Dopamine’s Motto Is “More.”
Hey, friends!
I want to share a way of thinking about dopamine and how I use this to set limits in my own life and be productive.
From The Molecule of More by Daniel Z. Lieberman
From dopamine’s point of view, having things is uninteresting. It’s only getting things that matters. If you live under a bridge, dopamine makes you want a tent. If you live in a tent, dopamine makes you want a house. If you live in the most expensive mansion in the world, dopamine makes you want a castle on the moon. Dopamine has no standard for good, and seeks no finish line. The dopamine circuits in the brain can be stimulated only by the possibility of whatever is shiny and new, never mind how perfect things are at the moment. The dopamine motto is “More.”
Dopamine makes us want more of whatever we have. It’s a craving that never goes away.
And this is something I learned about myself. So I set reasonable limits on all sorts of things.
Here are two examples.
Example 1: I love diet Mountain Dew, but it doesn’t love me back. If I drink too much, I end up wired, frenzied, and unable to focus. And I won’t sleep.
Worse yet, no matter how much I drink, my little brain wants more. It always asks for “just one more can.”
So I limit myself to two cans per day. This way, I can enjoy diet Mountain Dew without destroying my sleep and productivity.
Example 2: I love to stay up late binging Netflix crime thrillers. But this behavior destroys my productivity and disrupts my circadian rhythm.
And no matter how many episodes I watch, my little brain begs for “just one more.”
As a result, I limit myself to just one episode per day. This might seem strict to outsiders, but it helps ensure that I make time to read and still go to bed early. And as a side benefit, I never run out of interesting shows to watch!
But that’s me.
What about you? What cravings do you set limits on?