The science of setting and achieving goals | Huberman Lab Podcast #55
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In this episode, Professor Huberman shares neuroscience-based protocols for goal setting and achievement. He highlights that there is one neural circuit responsible for pursuing all goals, and offers four specific protocols that anyone can use for personal goals. The neuroscience discussed is related to the psychology literature.
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To achieve personal goals, it’s important to understand the brain’s ability to change in response to experience. Making errors is a crucial part of learning and helps the brain reorganize connections. Optimal learning occurs when the difficulty level is such that learners are getting things right about 85% of the time and making errors about 15% of the time. Setting difficulty levels properly can help individuals reach higher levels of proficiency while maintaining optimal levels of frustration.
All animals, including humans, use a common neural circuit to set and attempt to achieve goals. Pursuing goals involves several brain areas, such as the amygdala, the basal ganglia, the lateral prefrontal cortex, and the orbitofrontal cortex. Humans have the unique ability to have multiple goals interact and juggle them. To optimize goal pursuit, individuals should set difficulty levels properly, make errors, and maintain optimal levels of frustration while performing tasks.
Setting goals and pursuing them involve various neural circuits in the brain and body. Specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, time-bound, ethical, and rewarding goals should be set for effective goal execution. It is suggested that protocols grounded in science can be effective in helping individuals reach their goals more efficiently and with less effort.
Setting difficulty levels properly, making errors, and maintaining optimal levels of frustration are crucial for optimal learning and higher levels of proficiency. The concept of peripersonal and extra personal space can help individuals evaluate progress towards a goal and orient their thinking towards the extra personal space. Using neuroscience-based tools for effective goal execution and transitioning between peripersonal and extra personal space is important.
Contrary to popular belief, multitasking can be useful if timed properly. Most people can only maintain focus for about three minutes, so multitasking before a focused task can generate adrenaline and get individuals into action. Visual focus, particularly on a small area, can increase cognitive attention and ability to focus. Focusing on a specific goal line can increase effectiveness and perception of expending less effort. Changing where someone looks can change their perceived effort and ability to perform tasks. Lastly, deliberate visual focus can activate the autonomic nervous system and prepare for action.
Optimizing productivity for achieving personal goals can be achieved through timing multitasking properly, focusing visual attention on a small area to increase cognitive attention, and using deliberate visual focus to activate the autonomic nervous system. The visual system recruits neurotransmitter systems to stimulate action, and coupling imagining with physical action is necessary for goal pursuit. Additionally, understanding our mental frame and attention can help achieve goals through visualization, setting immediate and intermediate goals, and developing protocols. Protocol development helps identify specific goals to pursue and the best route to achieve them. Fine detail versus global information pathways in the visual system can affect goal-directed behavior and systolic blood pressure.
Fcusing visual attention on one point beyond the peripersonal space for 30–60 seconds without moving the head or diverting attention is a highly effective tool to optimize goal pursuit and productivity. This technique can enhance goal pursuit effectiveness for any type of goal, including physical or cognitive tasks, and is more effective than multitasking. It is especially useful for those with ADHD and can harness the visual system to prepare the brain and body for action in pursuit of a goal.
The Balcetis Lab conducted experiments on saving money for later in life and found that people who viewed digitally aged photos of themselves invested more money into savings for later in life. The visual system is significant in defining what we do in the immediate term, even if what we see relates to something in the far off distance. Visualization is an essential aspect of goal seeking.
To effectively achieve personal goals, it is recommended to visualize the bigger picture of the desired outcome. However, simply visualizing the end goal is not enough to maintain ongoing action towards the goal. Visualizing potential failures can be a better way to maintain motivation and plan for obstacles. Good scientific studies suggest that visualizing failure increases systolic blood pressure and helps identify potential roadblocks. It is important to implement visualization correctly to effectively achieve goals.
Foreshadowing potential failure as a means of motivation can help achieve personal goals. Studies show that thinking about negative health outcomes or disappointment in oneself when not achieving a goal is a better motivator than visualizing the end result. The amygdala plays a role in goal setting and pursuit, and avoidance circuits are more effective than circuits that move towards things we want. Foreshadowing failure should be done intermittently during the goal pursuit, while focusing on avoiding failure is the most effective way to achieve goals. Specificity and clarity in thinking about failure is key to achieving goals.
It is recommended to set moderately difficult goals that engage the brain and body. Research shows that goals that are too easy or too difficult are not effective in increasing the likelihood of achievement. Context also plays a role in goal attainment, and goals may need to be updated based on changes such as interpersonal or health crises. The takeaway is to set moderately hard goals to achieve the best chance of success, and not to underestimate the importance of context in goal attainment.
It is also recommended to limit options, set moderately difficult goals, and focus on one or two major goals per year. Foreshadowing failure can activate the system and increase motivation. Pursuing too many goals at once can be counterproductive. Visual sparseness can help focus and align behavior towards a specific goal. A process for aligning visual focus towards multiple goals sequentially will be discussed later.
Creating specific goals with detailed action plans can also help. A study on recycling found that a more concrete plan led to a significant improvement in recycling behavior. Goals should be evaluated and action plans updated on a weekly basis, and exquisite detail is necessary when setting action steps towards a goal. Setting clear goals and following through with specific action steps can lead to a hundred-fold improvement in behavior, and specific outcomes should be identified to measure progress towards achieving the goal.
Dopamine is key to pursuing and achieving personal goals. Studies show that depleted dopamine neurons don’t inhibit pleasure but do inhibit motivation. Dopamine is released in response to positive and novel events, and the brain uses reward prediction error to release and use dopamine. Essentially, dopamine is the common currency by which we pursue our goals.
Dopamine is released in response to positive and unexpected events, as well as when we anticipate positive outcomes. Setting milestones and regularly assessing progress can help maintain motivation. Cognitive self-rewards, such as acknowledging accomplishments, can increase dopamine levels. However, constantly focusing on failure can also generate motivation. It is not recommended to rely on supplements or drugs that increase dopamine, as this can be problematic.
Understanding the interaction between dopamine and the visual system is important to achieve personal goals. Normal dopamine levels constrain eye movements during visual search, while depleted dopamine levels result in little eye movement and lack of focus. Restoring dopamine can enhance visual focus, making it easier to focus on particular goals or horizons. Behavioral tools such as focusing on a specific goal or horizon are recommended as a first step, as they can prepare the brain and body for pursuit without relying on chemical or supplementation tools. While safe use of dopamine-increasing compounds may enhance visual focus, they do not modify circuitry in the same way as behavioral tools.
Moderately challenging goals with a concrete plan of action are the most effective for achieving personal goals, according to Emily Balcetis’ work. Visualizing and foreshadowing failures can increase motivation and focus on particular visual points can remove distractions. Activation is key for progress, alongside the dopamine system and subjective top-down control. It is recommended to focus on specific goals and avoid relying on supplements or drugs to increase dopamine levels.
A tool called space-time bridging can improve goal setting by training the brain to focus on different visual stations, starting with internal perception and moving gradually to external perception and beyond. This allows for improved mapping of goals, milestones, and rewards. The practice takes 90 seconds to 3 minutes and can be done once a day. It requires conscious and focused attention.
To effectively achieve personal goals, visualizing and foreshadowing failures can increase motivation. It is also important to set specific goals with detailed action plans and assess progress at intervals. Emily Balcetis’ work highlights the importance of moderately challenging goals with a concrete plan of action. Space-time bridging is a recommended practice for mapping goals, milestones, and rewards. Basic steps for accomplishing goals include identifying ultimate goals, milestones, and intervals for assessing progress and rewards.
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Link to podcast: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1F7EEGPQwo&t=1s
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