Book 182 - A Year of Magical Learning (1 of 2)

Reflection Title: Who’s at the wheel, you or Dopamine?

Book – The Molecule of More: How a Single Chemical in Your Brain Drives Love, Sex, Creativity – and will determine the fate of the human race. (Part 1 of 2)

Book Description: Why are we obsessed with the things we want and bored when we get them? Why is addiction “perfectly logical” to an addict? Why does love change so quickly from passion to disinterest? Why are some people diehard liberals and others hardcore conservatives? Why are we always hopeful for solutions even in the darkest times - and so good at figuring them out?

The answer is found in a single chemical in your brain: dopamine. Dopamine ensured the survival of early man. Thousands of years later, it is the source of our most basic behaviors and cultural ideas - and progress itself.

Dopamine is the chemical of desire that always asks for more - more stuff, more stimulation, and more surprises. In pursuit of these things, it is undeterred by emotion, fear, or morality. Dopamine is the source of our every urge, that little bit of biology that makes an ambitious business professional sacrifice everything in pursuit of success, or that drives a satisfied spouse to risk it all for the thrill of someone new. Simply put, it is why we seek and succeed; it is why we discover and prosper. Yet, at the same time, it’s why we gamble and squander.

Reflection:

Wow, this one got me thinking…a lot! I loved it!

When one of your core values that brings you so much joy is to “learn something new every day”, there really is no better feeling than finding a book like The Molecule of More! Seemingly every word, every chapter, and the whole book were filled with new concepts and ideas for me to consume. I was in “learn something new every day” heaven with this book and loved every minute of it. While all the books I read satisfy my need for more learning on some level, certain books like this are really what I live for and crave.

As I learned, this feeling of excitement and energy that I had while reading this book has something to with a little chemical in my brain called Dopamine. It’s ironic that a book about Dopamine, triggered so much actual Dopamine for me while reading it. I wanted more and more as I was learning so many new things. I was honestly really sad when it ended.

But, now I get to keep the parting going by accessing another value of mine and writing out my thoughts here to share with the world…I’m feeling a multi-part reflection coming on strong. I’ve got to get this all out of my system.

Let’s do this!

I think I finally discovered why values are so addictive!

To explain this idea, I need to explain quickly what is Dopamine, per the explanation in the book. Dopamine is the spark that ignites our human superpowers. Dopamine is a chemical in your brain that not only unlocks your creativity, imagination, and allows you to dream about what is possible in the future; Dopamine also is motivational control in the present to make that dream a reality. In short, Dopamine is incredibly powerful and can take you to heights unknown of personal fulfillment if leveraged correctly.

Let me give you an example of the power of Dopamine – Let’s say you dream of one day winning an Olympic Gold Medal in the 100 Meter Freestyle. The dream and goal for the future is Dopamine at work. The author calls this form of future imagination Desire Dopamine. Working every single day on that dream and putting in the time in the pool, gym, and whatever else you decide to do to achieve your goal is also Dopamine at work. The author calls this form of Dopamine in the here and now, Control Dopamine.

With me?

Okay…well here is the inherent problem with the above scenario, Dopamine was always in control of your actions from start to finish. Dopamine drove the future dream and the present actions. It is great to dream, and it is even better to find a way to focus all of your energy on that dream in the present. While that athlete is training for this dream of an Olympic medal, that period of their life will most likely be the happiest they will ever remember when the look back on it. Each day will be filled with joy, progress, accomplishment, and desire to bring their vision into reality. Let’s say they accomplish that goal and win the gold medal.

Then what? So the athlete seemingly accomplished “their” dream. They won that medal. The immediate question then becomes, what do you do the next day? The day after that? Do they pick a new dream, and then do it all over again? Most likely, they will realize, like all of us do, that the journey was really the fun part and that no one really cares that you won a gold medal (even yourself). This reminds me of hearing Andre Agassi detail in his book Open about how lonely and broken he felt when he finally won his first major title and got the world number 1 ranking. He said he found himself walking around the streets at night feeling hollow and useless and wondering what this was all about and why he still didn’t feel fulfilled. This moment began Andre’s downward decline and it didn’t end until he took back control of the wheel many years later after hitting rock bottom.

That is the inherent problem with Dopamine. It can take you to highs you never dreamed, it can sustain you in the present, it can drive you, motivate you, but it can’t tell you where to go. Dopamine won’t make you happy in the long run, that isn’t its job. That is still your job and if you don’t control it…it will control you.

Enter values to the rescue. Values are the perfect way to harness Dopamine and take back control of this magical chemical that lives in our minds. Values are the perfect answer to how to masterfully guide a lifetime of fulfillment while still harnessing all the power of both Desire and Control Dopamine. It solves the desire need of imagination and dreaming into the future by being just abstract enough that you can still engage your creativity on what a world will look like if you live your values. Values also solves the control dopamine dilemma in the here and now by still being concrete enough to easily provide direction on activities that you can do that will always bring you joy and have an infinite number of ways they can be expressed.

IE – me “learning something new everyday”. I will always find joy and a little Dopamine hit from this in the here and now. It will never get old. I can also imagine where the compound effect of doing this every day will take me as the years go by. Hell, this Year of Magical Learning is one of those dreams. It isn’t the goal though, which is the big difference.

When this Year of Magical Learning journey is over, I’ll still be learning every day and I’ll find a new project to work toward. I’m not worried about that at all. With values at the wheel, sustainability is possible. With values, you aren’t just limited to one singular goal, activity, or dream. With values, sustainability is possible because the applications are only limited to your imagination.

So, steal back control of the wheel and put your dopamine to work for you versus against you with your values guiding the journey!

Question: Are you guiding your dopamine or is your dopamine guiding you?

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Links:

What is The Year of Magical Learning? An Introduction

YOML Podcast Discussion - Coming Soon

YOML Bookstore - The Molecule of More: How a Single Chemical in Your Brain Drives Love, Sex, Creativity – and will determine the fate of the human race.