How to Increase Motivation & Drive

This episode explains the science of motivation and drive. I describe how dopamine — a chemical we all make in our brain, underlies our desire for and pursuit of our goals, as well as our capacity to move and experience pleasure. I describe how we can leverage specific behaviors, reward schedules and dopamine-prolactin balance to help ensure we can maintain motivation and capacity for pleasure over the long term. I also discuss dopamine in the context of ADHD, craving and addiction, and some absolutely amazing results about specificity of drug effects based purely on belief. Read the full show notes for this episode at hubermanlab.com. Thank you to our sponsors AG1: https://athleticgreens.com/huberman LMNT: https://drinklmnt.com/hubermanlab Waking Up: https://www.wakingup.com/huberman Timestamps 00:00:00 Introduction 00:00:30 Sponsors: AG1, LMNT & Waking Up 00:04:22 Announcement: Spanish Subtitles 00:05:06 Emotions, Addiction & Mindset 00:06:22 Motivation & Movement: The Dopamine Connection 00:07:29 A Double-Edged Dopamine Blade 00:08:56 Dopamine Fundamentals: Precursor to Adrenalin 00:10:15 The Reward Pathway: An Accelerator & A Brake 00:12:10 Motivation = Pleasure Plus Pain 00:14:14 The Dopamine Staircase: Food, Sex, Nicotine, Cocaine, Amphetamine 00:16:15 Subjective Control of Dopamine Release 00:17:40 Social Media and Video Games 00:18:15 Addiction & Dopamine: Progressively Diminishing Returns 00:18:48 Novelty, Sensation-Seeking & Anticipation 00:20:15 Craving: Part Pain, Part Pleasure & Pain Always Prevails 00:23:11 Desire Scales With Pain: The Yearning Function 00:24:43 The Croissant Craving Circuit 00:25:45 “Here and Now” Molecules: Serotonin, Bliss & Raphe Nucleus 00:26:26 In Your Skin Or Out In the World 00:27:25 Cannabinoids Lethargy & Forgetfulness 00:28:15 The Almond Meditation 00:29:30 Drugs That Shift Exteroception Versus Interoception 00:30:36 Emotional Balance, Active & Passive Manipulation 00:32:36 Procrastination: Leveraging Stress, Breathing, Caffeine, L-Tyrosine, Prescription Drugs 00:37:04 When Enough Is Never Enough; How Dopamine Undermines Itself 00:38:58 Dopamine-Prolactin Dynamics: Sex, Reproduction & Refractory Periods 00:40:30 The Coolidge Effect: Novelty-Induced Suppression of Prolactin 00:42:22 Vitamin B6, Zinc As Mild Prolactin Inhibitors 00:43:25 Schizophrenia, Dopamine Hyperactivity and Side Effects of Anti-Dopaminergic Drugs 00:45:08 Prolactin, Post-Satisfaction “Lows” & Extending the Arc of Dopamine 00:48:00 The Chemistry of “I Won, But Now What?” 00:49:00 Healthy Emotional Development: Child and Parent 00:50:03 Never Say “Maybe” (Reward Prediction Error) 00:52:02 Surprise! 00:52:59 Are You Suppressing Your Drive and Motivation By Working Too Late? 00:54:50 Disambiguating Pleasure and Drive: Dopamine Makes Us Anti-Lazy 00:58:00 Beta-Phenylethylamine (PEA), & Acetyl L-Carnitine 01:00:00 Attention Deficit Disorders, Cal Newport Books, Impulsivity & Obesity 01:03:55 Leveraging Dopamine Schedules 01:05:22 Subjective Control of Dopamine and Drug Effects: The “Adderall” Experiment 01:09:03 Caffeine May Protect Dopamine Neurons, Methamphetamine Kills Them 01:10:57 Nicotine: Dopamine, Possible Neuroprotection, Prolactin Increase 01:11:53 Gambling, Intermittent Reinforcement, & Persistent Goal Seeking (Bad and Good) 01:14:14 Intermittent Halting of Celebration; Enjoy Your Wins, But Not All of Them 01:18:38 A Story Example of Intermittent Reward to Maintain Long-Term Drive and Motivation 01:21:25 Corrections & Notes About Spanish Captions & Other Languages Soon 01:24:00 Synthesis & Framework, Zero-Cost Support & A Note About Sponsors Disclaimer & Disclosures Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices