Chasing Dopamine: The Relationship Between Pleasure and Pain

The struggle in our brain between wanting to do something and actually doing it is real. 

Something I've been practicing is the "it'll take 10 minutes" rule. When I often find myself putting off things that I want to do or need to get done, I remind myself that sometimes those things will only take 10 minutes max. 

Unloading the dishwasher, folding some towels, texting that person back, sending that email, cleaning up dog poop outside, prepping some sweet potatoes, etc. 

By reminding my dopamine deficient brain that a lot of things don't require as much time and energy as it thinks it will and then actually doing that thing to prove it to the brain, I start to re-wire that pattern and release some dopamine. This makes it more likely to build consistently healthier habits.

Avoidance is a common, but powerful behavior that can quickly become an undesired habit if gone unchecked. 

One of the reasons we tend to avoid doing things is to minimize discomfort. Our brains don't like pain, either real or perceived, so out of its primitive survival tendencies, the brain will go to great lengths to avoid it.

When we avoid something that our brain views as painful or uncomfortable, it starts to build an association between avoidance and feeling better (less tension, stress, or discomfort.) The issue is this so called relief is temporary and the thing that needs to get done doesn't go away. The brain will engage in more and more avoidance in effort to experience more pleasure, or less pain. And this is how we find ourselves feeling "stuck.'

 Here's one thing to try that builds off of the "10 minute rule" - write down 3-5 tasks that will take no more than 10 minutes to do on a post it note or a piece of paper, and once you accomplish each one or even a few, cross it off the list. 

Crossing it off the list and seeing it crossed off feels good and continues to prove to the brain that real pleasure isn't found in avoidance, but in accomplishment.