How to trick your brain into loving hard work!

The dream that’s being sold to us is that one day, we’ll wake up rich, famous, and successful.

Regardless of our background.

That might happen. Yet that’s not usually how it works.

Unless you add another component that nobody likes to talk about.

Hard work.

Most successes you see have worked their tails off to get to the point where they are today… and most of the time that work has been boring, hard, and never-ending.

So do the non-workaholics among us even have a chance??

The short answer? Yes.?

The long answer? Yes, but studying endless books, Youtube videos, articles and whatnot on motivation and productivity hacks probably won’t work… unless you figure out the underlying systems in your body that let you be motivated… and disciplined.

The right answer? Dopamine.

A lot of systems in our body are involved in making us do something… but the most prominent and important probably is dopamine.

What is dopamine?

Simply put, the key function of dopamine is making us act.

For our intents and purposes, think of dopamine as a messenger molecule in your brain that’s involved in relaying messages between specific brain centers.

It’s responsible for our motivation, how we think and plan, focus, and what things we find interesting.

So understanding its role is super important if you’re an entrepreneur. Because you probably don’t have external pressure to rely upon (such as having a boss) to perform at your best.?

The problem with dopamine is that the pleasant feeling of a dopamine spike is not confined to healthy or productive stuff.

We feel that rush of dopamine whether we achieve a personal best when working out or by simply eating a sugary chocolate bar.

However, only one of those triggers of a dopamine spike benefits us in the long run.

The spark of pleasure we feel when the body releases dopamine motivates us to keep engaging in the task.?

Good news is we can use this to our benefit.

Immediate gratification vs. delayed gratification

Humans are emotional creatures that thrive and fail at the mercy of our emotions.?

This is where the concept of immediate gratification vs. delayed gratification comes into play.

Think of our short attention spans and the way that we reach for our phones whenever there is a quiet moment:

The colorful, strategically designed social media apps are designed to keep us entertained, interested, and well... addicted.

By clicking on those apps, the dopamine rush triggered by a funny video, or a cute engagement post gives us instant gratification, but at what cost?

Although any dopamine rush caused by a positive prompt can be appreciated, the reward is often much more fulfilling when you worked hard to achieve that result.

You will feel prouder to earn an A on a test you studied for than on where you guessed the right answers.

A successful product launch after years of failure provides a more meaningful win.

Working hard toward your goals may be a more laborious process, but the delayed gratification you achieve will motivate you to keep pursuing your dream.

Humans feel the pleasant feelings of a dopamine spike whether the feeling came from mindlessly viewing a social media post or through achieving a career milestone after years of failures.?

No matter what your goals are, it is important to establish discipline when it comes to limiting immediate gratification and striving for the opportunity for delayed gratification.

Use your knowledge of dopamine to your advantage and you can harness one of the best motivational tools to help you achieve your entrepreneurial goals

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