Brian JohnsonChairman & Philosopher in Residence at Heroic

Celebrating small goals

12 Jun 2023 · 1 min

Watch on YouTube

0:54

A short motivational segment by Brian Johnson advising people to intensely celebrate very small achievements to trigger dopamine and rewire the brain. He argues that by celebrating tiny wins (1–5% improvements) and stopping self-shaming, people can train themselves to prefer productive behaviors (e.g., shutting down to rest) over immediate hedonistic rewards, aligning the dreamer with the doer.

Chapters

Intensely celebrate for the smallest thing, such that you give yourself your own little splash of dopamine, such that you're rewiring your brain to get to the point where doing what is best for you is what you most enjoy. So rather than indulging in the sugar or the Netflix binging or whatever, which we currently hedonically enjoy, what if we enjoyed shutting down as much as that? Because we know that that's what's going to lead to the energy that's going to allow us to be productive and connected. Now to rewire your brain to actually feel that. I want to encourage the habit of celebrating the tiniest things. Then goosebumps. We quit shaming ourselves for not being where we want to be. Yet we celebrate how far we've come. Then we get excited. My dreamer can now trust my doer. Because now when I have a dream and I say I want to do something, I'm actually doing it. Just improve 1 or 2 or 3 or 4 or 5% today and tomorrow and tomorrow. And we're going to make some huge strides.