Using dopamine to make improvements in your life.

Just take little steps forward… 

When it comes to the modern world we have come to expect pretty much everything instantly from food, content and even social connection. 

Think Deliveroo, YouTube and Tinder. 

Now, this is great from a time management perspective but it does no good for our dopamine circuitry in our brains. Which is released when your brain is expecting a reward and is ideal for learning, planning and productivity. 

Dopamine is a cycle of motivation, reward, and reinforcement. 

After seeing a workout video online we can feel motivated to want to workout, heading to Amazon to grab the latest workout gear only to find that by next Wednesday when it comes time to head out the door and to the gym we don’t feel like it. This is dopamine in action. 

Keeping Motivated

One idea I have beeing toying with latel is “Little Steps Forward”. The reason being that the biggest and most impactful changes in our life come from taking little steps forward. 

You will never get a six pack without taking little steps forward and doing crunch after crunch, from experience I know that in the moment almost everything from an evolutionary perspective is telling you not to do a single bit of exercise without there being imminent threat (think tigers and shit). 

Which is why it is so important to override the feeling we have by taking one step forward at a time. 

The Little Steps – Do one more.

Do one more crunch, eat one more healthy meal, spend one more hour working on that important project. Break the things you want to achieve into smaller chunks that are manageable, so that when it comes to do it you don’t feel overwhelmedand our brains can see a clear step forward without breaking down or burning out. 

These are the areas in my life that I am going to take little steps forward. 

Workouts & Exercise

I will take everyday and every workout as it comes and I will remember how they make me feel once I have completed them. 

Work

I will break down big projects into smaller tasks and workout the best process to work on the ideas and move the projects forward to completion.

New Ideas & Pursuits 

I will see that dopamine is in action and I will sleep on ideas for a whole which will indicate if I still want to work on them. If I want to pursue them I  will make a plan to go forward with little steps along with way to help me complete it. 

Take the little steps now! 

‘Words may inspire but only action creates change’

Simon Sinek

Take the actions now, take the little steps one at a time and break everything down so that is manageable and achievable.