Managing Dopamine Peaks to Increase Performance
When it comes to increasing performance in any activity, motivation and drive play a key role in performance. Dopamine is the primary neurochemical responsible for motivation and drive, meaning it plays a key role in performance. Better dopamine management increases performance by using Random Intermittent Reward Timing, avoiding layering dopamine sources, spotlighting, and with targeted and timely self talk.
Dopamine Peaks: The Effect on Performance
Dopamine has a powerful effect on motivation and performance. Dopamine is the neurochemical that drives people to pursue anything including food, shelter, and goals. In society today, managing our dopamine peaks has become an incredibly important consideration to those who wish to become the best version of themselves.
Dopamine peaks can be powerfully spiked by food, substances, or exciting behaviors. These extreme peaks can lead to decreased motivation and performance over time. Learning how to use dopamine to provide consistent motivation can lead to a significant increase in performance. It will also give you a powerful sense of vividness and happiness in your life.
How to Manage Dopamine Peaks for Performance
Use Random Intermittent Reward Timing (RIRT) to Create Lasting Motivation
RIRT is a very powerful tool for staying motivated and increasing your performance. It works 100% of the time and is commonly seen in casinos and video games as a way of keeping people engaged and continuing to pull the lever on the slot machine. The idea is to celebrate small victories, but do not celebrate every small victory. Each time you succeed, you want to randomly select whether or not you celebrate. (Look for small progressive wins and you can flip a coin or decide in the spur of the moment) This creates an unexpected reward, the unexpected part being the best way to spike dopamine and increase your willingness to pursue the task.
The best way to manage dopamine for performance is to associate victories with the effort process itself. Finding reward in the effort process will make things easier and more pleasurable. Removing the peaks and troughs of external rewards allows us to feel vivid and lucid during the process and you will achieve all the external rewards regardless.
Avoid Layering Dopamine Sources to Develop Performance
The simplest example to use here is exercise. Many will layer multiple sources of dopamine (pre-workout, music, social connections, caffeine, and nootropics also known as “smart drugs”, ect) to increase motivation and focus. Stacking these dopamine sources can produce powerful results the first couple of times of use, but over time, people will begin to rely on these sources of dopamine to even begin their workout.
Over time, this undermines our drive and long-term motivation to continue working out. Instead of using all of these dopamine sources consistently, try exercising with only music, only caffeine, or only your best workout buddy. This will ensure that the act of exercising will continue to be rewarding and exciting.
Spotlighting for Optimal Focus
Spotlighting teams up with our visual system as a way to release dopamine in a healthier, performance-driving way. The idea here is to physically focus your attention on a specific point or “target”.
Think of a biker in the Tour de France who focuses on the shorts of the biker in front of them until they pass that biker. They can then re-focus onto the next pair of shorts to provide extreme focus.
When you physically focus on a specific target, it begins a cascade of the healthy release of neurochemicals like dopamine and epinephrine and helps people have clear focus and increase their performance.
Self-Talk as a Performance Enhancer
The brain is not familiar with external rewards - it can only be released through internally driven associations. The prefrontal cortex, which is known as the executive control center of the brain, provides subjective, overriding control for motivation levels. This offers humans the opportunity to stimulate dopamine release simply by believing that they are pursuing their goals and the activity they are currently doing is in service of that goal. Obviously, you must be truthful to yourself and believe what is happening is truly in service of your goals.
As you progress toward your milestones, remember to note it and remind yourself that it is good and important. Many people underestimate the level to which they can influence their dopamine system and increase their performance through this simple act.
Supplement to Microspike Dopamine.
There are a number of supplements that can spike dopamine levels in reasonable and healthy amounts that do not cause the same problems as prescription or illicit drugs. You should consult your physician to help understand the proper use and dosing for your situation.
These include:
L-Tyrosine (See our increasing baseline dopamine post)
Alpha-GPC (Increases focus)
Mucuna pruriens
Probiotics
There are more powerful prescription drugs like Ritalin and Adderall that can support those with ADHD. These are MD-prescribed and should only be used when properly prescribed. People without ADHD should avoid these drugs as they can lead to dependency.
Dopamine Coaching as a performance enhancer
When it comes to managing dopamine peaks for performance, Mito Coaching is the gold standard of dopamine coaching. Our highly trained professional coaches use a proven process to coach clients through their vision, goals, and pathways to achieve them. Our dopamine coaches are skilled, reliable, and know what it takes to increase performance in life, work, or sport. Working from personal experience, leading knowledge, and professional training, Mito Coaching is ready to empower you to be the powerhouse of your life.
