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Leverage Dopamine to Overcome Procrastination & Optimize Effort

Huberman Lab

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How queues and dopamine levels affect our pursuit of goals

Our brain processes queues and signals that determine the likelihood of a reward. These queues, both conscious and subconscious, adjust our baseline level of dopamine as we pursue our goals. The dopamine system takes into account all the events that happen between wanting and getting, serving as cues for the eventual reward. It also learns the contingencies of what led up to a reward or what didn't, through reward contingent learning. In parallel, there is an ongoing release of dopamine that acts as a propeller driving our motivation. The brain compares what we wanted to what we got, and this comparison, along with the motivation signal initiated by dopamine, guides us throughout our pursuit. The entire process results in a learning experience, where the brain learns the contingencies between stimuli, desires, and rewards.

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