The Science of Motivation: How To Stay Driven

0:07Welcome to today's episode of the Mindset Mentor podcast. I'm your host, Rob Dial. If you haven't yet done so, hit that subscribe button so you never miss another podcast episode. I put out episodes four times a week to help you understand yourself so that you can learn about yourself, you can grow and create the life that you want to. So if that interests you, hit that subscribe button so you can keep on listening. Today, I'm gonna talk about the science of motivation and how to actually stay driven to achieve your goals. And when you think about motivation, motivation's a really interesting thing.

0:37I get messages all the time from people all day on Instagram that say like, hey, I want to do this thing, but I'm not doing it. How do I get motivated? How do I stay motivated? Why do I always start towards something and then give up? And so motivation is an interesting thing because basically what people are saying is I want something. I want to do something, but I'm not doing it. Can you help me get myself to do it? And so I've done a ton of research for today to help you understand motivation, what it is, and actually the science behind it. And so when you look at motivation, motivation is basically this, the best definition that I came up with.

1:16It is the internal and external forces that initiate, guide, and sustain goal-orientated behavior. And basically, it encompasses the desires and the reasons behind actions, driving individuals to pursue their goals and fulfill their needs. And it includes intrinsic motivation, which we'll talk about today. And intrinsic motivation arises from personal satisfaction and internal rewards, while extrinsic motivation is driven by external rewards and recognition. And so when you look at it, motivation is basically somebody saying, I need to do something. I want to do something. I'm not doing it. How do I get myself to do it?

1:58And I always say that if you're sitting around like hoping that motivation is going to come in, you're done. You can't just sit around and wait for motivation. You've got to go out and actually create motivation. You've got to understand how to get yourself moving. And so motivation can be categorized, as I mentioned, into two different types of motivation. It's intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation is inside of you. So it is driven by internal rewards and personal satisfaction and enjoying something and fun or what it's going to make you feel. And so like imagine a painter who just is in love with their art and they don't do it for money.

2:42They don't do it for fame. They do it just for the sheer joy of creating. That would be an example of intrinsic motivation. It's the kind of motivation that is self-sustaining and it's really just deeply fulfilling to you. If you are motivated to do something for no other reason than for yourself and how it makes you feel, that is one of the strongest forms of motivation, if not the strongest motivation, is doing it for yourself and what it makes you feel. So intrinsic is extremely important. Now there's also extrinsic motivation. And that's really fueled by all of the external factors. That could be rewards.

3:23That can be achievements. That can be recognition. That could be money. It could be fame. It could be being able to buy stuff. And it's really important to understand the real way that extrinsic motivation works. So like, for instance, like an employee who works overtime to secure a bonus. That would be an example of extrinsic motivation. or a student who studies really hard to avoid failing an exam. And so while extrinsic motivation can be really powerful, especially for tasks and all that stuff, sometimes it's not really enjoyable, which as I go through today, you're going to realize the enjoying of something is actually one of the most important parts.

4:09And so if we're always searching for external motivation and external extrinsic motivation, it could really lead to like a reliance on always searching for that thing. And another thing that's important is with internal and external motivation is the avoidance of negative consequences. So there's like, yeah, I want to make myself feel good. Yeah, I want to go after this prize. Yeah, I want to go after money. Those are all kind of feel good things. There's also negative consequences and to avoid the negative consequences. So a few weeks ago, I gave an example of one of the employees that we have here.

4:49His friend, not really his friend, but someone that he knew when he was in college, he ended up hearing this story about him where he had a gambling problem and he was$40 ,000 in debt to a bookie. And this isn't like the type of person that's like, hey, you owe me money. Can you please give me my money? It was to the point where they were like, hey, you've got to the end of this month. and if you don't pay us, we're going to end it. You're no longer going to exist anymore. So he knew if he didn't pay these people back, there's a good chance that he would be killed. And so he went from being a lazy guy to doing every single thing that he could to get that$40 ,000.

5:29He would go to junkyards and he would pull pieces of cars off and he would sell them on eBay and he would fix cars and he did everything he could and just worked his ass off for 30 days and he was able to make that$40 ,000. And this guy only makes like$50 ,000 a year and he made$40 ,000 in a month. He was motivated not by, oh, this is gonna make me feel good or oh, I'm gonna get a prize. It was negative consequences as well. So there's intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, but there's also positive and negative consequences that can motivate us when we look at this as well. And so all of these are very important to start to think about.

6:05How can I build up my motivation when we look at it. And so when you look at it, what you want to do is you want to find your internal and external motivators for the goal that you're working towards. And the most important one, I'm going to tell you this, is the internal, the intrinsic motivation. You've probably heard people say before, but you have to have a why. You know, my very first coach used to always say, if your why is strong enough, your how will reveal itself. If you know why you're going for something, you'll figure out how. And most people ask me why they start something and they don't follow through.

6:41Like, oh, I start this goal. I start this New Year's resolution and I don't follow through. Why don't I follow through? And most of the time, the thing that's really the truth is you just don't care enough. And it doesn't mean that you can't get yourself to care enough. It doesn't mean that the thing, the reasons to care are not there. It's just that you're not concentrating. It's that, uh, it's not that they're not there. It's that you haven't identified that motivation that you're the thing that you want out of it. The why, why you're working towards that thing. And it's the reason why people who, who work out, like, if you look at it and people who work out and they're going towards, Oh, you know, I'm going to try to lose weight over the next, um, year for my New Year's resolution.

7:2145 % of people give up within the first month, not because it doesn't mean something to them, probably because they haven't identified the reason why, the why behind all of it. And so what it's about is to find the internal and the external motivations that you're really working towards. You know, it's interesting because if you look at it, they're both important, but the most important one, like I said, is the intrinsic motivation. There was a study that was done that found that people who work out just for weight loss work out 32 % less than people who say that they work out to feel good and for themselves.

7:59So weight loss can be important. That is an extrinsic thing. That's something outside of you and actually on your physical body. But people who say they work out for intrinsic, which is to feel good and to feel good about themselves and doing it for themselves, work out 32 % longer than people who work out just for weight loss. And so it's important to have the internal and the external. So whenever you're looking at your goal, ask yourself, what is my intrinsic motivators for this? What's my why? Why do I want to do this? Why is this important to me? And then also your external. What am I going to achieve by?

8:31Am I going to get money from this? Am I going to get fame from this? Am I going to look really good in a bikini? And that's the reason why I'm going for it. So you have to really figure that out for yourself. Now, the interesting thing about motivation is it is a psychological construct, but it's not just a psychological construct. It is also a whole lot of neurological processes that are involved in getting yourself to do something. And if you've been listening to my podcast for a while, I've spoken about this. I wrote an entire chapter in my book. The book's called Level Up, if you want to get it.

9:06But there's an entire chapter, it's chapter 12, on the dopamine reward system. The most important molecule in your brain for motivation is something called dopamine. It's often referred to as the motivation molecule. And so it plays a really critical role in our brain's reward system, which either reinforces behaviors to continue to keep doing something or it doesn't. And so, you know, I've done episodes in the past in it. I've done, you know, it's an entire chapter in my book, but really what it comes down to is we're all addicted to dopamine. And when you look at it, what is dopamine? Most people think when they think of dopamine, they think it's like a feel good chemical in your brain.

9:43But dopamine, you know, they usually put like dopamine and serotonin together in the same sentence. Serotonin is really a chemical of here and now of gratitude, of grateful for what you have. But dopamine is the chemical of motivation, is the chemical of more. Dopamine is a very external chemical. And so when you look at the most addictive drugs in the world. There are very high dopamine drugs, cocaine, very high dopamine drugs. And so dopamine is the chemical of more. And you can't get your brain to stop releasing it. It's always being released at different times, depending on what it is that you enjoy.

10:21But it's the chemical that's released when you get excited about something, or if you're celebrating it, or if you're enjoying something. And so when you look at that people who are like the highest achievers in the world. If you look at like the greatest CEOs that have existed, one of the reasons why they're so successful is sure, I'm sure they're smart people and they're analytical, but a lot of times they just enjoy doing what they do. And because they enjoy it so much, they work way more than the average person. And so one of the secrets that I've always heard is to find something that looks like work to everybody else, but feels like play to you.

10:57And so if you're trying to find something that you can do, some new passions, something that you can work towards, find something that looks like work to other people, but feels like play to you. So some of the greatest CEOs will work their asses off just simply because they love it. When you look at like Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant, they were addicted to the process of becoming better. And they were both known as like, you know, hard work, dedication, and just obsession. And what it came down to is that obsession, I would venture to say, came from the fact that they fell in love with the process of getting better.

11:32They fell in love with the fact that they were working out in the gym at four o 'clock in the morning when they knew their competition was not. And so it was that internal dopamine of like, I'm working out when nobody else is, and this is going to make me better. That thought alone makes it more of a dopamine reward system, which is dopamine is getting released to this reward system, which means I'm going to keep going and doing this thing versus instead of me getting dopamine from, man, I haven't looked at Instagram today. I haven't looked at Twitter today. I'm going to pull up my phone and I'm going to look at all of these things.

12:06And we get dopamine from looking at that instead of attaching our dopamine to something that we don't want. Why don't we attach to something that we do want, which is the process, which is the action that needs to be taken in order to do what we need to do. and so you know i'm sure like kobe bryan and michael jordan some of the greatest ceos didn't know that they were creating a dopamine reward system but they were and they have attached dopamine and falling in love with the process and when you fall in love with the process the end result automatically comes which is it wasn't that they were working towards a championship it was that they were working towards being the best that they could be and when they showed up every single morning, it was just another step towards being the best that they can be.

12:47And, you know, most people give up on goals, not because they don't want to hit the goals, but simply because they're just not enjoying the journey of hitting the goals. There's been studies on this that find out that people want to hit a goal, but they still give up on it. And it's not because they don't want to, you know, it's not because they don't want to lose the weight. It's not because they don't want to make money. It's not because they don't want to look better. It's not because they don't want to be successful. It's because they're actually not enjoying the journey. And so then we go, how do I make myself enjoy the journey?

13:16A dopamine reward system. And so it's a way to get your brain to release some dopamine after you accomplish a task that is a part of your process. So in the context of like a dopamine reward system, dopamine is released in response to a rewarding or pleasurable stimuli. It is completely subjective, which means that if you wanted to right now, you could put on your favorite song, you could blast it, you could dance, you can make yourself smile and laugh, and you could make yourself feel good in this moment, and your brain would release dopamine, which means it is subjective. I can get myself to release it whenever I want to.

13:54And so what happens with the dopamine reward system is the release of dopamine in your brain signals to your brain that the behavior that led to that reward of dopamine being released should be repeated in the future. I'm going to say it again. So this is a very important part. This is actually from one of the psychological studies I found. The release of dopamine signals to the brain that the behavior that led to the reward should be repeated in the future. The behavior should be repeated in the future. Most people go to the gym and instead of celebrating themselves for going to the gym and being like, man, I'm so proud of you.

14:29Great job. You know, you're doing good. You're showing up for yourself. They beat themselves up instead. oh, you should have gone longer. You were only there for 45 minutes. You said you were going to go for an hour where they look at themselves in the mirror and they're like, you're still fat. You still don't look as good as everybody else did. And so instead of your brain saying, Hey, this is a positive thing to go to the gym. Your brain is subconsciously saying, I'm going to beat myself up every time I go to the gym, because then I start to shame myself and I start to guilt myself. And so I don't want to go back to the gym.

14:56And so we're actually unconsciously programming ourselves to not want to go do that thing again, because we beat ourselves up and We shame ourselves and we guilt ourselves and I should have gone longer and I'm still fat. Don't have the muscle that I want to versus saying, hey, I'm proud of you. You're doing a great job. I've been putting on your favorite song and making yourself release the dopamine. And this is because the dopamine reinforces the neural connections that were involved in the behavior, making it more likely that the behavior will be repeated in the future. So we got to remember to fall in love with the process and to not base all of our actions based off of the way I look right now, where I am right now, but more of the, I'm on the journey to becoming better.

15:39So another thing I write about inside of my book is the problem with most of our goals is most of our goals are results-based goals, which is fine. We can have results-based goals. But if I say my result that I'm looking for and the goal I'm trying to shoot for is to lose 50 pounds. Well, that means I won't, if that's the only time I hit the goal, I might not hit the goal for a year, two years from now. And so that's not going to get me addicted to the process to enjoy the process. I don't release dopamine until I achieve the goal. That could be years down the road. So that's not motivating you when you're just only happy when you get there.

16:16And so it's with, with dopamine being the chemical of wanting more, and what I need to do is I need to figure out what, yeah, what results I do want to get to, but then what are the daily actions that I need to take every single day that are a part of the process and I can celebrate myself in the process. And this is why daily action-based goals. So there's results-based goals, which are important. Where do you want to be in the future? But there's action-based goals. What are the actions that I need to take in order to get to that result? And then what I do is when I take that action, whatever that action is, it could be reading, It could be working out.

16:48It could be going for a run. It could be preparing for an exam. You celebrate yourself immediately while doing the behavior that you need to be doing, the action that you need to be doing in order to get the result later on down the road. And if you celebrate yourself immediately, your brain is going to release dopamine. It's going to reinforce to your brain that that behavior is positive and you need to do it again, which makes you more likely to do it again. It's not about the achievement of the goals. It's about falling in love with the journey, enjoying the journey, finding a way for you to enjoy the journey and to make sure that you, you know, the results-based goals are great.

17:26You definitely want to hit the result, but you can forget about the result once you figure out the actions that you need to take and then how you're going to celebrate yourself and how you're going to keep working towards that thing. Because ultimately this is what it comes down to is, is how do I stay motivated? Well, I've got to fall in love with the journey. I've got to get my brain in a way, there's not really a better way of saying this. I got to kind of get my brain addicted to the process, the actions that I need to take in order to end up at the result. And so really what it comes down to is how can I get myself there?

17:56How can I find my why that is so strong for me? How can I find my intrinsic motivation? How can I find my extrinsic motivation? And how can I use the dopamine reward system to take the actions that I need to take every single day to fall in love with the process so that eventually as time passes, I will get myself to that result that I'm searching for. So that's what I got for you for today's episode. If you love this episode, please share it on Instagram stories, tag me at RobDialJr, R-O-B-D-I-A-L-J-R. And also, if you love this podcast, you probably are going to love something that I have coming out called Mindset Mentor Plus.

18:32Basically what it's going to be is it is a way to take all of these podcast episodes, each episode that comes out and integrate them into your life. Every single podcast that comes out, it's going to have a worksheet, detailed worksheet. So you can sit there with your morning coffee. You can listen to the podcast and you can go through the worksheet. You can underline, you can highlight, you can make notes. There's going to be journal prompts so you can journal through and figure out how this works in your life. And there's going to be action based steps that you need to take and assignments in order to use it in your life as well.

19:03There's going to be Q &A sessions with me. There's going to be an entire community of people you can connect with. There's going to be a ton of other bonuses. And it's a lot less than some of you guys are spending on coffee every single month. If you're interested in learning more about it, you can go to mindsetwaitlist.com. The first people who join are going to get a discount. So people who are on the waitlist, we're going to send an email out to you first before we announce it on social media or this podcast. So if you want to learn more, once again, just go to mindsetwaitlist.com and I'll be announcing it soon.

19:32And with that, I'm leaving the same way I leave you every single episode, make it your mission to make somebody else's day better. I appreciate you and I hope that you have an amazing day.