Leverage Dopamine to Overcome Procrastination & Optimize Effort

Huberman Lab

In this episode, I explain how dopamine dynamics — meaning changes and interactions between our baseline and peak levels of dopamine drive our cravings and sense of motivation. I also explain how to leverage dopamine dynamics to overcome procrastination. I cover behavioral, cognitive, nutrition-based and supplementation-based tools to optimize baseline and peak dopamine levels to ensure a persistently motivated state. I also discuss how to boost motivation when you are in a rut, why you might not want to stack behaviors/substances that spike dopamine and how to build and maintain a “growth mindset” for pursuing goals of any kind. Dopamine is an incredibly powerful neuromodulator involved in basic functions (e.g., hunger, romantic attraction, etc.) and feats of cognitive and physical performance; by understanding the dynamics of dopamine, listeners ought to be better positioned to overcome procrastination, maintain motivation, and improve confidence.

For the full show notes, visit hubermanlab.com.

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Timestamps

(00:00:00) Dopamine

(00:02:32) Sponsors: Helix Sleep, WHOOP, ROKA, Momentous

(00:06:27) Dopamine Brain Circuits

(00:14:53) Goals & Addiction

(00:17:13) Dopamine Dynamics, “Wave Pool” analogy

(00:20:28) Craving, Motivation, Pursuit & Reward Prediction Error

(00:28:26) Sponsor: AG1 (Athletic Greens)

(00:29:40) Feedback Cues & Reward Contingent Learning, “Scoreboard”

(00:37:40) Addiction; Pleasure & Pain Imbalance

(00:44:55) Dopamine Release & Addictive Substances/Behaviors

(00:50:43) Addiction Recovery, Binding Behaviors

(00:53:25) Tools: Maintain Baseline Dopamine Levels

(01:02:08) Sponsor: InsideTracker

(01:03:26) Tool: Deliberate Cold Exposure & Dopamine

(01:09:38) Prescriptions & Supplementation: L-Tyrosine, Mucuna Pruriens

(01:18:58) Dopamine Trough Recovery, Postpartum Depression

(01:23:31) Dopamine Dynamics, “Dopamine Stacking”; Intrinsic Motivation

(01:38:10) Making Effort the Reward, Growth Mindset

(01:41:49) Tool: Overcome Procrastination

(01:52:16) Tool: Meditation & Procrastination

(01:57:01) Zero-Cost Support, YouTube Feedback, Spotify & Apple Reviews, Sponsors, Momentous, Neural Network Newsletter, Social Media

Title Card Photo Credit: Mike Blabac

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