Learn to attach reward to the effort process itself by consciously leaning into discomfort and friction. This trains your dopamine system to associate the process of overcoming challenges with reward, leading to sustained intrinsic motivation for any goal.
When feeling unmotivated or procrastinating, engage in a short (5-10 min), effortful, or painful but safe activity you dislike (e.g., cold shower, difficult meditation). This steepens the dopamine trough, accelerating your rebound to a motivated state.
Create a short list of about five safe, effortful, or painful activities you can use anytime you’re amotivated or procrastinating. This provides ready tools to quickly force your body and mind into discomfort, restoring motivation.
After a big peak experience (e.g., vacation, major win), dopamine levels drop, causing low mood and motivation. Knowing this helps you understand that the trough will resolve with time, preventing a cycle of seeking immediate re-stimulation.
Get sufficient quality sleep each night to literally restore your dopamine reserves. This ensures a healthy baseline level of dopamine, essential for pursuing goals effectively.
Engage in non-sleep deep rest (NSDR) or Yoga Nidra sessions, even short 10-minute ones. This practice has been shown to increase your dopamine reserves by up to 65%.
View sunlight as early as possible each day for 5-30 minutes without sunglasses, looking slightly off the sun. This increases cortisol and dopamine, leading to elevated mood, alertness, and well-being throughout the day.
Follow a regular exercise program of at least five days a week, mixing cardiovascular and resistance training. This elevates and maintains your baseline dopamine, crucial for any motivated pursuit.
Consume foods rich in tyrosine (e.g., Parmesan cheese, certain meats, nuts, vegetables). Tyrosine is the rate-limiting enzyme for dopamine synthesis, vital for sufficient baseline dopamine.
Expose your body up to the neck to very cold water (37-55°F) for 30 seconds to 2 minutes, or 60°F water for 45-60 minutes. Do this early in the day (not after strength training) to increase baseline dopamine for several hours.
If interested, start with 250-500mg (up to 1500mg) of L-tyrosine 30-60 minutes before cognitive or physical tasks, early in the day. This can increase baseline dopamine and improve cognitive performance, but monitor for potential crashes.
Avoid regularly combining too many dopamine-releasing behaviors or substances, especially with activities you already enjoy. Over-layering can diminish intrinsic pleasure and lead to deeper dopamine troughs.
Steer clear of substances that cause very fast and high dopamine peaks (e.g., illicit drugs). These lead to deeper, longer-lasting dopamine troughs, creating a vicious cycle of craving and narrowing sources of pleasure.
For behaviors where complete abstinence isn’t the goal, set constraints in space and/or time (e.g., only engage in certain places or at specific times). This trains the prefrontal cortex to understand appropriate context and amounts.
Dissolve one packet of Element in 16-32 ounces of water first thing in the morning and during physical exercise. This ensures proper hydration and adequate electrolytes (sodium, magnesium, potassium) for optimal brain and body function.
Access the Waking Up app for meditation, mindfulness, Yoga Nidra, and NSDR protocols. Short NSDR sessions can greatly restore cognitive and physical energy.
Take Athletic Greens (AG1) once or twice a day to cover foundational nutritional needs. It provides probiotics for gut health, adaptogens, vitamins, and minerals.