Everyone has a dopamine baseline, which our brain uses to define fun. Assume each activity is rated on a scale of 1 to 10. If one activity has a higher number than the baseline, your brain believes the activity is pleasurable and releases dopamine.
If your current baseline for dopamine release is 5. So, for every activity that earns you more than 5 points, your brain will release dopamine, making you feel like you’re having fun.
So, how do you get your brain to release dopamine and make you love the activity you hate? (1)
I know that most of us find it difficult to engage in positive activities such as working out, meditation, eating healthy foods, doing our best at work, and enjoying our jobs.
If all of these things are simple, the obesity rate will fall rather than rise. And diabetes cases will decline, resulting in fewer stressed people and greater success for all.
The trick is to lower your dopamine baseline.
How to do it?
As previously stated, if your dopamine baseline is currently 5 points and you enjoy playing video games, playing video games may have 8 points (more than 5 points). If you enjoy watching Netflix on your couch after work, this activity may be worth 7 points.
All activity above the baseline is pleasurable, and dopamine is released. You might want to do it again and again.
In the extreme, if the points you receive from the activity are excessively high, such as 9 or even 10 points. You may become addicted to the activities. And your baseline will rise.
All activities with fewer than 8 points are no longer appealing to you. You will have fewer and fewer activities to enjoy and have fun with.
The solution:
You want to love what you hate doing, I mean for positive activities.
When you stop doing the activity with high points. Your dopamine baseline will drop.
Why? Our body has a survival mechanism. And the brain requires dopamine for survival; it is dopamine that drives us to engage in activities. We are always on the lookout for dopamine release.
So, if you stop doing the high-point activity, no dopamine is released; your brain will find a way to release dopamine by lowering the baseline to cover more activities with lower points.
So this is the trick.
Assume you always play video games on a scale of 8 and have decided to stop. After a while, your brain will begin to crave dopamine, so it will seek out other activities with points above your baseline (if your baseline is 7).
If your brain cannot find any of them, it will begin to lower the baseline to 6 points in order to cover more activities; when the baseline is lowered, all activities scoring more than 6 points become enjoyable, and dopamine is released.
So, depending on your dopamine receptor sensitivity, stop all fun activities for two weeks or more. Until you enjoy the activity you want to do (you hate it now)
Let us look at an example of a morning workout.
You start eliminating other pleasurable activities and assess your reaction. Start thinking about exercise if it feels good. That means you’ve successfully lowered your baseline. If not, you may have to give up other pleasurable activities until you get excited and enjoy the exercise.
Once you achieve success, you have to be careful with high dopamine activities. just as diabetics should be wary of foods that cause high blood sugar spikes.
We must always maintain a steady baseline of dopamine. You can still do the things you love, like playing video games, but only once a month or two weeks, as long as the activity you are aiming for still feels good. Take, for example, exercise. You should stop playing video games once the exercise is no longer fun.
Another example:
Let’s say you’re used to watching movies at a specific time, such as 7 p.m., but you know you need to read personal development books, such as the atomic habit you’ve been putting off for several months.
Simply stop watching movies at that time and consider reading the book, or better yet, grab the book and start reading.
Do it until you like it; the goal is to stop doing anything fun at the time until your brain has no choice but to lower the baseline and release dopamine when you read a book.
With this guide, I hope you can start your personal growth and live a successful life. Have a good time.
