Mel Robbins cites neuroscientist Tali Sharot's research on habituation: your brain stops noticing familiar things, which dulls your emotional response to routine. Schedule something new and exciting before year's end to reactivate your reward system and break the monotony.
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When you think about now until the end of this year, what are you looking forward to? And I want you to really think about this. And if your answer is, "Mel, I have no idea," or maybe it's like, "I don't even have time to think about what I'm looking forward to. I'm just trying to survive and get through the day." That is really important and honest information. And I'm glad that you're being honest with me because when you have nothing, to look forward to for the remainder of the year? This is one of the reasons why life feels so hard. There's a scientific reason why it's important to have that feeling of anticipation, that sense of, I can't wait for that thing to happen, whether it's a wedding or it's a concert or it's some trip that you're taking or somebody that you're seeing. This research was first shared on this podcast by Dr. Tali Sharot, Now, she's a renowned neuroscientist who's taught at University College London, MIT. She's the director of the Affective Brain Lab at University College London. Her real expertise is studying how emotions influence your beliefs, your decisions, and your behavior. When your brain gets used to something, whether it's the way that you're moving through your day, you wake up, you go to work, you drive the same way, it's the same emergencies. There's something happening in your brain where it stops noticing all the good things. It stops paying attention to change. And the more familiar something becomes, the less your brain reacts to what you're doing. This is what Dr. Tali Sharot calls habituation. If you're kind of in one of these modes in life where it's the same old, same old, oh my God, Yes, the less your brain is reacting to the same old, same old, but it's also reacting less to the good stuff. That's why you can love your partner or your dog, but you get used to them. That's why you can have a life or a state of health that you've worked really hard for, but still feel kind of flat. One of the fastest ways to just wake your brain back up, snap you back into the moment, is novelty. Something different, something new, something on the calendar to look forward to, something to anticipate. And that means that putting something on your calendar, it isn't just this tiny little thing to shake things up. Oh my gosh, it helps you get out of the day-to-day and escape it for a second and time travel and anticipate something that reminds you of who you are, that reminds you that life isn't just work. It isn't just caretaking. It isn't just scrolling on social media. Life is meant to be lived, and you can experience that now by putting something in the future that you look forward to.
