Engage in a daily or semi-daily practice of “space-time bridging” by deliberately shifting your visual and cognitive focus through a sequence of stations (internal, body surface, near, far, broad, then back internal) to cultivate flexibility in orienting your reward systems to different locations in space and time, which is the essence of goal-directed behavior.
Choose goals that are challenging but realistic—just outside your immediate abilities—as these “moderate” goals are most effective in recruiting the necessary physiological and psychological readiness for sustained pursuit and achievement, increasing the likelihood of ongoing pursuit.
To initiate goal pursuit, fix your visual attention on a single point beyond your immediate reach (e.g., a goal line, a point on a wall) for 30 to 60 seconds, holding it steady to activate neural circuits that increase blood pressure and adrenaline, preparing your body for action with less perceived effort and quicker achievement.
Develop a clear and specific set of actions that you will follow to move towards and ultimately reach your goals, as this provides the necessary structure for execution.
Regularly check in on your progress, ideally at the end of each week, to assess how well you performed towards your goals, which helps re-up dopamine and provides a state of motivation to continue your pursuit.
Clearly identify your long-term ultimate goal and then define intermediate milestones, along with a schedule for assessing progress and rewards, to effectively navigate the path to achievement.
Use visualization of the “big win” or desired outcome at the very beginning of a goal pursuit, and perhaps intermittently, to help get the process started, but recognize it is not effective for maintaining ongoing action.
Understand that dopamine is released most for unexpected positive events and drops when anticipated rewards don’t materialize; use this knowledge to strategically place milestones and assess progress to keep the dopamine system engaged and motivation high.
Prioritize using behavioral tools, such as harnessing your visual system, over supplementation or chemical tools because behavioral practices used over time engage neuroplasticity, making you better at focus and motivation.