How You Can Trick Your Brain To Like Doing Hard Things
The dopamine detox us millennials need.
Every year a set of young brilliant minds set out on their journey to discover life. As one comes across challenges, eventually they realize it’s not all easy. And in response to that has a mindset set up of what’s hard and what’s easy.
Now everyone’s mind is different yet still, there’s always going to a person who can outperform the next one. One of the key instincts of such people is that they trick their brains to like doing hard things. But before we understand how, we need to understand something called the ‘Dopamine Fasting’ or as I like to call it, the ‘Dopamine Detox.’
First, let’s understand ‘Dopamine.’ It is often said that dopamine is a pleasure drug. But that’s not quite what it does.
Dopamine is a motivational process that is very distinct from liking or pleasure. Instead, it focuses on reinforcement, motivation, and learning. And as a primary motivator of the reinforcement one often gets attached to the idea of performing that task over and over again.
One biggest example is freedom. As we turn from teenagers into young adults to graduates, we achieve different levels of freedom. One day we are going away for school, the other officially moving out, and the other buying our first house. These different levels are achieved because we crave to prove ourselves in the world. Make a name for ourselves. And something to look up to for our future.
But life isn’t that easy. If someone restricts us from doing something we like. As simple as not letting us eat our favourite ice-cream, we will crave that ice-cream because it provides us with dopamine. The need for dopamine in your body will result in focusing on those things that fill that void. Mostly activities such as Netflix, video games, etc; potentially anything that distracts us.
If this is the case, ‘Dopamine Detox’ is the way to go. Just like a detox cleanse, it is designed to eliminate toxins from our body. Think of dopamine as one.
It’s as simple as setting a day aside, during which you wouldn’t perform any high-stimulating activities. Simple activities such as checking our socials or using our phones which feed into our dopamine can create huge addictions.
Eliminating devices, internet, games, music, junk food; anything that provides external pleasure should be the goal. To embrace the state of detachment from the world. However, making sure you’re intertwined with your true self. Doing things like going for a walk, practicing mindfulness, and reflecting on your life.
Well, why would this work?
Think of it this way, after COVID-19, the economy went down. ‘Planet Fitness’, one of the few publicly traded stocks in the gym arena whose stock went from about $70 to kind of bottoming out around $30 due to the spread. Now even though people are rushing back to the gyms, the number of people who have gotten accustomed to living on their couches has increased.
Even though before you were accustomed to staying healthy, for some of you once what you thought you would never do is your bread and butter now.
That’s exactly what the detox does. It starves us of all the pleasure one usually gets, making those things less satisfying. And in response to that one embracing that boredom.
Nevertheless, as all of us try to kickstart our lives, who has the time? Well, another solution is to distribute the detox over effective yet short periods. This can be done very easily if planned properly.
Choose a set of activities you like to do. Make sure they are not hobbies. Activities like using social platforms, accessing Netflix or music, etc. Choose a day where you can incorporate short periods. And every week restrict yourself from doing a specific activity. For example, on the first Saturday of the month, I wouldn’t listen to music, the next would be no Netflix, and so on.
Just by restricting yourself to act on the feeling of that need, you will potentially let your dopamine receptors recover from that high. As result boredom will lead you to do activities that do not provide that high.
While the detox is a great way to keep in all the tough jobs in the loop, it’s not the final answer.
No one can define a perfect life, but one does have nearly a perfect one if it is balanced. Training our minds to focus on productive activities is the way to go. But also providing the mind with that relaxation time to rejuvenate.
By taking a 20-minute dopamine charge for 2 hours’ worth of diligent work creates that balance one should have in their life.
‘Dopamine Detox’ is a necessity in today’s growing culture of bright minds taking over the world. Don’t trick others to be better, trick your mind to stand out on their expectations. That’s the key to excellence and success. Being smart yet productive is the way to go!
