Overcome External Rewards to Achieve Your Goals | Andrew Huberman
Summary
TLDRThe video script delves into the influence of dopamine on our perception of time and intrinsic motivation. It discusses the detrimental effects of extrinsic rewards on intrinsic enjoyment, as illustrated by the Stanford Marshmallow Experiment. The script emphasizes the importance of cultivating a growth mindset and accessing the rewards from effort itself, rather than external incentives, to enhance performance and efficiency. It suggests that associating effort with internal pleasure can lead to increased dopamine release, making challenging activities more enjoyable and sustainable.
Takeaways
- 🎨 Children who enjoy drawing may lose interest if extrinsic rewards, like gold stars, are introduced and then removed.
- 🔄 Intrinsic versus extrinsic reinforcement: External rewards can reduce the intrinsic pleasure of an activity.
- 📉 Dopamine affects our perception of time and pleasure, with rewards at the end diminishing the enjoyment of the activity itself.
- 🧠 The antithesis of growth mindset: Focusing solely on end rewards can make activities less enjoyable and more challenging over time.
- 🚀 Growth mindset involves finding reward in the effort itself, which enhances performance and motivation.
- 💪 Engaging the prefrontal cortex helps in associating effort with pleasure, even when the activity is challenging or painful.
- 🧬 Dopamine release during effort boosts energy, focus, and makes activities more sustainable.
- ⚖️ Balancing dopamine: Avoid spiking dopamine before or after activities to sustain motivation and enjoyment from the effort itself.
- 🔄 Repetition and practice in finding reward in effort can make this mindset reflexive and applicable to various challenges.
- 🏆 Focus on the process rather than the end goal to maintain motivation and enhance long-term performance.
Q & A
How does dopamine affect our perception of time and effort?
-Dopamine is linked to our perception of time, and when we work hard for a reward that comes afterward, it can make the hard work more challenging and make us less likely to engage in hard work in the future. The dopaminergic circuits interpret this as doing the activity for the reward, not because of enjoyment, which can lower the baseline of dopamine and extend the time bin of the perceived experience.
What is the Stanford experiment with children drawing and what was its outcome?
-The Stanford experiment involved children who enjoyed drawing. Researchers gave them rewards like gold stars for their drawings. When the rewards stopped, the children's intrinsic motivation to draw on their own decreased, demonstrating the impact of extrinsic reinforcement on intrinsic enjoyment.
What is the difference between intrinsic and extrinsic reinforcement?
-Intrinsic reinforcement comes from the enjoyment of the activity itself, while extrinsic reinforcement involves external rewards given for performing an activity. The script suggests that extrinsic rewards can diminish the intrinsic pleasure of an activity by associating the activity with the reward rather than the enjoyment of the activity itself.
How does focusing on the end reward affect our experience of an activity?
-Focusing on the end reward can make the activity feel more like a means to an end, reducing the enjoyment during the process. It can also make the activity feel more painful and less efficient, as the neural circuits for dopamine and reward are less active during the activity itself.
What is the growth mindset and how does it relate to effort and dopamine?
-The growth mindset, a concept developed by Carol Dweck, is about striving to be better and enjoying the process of improvement. It aligns with the idea of accessing dopamine release from effort itself, rather than from external rewards, which can lead to better performance and a more positive experience.
How can we cultivate a growth mindset and access dopamine from effort?
-Cultivating a growth mindset involves learning to find pleasure in the effort and process, rather than just the outcome. This can be achieved by engaging the prefrontal component of the mesolimbic circuit and telling oneself that the effort is pleasurable, even when it's physically challenging.
What are the benefits of associating effort with an internally generated reward system?
-Associating effort with an internally generated reward system can lead to a reflexive dopamine release from the effort itself, making the activity more enjoyable and efficient. It also helps in building a stronger connection between the effort and the pleasure derived from it, enhancing performance and reducing the need for external stimuli to initiate or continue the activity.
Why is it important not to spike dopamine levels before or after engaging in effort?
-Spike dopamine levels before or after engaging in effort can interfere with the natural dopamine release that should occur during the effort. This can prevent the association of pleasure with the effort itself and undermine the ability to develop a growth mindset and enjoy the process.
Who is David Goggins and what does he exemplify in terms of effort and reward?
-David Goggins is a former Navy SEAL who has made a career out of sharing his process of turning effort into reward. He exemplifies the ability to access pleasure from effort, which is a powerful aspect of our dopaminergic circuitry and is accessible to everyone.
How can we use the concept of effort as a reward in moments of intense friction?
-In moments of intense friction, we can tell ourselves that the effort is by choice and that we love it, even if it feels painful. This reframing can help evoke an increase in dopamine release later, increasing the baseline in dopamine and making the effort feel more pleasurable over time.
What evolutionary advantage does the ability to find pleasure in effort provide?
-The ability to find pleasure in effort has likely been an evolutionary advantage, as it would have motivated our ancestors to engage in activities like foraging, hunting, and gathering, despite the physical demands and exhaustion, ensuring survival and adaptation.
Outlines
🧠 Dopamine and Intrinsic Motivation
This paragraph discusses the impact of dopamine on our perception of time and motivation. It explains that working hard for a delayed reward can make the task feel more challenging and less enjoyable, reducing the likelihood of engaging in similar hard work in the future. The concept of intrinsic versus extrinsic reinforcement is introduced, with an example of a Stanford experiment where children lost interest in drawing when the reward (a gold star) was removed. The speaker emphasizes the importance of understanding the peaks and baselines of dopamine and how they affect our perception of activities and time. The paragraph concludes with a mention of the growth mindset, a concept developed by Carol Dweck, which encourages focusing on the effort itself as a means to achieve better performance.
🏆 Cultivating a Growth Mindset Through Effort
The second paragraph delves into the benefits of associating effort with an internally generated reward system, rather than relying on external rewards. It suggests that focusing solely on the end goal can make the process less enjoyable and more painful. The speaker advocates for developing a growth mindset by learning to find pleasure in the effort itself, which can be achieved by consciously telling oneself that the effort is pleasurable, even when it's physically challenging. The paragraph highlights the importance of not spiking dopamine levels before or after the effort, but instead, learning to derive dopamine from the effort itself. It concludes by mentioning David Goggins as an example of someone who has mastered turning effort into reward, and emphasizes that this ability is accessible to everyone, but requires practice and conscious effort.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Dopamine
💡Intrinsic vs. Extrinsic Reinforcement
💡Growth Mindset
💡Effort
💡Reward
💡Perception of Time
💡Dopaminergic Circuits
💡Mesolimbic Circuit
💡Friction
💡End Goal
💡Dopamine Release
Highlights
Dopamine's influence on time perception and the challenge of working hard for delayed rewards.
Stanford's classic experiment showing how rewarding children for drawing reduced their intrinsic motivation.
The concept of intrinsic versus extrinsic reinforcement and its impact on pleasure derived from activities.
How dopaminergic circuits work to associate less pleasure with activities that are rewarded externally.
The effect of dopamine peaks and baselines on the cognitive interpretation of engaging in activities for rewards.
The relationship between dopamine, time perception, and the extension of the time bin in activities with delayed rewards.
The dissociation of neural circuits for dopamine and reward during activities focused on end rewards.
The antithesis of a growth mindset and the importance of focusing on effort rather than rewards.
Carol Dweck's growth mindset theory and its impact on performance and the cultivation of effort-focused behaviors.
The neural mechanism of cultivating a growth mindset through accessing rewards from effort and doing.
The benefits of evoking dopamine release from the friction and challenge of engaging in effortful activities.
The negative effects of focusing solely on end goals and how it can make activities feel more painful and less efficient.
The importance of not layering in other sources of dopamine to access the starting line or continue effortful activities.
How to attach the feeling of friction and effort to an internally generated reward system for sustained motivation.
The evolutionary significance of accessing pleasure from effort in our dopaminergic circuitry and its accessibility to all.
Strategies to prevent interference with dopamine release from effort, such as not spiking dopamine before or after the effort.
The example of David Goggins, illustrating the process of turning effort into reward through mental reframing.
The historical reverence for individuals who could endure exhausting activities for the benefit of their community.
Transcripts
because of the way that dopamine relates
to our perception of time
working hard at something for sake of a
reward that comes afterward
can make the hard work much more
challenging and make us much less likely
to lean into hard work in the future let
me give you a couple examples by way of
data and experiments there's a classic
experiment done actually at Stanford
many years ago in which children in
Nursery School and kindergarten
Drew pictures and they drew pictures
because they like to draw
the researchers took kids that liked to
draw
and they started giving them a reward
for drawing the reward generally was a
gold star or something that a young
child would find rewarding
then they stopped giving them the gold
star
and what they found is the children had
a much lower tendency
to draw on their own
no reward now remember this was an
activity that prior to receiving a
reward the children intrinsically
enjoyed and selected to do
no one was telling them to draw
what this relates to is so-called
intrinsic versus extrinsic reinforcement
when we receive rewards even if we give
ourselves rewards for something
we tend to associate less pleasure with
the actual activity itself that evoked
the reward now that might seem
counterintuitive but that's just way the
way that these dopaminergic circuits
work
and now understanding these Peaks and
baselines in dopamine which I won't
review again
this should make sense
if you get a peak in dopamine from a
reward it's going to lower your Baseline
and the cognitive interpretation
is that you didn't really do the
activity because you enjoyed the
activity you did it for the reward now
this doesn't mean all rewards of all
kinds are bad but it's also important to
understand that dopamine controls our
perception of time when and how much
dopamine we experience is the way that
we carve up what we call our experience
of time when we engage in an activity
let's say school or hard work of any
kind or exercise
because of the reward we are going to
give ourselves a receive at the end the
trophy the Sunday the meal whatever it
happens to be
we actually are extending the time bin
over which we are analyzing or
perceiving that experience
and because the reward comes at the end
we start to dissociate the neural
circuits for dopamine and reward that
would have normally been active during
the activity
and because it all arrives at the end
over time we have the experience of less
and less pleasure from that particular
activity while we're doing it
this is the antithesis of growth mindset
my colleague at Stanford Carol dweck as
many of you know has come up with this
incredible
Theory and principle and it actually
goes beyond theory in principle called
growth mindset which is this striving to
be better to be in this mindset of I'm
not there yet but striving itself is
the end goal and that of course delivers
you to tremendous performance has been
observed over and over and over again
that people that have growth mindset
kids that have growth mindset end up
performing very well because they're
focused on the effort itself and all of
us can cultivate growth mindset the
neural mechanism of cultivating growth
mindset involves learning to access the
rewards from effort and doing and that's
hard to do because you have to engage
this prefrontal component of the
mesolimbic circuit you have to tell
yourself okay this effort is great this
effort is pleasureful even though you
might actually be in a state of physical
pain from the exercise or I can recall
this from college just feeling like I
wanted to get up from my desk but
forcing myself to study forcing myself
enforcing myself what you find over time
is that you can start to associate a
dopamine release you can evoke dopamine
release from the friction and the
challenge that you happen to be in you
completely eliminate the ability to
generate those circuits and the
rewarding process of being able to
reward friction while in effort
if you are focused only on the goal that
comes at the end because of the way that
dopamine marks time so if you say oh I'm
going to do this very hard thing and I'm
going to push and push and push and push
for that end goal that comes later
not only do you enjoy the process of
what you're doing less you actually make
it more painful while you're engaging in
it you make yourself less efficient at
it because if you were able to access
dopamine while in effort dopamine has
all these incredible properties of
increasing the amount of energy in our
body and in our mind our ability to
focus by way of dopamine's conversion
into epinephrine but also you are
undermining your ability to lean back
into that activity the next time the
next time you need
twice as much coffee and three times as
much loud music and four times as much
energy drink and the social connection
just to get out the door in order to do
the run or to study so what's more
beneficial in fact can serve as a
tremendous amplifier on all Endeavors
that you engage in
especially hard Endeavors is to a not
start layering in other sources of
dopamine in order to get to the starting
line not layering in other sources of
dopamine in order to be able to continue
but rather
to subjectively start to attach the
feeling of friction and effort to an
internally generated reward system and
this is not meant to be vague this is a
system that exists in your mind that
exists in the minds of humans for
hundreds of thousands of years by which
you're not just pursuing the things that
are innately pleasureful food sex warmth
water when you're thirsty but the beauty
of this misolimbic reward pathway that I
talked about earlier is that it includes
the forebrain so you can tell yourself
the effort part is the good part I know
it's painful I know this doesn't feel
good but I'm focused on this I'm going
to start to access the reward you will
find the rewards meaning the dopamine
release inside of effort if you repeat
this over and over again and what's
beautiful about it is that it starts to
become reflexive for all types of effort
when we focus only on the trophy only on
the grade only on the win as the reward
you undermine that entire process
so how do you do this you do this in
those moments of the most intense
friction you tell yourself this is very
painful and because it's painful it will
evoke an increase in dopamine release
later meaning it will increase my
Baseline in dopamine but you also have
to tell yourself that in that moment
you are doing it by choice and you're
doing it because you love it and I know
that sounds like lying to yourself and
in some ways it is lying to yourself but
it's lying to yourself in the context of
a truth which is that you want it to
feel better you want it to feel even
pleasureful now this is very far and
away different from thinking about the
reward that comes at the end the hot
fudge Sunday for after you cross the
finish line and you can replace hot
fudge Sunday with whatever reward
happens to to be appealing to you we
Revere people who are capable of doing
what I'm describing David Goggins comes
to mind as a really good example many of
you are probably familiar with David
Goggins former Navy SEAL who essentially
has made a post-military career career
out of
explaining and sharing his process of
turning the effort into the reward there
are many other examples of this too of
course
throughout evolutionary history there's
no question that we revered people who
were willing to go out and forage and
hunt and gather and caretake
in ways that other members of our
species probably found exhausting and
probably would have preferred to just
put their feet up or soak them in a cool
stream rather than continue to forage
the ability to access this pleasure from
effort
aspect of our dopaminergic circuitry is
without question the most powerful
aspect of dopamine in our biology of
dopamine and the beautiful thing is it's
accessible to all of us but just to
highlight the things that can interfere
with and prevent you from getting
dopamine release from effort itself
don't Spike dopamine prior to engaging
in effort
and don't Spike dopamine after engaging
in effort learn to spike your dopamine
from effort itself
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