Leverage Dopamine to Overcome Procrastination & Optimize Effort | Huberman Lab Podcast

Here’s a tip for everyone, those of us with ADHD in particular: When you find yourself locked in the couch, dreading a task - give yourself a tiny goal: Stand up. That’s it. And then allow this micro-momentum to drive you further while you are in the passenger seat. You’ll find yourself behind the wheel soon enough.

Here are some notes I took on this podcast. They are not complete, but they might be useful for somebody. Take care, everyone! • Sleep well (8 hrs) literally restores the baseline dopamine • Sunlight early in the morning (10 minutes, double if it is cloudy) • Cold shower or inmersion (30 sec to 3 minutes, if shower, on the head) (11.5 min total / week) • Caffeine (early in the morning) • 30 days of absolute abstinence of the thing you want to stop doing (painful, but worthy) • L-Tyrosine supplements (early in the morning) (500 mg - 1 gr) • Exercise: anything will give you everything. • How dopamine works: like a wave pool, if the spike is too high, some water will drop out of the pool and the baseline will go below what was before. • Desire -> spike in dopamine; followed by a decrease in dopamine below baseline -> triggers craving; cues of how we're doing (directly proportional of our sensation that we're going in the right direction towards obtaining what were craving -> mini spikes in dopamine; After getting what we wanted we restore the dopamine to baseline, plus the difference between what we got and what we expected. • The steepness of the curve of dopamine (the rate in time as the x-axis and the amount of dopamine releasing every second as the y-axis at which dopamine releasing increases) is as important to the dopamine cycle and how we feel about the thing we're desiring, as the size of the peak itself. • That's why cocaine (or any other drugs), orgasms by masturbation, chocolate, fast food, etcetera are so dangerous: the amount of time between desire and getting the thing is so tiny, so we tend to want more, and more, and more. • There are 3 types of 'pleasure-unpleasure' that our brains categorize: the yum (very good, pleasurable), the yiugh (very unpleasant) and the meh (neither one nor the other) • There's also a phenomenon that goes like this: if we give dopamine stimulating rewards to people after the do things that are 'yum', and do it repeatedly and every time they engage in that activity, and then stop giving them the reward (there was an experiment with children giving them rewards after they drew or wrote anything in their spare time -meaning that was the thing they liked more, because they were doing it instead of every other thing-), then they will lose the pleasure for that activity (and will turn out to be 'meh' for them from now on (they will return to normal, but takes time). • If we want to really engage in an activity and feel please by doing it, we must, then, learn to feel pleasure by doing the activity itself, not by stacking rewards or boosts neither prior or after the activity (e.g. staks of pre-workouts, caffeine, yerba mate, Alpha GPC, L-Tyrosine, etc; do them from time to time and watch out what is your baseline level of caffeine: the caffeine you need to have every day [preferably in the morning so you don't ruin your sleep at nights] to survive or do basic functions, if you're part of the ones who don't need caffeine to survive, you're already ahead of those who need at least a little bit of it and not systematically, the point is to avoid the brain knowing 'its caffein' time' so the cravings start. • The difference between an activity or a substance that makes our dopamine peak and one that increases our baseline dopamine • The duration of the dopamine troph (troph is the contrary to peak, is directly proportional to the deepness of that troph itself. What that means is that in order for us to get out of a dopamine troph as soon as possible (maybe we had a peak prior to it, or just feel dismotivated or want to overcome procrastination, what we gotta do is: • Increase that troph: engage in an activity that makes you feel discomfort (IMPORTANT: not physical or mental pain, that's useless and not what we're referring to), maybe it is cleaning the house or deliberate cold exposure or meditation, so the more disconfort makes (the more steeper the troph is -I guess, in relation to time), the more quickly we'll be able to get out of that disconfort and procrastinating zone. • The holy grail of motivation: to be able to attach reward to the effort process itself.

Since listening to this podcast (about a month or two) pairing it with reading a chapter a day of Atomic Habits by James Clear I have achieved the following: - completely quit weed and alcohol - haven’t eaten out once - lost 15 pounds - successfully did my first powerlifting competition and didn’t beat myself up for any perceived failures - started a 4:30 am wake up routine (I used to fall asleep at this time so this is massive) - I’m in bed and reading by 8:30 pm - I do 3 pieces of physical activity a day (2 outside no matter the weather) - increased my work productivity so much people don’t recognize me at the office

It's crazy how much value this man is adding to my life. Currently quitting weed and the cravings were very bad today. Was about to get myself some, but went for a run instead and the cravings are gone. Ty so much for all the insight and tools that we can use to better our lives!

My learnings: Foundational Practices: Focus on quality sleep, non-sleep deep rest (NSDR), and proper nutrition to increase the baseline level of dopamine and restore dopamine reserves. Exposure to sunlight: In the morning, expose yourself to sunlight for at least 5-10 minutes, facing the Eastward towards the sun on a clear day, to increase cortisol and dopamine levels. Movement: Incorporate resistance or cardiovascular training into your routine to maintain elevated levels of baseline dopamine achieved through regular exercise. Cold water exposure: Take a brief dip in cold water up to the neck for 30 seconds to 2 minutes to increase baseline dopamine levels for at least 2-5 hours. Start warmer than you think you need to and ease into it over a few days. Do not expose yourself to cold water after strength or hypertrophy training. Tyrosine supplementation: Consider taking a low dosage of l-tyrosine (250-500mg) 30-60 minutes before a cognitive or physical task to increase baseline levels of dopamine for extended periods of time and improve performance. Avoid excessive dopamine-releasing behaviors or substances: Be mindful of how often you engage in behaviors or substances that stimulate dopamine release and how many you stack together. Guard and protect activities you enjoy: Avoid attaching too many dopamine-releasing behaviors or substances to activities you enjoy to protect their intrinsic value. Overcoming procrastination: If you find yourself procrastinating, try doing something tangential or more painful to quickly pull yourself out of a procrastination state.

Teacher of lifetime matters. 1000 applause to our Dr. Huberman for doing his best for humanity.

Who else is watching this instead of doing what they should do ? 😂

As someone who sits a lot at home currently, writing job applications every day, this is the perfect podcast at literally the perfect timing. Words can't express how grateful I am to be able to listen to this podcast basically free of charge! Mr. Huberman: You're a savior and an inspiration!

Brilliant podcast. What a time to be alive - having access to so much information & research about these spectacular brains and bodies of ours. Thank you and your team for the time invested in making this so palatable and helpful 🤘🏼

I love the way that you teach. I'm a professor (Graduate Pharmacology and Undergraduate Anatomy and Physiology) and I see so many educational videos that are more "edutainment" than education. This is so straightforward and it's presented in such a calm and clear way, that it allows you to sit back and just absorb the concepts. It's incredibly refreshing. One of my students told me about you and I'm very happy that they did. Thanks!

Almost everyone is addicted nowadays, if it´s not alcohol or smoking, it´s scrolling through social media, watching YouTube or checking your phone when you know you should be doing something more productive. No wonder so many of us struggle with anxiety, depression and insomnia. I quit watching the video at 39:44, notebook and pen in my hand, because I was actually procrastinating on doing something else. I´ll get to that first now and plan time this afternoon to watch rest of the video. THANKS!

These are like instruction manuals for how to live in a human body. Thank you so much, Dr Huberman! Most definitely sharing ❤

I'm taking notes. This episode feels like a gift, thank you so much. I tell everyone to watch your podcasts.

I get dopamine hits whenever Mr Huberman talks about it.

Been listening to this repeatedly the last few days to try and absorb all of it. I feel like I've finally found the piece I've been missing to fully understand and optimize my drive and motivation - and why it is sometimes lacking. Thanks so much!

Huberman Lab has quickly become my favorite podcast. Appreciate you taking a deep-dive into complex topics but presenting them in a way that is easy to understand. As someone with synesthesia, would appreciate a podcast where you discuss synesthesia, such as the different types and how it is developed. Thank you again for your content!

Andrew and Lex: You are unlocking brains,hearts and eyes like nobody else did this before … Thank you again and keep going,we are very hungry of knowledge …

I remember a saying from you, Andrew, which is "we only have ONE UNIVERSAL currency, that is dopamine" Thank you so much for this, as always! <3 I have 16-20 Topics to go!

My issue is starting most tasks. Once I start I can continue IF I am listening to music or a podcast or audiobook or on phone w someone. I need a distraction to keep me ‘out of my own thought process’. So this helps me A LOT. IT IS CHEMISTRY not a character flaw. Relieved. So glad I found this channel and this Doc.

Making Effort the Reward. I am almost certain your effort in imparting your knowledge to strangers through these videos is your form of reward. Thank you for everything you are doing.