How To Attach Dopamine To The Effort Not The Outcome
22 Jun 2023 · 7 min
This is a solo podcast episode by Lori Harder encouraging listeners to "attach dopamine to the effort, not the outcome"—i.e., find joy and pride in the process, challenges, and daily showing-up rather than only celebrating final results. Lori offers personal reflections and concrete prompts (self-praise, reframing failures, celebrating small wins) and includes two sponsored recommendations: Shopify (for launching businesses) and the Working Genius assessment (to identify energizing work). The episode closes with a call-to-action to share, review, and "earn your happy."
Chapters
There's so much purpose to what you're going through right now and the problems that you're solving. And if you think about the people who've helped you through the problems that you have gotten help from, then you have to remember that those people had the same problem or something similar to. And that's what you really clung onto to feel better. Hey, everyone, welcome back to the show. It's time for another quickie because there's always time to fit in inspiration. These are so fun, Fun for me because I feel like I get to talk to you guys all about literally what I'm really thinking about and focusing on every single week. So having these kind of real time moments to drop in and just be like, this is what's been on my mind right now. How about you guys? And for anyone that is a content creator or a podcaster or thinks they want to do something like this, it really is just about bringing people along the journey with you. And also, if it's something you're thinking about, trust me, the one thing that we kind of can get wrong as human beings is that we think that our journey is unique to us or our situation or our experience. And while yes, we have a unique, exact unique experience, it is something that we most likely there will be many of us at the same time thinking the same thing or experiencing the same things, right down to the problems that we are having or even traumas that we've had. It's really amazing that once you start sharing, the more you realize that everybody, not everyone, but many people have experienced something similar. And I think if we talked about that more, which is why podcasts people are just, they love podcasts so much. They love books, they love learning about themselves, we love learning about each other, is that it makes us feel less alone in the world. So if you're noticing that you feel a little isolated or that you're really trapped in a story because you think it's, you know, only happening to you and you don't know anybody to talk to about it, that's when you really need to start reaching out or finding like minded people so that you can remember you're not alone in it. Because that is what makes the journey tolerable. And not just tolerable, but really helps you to see that maybe you're going through it to be able to help the person once you get through, who's going through it too. Because if we didn't have those people, we'd never be able to make it through. So always, always remember that Brene has a beautiful. Brene Brown has a. Like, she has one name, right? Like Madonna. Everybody knows who I'm talking about. Brene Brown has a beautiful quote about how your life will become someone else's guidebook, how your story will become someone else's manual to get through. And it's like, that helps us just know that we're getting through it for a purpose. It's not all for nothing. There's so much purpose to what you're going through right now and the problems that you're solving. And if you think about the people who've helped you through the problems that you have gotten help from, then you have to remember that those people had the same problem or something similar, too. And that's what you really clung onto to feel better. But I came on here today because I want to remind you to start attaching the joy to the journey instead of the result. So I was just listening to a Lewis Howes podcast. I think it just came out pretty recently, and he had a guest on who was talking about learning how to attach your dopamine to the journey, to the effort. So attach the dopamine to the effort and not to the outcome. What does that mean? Like, how does one get their brain to react chemically to the effort part where normally your brain reacts negatively? Like, this is really hard work and you get exhausted, right. And you want to attach that dopamine to the outcome, but the outcome only lasts an hour or two, Right? Like, maybe you go out to dinner and celebrate and you're like, God, I just thought this was going to feel so different. I just thought I would be different. I just thought my life would change. I thought people would treat me different. And, yeah, while some of that can happen, it kind of goes back to a bit of a baseline. So how do we attach the dopamine to the effort and not the outcome? Well, I have been working on this myself. So when I say I come on here every single week to kind of share where I'm at, this is absolutely what I'm working on. And I can tell you it's starting to really work. I'm starting to really, really, really find a lot of love and joy in a challenge, in the fact that I know when I'm not being challenged, I feel a little bit, or I feel a little restless, or I feel a little like I'm lacking purpose. Like I don't know what that bigger picture is. So I'm starting to fall in love with the fact that, oh, I can't believe. I'm so proud of myself for how I showed up today through the challenges. I'm so proud of myself for how I still showed up as a leader, even though I felt really confused and like I wasn't being a good leader or I wasn't sure which direction to go. I'm so proud of myself for how I treated my team today. I'm so proud of myself for allowing myself some grace when I had that massive failure and I still got back in the game the next day or in the next two hours. Like, I'm so proud of myself for learning this new thing. Sometimes I'll go back and I'll be like, what would my old self say if she met the woman who just went through this tough day? What would my 2 years ago self sit and say to this woman? And a lot of times, well, every time it would be, wow, I can't believe how much your capacity has grown. Wow, I can't believe that you can handle these challenging things every single day. And I'm so, so proud of you for who you are. I'm so proud of the way that you are showing up and also proving to other people that this can be done and you can love it and you can enjoy it and you can remember that the tough stuff is the good stuff.
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And that I use Shopify.
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So you guys, where can you start attaching where it doesn't feel natural? Start attaching that dopamine. Start attaching that pride. Start attaching that joy that you don't have it easy because I've never had a lot of easy days strung together where I'm not challenged unless I'm on a vacation, but where I'm not challenged. Let's even just say for the year where I'm like, man, I'm not doing what I love, I'm not growing that. I feel happy. You need that to feel good about yourself. Let your head hit the pillow even if it was a rough day and say, I'm so proud of you. These rough days are building. Who is going to accomplish these big goals that you have? Those are the days. Those are the days. So attach dopamine and say, these are the days that actually get me to the goal, not the ones where all easy because you're not actually solving another challenge out there, which is how you get there, right? So, you guys, I'm sending you so much love. I hope that you can start to just fall in love with your journey, even 2% more each day. And you know how you show up and let it be okay if things go wrong, let it be okay if you fail, but make sure you celebrate that you got through. Make sure you celebrate how you approach those things, and make sure you just celebrate that you keep showing up every single day and your capacity is growing. So thank you guys for tuning in. Thank you for listening. It means the world to me when you share or you leave a review. That's how podcasts grow. It's the only way podcasts grow. So whether it's me or your other favorite podcasters, go show them some love. I try to do this a couple times a month where I'm just like, who am I listening to? And I'm totally not, like, letting them know I'm listening to them or giving them any love for all of their free content. But I'm really, really grateful for you. Like I said, whether it's me or somebody else, it's a ripple effect out into the universe of goodness. So go spread it, you guys. It does come back in the craziest ways that you wouldn't expect it. So until next time, earn your happy. Bye. Everyone.
Sat.
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