Have you ever felt the satisfaction of checking off a task from your to-do list? Even though it may have been a small task, such as eating dinner or taking a nap, it still may feel like you accomplished something. After checking off one assignment from your to-do list, you may even feel motivated to work on more of your upcoming tasks. It almost feels like an addicting rush–of productivity. This is all the result of dopamine and the reward system associated with checking off tasks from your to-do list.
However, why don’t we feel that way towards doing our work? Why don’t we feel the same level of motivation when we need to do larger tasks, especially if we don’t really want to do them? This lack of motivation for long-term projects is one of the core reasons why you may procrastinate on big projects or deadlines.
So, what exactly is dopamine, and how can you use it to your advantage in order to feel motivated to do any work?
What Dopamine is
Dopamine, in essence, is a type of neurotransmitter that your body makes. It’s a chemical messenger that plays the main role in how we develop positive emotions after certain activities. Dopamine allows us to feel pleasure, satisfaction, and motivation primarily after participating in events. At the surface level, it’s what makes us like doing specific things.
How Dopamine Relates to Motivation
Simply put, increased dopamine levels allow you to boost your productivity. Higher dopamine levels increase motivation to do certain things based on what you train your brain to release dopamine for. There are many ways of going about achieving higher dopamine levels. Of course, a healthier lifestyle will help, but there are also small changes that you can make in your studying process that can help your brain release more dopamine.
How to Use Dopamine to Your Advantage
Set small, achievable goals
The key to developing motivation for anything is using baby steps. Create small goals in such a way that they build up to your ultimate goal. Break down your larger goals or assignments into much smaller tasks. The most important step is to actually achieve these small goals–that’s the whole point of creating the smaller steps. Make these smaller goals a habit, and allow them to seamlessly fit into your schedule or lifestyle. Your brain will automatically get used to this new habit that you have created. Repeat this process for multi small goals to strengthen your productivity cycles.
Set deadlines
Set deadlines for your small goals to help your brain understand the significance of each task. Deadlines provide an added motivation to do your work, even if it is for the least significant of tasks.
To-do lists
The best aid for this whole practice is an old-school checklist (yes, to-do lists are still valid). Scientific studies prove that something about checking off boxes on a checklist triggers positive emotions in your brain which catalyze the release of dopamine.
Reward yourself
Every time you accomplish a small goal that you set, reward yourself with something small. You’re more likely to finish something if you’ll get rewarded at the end. Eventually, you can lessen the rewards and possibly even get rid of the reward system, but start off with rewards to help your body start releasing the dopamine. When you receive a bonus after doing a task, your brain releases dopamine, which trains your brain to start enjoying the task via conditioning.
Repeat
Repeat this process by continually setting more small goals until the bigger goals are met. Do not stop after a single cycle and continue for many larger objectives. By repeating this process, you’ll get the dopamine release to become more natural and long-term.
How This is Effective
Your brain feels rewarded when you do your work, so it will want to continue doing that work. This comes in handy if you train your brain to enjoy doing work because then you won’t lose motivation or procrastinate on important things. This approach is long-term and will result in sustained permanent motivation.
Tips for Increased Dopamine Production + Increased Productivity
Start slow, and eventually work your way up. This method will not work immediately and its effects will only be seen after trying it a few times. Make sure the small goals and deadlines that you set for yourself are achievable and also contribute to the bigger goal. There is no point in trying to create smaller goals just for the sake of it. Instead, try to break apart the larger goals/assignments that you would like to do into smaller parts and work from there.
tl;dr
Dopamine is a chemical messenger that is produced by your body when you do activities that you enjoy. To get your body to release dopamine when you do your work, set achievable small goals, create deadlines, stick to old-school to-do lists, and reward yourself each time you complete a task. In the long run, this will allow your body to release dopamine even for productive work, which will result in an increased motivation to do work and increased productivity overall.
Still curious about how you could increase your productivity? Check out some of the other articles by The Motivation Center at https://themotivationcenter.com/category/productivity/.