How To Reprogram Your Dopamine To Crave Hard Work

Rewire your brain like THIS to make hard work feel easy.

ABOUT ME

Rian Doris is the Co-Founder & CEO of Flow Research Collective, the world’s leading peak performance research and training institute focused on decoding the neuroscience of flow states and helping leaders and their teams unlock flow states consistently. Clients include Accenture, Audi, Facebook, Bain & the US Airforce.

Along with being listed on Forbes 30 Under 30 Rian's thought leadership has been featured in Fast Company, PBS and Big Think and he hosts Flow Research Collective Radio, an iTunes top 10 science podcast.

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Rian holds a degree in Philosophy, Politics & Economics (PPE) from Trinity College Dublin, an MSc in Neuroscience at King's College, London and an MBA. Rian is currently pursuing a PhD at the University of Birmingham—focusing on how flow states affect perceived meaning in life.
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Prior to co-founding Flow Research Collective with Steven Kotler, Rian worked with NYT Bestselling Author Keith Ferazzi, and 12X NYT Bestselling Author Dr. Dan Siegel, distinguished fellow of the American Psychiatric Association.

[riandoris]

Rían here. Thanks for watching! If you're done with mindless scrolling and endless distractions, this video was for you. Turns out you can rewire your brain for laser focus and effortless productivity. The key? Mastering your dopamine system.

With the science-backed techniques in this PDF, you can reprogram your dopamine to consistently exceed a month’s worth of work in less than a day.

[erickye]

Taking boring breaks is probably the best piece of advice I have ever heard. Thank you for this video

[nivk]

1) Take boring breaks. Do NOT do things in your break time that give you MORE dopamine than the tasks you do after your break time.
2) Take control of "In-Between" moments(Waiting for your order, Walking to a bus stop, Standing in line, etc...!) in your daily life where you take out your phone for a quick dopamine hit and replace it with something boring.
3) Do things ONE thing at a time. When you are eating, eat. When you are working, work. Stop multitasking and put full focus on 1 thing whatever it is.

[beeri]

Great… Now I’m addicted to staring at walls

[sweatysharkagar]

Shoutout to this guy for telling me how to un cook myself and lock in on command

[ABC-jqve]

I was doing the complete opposite with the pomodoro method. I would force myself to grind through 25 painful minutes of boring work, then “reward” myself with 5 minutes of glory on my phone!! I was training myself to love resting and hate working. And the rest of the world thinks like this too!! I am shook.

[nakitanash]

At some point you start realizing the dopamine isn't even that great and chasing it is exhausting.
Now staring at a wall feels like a vacation from the futile chase!

[taylorwolfram]

this actually makes so much sense. having your brain go through boring moments changes what you find boring... less dopamine normality, easier it is to control what gives you dopamine

[shubhamchakraborty]

An accidental discovery. But a life changing one. No bullsh*t, just straight science backed talk
Thank you so much, Rian

[gotsnw]

This…this feels like a cheat code…like a superpower!

I cannot believe it took 8 months for me to find this—thank you!!

[JessieJussMessy]

THIS IS IT!!! THIS. IS. IT!! THIS IS THE VIDEO I'VE BEEN LOOKING FOR!! THIS IS LITERALLY EXACTLY WHAT I'VE NEEDED FOR MONTHS! THANK YOUUU

Edit: 10 months later, yes it still works. I go through phases where I need to reapply these principles more frequently according to my needs, and phases where I find it unnecessary for what I've got going on. DYOR

[CrimsonJellyfish-pwwe]

When you said to take boring breaks i had a blossom of relization in my brain i 100% think this is the best advice for things to be less boring

[tmnixis]

I love. The way you formatted this video to reach those that crave the dopamine to watch through the whole video to make sure that we receive the message you were trying to communicate.

[TrashMaster-rhsv]

Thanks, I basically tried a version of this today, locked myself out of Instagram, Facebook, and messenger. Threw my phone away during work and my focus is back where it should be. Now going to challenge myself to keep doing this for 30 days straight

[michellelyons]

This is brilliant. I feel like I finally understand why it's so difficult to achieve discipline simply by 'just doing the thing'. I always thought a flow state is something you'd get into AFTER you become disciplined, but based on what you've said it seems discipline is the result of cultivating the flow state FIRST.

[foreverloving]

The task is so boring I enjoyed staring at the wall more than doing the task help! 😭

[Hja]

From having been listening while I was showering, then started preparing a meal, I forced myself to sit and watch the video's last third and not do anything else. YES. I need this. Thank you.

[cibisounder]

Love the content Rian. Perfect balance between science and application.

Summary:

Power of Dopamine:
- Dopamine is the neurotransmitter that makes you want to do more
- Master your dopamine to master focus
- Cheap dopamine desensitizes your dopamine receptors (tiktok, tv, games, junk food, etc)
- Re-sensitize your dopamine receptors to make boring work interesting

How to Re-sensitize Dopamine Receptors:
- Take boring breaks (walk, stretch, wall stare - don't tiktok, watch tv, use phone - avoid breaks that give you more dopamine than the task)
- Inhabit the in between (silent walks, observe breath when waiting, etc - don't use phone)
- Do everything one at a time, don't multi-task

[JohnMahony]

This is one of the highest value-per-minute videos I've ever come across. Essential viewing !!

[randomRyze]

This video is what I’ve needed for so long. I’ve accidentally “discovered” all 3 of these methods on my own, and have witnessed their benefit… but never actively applied them… until now. This is huge.