Essentials: How to Increase Motivation & Drive

Huberman Lab

Scicomm Media

Science, Health & Fitness, Life Sciences

4.8 • 26.2K Ratings

🗓️ 30 January 2025

⏱️ 40 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In this Huberman Lab Essentials episode, I explain the biological mechanism behind motivation and drive, as well as discuss practical tools for overcoming procrastination. I discuss the key role dopamine plays in driving cravings and motivating action. I explain how dopamine regulates the balance between pleasure and pain, and what happens when this system becomes dysregulated, leading to addiction. I discuss the role of molecules like serotonin, which help enhance the enjoyment of the present, and explain how to balance the drive for more while staying focused in the present. I also discuss the causes of procrastination and describe strategies to boost dopamine levels through behavioral approaches or supplements. Huberman Lab Essentials are short episodes (approximately 30 minutes) focused on essential science and protocol takeaways from past Huberman Lab episodes. Essentials will be released every Thursday, and our full-length episodes will still be released every Monday. Read the full episode show notes at hubermanlab.com. Thank you to our sponsors AG1: https://drinkag1.com/huberman Eight Sleep: https://eightsleep.com/huberman Mateina: https://drinkmateina.com/huberman LMNT: https://drinklmnt.com/huberman Timestamps 00:00:00 Huberman Lab Essentials; Motivation 00:01:57 Dopamine & Brain 00:04:08 Anticipation, Craving & Dopamine 00:05:37 Sponsor: AG1 00:06:46 Food, Drugs & Dopamine Release 00:10:18 Addiction, Pleasure & Pain Balance 00:14:12 Sponsors: Eight Sleep & Mateina 00:17:14 Dopamine, Pain, Yearning 00:19:08 “Here and Now” Molecules, Serotonin, Endocannabinoids, Tool: Mindfulness 00:22:42 Procrastination; Tool: Extend Dopamine, Offset Pain 00:26:15 Sponsor: LMNT 00:27:31 Dopamine & Motivation; Increasing Dopamine, Phenethylamine (PEA) 00:30:58 Dopamine Schedule, Subjectivity 00:33:59 Gambling, Intermittent Reinforcement, Tool: Blunting Rewards 00:38:51 Recap & Key Takeaway Disclaimer & Disclosures

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to Huberman Lab Essentials, where we revisit past episodes for the most potent and actionable science-based tools for mental health, physical health, and performance.
0:11.5	I'm Andrew Huberman, and I'm a professor of neurobiology and ophthalmology at Stanford School of Medicine.
0:17.4	Today, we're going to talk about an extremely important topic that's central to our daily
0:22.2	life and that's motivation. We're going to talk about pleasure and reward. What underlies our sense
0:28.2	of pleasure or reward? We're going to talk about addictions as well. We're going to talk about
0:33.6	the neurochemistry of drive and mindset. But for now, let's just talk about the neuroscience of drive and mindset.
0:37.6	But for now, let's just talk about the neuroscience of motivation and reward of pleasure
0:42.5	and pain because those are central to what we think of as emotions, whether or not we feel
0:47.2	good, whether or not we feel we're on track in life, whether or not we feel we're falling
0:50.6	behind. So motivation is fundamental to our daily life. It's what allows us to get
0:57.0	out of bed in the morning. It's what allows us to pursue long-term goals or short-term goals.
1:02.3	Motivation and the chemistry of motivation is tightly wound in with the neurochemistry of movement.
1:10.3	In fact, the same single molecule, dopamine,
1:13.6	is responsible for our sense of motivation and for movement.
1:18.6	It's a fascinating molecule and it lies at the center
1:22.6	of so many great things in life,
1:25.6	and it lies at the center of so many terrible aspects
1:28.5	of life, namely addiction and certain forms of mental disease. So if ever there was a double-edged
1:34.4	blade in the world of neuroscience, it's dopamine. There's a fundamental relationship between dopamine
1:41.1	released in your brain and your desire to exert effort.
1:44.3	And you can actually control the schedule of dopamine release, but it requires the appropriate
1:50.0	knowledge.
	...

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