Niclas Haritos

I came across a podcast about dopamine rewards and why their side effects might hinder you from reaching your goals. Let me explain.

Building a business and going after a vision only you can see is challenging. Especially when you don’t see any results in the first one, two, or three years.

And so if you are a person who heavily relies on a dopamine reward shortly after you do something you don’t enjoy, like me, then it becomes challenging to keep going and put in 100% effort into something that seems to be not working.

Then, eventually, giving up because nothing seems to happen.

Why do we even care about rewards anyways?

Rewards are events that give us the green light to release dopamine. It’s a nice feeling, and we are looking forward to doing the same task again… the better it feels as a result, the more often we try to accomplish this.

This, basically, is how addictions work, by the way.

So, rewards are an excellent thing to make you do things you wouldn’t do. i.e., find a job or start offering a service so you get paid.
Getting paid feels nice; the better you get paid, the more enjoyable it feels.

You want to get paid because you can buy yummy food, take an incredible vacation with your loved ones, etc.

And this is why we crave money, for instance.

Why do I want to remove rewards for this year?

If we consider what I just mentioned, I focus on the outcome rather than the task itself.

But what If I can create a rewarding feeling by just getting things done instead of hyper overload my dopamine levels? What if I “become” miserable” learning to love unpleasant tasks?

The podcast mentioned this, and I think there might be some truth behind it. Success is more about getting things done no matter how you feel or how rested or tired you are.

Your progress depends on your input… essentially it’s the “cost-averaging” Method for investing….

You feel good & motivated to get started on an idea. So you get started and do things with ease. However, you don’t enjoy doing something the next day or week because you hit several roadblocks. At the same time, you’ve had the energy and enthusiasm to do this.

Now, it’s on you to keep doing it. keep the momentum and keep pushing… Now, this is the moment most of us, including me, face extreme issues.

We’re waiting for a reward, which won’t come until the next few weeks, months, if not years. So we realize it doesn’t reward us as much as we hoped it would.

Now, what’s planned?

To be honest, I want to be as rational as possible.

No more porn, no more watching a Youtube Video( beyond my lunch break ), no more “I’ll buy a bottle of wine so I can have a glass here & there.”

It sounds extreme to you, and it does sound harsh to me too. But I want to take drastic measures to allow myself to achieve revolutionary goals.

That way, I know I am committed and rearrange my inner reward system.

So I’ll follow up with you guys on my birthday because this is my first milestone to hit. (8th Sep)

And I’ll see you next time.

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