Avoiding high dopamine behavior as much as possible and connecting more dopamine to the things that will benefit you can serve as an incentive to pursue something that gives you those long term benefits.

So here’s how it works, you’ll reward yourself with high dopamine behavior after you finish all the tasks and at the end of the day.

For example, when I finish my homework, creating a blog post for my website, workout for 30 minutes, cleaning my room, etc. I reward myself with watching a movie or browsing social media, etc.

But remember, you’ll reward yourself at the end of the day when you finish all your tasks because the high dopamine behavior will absorb all your motivation; thus, you can’t do any low dopamine behavior anymore.

For example, for every completed hour of low dopamine behavior, you can reward yourself with fifteen minutes of high dopamine behavior. That’s mean that for eight hours of low dopamine, you have two hours for high dopamine where you can spend it playing video games, watching movies, etc. Of course, you can adjust it to the way that fits your lifestyle.

But don’t treat lousy behavior as a reward such as smoking, drinking alcohol, etc. You’re trying to detox yourself, your body, and your soul.

I hope that will help you do the hard work. It worked with many people, so don’t hesitate to give it a try.

Do you have any other ideas or personal experiences to keep yourself motivated to do all the hard works?

Resources: Better Than Yesterday.