Hobbies: Your Best Defense Against Brain Rot

Neuroscience shows that having a reason for everything that you do is ruining your life. And I will tell you the science behind why, because if everything you do has a purpose, you work out to optimize your body, you walk to get 10K steps a day, you turn every creative pursuit into a side hustle, or you rest so that you can improve your recovery so that you can perform better tomorrow. Your brain has turned your entire life into a task, and that's why you can be doing all of the right things and still not feel happy. So if you're feeling tired or unmotivated, burnt out, or uninspired, you don't need another goal. You need hobbies that actually recharge your dopamine system. And in this video, I'm going to explain to you what over-optimizing your brain has done to your life and give you a formula for choosing hobbies that actually recharge you and your dopamine system. And if you're new here, hi, I'm Emily, also known as Em on the Brain. I am a neuroscientist by training. I've got 2 degrees in neuroscience as well as many years of research experience in the lab. And I am now a speaker, author, and coach to people in over 55 countries all over the world, training them how to rewire their brain, reprogram their subconscious, and build the lives they actually want to live. And that's exactly what I'm here to help you do too. I am very excited about this video because I myself, I have so many goals. I have so many things that I want. I know what I need to do to get them. All I need to do is execute. And yet for some reason, I was just feeling unmotivated and uninspired and just wasn't feeling like I really wanted to do the work, even though I know I wanted to achieve my goals. And so I sat back and I sort of thought about what was going on in my brain, did a little bit of research and deep diving, and came to find out That I really needed to do things for no reason again, and I needed to reset my dopamine system the right way so that I could actually be energized and inspired to do the work that I know I needed to do. So if you are sitting in the same situation that I was, where you're just feeling a lack of motivation, or you're feeling uninspired, or lacking energy to actually go and do the things that you know you need to do, or maybe you're lacking vision, maybe you're not really sure what you want, maybe you, like, you were really good at executing, but you don't know exactly what you want and you don't have this vision for where you want to go. Or maybe you do. Maybe you have all these things and you're just wanting to add a little bit of sparkle, a little bit of spice to your life and enjoy your life a little bit more. This video is for you. So let's first talk about the harm of over-optimizing your life and what this does to your brain. Because nowadays on social media, in society, It's so go, go, go, especially if you are in the personal development kind of realms or business, et cetera, then you're probably constantly consuming content about how to get better, how to be better, how to get more, how to do more, et cetera, et cetera. And this is great. I mean, it's great to want more and to do more with your life. Like, it's absolutely fantastic to wanna grow. It's a part of being human. But what happens when we are constantly consuming content? I mean, we're programming our brains with the content that we consume. So if we're constantly consuming content about those topics, then that's the reality our brains are going to be filtering for. And so what our brains have now done is turned everything into a way to get better or be better, and our entire lives become this task, right, that we need to complete. And I discovered this myself when I went on a hike. So I realized, you know, something for me that I really like to do, it's always recharged me, is going for hikes. I love being out in nature. I love being in the mountains. I love the feeling of getting lost. So I went for a hike and I found myself, you know, okay, I'm going on this hike. I'm going to do this hike to knock out my workout. I'm going to replace my workout for today with this hike. And then I only have a few hours to get this hike done because I need to film my podcast or film content after I finish this hike. So I have things I need to do after the hike, so I better get this hike done in this set amount of time. So now there's a time constraint and there's a reason for it. I'm replacing it and I'm getting my cardio, I'm getting my steps in, etc. And so I'm on this hike and I find myself just wondering why I don't feel the magic of the hike that I used to. I'm like, I used to feel this absolute magic, like miracles happening, blessings, sparkles in the air. Like hiking for me has always helped me feel just like alien from outer space. Like I feel magical. And I was like, I just don't feel that way. I do not feel that way in this moment right now. And It took me a bit, but I think it was maybe I'm getting, I'm hiking up to the top of this really cool peak and I am maybe 3 quarters of the way up when I realize that the time limit and the fact that this has turned into a workout, into a task, like having a reason for going on the hike kind of took the joy out of the hike itself. Now there is actually research in psychology on this. It's called the overjustification effect, where the moment you attach a reason or a reward like money to something that you already enjoy, you actually start to enjoy it less because your brain literally classifies the activity differently. Now, there is also neuroscience behind this as well. When everything you do has a goal, there's an outcome, that everything that you're doing has a reason for afterward, you're doing this because of something you're going to get afterward, you're constantly delaying dopamine. So rather than getting dopamine from the task itself, from enjoying the present moment, from actually getting joy while you're doing it, your brain is delaying dopamine. Oh no, you don't get the joy. You don't get the dopamine. You don't get the reward. You don't get to feel good until after the task is done, right? Because the activity is a task that you have a reason for completing. So you end up in this loop and you're stuck chasing the feeling that you believe you're gonna get when it's over. And that feeling never really comes because the thing is, is that as soon as we complete things, when we complete tasks, it's always onto the next, onto the next, onto the next. And we're constantly delaying dopamine. And what we're doing when we do that is we're, we're stealing our own joy from the present moment. And when I realized this mid-hike, 3 quarters of the way up to the peak of the mountain, I decided to just let go. I was like, you know what? Whatever time I finish is the time that I finish. Whatever I get done afterward, I get done afterward. I'm hiking just to hike. I'm not hiking because it's meant to be a workout. I'm not hiking because I'm doing this to reset my dopamine. I'm not doing it for any other reason but except for the fact that I enjoy hiking. Like, I like hiking. And so I'm just going to be here now and be present. By the time I reached the top of this peak, which was not very long after, maybe like 10 or 15 minutes after, I was literally dancing on the mountaintop. I was literally dancing on the mountaintop. And it was— I have the memory. This was months ago now, but I had— this memory is so vivid in my mind of me just dancing on the top of a mountain and looking at the view. And it was the most incredible experience ever. And I unlocked that magical feeling again. And that's what I want to help you do. In life. I wanna help you unlock the magical feeling of life again, because life is worth living and there is magic in the present moment that you are experiencing right now. You're just not letting yourself experience it because you're constantly focused on completing the next thing and doing the next thing. So now I wanna walk you through a formula for how you can identify hobbies that actually fulfill and recharge your soul and your nervous system and your dopamine system and actually allow you to feel This magical feeling of aliveness in this present moment. Okay? And I'm gonna give you 3 tools to do this. Number 3 is a really fun exercise that you've probably never heard of before that I personally use to identify new hobbies for myself. So stick around till number 3 because that one is where you're gonna really identify hobbies that are specific to you. I've seen videos out there, I've seen content out there where like 50 hobbies to recharge your dopamine. It's like, That's cool and all, but I wanna help you help yourself to identify hobbies that will actually align with who you really are and not just tell you what to do, because that's never been the answer in my own experience. Tool number 1 is to ask yourself how you can make your tasks of today more fun. Is there something that you have to do today or tomorrow or this week that you could take the pressure off of? And just allow it to be something that you're doing it just for the sake of doing it? My guess is that there probably is. Your brain may naturally have started to turn things that used to be very fun for you into tasks, into things that you need to complete. Ask yourself, is there something that you have to do today or tomorrow or this week? And notice I even said that you have to do, you could take the pressure off of and just allow yourself to do it for the joy of doing it. And not have like, oh, I need to complete it in this amount of time, or I need to do— I need to do it well. It needs to be done this way, or like it actually needs to perform, or this and that. Like, a workout is a really easy example. If you are going to the gym or doing Pilates or whatever it is, maybe you replace a workout this week with something that's actually genuinely fun for you, like going dancing or You know, hiking or whatever it is, but you don't call it a workout. You just allow it to be fun and you don't put a time limit on it. And maybe you love the gym. Maybe you've always loved the gym, but for some reason lately, you haven't loved it so much anymore because you turned it into a task. You made it into this thing where you have to PR, you have to max out your weight, you have to finish it in 40 minutes, and you've turned it into this thing that you have to get done, right? So maybe you actually just grant yourself permission to Take as much time as you want in the gym. One time this week, take as much time as you want. Maybe you listen to the music that you actually want, or you don't listen to music, whatever you want. Maybe like, how can you make it more fun? You don't force yourself to PR or hit a certain weight. You just allow yourself to be present and play in the gym. Play in the gym. Treat it like the jungle gym or the playground that it is. The gym is way more fun when you treat it like the playground that it is. Like, it is a human body playground. You get to just mess around in there. So mess around in there, right? And then take that example and apply it to whatever it is that you have going on this week. Is there something that you could make more fun that you could infuse a little play back into? Now, I wanted to start there because that's not about adding something into your day or into your week. It's actually just about reframing your mindset around something that you're already doing, which I like to give options because the answer isn't always about doing more or adding more. Sometimes it's just about reframing or Doing less, which, as I say that, I'm going to add a little bit of a bonus tip here. If you are constantly scrolling, I'm going to need you to do less of that because that's stealing your ability to actually do things and have hobbies that are recharging you, that are refilling your cup, that are kind of energizing your nervous system and replenishing your dopamine system. Okay? So if you're constantly scrolling, if you're constantly binging TV, if you are doing those things and just boosting cheap dopamine, I just want you to know that That is sort of replacing the amount of time that you would be using on a hobby. And rather than replenishing you and recharging you, it is depleting you. Because I know some of you might be thinking, I don't have time for a hobby. What am I gonna— like, how am I— where am I gonna be able to add a hobby into my day or into my week? Check your screen time. Because if you're spending even just 30 minutes total in a day scrolling, that 30 minutes could be spending time doing something that you actually love, and that could make you a way happier person. Tool number 2 is to investigate your past. Think back on the past few years or the past 6 months. When have you felt your best? When did you feel the most energized and what were you doing? What were you doing more of that you're not doing right now? Were you making new recipes? Were you allowing yourself to explore in the kitchen and bake more often? Were you allowing yourself to go on that hike more often? Were you maybe playing sports more? And this is a really powerful tool, not just to identify hobbies that you should be doing more of, but just to identify the circumstances, the kind of environments, the formulas for your success, right? Because I did this recently where I thought back on times in my life where I felt my best, just like my best self. And there were 2 times. The one time was when I was on a hike. And this was recently, just like in the past couple months, like in the past couple of months, when have you felt like your best self? And for me, one of them was on a hike and the other one, back when I did this exercise, was when I was deep into flow writing my book, which by the way, my book is officially available for presale right now. So check the link in the description to preorder my book. Preorders are super, super helpful for the success of a book. And also the book will be helpful to your success as well. I cannot wait for you to read it. But anyway, I digress. Those 2 times. that I would've felt my best were hiking and writing my book. And I was like, these feel like 2 completely different activities, right? But when you think about kind of the mindset and the mental state underlying these 2 activities, they're not that different. They both required me to be fully present. When I'm hiking, I'm fully present in the hike. When I was writing my book, I was fully present. I was not doing anything else. I was like completely locked in on writing my book. And so what I discovered was that being fully present and fully immersed in a task helps me feel like my best self. And so I decided to allow myself to do that more often. And I actually stopped organizing my calendar by goal or task, and I started organizing my calendar by brain mode, which allows me to be more fully immersed. I can do a whole separate video on that. Leave a comment if you want me to do that. But anyway, I digress. Think back on times recently in the past few months, or even in your childhood, right? When did you feel your best? What hobbies were you doing? Mora that you're not doing anymore? And for me, when I ask myself that question, the answer is always, I'm spending more time in nature. When I lived in Florida, I was swimming in the ocean pretty much, especially when I was living in Miami, every single day. Like every morning I would swim in the ocean. And when I first moved to Arizona to go to grad school, when I was doing my PhD in neuroscience, I was hiking all the time. Like not every day because I was really busy in the program, but Every free moment that I had, you could find me in the mountains. So I know that those experiences, and for me, being in nature helps me feel like my best self. And so those are hobbies that I need, I know I need to implement more of. And actually, literally just yesterday, I went to Zion National Park. And if you guys follow me on Instagram, you probably saw the stories of me hiking Angels Landing, which was the coolest thing ever, by the way. But anyway, as you can see, I'm sitting here getting super juiced about it, super hyped up about it because I am feeling feeling recharged by the hobby that I know fulfills me and recharges me, replenishes me. And afterward, I was just feeling so inspired, so motivated. And genuinely, like, this morning I woke up and I was like, wow, I'm so excited to film this. Like, I— like, what, what a cool thing it is that I get to do this for my— like, like, as part of my job. Like, this is so cool and so fun that I get to create content. Like, and I know you listening might be like, obviously, duh, that is cool from the outside in. I get that. But when you're in it, it does start to become your job. Like it's your job, right? And I'm sure many of you might be currently living what you once dreamt of. You might be currently living in a position or doing something that you used to dream about. Like you're currently living in a dream come true, but it's turned into a task and you went from aspiring toward a dream to managing a dream. And when you, when your brain shifts into I'm managing this dream, the fun and the magic gets sucked out of it. So anyway, hobbies and doing things that recharge you remind you, yeah, you're, you're living the dream. Like you are living something that you once used to dream of and you actually have the energy to appreciate it rather than just having to manage all these things around you. And then the other side of that is to think back on when you were a little kid, like when you were a little kid, what were things that you loved to do? And another thing for me is singing. Like I used to say all the time that I wanted to be a famous singer and And I love to sing. I still do love to sing. So if anyone out there listening is, uh, wanting a feature, just let me know. Uh, kind of kidding, but kind of not. But anyway, I used to put on performances. Like, I used to put flyers in all my neighbors' mailboxes when I was a little kid, like less than 8, 9 years old. I was printing out flyers, putting them in everyone's mailboxes, like with my pink electric guitar, having concerts in my driveway. Uh, and so I know for me also, Singing is a hobby that I love and I just like to sing. And when I go, you know, weeks or months without singing, I'm like, yeah, I love to sing. And I start singing again and I feel so good. Think back on your childhood. Also do this sort of past self-examination and examine like, when have you felt your best? What were things that you liked to do as a child? And maybe you could start to do those things more and don't write it off if it seems childish. Another thing that I have loved to do my entire life is swing on a swing set. Anytime I'm at a park, if I'm walking my dog and I see swings, I am getting on those swings. I'm getting on those swings. I love swinging. It's the best feeling. Don't write it off if it feels childish, okay? Like allowing yourself to be childlike and allowing yourself to play is so important for the enjoyment of your life. And tool number 3 for identifying your hobbies is super fun. It is to identify what alternate lives you would like to live. You're gonna sit here and think if there were 3 to 5 other lives that you could live that weren't yours right now, what life path would you choose? I would choose to be a dolphin. I've always wanted to be a dolphin. And this is, I give you this example to remind you not to limit yourself again. I have always wanted to be a dolphin since I was a little kid. I remember like seeing the dolphin at SeaWorld and I would be with my family and be like, I wanna be a dolphin. Like I literally would say that, like I want to be one. I would also be a pop star. Of course. I would also be a monk. Anytime I go hiking, I just, I'm like, I could live out here and just sit on a cliff and not talk to anyone. So I would be a monk. Wow. And then I would also be like a full-time research scientist in a lab. I'm not full-time in a lab anymore. Uh, I really enjoyed it when I was full-time in a lab. Those are a few examples of alternate lives that I would live. Now, the really cool part about this is that these are really key ways to identify what hobbies you should be doing for fun. Now think about it. I said full-time research scientist in a lab. Now I'm not gonna go just run into a lab, but I will start allowing myself to read research papers for fun again. And I used to do that all the time. And when I did this exercise myself where I identified alternate sort of timelines, I realized that I love reading research papers and just reading about neuroscience and I love it and it's really fun for me. Not when I'm reading it for ideas for content or for, you know, a certain outcome, but when I'm just following my own curiosity of what lights me up and inspires me. And that's a really, really clean example of where are you doing things that you used to just really love doing it for the sake of doing it, but you turned it into a task because it gives you some sort of benefit or outcome. And where can you just do it for the love of doing it again? The dolphin thing. Okay, I can swim more. I can go swimming, whether it be in a pool or whatever. Like, I don't have to be by the ocean to be a dolphin. Pop star. I want to be a pop star. I can sing more often. Just sing in the shower. Just sing by myself. Like, set a little bit of time aside to sing. I— and notice how this also aligns with things that I like to do as a kid. This is just a really, really cool exercise to identify what hobbies actually recharge your soul and refill you. And it's so incredible. And I'm telling you guys, when you start to do these things and more often, you really, really will feel better and happier and more energized. And the other example of, okay, I would be a monk because every time I go hiking, I'm like, well, I could be a monk. I would be, totally would be. I actually, when I were, whenever I was in my PhD, I spent like 2 months at this temple. I didn't live at this temple, but I was going to this temple all the time and I became really good friends With a bunch of monks, like really good friends. Uh, and I was living the temple lifestyle for a period of time. It was really cool. I got to learn a lot and I really enjoyed it. So what alternate lives would you live if you didn't live your own? Would you be a chef? Would you be a famous, successful painter? And then how can you steal hobbies? And then how can you identify some hobbies that allow you to activate that alternate life? I hope you liked this video. If you did, please like and subscribe and leave a comment below on what hobby you are going to start doing. If you are interested in diving deeper into the neuroscience of manifestation, reprogramming your subconscious mind, and identifying where you are currently blocking yourself from achieving your next level, then check out the description. There's a link to RSVP to save your seat in my next free masterclass where I will teach you live how to do just that. And yes, it is live. Everyone always asks me like, is this live? Is this prerecorded? And they never believe that it's live. It is live. Okay, so check out the link, RSVP. I am also going on tour very soon. There is a link in the description to RSVP for your city. Please, please, please do that because that's how we're going to be deciding what cities to go to on tour. And then also, again, my book is officially available for presale right now. If you are feeling called to preorder my book, then click the link and preorder from whatever site You choose. Thank you so much for watching. I'm sending you so much love. I believe in you. I am rooting for you. I will see you next time. Bye! Bye!