How To NEVER Feel Sad or Unmotivated Again!

Imagine if you could tweak your own brain chemistry to boost your motivation on demand overcome addiction or avoid it altogether and just create your own happy experiences in life. It all boils down to a very potent chemical in your brain called dopamine. And I'm going to teach you all about dopamine today, and you're going to understand some things about your brain, your body, your life, your highs and lows potentially that you may have experienced that you never understood before. I'm telling you, If you can understand this, this will actually change your entire life. I have been understanding and trying to track my own personal dopamine levels because I understand what it means to make sure that I am mastering my dopamine levels, because this is going to dictate your amount of pleasure that you experience in life. And as I stated before, this has a huge participation in addictions and behavior patterns that you wanna be aware of, because if you're not aware of 'em, you cannot change them. And I want you to understand your body a little bit more so that you can take control of your life. Listen, this is going to be amazing. Trust me, I am always excited and I'm always perplexed at the same time when it comes to understanding dopamine levels and how to balance them, how to, uh, fulfill a, a stabilized place of my baselines, uh, for dopamine. I'm just really interested in all of it, and I've been studying this for quite some time, and it's helped me to understand exactly why I feel the way I feel at times and my moods. And, you know, this is something that I think everybody needs to understand, because if you go throughout life and you have certain mood swings or behavior patterns, or maybe you're not even motivated to do things that you really know you should be doing You need to understand why, and understanding dopamine levels will help you to understand even why there is some amotivation in your life. And I'm going to help you to understand exactly how to end procrastination and take control of things. So this is going to be, um, just a journey, a great journey altogether. And I want to make sure that if you have not subscribed to this podcast show, make sure that you take a moment to do that. Do not listen to the valuable information and not subscribe to it. I'm telling you, there are so many things that we're going to learn together. And, uh, these are just, um, life-changing moments. And I am always even looking out for what kind of topics that you're interested in so that I can keep, um, adding value and helping you to understand your health, uh, your life and your success in ways that you may not have encountered before. So please make sure again that you subscribe. To this podcast. Uh, now I just want to start off by explaining a little bit about what dopamine is and how it works. And, uh, you're going to find some profound things about your behavior patterns that you may not have understood, and you're going to gain the tools to be able to change things on your terms. And that's what I absolutely love about it. And so when we talk about dopamine levels, uh, a lot of times we're thinking of it in a very extreme way, but I'm going to help you dopamine levels from just your day-to-day interactions and how, like I said, you can master understanding your baselines and how to manage even your peak levels. Because of course, we're all looking to have that, that feeling, what we would say is pleasure. But to be honest, dopamine is not necessarily responsible for pleasure, but more for motivation and for drive and for cravings. And so These are all things that are important to your life and that you need to understand a little bit. You need to understand why you're motivated or why you're not motivated, you know, why you have the drives that you have, and why do you have the cravings that you have, and how can you change those things about yourself. And so what we need to understand is that, you know, dopamine levels will stimulate action, and you, you need to understand how that works, where you are stimulated by action and why it is. And then also understanding like why you may have mood swings, why you may feel like you can't accomplish things, or you may feel lazy or lethargic, because those have to do a lot of times with dopamine levels. And I'm not saying that there aren't other variables that play a role in this, like, you know, your nutrition and your eating and your stress levels, uh, but Even those things can have a huge impact on your dopamine levels. And so we need to understand them just, uh, at, at the fundamentals so that you can know how to— I don't want to say manipulate, but I kind of do, you know, manipulate them and make sure that you're utilizing them in the best way possible to be able to get things done or to be able to feel delightfulness in your world. And there's some things that you are probably doing to sabotage that. And so We got to understand that dopamine levels play a huge role in these things that we do throughout our day and our week, our lives in general. And so we have what you call the tonic— the tonic parts of dopamine is the tonic and the phasic stages. And the tonic is the baseline of your dopamine levels. There's just a baseline level that you live by every day when it comes to your dopamine levels. And some baselines are higher than others, and sometimes this could have have something to do with genetics, or, you know, just the way you're wired, your personality, if you're going through a rough season or not. So there's different reasons why this exists, your baseline levels. So this is not like a standardized thing for everybody, but the principles are there in place, and the framework is there in place for you to understand that there's ways to make sure that you do have healthy baseline levels, because you do want to experience some level of delightfulness, you know. You do want to understand, uh, pleasure and pain and how to balance between the two, because your dopamine levels will play a role in the balance between pleasure and pain. And so you have what you call the baseline level, the tonic level, and then you have the phasic level, which is— this is the peaks, uh, that how high you can go with your dopamine levels. And, and trust me, people are looking for a rush. People are looking to intensify their lives. And the baseline levels will often dictate and regulate the intensity of the phasic stage, which is how high those levels can go or not. And so I'm going to help you to understand exactly how to do better with your baseline levels and then how to, like I say, have this balance between the two. Because honestly, if your peaks go way too high or you're doing things constantly that allows your peak levels to go super high, then you can have some crashes, right? Look at it, for example, like a tidal wave, okay? When you have a tidal wave, you have the waves coming, and sometimes it's just— it's not real intense. It's just a little bit of waves coming here and there. And every time the, the waves come and the water come, uh, everything gets balanced back out. So there's no real change in the flow of water, the baseline levels of the water, because the waves come very seldomly and they're not as high. Now pay attention to if you— we're talking about, or visualize a huge tidal wave, right? You, you have these huge waves that are coming, and they're so extreme that they push the, the, the water current. And then, but then when they come back the other way, they take some of the water with them, that baseline. And so a lot of times when you have a huge tidal wave coming even over the sand, the water will come back the other way, and then now there's less water over the sand, right? And so They've taken a lot of that water away. So look at it like that. When you're talking about your dopamine levels, there's this baseline there and there's these waves and these peaks of stimulant that drives your dopamine levels super high, right? And if they're driven high, you might have a bit of a crash after that. Now, the less, again, the less high they go, the lower the, or the more it'll enter back into baseline. But if you go really high, you're gonna come down really low, and that's when you start to experience some mood changes and some shifts. You know, the best way I can help you to understand this is that I remember seeing— I can't remember what basketball team it was, but they had won the championship, and obviously this, this championship was very important. And of course they're all excited, everybody's really excited. Now there's some people on the team that won that were more excited than the others. And you can kind of see that because they were doing interviews afterwards. And so you have some that are just like screaming, yelling, they're holding the basketball, they're just having this emotional, exciting moment right there. And, um, and that's fine, like this is something to be celebrated. But I remember seeing— I just can't remember his name, but I remember they interviewed him and he just stated in the interview when they asked him, you know, how do you feel? And he said, you know, I'm just excited to get back home to my family. Like, it was exciting for him, you knew that, but he wasn't overexcited. And I remember thinking in that moment, he's not gonna have a super low low when he goes back home because he hasn't, he hasn't created as much excitement. And you can just kind of tell in his interview, like, he, he's probably happy, but he's kind of paced with his level excitement. And so because he's paced with his level of excitement, that's what he chose to do. But because of that, he probably won't, you know, wake up in the next week super low, super depressed or whatever, you know. But there was some other team members that were super excited. And I remember thinking like, wow, like at some point, because they've risen their dopamine levels so high and the excitement and everything has got them there, because that matters, how excited you are about something, how much language, you participate in that excitement. You're talking about it, you, you know, you wrap yourself up. You know, when you're talking about something you really enjoy, it makes you more excited, and that's going to raise your dopamine levels. So if it's something that you really love, like you're about to go eat something that's so good and you're like, oh my God, I'm, you know, I remember eating it at this restaurant and it was so good, like the more you talk about it and the more you excite yourself, the more your dopamine levels are going to increase. So dopamine levels aren't just increased in the fulfillment of something, they're increased when you create excitement around it, right? And so Some of the players, when they go back home, you know, there's going to come a time where they're— because they went so high, they're gonna probably come a little bit lower than their baseline levels. And usually your baseline levels are determined by how, how much dopamine you can have in your system, like, for like up to an hour. When we're talking about, about peaks, we're talking about instant, you know, gratification. Often, you know, maybe 30 minutes, you know, or sometimes right away. And I'm going to talk a little bit about how instant dopamine levels going high and peaking really crazy is— can be very devastating. And I'm going to help you to understand how addictions work in relationship to that. And so if you are excited and if you are happier and you create that, then yes, you're going to probably have some, some lower dopamine levels and they're going to hit below baseline and you may deal with a little bit of sadness. And that's why you have some people— I heard an MMA superstar who had the belt, you know, he's one of the champs, and, and they asked him, how did you feel, you know, on the day that you won your belt? And he said, it was the most depressing day of my life. And I could imagine the reason why he probably said that is because the excitement hit right away, but it was so exciting, the anticipation, and just being able to get and finally receive something that he was really going after and wanted all this, all his life. It created such a, a surge, such a peak of dopamine that he probably came crashing back down. And sometimes when you go home after a huge win, after the trophy and all of that, you look around and you're like, what's left? You know, um, will I— you start to think about things like, will we be able to keep this up next year? You know, uh, now the pressure's on us. Now there's more pressure to now do the same thing that we've done, you know. And so it creates this anxiety. I mean, it can get sad, it can get depressive, uh, and So that's the principle, is that the more excitement, the more dopamine levels that rise in your life, the greater sometimes the fall. And this is in context to your prior levels of dopamine, by the way. And we'll help you understand all of this as we continue to move forward. And so there is a balance that is basically dictated by how high you go over the baseline, all right? And the higher you go, the lower you will drop. Again, depending on how much excitement is there is going to dictate how— sometimes how you go. Now, this, this is gonna happen also with substance issues also. So like I said, we'll, we'll talk about that. And so this, this idea of your dopamine, you have to make sure that you are conscious, at least if you have at least a little bit of awareness of this, it kind of will help you get through it. Because don't worry, like, those dopamine levels will come back to baseline, right? And so even those, uh, the, the young men who won the championship, they just have to ride it out. You know, you just have to ride out that wave and eventually it'll stabilize back. Okay. Now here's how dopamine works when it comes to desire and motivation and, um, the cycle of it and how this can also be very impactful when it comes to certain addictions. And if you can understand what I'm about to explain, you'll understand why, uh, people get addicted and how they start to behave a certain way. All right, so when you think about dopamine levels, there's a desire. Remember we talked about desire, um, and then you have motivation, and then you have cravings, and they all work together, right? And so, um, you have this desire. So let's just say a very basic level, you're hungry, you want to eat something. That's delicious, right? And so you're— let's say some pizza, you know, for those who are pizza lovers, right? And so you have this desire to eat pizza, and let's say you are going to your favorite pizza, you know, restaurant to eat pizza, or you're going to order some pizza from your favorite pizza restaurant. You have this desire, right? And so what happens is this desire then that comes— there's a little peak that comes from the desire. So dopamine is not about the fulfillment, it's not about the end, it is— it can be created just from the desire, right? And you can put more emphasis on that desire, right? And so even when you're desiring it more, remember, you're going to have a peak, right? And so, but what's going to happen is, remember what we talked about, and this is why I wanted to build on this, that peak that you have is also going to create a drop, okay? And so when that drop happens, it'll go below the, um, below the threshold, below the baseline threshold, right? And depending on how excited you are about this pizza, is depending on how high the peak will go and how low it will drop, right? The lower it drops, that's when motivation comes in, because now that it drops, now you're chasing after that, that the fulfillment of that, that desire, right? And so now that's where that motivation come. Now this could be good, actually this could be good and bad. This is, this is how we do, uh, become motivated. This is how dopamine levels help us to become motivated. And so if you're somewhere stranded and you need food, and, and you, you know, this— and this is something that you absolutely have to do, and you have the desire to eat and to survive, you know, you're going to have that dopamine, uh, level go up a little bit, and then it's going to drop, and then you're going to now say, I, I have to go hunt, right? So this again could be good. But anyway, let's look at it in, um, in the reference to food. And so now you're going to go after what it is that you want. And the— you're gonna go after it even more based upon how much desire you had of wanting it, because the desire is going to be connected to how high your dopamine levels go up, right? And so, and, and remember how high it goes up, again, it's going to also be in reference to how low it goes, and that's where you're going to experience the pain, okay? Now follow me because I'm going to explain like I said, how addiction works. And so now you have this pain, and so it's not just about, you know, the desire and fulfilling the desire, but it's also about getting rid of the pain. And so that, that wanting to get rid of the pain is what motivates you. So you're gonna go to this pizza place, or you're gonna order, right? And let's just say something happened with the restaurant where the restaurant is closed or something because something happened. You want this so bad that you're going to be motivated to go beyond whatever you would normally do, depending on, again, how high your levels went and how low it went. And so you might decide, well, I'm going to go over to the next town and get it from my favorite restaurant, or whatever you desire. Think of it in terms of also sugar, how the extent that someone would go to maybe get something that they're craving that's sugary or whatever, you know. And maybe it's relying on— upon addiction, you know. And we'll talk about that, like I said. But that's going to cause there to be a motivation. So there's this desire, and then there's this pain, and then there's this, um, stimulation of action to get rid of the pain, to then, uh, go over to the other end to experience what it is that you wanted in the first place. And if it is under what you expected, then your, your dopamine will come back above, you know, baseline, but not too much. But if it is exactly what you expected, then it'll go, you know, at the normal pace of where you need it, you know, where you desire for it to be. And let's say it was extra good today, then it's going to go a little bit even above, right? And so that, that whole cycle of this desire and pain and stimulation of action and that, that's going to cause there to be a little flow with your dopamine. Nothing's wrong with that, right? But what is wrong with that is that this whole cycle is going to depend on your previous state, okay? And what I mean by that is that this idea of the pleasure and pain balance and how far you're willing to go or how focused you are on this specific event is going to matter concerning the prior states, the previous states, what you've experienced in the past and what your brain has learned from this entire cycle. Okay? And so, um, this is why there are people who, for example, get addicted to substances because in that cycle— now I use food, just something that we need every day. I use food But there are people who have these— a very extreme version of what I just mentioned. Now, even with food, there could be an extreme version, because if someone is constantly seeking after something that they absolutely love to eat, like pizza or sugar, they're going to have a problem with eating other foods or having a sustainable meal that is nourishing, that isn't all about you eating something you absolutely enjoy. Like, if you're eating something you absolutely enjoy all the time. And when I say absolutely enjoy, I don't mean like something that you enjoy because you know that it's healthy and this is— and you've kept your dopamine levels, uh, sustained to be able to eat healthy version foods. I'm talking about, you know, it's the ice cream, the cookies, the sweets, the potato chips, the pizza, the pasta, like all of these cravings that may not be good for you, right? And so then if somebody do ask you to eat a nourishing meal or, you know, maybe some vegetables or something, you're like, yeah, you know, because you are used to the peaks and the, the, the, the, the high and the lows, you know, of that ex— that whole cycle of your dopamine levels going throughout, you know, the pain and the pleasure and making sure that you seek it out and, and things like that. And so you have created an appetite for this. But in the midst of creating and learning this appetite, do understand that there's some activity happening behind this where your dopamine levels are involved. And I'm trying to go behind the scene and help you to explain what's happening with your dopamine levels as to why when you have that desire, you go after it with everything that you want, you know what I mean? And a lot of people do this with sex. If they have a desire, they see somebody and, and then they, they— that's what they want. Um, that desire comes, it peaks up depending on how much is surrounded around it. Maybe there was a conversation, um, you know, maybe it was them talking to they home like, yeah, I'm gonna, I'm gonna, you know, get with this person or whatever. And then there's a drop, right? And there's a drop under the baseline, and then all of a sudden there is a motivation to be— to have action behind it. And so people go through some extreme measures to get to sex, right? And so then they go for it or whatever, and they're chasing and hunting and all of that because that's all part of the whole process. And, um, and then sometimes when it happens, there's, there's going to be a fall after that. There's going to be a decrease in, um, in dopamine levels. And unfortunately, if this was just about a cat and mouse game when those dopamine levels drop for somebody that's not, um, uh, doesn't have a real connection or a relationship with you, and there are other value centers in the relationship, then all of a sudden you mean nothing to them right after that. And we've, we've all known those situations to happen, uh, you know, after— afterwards it's like, get out, go, you know, or whatever. And I'm being very extreme, but I'm only being extreme to help you to understand again what's going on behind the scenes. And so, um, this is what's happening often, you know, with, with, uh, food, with addictions and things. Like, for example, you create your own palate. So if you're always eating sugary stuff, then when you eat something again that's bland, it's going to be like, yuck. And that's why you should eat some things that are not super sugary, uh, because you don't want to be craving that all, you know, constantly. Because again, you're getting these— this chemical involved, you're getting dopamine and it's going to create this cycle and it's going to create this lack of pleasure when you eat something else. So for example, if someone were to sustain from sugar and they said, you know, I'm not going to eat sugar, you know, for, you know, 2 weeks, right? Then all of a sudden things that are less sugary will be more pleasurable to them because they have abstained away from this and they have not raised their peak levels up and, and, or or even raised their baseline levels up to where they need to be stimulated all the time, right? And so you'll find that something like blueberries aren't sweet to somebody who's eating ice cream and cookies and cake every day. But if that person abstained from sweets and then all of a sudden they took a handful of berries, it would be super sweet to them. The experience would be much better. And this is what I'm trying to say is that that your experiences often of life and the activities that you do have everything to do with your dopamine levels and how much you're stressing them out, how unbalanced they are, and how much of a, of a cycle you're in with this, this hunt for, for the things that you find super pleasurable. And when you have this overstimulation constantly, it does create a problem. So I was talking to a young lady, uh, not too long ago, and she was saying she's unmotivated and she just feels like blah in life. And, you know, I started to ask her, well, you know, are you scrolling through social media all day? Are you, you know, do you have certain addictions to certain foods, you know, caffeine? And, and it was like yes to all of these questions. And I didn't have time to really explain this whole principle to her, but I explained to her that you're overstimulating yourself to the point where you're narrowing your, uh, your experiences and your ability to find pleasure in other things because you have increased your dopamine levels and you're maxing them out. And now everything else has to match that. And if it doesn't match that, obviously you're not going to find a fun experience in life, right? And so if you were someone who had some moments where you were a little bored or you weren't overstimulated or you took your phone in the other room and sat with, you and to read a book or something less stimulating, then you would find that you could balance out these levels, okay? And so the problem is the stimulation. Now, there's a lot of things that stimulate us. There's the, you know, cocaine, uh, chocolate that, you know, plays a role in our dopamine levels, and some way more than others. You have nicotine, I mentioned sex, you have exercise, uh, social media, you know, addiction to social media too. Video games, that causes kids to be overstimulated. So if you have a child that's just sitting up playing games all day, right? And then you have company and their family members are over and you try to bring them away from that game and say, hey, come and enjoy your family and the company that we have, they may be bored. Like, you know, they want to bring their phone with them because they have increased and they have peaked their dopamine levels so high that when they stop playing the video games, their dopamine— remember, the more you peak, the more they fall. They fall back really low, and now they're looking for something else to peak that. And sitting around with Auntie Whoever is not gonna do that for me, so I don't want to do it, you know. And so it gets in the way. And so all of these experiences, uh, they can create an overstimulation, and they start to tell your brain something that when I do this, this is, you know, I feel this way. And So let's take cocaine, for example. If someone is doing cocaine, right, what happens is that addiction— now remember, again, it's the narrowing of addiction. The definition— I've heard this being said, so I took this from somebody because I'm like, that is a really good definition— the narrowing of things that bring you pleasure. It narrows other things bringing you pleasure because you are so addicted to this one thing and you're trying to match because the peaks are so high, the lows are so low, you need something to boost you back up there, right? And so, like, if you're doing cocaine, cocaine gets dopamine level hits really quickly, like very quickly. It doesn't even take any time, right? And so what happens is if your brain understands that cycle, because remember, your brain is memorizing all of this, and so it's saying, when I do cocaine, I get a quick hit. And I have that quick feeling and it doesn't take long to get there, right? And so then when I drop, then I'm chasing another high and I'm constantly chasing another high. But then what this does is it causes your brain to remember this entire cycle. And so then all of a sudden you start to lose interest because the narrowing of the things that bring you pleasure. So you start to lose interest in anything that will bring you pleasure over a longer span of time. Like, for example, You know, if you are on a workout regimen, you know, it takes a little time to lose weight. And so you don't want to participate in things like that. You start to lose your, your pleasure or your desire for those things. It could be a school, it could be because that's a longer term thing. It could be exercising, uh, over overall making adjustments into your well-being, things that take time that's not going to give you a quick hit right away. And you start to lose interest in that. And that's why those who are addicted, they, they keep recycling just back to that one thing, and they start to lose interest in everything else. That's why drug addicts, all of a sudden, they don't want to care for their kids. They don't want to, you know, they don't have interest in, you know, raising their family. They just lose interest in relationships in general, and it's all about that high because because their brain is trying to revert back to that entire cycle and that entire process. And then what happens is a lot of times, of course, you're not going to make great decisions when you're, you know, on drugs. And so there's what you call this stacking of stimulants. And so you'll often see people who are addicted to cocaine, um, then they're, they're, you know, doing cigarettes, and they're also drinking, and they're participating in X, and they got, you know, so now you're stacking and you're overstimulating all of these different things, and it is impossible for anything else to bring you that experience because you are constantly rising with your peaks and, and depleting yourself of dopamine levels to where there's no dopamine left when it comes to anything else in life. And you just stuck going back to that one thing, and that becomes your world, that becomes your god, that becomes your idol, that becomes everything to you because it's the the only thing that can get you to get to the place of that pleasure. And then it, it didn't— it requires more and more. That's why, again, some people might start with one drug and then they go to another drug because now they need more, because they went so high that the peaks are so low— uh, the peaks are so high and then the valley is, is very deep. And that, that it, it— there's a depth that goes really low. And to come out of that depth, it requires something even more stimulating. So now I'm going to add alcohol, and then I'm gonna snort drugs, and I'm gonna take a cigarette, and I'm gonna have sex. And then you see this just complete chaotic cycle of that is all you want to do is just— and then, then people like that, you'll see them, they, they go to the drug parties and that's all they're interested in doing. They're not interested in taking care of their children. They're not interested in building their relationships. They're not interested in their overall well-being. They start to not care about themselves. They start to lose interest. There's the narrowing of excitement towards anything else. And all their brain does is come back to that because they have, um, they have created a, a blueprint in their brain, in their mind, of this is the only way I can get there. And all of it has to be detangled at the end of the day because it keeps you stuck in, in that cycle and going back to it. And a lot of times the only way to get out is, you know, to abstain from And unfortunately, with some drugs, you have to, you know, get professional help to kind of wean off of some of that stuff, you know, like heroin and things like that. And so even though I'm using extreme cases, this is the case with, you know, sugar addictions. This is the case with video games. This is the case with social media scrolling. You know, you're bored without your phone because you're usually using your phone to scroll, and that creates a high dopamine, and you're buying into it, and you don't want to have a moment where you're just just, you know, you know, enjoying life outside of these things. And it just keeps you kind of coming back and coming back and coming back to it, and you start to lose interest in everything. And so this is important for you to understand this, because this is what's happening to a lot of people. As we see, you know, we're not just talking about extreme addictions, we're talking about just any kind of addiction, you know. Like I said, social media addiction, to sugar addiction, to video games You know, um, addiction to— some people are even addicted to harming themselves. Same thing, that, that, that desire creates a slight dopamine effect, and then you drop, and then now you want to— it stimulates action, and then, you know, you wind up doing it. You cut, you know, you're cutting yourself or whatever. And my heart goes out to, you know, people who are struggling with certain things like that. And so, um, and, and it just creates, uh, you know, like you're trying to overcome a pain somewhere. And, uh, because you're trying to overcome a pain, it stimulates that action to do it, and then you have a dopamine peak, and then that's what makes you want to go back to it. And it just— it's a cycle that is very important to try, uh, to overcome. And so, um, there's some things, uh, that you can do to help yourself overcome this, and I'm going to talk about, some key, uh, things that you can do to overcome any levels of procrastination and amotivation, and also some things you can do to just balance your baseline. Because it's okay, you want to bring your baseline levels up and you want to be able to have nice dopamine levels because it's gonna ultimately help you to experience life a lot better. If your dopamine levels are always being crashed because you're so worried about all the peaks and all overstimulants, then you're not going to have a good baseline. You're not going to be able to enjoy life. Like I said, you're going to be chasing back and forth on these different peaks and troughs, you know. So, um, and when I say peaks and troughs, that's the, you know, the high place and the low place. You, you, you're chasing back and forth and you just don't know how to break the cycle. Um, and so this is, like I say, very important to understand just because a lot of people don't know that this is going on. And you want to understand your body, you want to be able to grab a hold of it. And I think about this often, and this is honestly why I do have moments of boredom where I'm sitting there. I might stare at the wall for a little bit, just something that, uh, I'm not being overstimulated, you know. I can read a book, and I'm not saying that, you know, reading a book can't stimulate dopamine because it actually does for me, you know, because I desire it and I love reading books, but it's not an overstimulation. Like, for example, if you are, say, for example, exercising— exercising can actually, you know, create a dopamine effect, especially if you like exercising. I love it, you know, I love running, or, you know, just depending on what you like. Some people love boxing, some people love certain sports. So yes, it's going to be a dopamine effect, but what you got to realize is, is when you're stacking stimulants, for example, if you playing music while you are working out, that's a stimulant. That's something that's adding to this event. If you, um, doing an energy drink, um, then again, that's a, uh, that's a stimulant that you're adding to it. Now caffeine is a little different outside of the addiction to it, um, because caffeine can increase, uh, dopamine expressions and it can actually make you experience more effects. So there's some good with being able to have a little bit of caffeine caffeine for some people. Now, those who stay away from caffeine who have found it to be successful and they have great sleep, I'm not trying to make anybody, you know, get on caffeine. I'm just stating something that has been shown to happen through research. But so caffeine is a little bit different, you know, if you got a little bit of caffeine. But even with that, you know, sometimes you want to stay away from these extra stimulants, these energy drinks, because actually the energy drinks have some things that are like precursors, you know, to dopamine and epinephrine and all of that. And they work together because dopamine and epinephrine can work together. Epinephrine is more about, you know, certain energy, it's your adrenaline. And so, but dopamine is a little different from that, but there are some things that can cause precursors to them. But you want to try to not always be stimulated even when you're doing something that increases your dopamine, because then you're going to now diminish your, uh, desire to do that particular activity. And so now, before, you just wanted to exercise, and it can become unpleasurable because you've stacked on all of these, um, stimulants with this activity that you've been— you know, you've peaked yourself. And so now you're crashing, and now your baseline for that activity isn't the same anymore. Because you, you've overstimulated yourself. And so if you find yourself all of a sudden unmotivated by something, you may need to just kind of stop doing all of the other stuff and just, and just do the, the actual event, you know, whether it's, you know, um, leaving your phone out of it, maybe not doing the music while you do it, or not listening to, uh, something like a podcast, you know, like sometimes I listen to a podcast or audiobook while I'm working out, and that just makes the experience better for me. But there are times that I just decide I'm just exercising, you know what I mean? I'm not gonna use my cellular phone, I'm not gonna use any other stimulants, no music, you know, because that music pump you up and everything. I'm just gonna exercise. And so you kind of have to create a little bit of, uh, you know, you have to pull back a bit. And this is all about the long-term game of, you know, if I'm trying to create this enjoyment again, I kind of have to serve myself by doing this. I'm not undermining myself, I'm serving myself by cutting back so that I can get back to that baseline of being able to enjoy this actual activity. And so if you notice that you're not motivated anymore, there's some things that you can do to start being motivated again. So, um, I'm just trying to help you with the strategies for something like this and to give you an example of what I mean about about how there could be something good that you actually enjoy, but you have overstimulated this particular event and you cause too much activity around it to where all of a sudden you're not motivated anymore to do anything concerning it. And I'm gonna share with you a few things that you can do to even increase your baseline level, meaning, you know, you want your baseline level to be, uh, at a place where you enjoy it again. And so that baseline level starts to drop a it if you, uh, if you're going too high because now you're going too low and it's, and it's now starting to bring you down so low that you're not motivated and stuff. And now if you're feeling like that, you're gonna, you know, you, you're gonna want to keep trying to, uh, overstimulate to get back a better feeling or to get a better feeling. And so honestly, it's just about maintaining that baseline level. All right, so here's a few things that you can do, uh, that can help your baseline level dopamine and how you can master it. And so what are some of the habits that you can do to create a healthy baseline dopamine? Well, one is to get enough sleep. Honestly, sleep helps to increase your baseline level and it helps to restore you. And these are things that you should be doing every day to kind of help with this baseline level is that you want to get enough sleep. Okay. Okay, it's going to restore you, it's going to help your dopamine levels, and you're going to find that you, you have an, a, a better feeling. You, you have a higher dopamine levels throughout the day often when you get enough sleep. Okay, so, and again, these are not the peaks, this is just baseline. It's not about the peaks. There are times you do want to peak, and remember, peaking is very strategic. If you peak too high, you're going to come too just know that. And if you peak just a little bit, you can kind of stabilize your baseline levels a little bit better. Like that, that tide, the, um, tide waves that I was talking about, is that if the waves are coming just a little bit at a time and, you know, far and few and in between, not all the time, you know, like if, if I decide, you know, a little bit of social media scrolling, I just want to peak it just a little bit, but I'm going to create space in between it, that can help to keep my baseline levels good. But if I'm constantly, constantly, constantly peaking it, that's going to destroy my baseline levels. That's going to bring me very low, and then I'm going to start not having much interest in anything else other than scrolling on my phone. And even if I do other things, like I go out on a dinner date or something, I'm going to be grabbing for my phone to look through it, and I can't even enjoy the moment. All right, so just pay attention to that. And then also nutrition. You know, being able to get the nutrients that you need is something that you need to do every single day, uh, to help your dopamine levels. So I'm eating nutrition, not fake food, not processed food, not a bunch of sugar. Remember, that sugar addiction is going to get you back creating a pattern because sugar is addictive by nature, and so it's going to be compromising to your dopamine levels. And then also getting sunlight is said help with dopamine, with baseline dopamine levels. And usually early in the day, uh, you know, 5 to 10 minutes looking at the sun, but not looking directly at the sun, but in the direction of the sun, being able to get that sunlight in your face. 5 to 10 minutes when it's sunny, 10 to 20 minutes if it's cloudy. And if it's, you know, just overly cloudy, uh, then you're looking at maybe 20 to 30 minutes. Okay, but it's good to get that, that sunlight and to be facing the sun. Like, uh, on my block, when I walk up and down the block, I have to position myself. I gotta, you know, I walk away from the sun, but then I like to walk towards the sun. And I like to kind of count my minutes when I'm honestly walking towards the sun. And then of course, exercise. It doesn't matter what kind of exercise— high-intensity interval training, cardio, you know, weightlifting, whatever is, you know, fun for you. But remember, like I said, you can make it unfun for you and unexciting for you if you are overstimulating yourself. And am I saying not to listen to music while you working out? No, I'm not saying that, okay? Like, sometimes it's fine to do it, but I'm saying sometimes if you pull back, you can create that, that excitement again. If you are, um, you know, I'm only saying this if you get to an activity that all of a sudden doesn't feel exciting to you and you're wondering why. Like, why am I not motivated anymore? I was so happy at first, and you know, and now I feel this way. I'm just giving you strategy to pull back on the things that you're doing that could be overstimulating this particular event. Now, another thing I want to talk about, uh, very briefly is making sure that when you are in the process of trying to achieve a goal, that you don't look at dopamine levels being connected to the goal. Dopamine levels are not connected to the end product, the win, the trophy, the goal, the finished product. It is connected to desire, motivation, and cravings, not the end goal. So if you're only looking to the end goal and you're creating only excitement around the win or the trophy or the accomplishment, then you're going to undermine your dopamine levels, and you're not going to have your dopamine levels working for you to continue the motivation. Remember, it stimulates activity, but you in and of yourself yourself can create energy around something and bypass the product of being able to utilize dopamine levels in the process. And that comes sometimes just from your mind. You can do this actually on the reverse end, which is that if you are doing something that you may not want to do but you know is good for you to do, if you tell yourself it's good for you to do it and you create activity around that, then you will get the dopamine levels to help to motivate you. Because remember, it's connected to motivation. And activation. And you want to be motivated at times. And so you don't want to have an activity where you're just looking to the end, because then what happens is you don't make it to the end often because you're not utilizing dopamine in the, in the middle process part, right? And so it's not just the end, and it's not just the goal, it is the entire process. You have to understand that when you're trying to get to a goal, you're using effort, and you have to tell yourself, this effort is good for This effort is everything, because when you do that, then you find reward in the effort, not just in the accomplishment, not just in the goal. You want to find pleasure in the effort, in the process. You want your dopamine levels to be balanced in, in that, in that part also, because it is an exciting process. You're telling yourself, hey, I'm learning new skills, I'm doing something that is good, I I'm, you know, doing something that I never done before. You have to create the, the drama around it to make sure that you're utilizing your dopamine. Because like I said, if not, then you're always going to be attached to just a win or a goal, and anything less than that is going to be non-exciting to you. Like, I'm doing this, but if I don't win, I'm gonna be depressed. Like, that's because you're, you're connecting everything just to the end. You want to be able to enjoy the entire your process, because there is so much to learn in the process. And I always talk about how even setting goals is not about finishing or accomplishing the goal, it's about, you know, becoming a different person. The person who sets the goal is different from the one who accomplishes the goal. So you are becoming someone different in the process, and that's exciting. Like, you want to make it exciting. And I know you may think, well, you know, maybe I'm lying to myself if I'm telling myself this is exciting and it's not because I really just want the win. Well, yeah, but in context to really the truth, because you do want it deep down inside to be exciting, the process. Even if you can't find it in you to make it exciting, you want it to be exciting. So yes, you do sometimes have to do self-talk, and when you do that self-talk, it boosts your levels of dopamine, and you're like, you know what, yeah, you're right, I am learning some things in this process. I am, you know, making some achievements is, you know, step by step. And it's not just about the finished product, it's about this journey. And you can tell yourself that, and it's okay. And you can utilize dopamine for this because guess what? Dopamine is for motivation and dopamine is for activation. And so you're gonna continue the process a little bit better if you can get your dopamine levels involved in the process and not just the win, right? And so you want to think about that. Now I want I want to talk to you last about something very important, and then I'll tell you one supplement that a lot of people use to help their dopamine levels. It's a natural, uh, supplement, and there's a lot of other drugs out there that people use. I'm not going to recommend any of them because I would just prefer to recommend something that was natural. And honestly, I would prefer for you to just understand everything that was talked about and start to pay attention to this and start to manipulate your own dopamine levels and just take some time away from some of this stuff that's causing, uh, the damage of your dopamine levels. Because it is, um, it's not fueling you, it's not fueling your energy, your experience, and your motivation. And I want to end by explaining to you how to overcome a motivation, okay? So I wanna, I wanna help you to understand how you can become motivated when you are unmotivated and give you some real strategies and some real tools. And I'll even share something that I did this morning, because actually this morning I was not motivated, and yet I'm, I'm here doing this podcast show and I feel great. And I'm going to explain to you how I got myself to feeling great. And so again, we talked about this issue with peaks and troughs, okay, you know, um, highs and lows, right? And so what happens is when when you become unmotivated, like let's say you are doing a project and all of a sudden you get distracted, you got procrastination, you don't want to do it anymore. There's a few different things that you could do to finally accomplish it. Okay. One of the things you can do is just wait because again, dopamine levels, they can fluctuate and you could just wait it out. And a lot of times what happens is when you wait it out, you actually get to the point where you wait to the last minute. And now you use, you utilize anxiety to kind of push you to do what you're supposed to do. And a lot of times even your epinephrine, your adrenaline gets going when you are, you know, at a deadline, you know, you know, you, you, you're at a dead zone and you're running out of time. You know, a lot of times adrenaline is used and that activates the stress in you and it actually helps you to get the work done. And guess what? I do that sometimes. I'm not going to sit here and act like I don't. I utilize the fact that I am at an in place, and now I have to do it. And now, you know, that epinephrine, and it just— the adrenaline gets to going, and now I get pushed to do it. And then the second thing is, sometimes in the midst of that waiting period, you may distract yourself with something else that's a lesser evil, you know, like, okay, now I'm gonna, you know, do something else. I'm gonna work on something that is a not— doesn't require as much of an effort, right? And, and you'll do that until again, okay, you know what, I got to go ahead and do this. All right, so you will distract yourself. And honestly, those are not the best ways to motivate yourself. I'm going to give you a much better way, and you may not like it, but it does work. Okay, it does work. And that is that you have to create friction in the midst of what it is that you are trying to do, or what you're trying to overcome, as like this, this lack of motivation. You have to now create friction, which means you have to put yourself in a worse situation. You have to create more pain for yourself and do something actually harder. And I'm not talking about the kind of pain that destroys you. I'm talking about safe pain, all right? And I'll give you an example because I'm going share what I did this morning. And so when you have a lack of motivation and you're procrastinating and you know there's something you should do that you're not doing, the best thing to do is to heighten the pain, heighten the friction, and do something that is harder. Put yourself in a situation where this situation is harder than the situation that I'm trying to overcome. And when you do that, it will be a lot easier for you to overcome. So for example, this morning, and I was not feeling motivated to like do anything. Honestly, I was about to take a day off just at the spur of the moment because my mood was not feeling it to be able to do what I set out for me to do. And I was about to procrastinate. And you know what I did? I decided I'm gonna take a cold shower. I'm gonna take a cold shower. And that created a more painful situation for me to take a cold shower. And so I literally got in the cold shower and I took it. I breathed through it and it was painful. I do not like cold showers. I don't care how many times I take them, I don't like them. And the moment when I got out, I immediately start to feel a mood change. It was— I, I can't even explain it, but I think people who understand cold showers and cold plunges and they can get it. But when you put yourself in a worse situation like that, there's something about about the, the release of dopamine levels. And cold showers can create a dopamine level that rises for even up to 4 hours sometimes. And so that is actually a real tool. And there's other things you, you want to have a few different tools that you can utilize to get you out of that, that state. And so because I did that, my mood changed. And all of a sudden, you know, and you're like, you know what, if I could get over this, I can— I'm fine with going, you know, to do the work that I, that I set out to do because I put myself in a worse situation. And I, I not only did I do that, but I learned that I can overcome something that's hard, you know. And that, that honestly, for somebody to say, you know, hey, do something that you're used to doing, you know, uh, do your video or whatever versus go jump in a cold shower, I would rather do a video honestly, right? But because I put myself in that state of friction and put myself in an uncomfortable state, um, a little bit of pain, but again, it wasn't like pain that would destroy me. Um, I all of a sudden, my dopamine levels increased, and I all of a sudden had a different just outlook on following through with what I needed to do today, right? And so, um, there, you know, like, be safe when it comes to cold therapy. Be safe, make sure you're doing it right. But that is actually a tool. Now, anything that is harder for you. So let's say it was an exercise routine, or even if it was 1 to 5 minutes of exercising, let's just say, you know what, I'm about to jump down and try to do so many push-ups, or I'm about to do burpees for a minute straight, or something that is more challenging. And it's like, okay, this is harder than that. Let me go back and get to that, you know, uh, not something that you find easier. You think it— you, you're, you're lying to yourself saying it's harder, like, oh, let me go organize this or do that, but not, not really, because you wouldn't be doing it if it was harder. You, you're resulting to that, um, you're going into default on doing that because you're just trying to buy yourself some time, honestly. But, um, it could be very, very useful for, for you to do something that is hard for you. Now, meditation is one thing you can do, but let me just say this: meditation has not necessarily been known to increase dopamine levels. But meditation, if it is hard for you to concentrate and practice your breathing and you drift off and it's hard for you to first of all get in the state of meditation and then stay there for 5 minutes, then that could be a tool that you use because that's challenging for you. And so at the end of the day, it needs to be something that is harder than what you're currently dealing with. And if meditation is hard for you, you can utilize meditation for that. But meditation in and of itself it's probably not going to boost dopamine levels. It helps you to focus, but it does not, it does not help with dopamine levels. Now, non-sleep deep rest, NSDR, will actually help with increasing your dopamine levels. Okay, this is a place where you are just at a resting point where you're basically doing a body scan. You're not not necessarily sleep, but you're at a very relaxed state and you're just still. And it's called non-sleep deep rest, NSDR. That is actually known to help your dopamine levels, but not meditation per se. All right, and so, uh, find you a few tools that you can have that you can do when you become amotivated. Uh, and this could, you know, be a This could be anything, honestly. Again, it just has to make sense where it is really genuinely harder for you. And don't lie to yourself, let me just say that. All right, now there is one supplement that I will say has been known to be used to increase dopamine levels, and I will let you know what that is. And then there's one supplement that I will kind of say that you shouldn't take, that a lot of people do take, that can actually crash crash your dopamine levels, and then one behavior pattern that can also crash your behavioral levels. And I'll say them to you right now. And so the supplement that I'm talking about is called L-tyrosine. It has been known to help to boost your dopamine levels. So the only reason why I'm mentioning L-tyrosine is because it is a natural supplement. Now do beware that I don't think you should take it every day, you know, because it can have an effect on boosting your focus and your dopamine levels but it can also crash your dopamine levels a bit. And I would suggest taking and starting with the lower dosage. Most people start with 250 milligrams, some go to 500, 750, up to 1,000. But I would suggest starting with the lower dosage if you are going to take it. That is your choice. I am just stating that it is a supplement that many people take when trying to increase their dopamine levels. And then also there's a couple of things that can actually destroy your dopamine levels that a lot of people do take, and it's the supplement of melatonin. Melatonin has been known to— not much studies on it, but there has been some studies that wasn't necessarily connected to melatonin and dopamine, but they did check dopamine levels. And those who took melatonin, I think it's a study back in around 2001, those who took the melatonin, they— there was a decrease in dopamine levels about 60 minutes uh, after taking melatonin. Besides, I really believe that people, uh, should learn how to naturally, um, use your own melatonin. There are some things, uh, that you can do to help with your melatonin levels, you know, at nighttime, and I'll talk about that on a later date or a later episode. Also, uh, there's one particular behavior activity that happens that can affect dopamine levels along with all the other ones that I did mention before, and that is if you get too much light between the hours of 10 PM and 4 AM, it's known to actually mess with your dopamine levels for days, actually up to 4 days. So, uh, just be careful about that at nighttime. Dim the lights, you know, make sure that you don't have a lot of stimulation in your eyes, you know, past 10 PM and anywhere between 10 PM and 4 AM, because that could mess up your dopamine levels for days. And as you see, you really do need healthy dopamine levels because it's going to help you to manage your levels of motivation and your activity levels, and it's going to help you to manage your desires, and it's going to help you to manage your cravings and to, you know, be able to— if you know how to utilize them— stay away from addiction and to overcome addiction and to overcome these high highs and low lows and these mood swings and these problems with feeling unmotivated to do certain things in life. And if you have gotten to a place where you are so depressed and you just feel like you are, you know, having lethargic energy levels, uh, feeling lazy, feeling full of procrastination, um, if you are experiencing some level of burnout, you might want to consider your dopamine levels because they play a huge role in this. And you want to to manage them right now because again, if you can get a hold on this, your life will absolutely change. You will find delight in the simple things. You can get to a place where everything for the most part can seem a bit pleasurable to you if you can raise your baseline dopamine levels and not go to crazy amounts of, uh, high peak levels too often. Okay, that's the key— high peaks too often. All right, that's, that's where the problem comes in, is you doing the same thing over and over, going back to the same thing, never having a dull moment, never having a moment of just, you know, not having a lot of activity. I'm telling you, when you can incorporate just some simple moments in your life, first of all, you'll be able to now experience the simplicity and to value the simplicity in life. And you'll be able to go out in nature and take a walk and look at the trees and find delight in just being able to experience nature. There are so many people who can't do that because they have to be on their phones, or they have to be watching Netflix, or— and I didn't mention that, you know, TV addiction— and, or they have to be eating their favorite food or just always having to do something super pleasurable all the time. It, it really ruins the experience. There are some times that you just need to be and just have a, a moment, a relaxed moment. Enjoy nature, enjoy the present moment, enjoy deep breathing, enjoy your thoughts, you know, find joy in that. Because I promise you, when you do, you'll come away from that and everything will seem magical to your life. I'm telling you, and you won't have to be weighed down, like I say, by addiction, and you'll be able to, you know, boost your motivation just like that. And that's what I wanted to help you to be able to accomplish by giving you the tools and the resources and the understanding of what is happening in all the activity that's going on in your day-to-day behavior patterns and what it is behind the scene that you're not paying attention to, because there's a whole world happening with your brain activity and, you know, the neurotransmitters and your neurons activating other neurons and activating larger portions of your cells. There's so much going on and there's so much I didn't mention about dopamine in and of itself because it does have a huge role in a lot of other activities that go on throughout your entire body. But I just wanted to kind of give an introduction of it. It, help you to understand how it works and how you can master it and utilize it and leverage it so that you can become a much happier version of yourself and you can take the wheel of your life and of your experiences. And I, I hope that this really helped you to understand and give you the tools that you need to overcome procrastination and all these other problems that happen when our dopamine levels are compromised. And so once again, make sure that you do subscribe to my page, especially if you found this to be valuable. Make sure you also continue to make suggestions of what you would like to understand, know about, what subjects you would like me to talk about. I am really interested in getting your feedback, and even if I need to expand on some things that I'm already talking about, please do share because I find great value in your feedback and, and being able to serve your needs and the things that you want to learn more about. All right. I hope that this brought much excitement to your life and the possibility of your world and your health and all the great experiences you will have in the days ahead. Keep making sure that you continue in your personal development and in your growth. I am here to help you to accomplish the things that you want to accomplish in your health and in your life success. I know we went over a lot today, and I hope that it pushes you into the goals that you have for yourself. And as always, this has been another episode of Health Goat, and I look forward to seeing you next time.