Use Distractions to Your Advantage
Edition #10 of THE BLUEPRINT
We live in a highly distracting environment. Entertainment at our finger tips and a world filled with increasing convenience, it becomes easy to get sidetracked from our goals and fall into comfortability.
Today, we will breakdown how to avoid letting our goals slip away and use the distractions to increase our cravings for success.
The process of achieving goals:
Set end goal
Establish strategy to achieve goal
Make the process desirable to you
The biggest step individuals miss that stops them from completing their goals is falling in love with the process. Let’s be forward - everyone knows how to set goals and plan out how to achieve them; it’s the actual work that gets in the way.
So, how do we make the work we do addicting? Because if this were the case, we would struggle NOT to reach our goals.
The Solution: Dopamine Stacking
Before I jump in, let me provide a couple definitions:
Dopamine: The neurotransmitter released when we experience pleasurable activities.
Dopamine Stacking: Doing multiple pleasurable activities at the same time to increase or enhance the dopamine release.
Dopamine stacking associates pleasurable activities with focused work, resulting in a craving for it.
Work often results in delayed gratification, meaning the reward is not immediate. Dopamine stacking works by pairing work with small, immediate rewards to develop small cravings towards the work we do.
Since work will not give us the immediate gratification, we implement the activities that do into our workflow in a non-distracting way.
Identify low-distraction, immediate gratification activities. For me, this includes:
Music with minimal vocals - Music beats and rhythms release small amounts of pleasure. Minimal vocals limits distraction. The curated playlist that I built is linked at the bottom.
Sweet snack or drink - Sugar consumption releases dopamine. I make sure to only consume after I accomplish a task to enhance the reward system
Gum or mints - This keeps the mouth engaged, provided stimulus and flavor.
Standing at my desk - Small movements like swaying or shifting weight keeps energy up and body + mind engaged
Checklist - Checking off a completed activity releases dopamine, reinforcing accomplishment pleasure. The more stimulus around the checking off, the better (visual color change, audible click sound, tactile vibration)
Additional activities may include:
Using a fidget tool
Aesthetic work-station (visual appeal)
Work progress bar
Aromatherapy (essential oils)
A couple rules before engaging in dopamine stacking:
If you practice these activities outside of work, they will have a lesser effect during work. This is because the activity is normalized and fulfilling your craving will not be solely associated with work.
Everything in moderation - the point of dopamine stacking is to crave the work, not the immediate gratification surrounding it. Over-indulging in instant gratification will cause the brain to crave the rewards instead of the work itself.
Reinforcing deep, focused work is good, but reinforcing the successes, victories, and accomplishments (minor to major) because of this work is best. Resist the cravings to indulge until you have accomplished something.
The dopamine system in your brain wants to reward things that are good for you. Through dopamine stacking implementation, you are directing this system, providing the necessary cues to tell your brain what is good. Without this direction, our brain is highly susceptible to the high-distraction environment we all live in.
Call to Action:
The next time you work on something important, implement one immediate gratification activity that you don’t normally engage in. Practice this each time you participate in this work and analyze the effects.
Moving forward, participate in this activity every time you do deep work.
Bonus: Limit immediate gratification activities outside of work
Snacking
Listening to music 24/7
Chewing gum
Etc
This will maximize the effect of dopamine stacking during focused work time.
Much Love,
Spencer A.
Curated Spotify Playlist
