Goals Toolkit: How to Set & Achieve Your Goals | Huberman Lab Podcast

Andrew Huberman2023-08-28

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💫 Short Summary

The video discusses goal setting and achievement, emphasizing the importance of specificity, measureability, and intrinsic motivation. It explores the brain's neural circuitry for goal pursuit, debunking common myths and providing strategies for success. Visual focus and intermittent reinforcement techniques are highlighted for maintaining motivation. The role of dopamine in goal attainment and the significance of self-reward are also discussed. Strategies to overcome motivational challenges, optimize productivity, and align goal pursuit with circadian rhythms are addressed. Flexibility, protocol adherence, and personal well-being are key factors in achieving goals effectively.

✨ Highlights

📊 Transcript

✦

Discussion on goal setting and achievement, incorporating information from previous episodes and new scientific literature.

00:44

Topics include selecting goals, measuring progress, initiating and sustaining motivation, and dispelling myths about goal setting.

Protocols discussed aim to help listeners set and achieve their goals effectively.

Host emphasizes the scientific basis of the information provided and its effectiveness in goal pursuit.

Effort to provide science-based tools to the general public, separate from the host's roles at Stanford.

✦

Importance of maintaining optimal sleep temperature for quality rest and deep sleep.

03:03

Core body temperature needs to drop by 1 to 3 degrees for deep sleep and increase upon waking.

Eight Sleep offers smart mattress covers to customize sleep environment temperature for improved sleep quality.

Maui Nei venison provides nutrient-dense protein sources with various options like ground meats, steaks, jerky, and bone broth.

Ground venison burgers and jerky offer convenient, high-quality protein intake, suitable for busy schedules.

✦

Brain's goal setting and pursuit circuitry involves four major stations: the amygdala, basal ganglia, lateral prefrontal cortex, and orbital frontal cortex.

05:31

The amygdala is responsible for arousal, fear, anxiety, and positive experiences.

The basal ganglia includes pathways for generating actions (go pathway) and withholding actions (no-go pathway).

The lateral prefrontal cortex is crucial for immediate and long-term planning.

The orbital frontal cortex handles various tasks and is essential for setting and achieving goals by orienting in space and time.

✦

Role of Orbital Frontal Cortex in Goal Pursuit

08:36

The orbital frontal cortex is crucial for evaluating emotional and arousal states in relation to goal pursuit.

Four major brain structures, including the amygdala, basal ganglia, prefrontal cortex, and orbital frontal cortex, are involved in setting and pursuing goals.

Humans and animals share the same neural circuits for achieving goals, regardless of the type of goal.

Prioritizing and focusing on one specific goal is advised to prevent failure from attempting multiple goals simultaneously.

✦

Prioritizing one goal at a time is crucial for success, despite having multiple goals.

10:49

Defining your priority based on values, motivation, and resources increases the likelihood of achieving it.

Setting a challenging goal is more effective than an easy one, as it activates the necessary brain structures for continuous pursuit.

Embracing discomfort is essential for learning and goal achievement, as it signifies growth and progress.

Errors are a natural part of the learning process and should be expected during goal pursuit.

✦

Embracing Frustration and Errors for Improved Learning.

13:39

Pushing beyond perceived limits causes frustration and anxiety, essential for neuroplasticity.

The orbital frontal cortex evaluates emotions and context, recognizing errors as part of learning.

Embracing challenges leads to neural circuit changes and enhanced learning over time.

Frustration and errors are key to progressing towards higher performance levels in the future.

✦

Neuroplasticity and goal setting for improved performance.

15:49

Deep sleep and rest are crucial for neuroplasticity to take place, enhancing performance.

Setting challenging goals activates neuroplasticity and boosts motivation.

Goals should be slightly out of reach to engage neural circuits linked to arousal.

Focusing on one specific and exciting goal at a time yields better results.

✦

Importance of defining specific verbs in goal setting.

19:00

Writing goals and actions on paper engages neural circuitry more effectively than typing on a phone.

Defining goals and actions on paper embeds knowledge in the nervous system.

Examples include setting goals for fitness, learning a language, or completing a construction project.

Writing out goals and actions is crucial for effective goal setting and achievement.

✦

Importance of Specificity and Measurability in Goal Setting Protocols

21:58

Defining priorities, setting specific actions, and measuring progress weekly are key components of achieving goals successfully.

Success probability is significantly higher when goals are clear and actions are well-defined.

Workplace study on recycling demonstrated that informing individuals of specific goals and required actions increased recycling rates.

Understanding the significance of specificity and measurability in goal pursuit is essential for achieving desired outcomes.

✦

Importance of setting specific goals with actions and time frames.

23:51

Visual reminders like Post-It notes may not be as effective in goal adherence due to visual system adaptation.

To maintain focus and motivation, it is recommended to change visual reminders daily.

App developers can enhance the effectiveness of goal-setting apps by incorporating this concept.

✦

Importance of visual reminders and goal pursuit.

27:51

Visual reminders should be updated daily to maintain effectiveness and novelty.

Debunking the myths of the 'Post-it fallacy' and 'accountability fallacy'.

Positive feedback from announcing goals can activate motivation but diminish quickly.

Accountability is beneficial but should not solely rely on external validation.

✦

The importance of keeping goals private to increase likelihood of achievement in goal pursuit.

28:38

Sharing goals with others can diminish motivation due to premature positive feedback.

The concept of a 'don't tell the world rule' suggests spending more time with defined goals increases the probability of success.

Having an 'accountability buddy' can be beneficial as long as they focus on reminding individuals of their tasks rather than creating unnecessary pressure.

✦

Importance of intrinsic motivation for sustainable motivation.

32:42

Dangers of framing efforts in proving others wrong rather than focusing on goal achievement.

Power of deriving pleasure from the process of pursuing a goal for personal satisfaction.

Benefits of a vitamin mineral probiotic drink called ag1 for foundational nutrition needs and stress management.

✦

Setting measurable goals involves defining the timeframe for pursuing the goal and the amount of time to spend each week or day.

34:51

The recommended approach, based on scientific literature, is to focus on a 12-week period for goal pursuit.

While achieving the goal may take longer, the 12-week cycle aligns with societal and cultural norms.

This cycle allows for clear definition of the hours dedicated to pursuing the goal each week and each day.

Providing a structured approach to goal setting and achievement.

✦

Effective goal setting strategies for achieving various goals.

36:44

Setting goals in 3-month cycles with defined hours per week and per day increases effectiveness.

Writing down goals with pen and paper reinforces goal setting.

Quantifying goals, such as running times, allows for breaking them down into achievable steps.

Planning goals over a year with four 3-month cycles can aid in achieving long-term objectives.

✦

Importance of setting clear and measurable goals in achieving success.

39:55

Setting clear endpoints for goals, such as earning a degree, is crucial.

Emphasizing the need to define goals in quantitative terms, even for non-quantifiable objectives like learning a language or writing poetry.

Precision in time allocation and specific actions is highlighted as crucial for making progress towards goals.

The process of achieving any goal involves measurable actions, regardless of the clarity of the end goal.

✦

Setting a daily writing routine is recommended by experienced writers for success.

42:55

Consistency is emphasized, with many writers aiming to write 800-2,000 words daily.

Writers should dedicate specific hours to writing rather than solely focusing on achieving bestseller status.

Success is more likely when writers engage in consistent word-generating actions daily.

Scientific literature suggests assessing motivation and commitment to pursue writing goals.

✦

Strategies for Goal Achievement Based on Motivation Levels.

45:15

Importance of deeply desiring and committing to a goal is emphasized.

Visualizing successful goal completion and associated positive feelings is recommended.

Spending a few minutes in visualization or meditation can help set a positive mindset.

Finding motivation to start working towards a goal requires internal drive and dedication to overcome obstacles.

✦

Visualizing failure can be more effective in motivating towards a goal than visualizing success.

48:38

Imagining the consequences of not achieving a goal activates the autonomic nervous system and triggers the release of motivation-linked chemicals.

Epinephrine, norepinephrine, and dopamine are released when visualizing failure, enhancing motivation.

Contrary to popular belief, imagining success does not produce the same neurochemical responses as actually experiencing it.

Focusing on negative outcomes of failure can be a powerful motivator for pursuing goals.

✦

Importance of motivation in driving action and achieving goals.

49:51

Motivation can be fueled by visualizing positive outcomes for highly motivated individuals.

Lack of motivation can be overcome by visualizing negative consequences to spur action.

Inside Tracker offers personalized nutrition analysis using blood and DNA data to optimize health.

Understanding blood test results and making necessary adjustments is crucial for long-term health.

✦

Tools for Staying Motivated in Training

53:44

Focus on your goal to maintain motivation and update your level of focus regularly.

Utilize tools such as behavioral techniques, meditation, and nutritional strategies to increase focus.

For more information on enhancing focus, visit hubmanlab.com and search for 'focus'.

✦

Using visual focus for motivation in learning sessions.

54:38

Emphasizes the importance of cognitive focus, bodily readiness, and mental state for maintaining motivation.

Explains the connection between visual focus and motivation, highlighting the role of the eyes as extensions of the brain.

Suggests techniques like panoramic vision and narrowing visual attention to enhance focus and motivation during goal pursuit.

Practicing these techniques can help achieve better results and manage frustration and anxiety effectively.

✦

Narrowing or relaxing visual attention can impact levels of alertness and arousal in the brain and body.

57:48

Focusing visual attention on a specific target releases neurochemicals to increase alertness.

Relaxing visual focus can decrease the release of neurochemicals.

Setting a visual target during goal pursuit can help maintain motivation and focus.

Recommended durations for focusing on a visual target are 30, 60, or 90 seconds.

✦

Importance of Visual Focus in Enhancing Performance and Productivity.

01:00:40

Concentrating on a specific point can increase systolic blood pressure and neurochemical release, leading to improved focus and motivation.

Studies have shown that individuals who maintain visual focus on a target experience improved performance and reduced effort.

Visual focus can help in completing tasks more efficiently and with less perceived effort, ultimately leading to greater productivity.

The practice of maintaining visual focus is highlighted for optimal performance and effectiveness in activities such as podcasting and social media posting.

✦

Benefits of visual target training in improving focus, motivation, and sustainability during goal pursuit.

01:02:40

Visual target training is based on neural circuitry and neurochemistry, enhancing cognitive and physical performance.

Incorporating visual target training with proper sleep, nutrition, and stress management can greatly improve learning effectiveness.

Elevating blood pressure temporarily through this training is safe and beneficial, stimulating the autonomic nervous system and motivation.

The transient increase in autonomic arousal from visual target training helps maintain motivation levels for short periods, improving performance.

✦

Tips for maintaining focus and productivity.

01:04:50

Incorporate visual target training to enhance focus.

Take breaks to relax eyes and utilize panoramic vision mode.

Turn off phone notifications and minimize distractions.

Removing unnecessary distractions can significantly enhance focus and goal pursuit.

✦

Importance of productivity apps and secret hacks for increasing productivity.

01:07:10

Turning off distractions like phones with Wi-Fi and cellular service is crucial for improving productivity.

Personal anecdote shared about removing phone distractions while working on grants in a lab.

Role of dopamine in motivation and resources for regulating dopamine levels mentioned.

Understanding dopamine's impact on goal pursuit, well-being, and depression is crucial for achieving success.

✦

Importance of dopamine in maintaining motivation and achieving goals.

01:09:24

Consistently rewarding oneself for completing tasks can diminish the potency of the reward and reduce motivation over time.

Incorporating random intermittent reinforcement, like casinos, can sustain motivation.

Varying rewards for successful milestones can maintain ongoing motivation.

Varying rewards can increase the probability of success in goal pursuit.

✦

Importance of internal self-reward for progress and goal achievement.

01:13:21

Positive self-reward impacts mental and physical health, performance, and relationships positively.

Positive self-reward reinforces motivation and progress without punishing oneself.

Emphasis on embracing positive thoughts and suppressing negative thoughts for maintaining motivation and achieving goals.

✦

Importance of setting specific goals and taking actions towards them for robust neural circuits and self-generated motivation.

01:15:57

Circuits involved in goal pursuit include the amygdala, prefrontal cortex, orbital frontal cortex, and basal ganglia.

Random intermittent reinforcement is crucial for motivation and success, whether through self-generated cognitive reinforcement or physical rewards.

Incorporating this protocol in goal pursuits can lead to long-term effectiveness and increased probability of success.

✦

The 'middle problem' in pursuing a goal is a common issue where motivation decreases in the middle stages.

01:17:57

Studies have shown that people tend to have high motivation at the start and end of pursuing a goal.

To overcome the 'middle problem,' individuals should break up their learning process into smaller, manageable chunks.

By dividing the middle phase into separate bouts and utilizing fear-based visualization or natural motivation, individuals can push through this challenging period.

Acknowledging and accepting the 'middle problem' as a natural phase can help individuals regain motivation towards the end of their goal pursuit.

✦

Strategies for Overcoming Motivational Challenges in Learning Sessions.

01:20:26

Acknowledging the middle problem in learning sessions is crucial as motivation tends to dip during this phase.

Breaking the middle section into smaller, manageable chunks can help maintain focus and motivation.

Incorporating tools like the visual target protocol can further enhance motivation and sustain effort.

This approach can be applied to longer bouts of effort, such as language learning or fitness training schedules, to overcome motivational challenges.

✦

Strategies for increasing focus and motivation during goal pursuit.

01:22:51

Breaking up tasks into smaller chunks is essential for maintaining motivation and productivity.

Being in the best state of mind and body, including factors like sleep, nutrition, and social connection, is crucial for optimal performance.

Personal circumstances can impact motivation and ability to identify priorities, highlighting the importance of overall well-being in goal achievement.

✦

Impact of circadian rhythms on focus and motivation.

01:26:13

Circadian rhythms influence peak times for attention 30 minutes, 3 hours, and 11 hours after waking up.

Changes in body temperature and release of neurochemicals like dopamine and serotonin are tied to these rhythms.

Natural fluctuations in focus and motivation occur regardless of the goal being pursued.

Understanding these patterns can help individuals optimize productivity and goal pursuit based on their unique circadian rhythms.

✦

Importance of scheduling specific times for goal pursuit.

01:28:57

Emphasizes the need to continue pursuing goals despite barriers.

Speaker shares personal experience of extending running time and adjusting schedule.

Managed to fit in a 90-minute run late at night despite a busy day.

Highlights the dedication needed for achieving goals.

✦

Importance of Protocol Flexibility in Relation to Energy and Well-being.

01:30:10

Subjective feelings of energy are influenced by how positively previous and upcoming experiences are viewed.

Completing tasks leads to a sense of accomplishment and increased energy levels, potentially involving neurochemicals like dopamine.

Setting quantifiable goals and taking action towards them is crucial for maintaining focus and attention throughout the day.

✦

Supporting the YouTube channel and podcast, leaving reviews, checking out sponsors, and accessing discussed supplements.

01:32:23

Subscribing to the zero-cost neural network newsletter with podcast summaries and protocols.

Emphasizing signing up for the newsletter and following on social media for additional science-related content.

Best wishes for setting and achieving goals, thanking viewers for their interest in science.

00:00welcome to the huberman Lab podcast

00:02where we discuss science and

00:03science-based tools for everyday

00:05[Music]

00:08life I'm Andrew huberman and I'm a

00:10professor of neurobiology and

00:12Opthalmology at Stanford school of

00:14medicine today we are talking about goal

00:16setting and achieving goals now we've

00:19done three full episodes about this

00:22topic previously I did a solo episode

00:24about this topic where I described the

00:26Neuroscience of the circuitry in the

00:29brain and body that underlies goal

00:31setting and pursuit I also hosted two

00:33expert guests who have done extensive

00:36research on these topics those guests

00:38were Dr Emily baltis from New York

00:40University and Dr MAA Shankar so today's

00:44episode is going to focus on the key

00:45takeaways from those three previous

00:48episodes as well as incorporate new

00:51information that has been published in

00:53the scientific literature since those

00:55episodes aired so that by the end of

00:57today's episode you will have a potent

00:59tool kit for setting and pursuing goals

01:03we will talk about how to select which

01:05goals to pursue and when we will talk

01:07about how to measure your progress we

01:10will talk about how to initiate and

01:12sustain motivation as you pursue your

01:15goals we are also going to dispel some

01:17prominent myths about goal setting in

01:19Pursuit given that this is a toolkit

01:21episode I will talk about some of the

01:23underlying biological mechanisms for the

01:26protocols that I describe but most of

01:28what I will cover are the protocols

01:30themselves the how to identify a goal

01:32select the best goal for you to pursue

01:35how to initiate goal Pursuit how to

01:37maintain goal Pursuit how to evaluate

01:39progress and how to do the post Hawk

01:42analysis after you achieve a goal or as

01:44the case may be not achieve a goal

01:46although I'm confident that if you

01:48implement even a subset of the protocols

01:50that we cover today that you stand the

01:52greatest possible chance of both setting

01:55the proper goal and achieving that goal

01:58and I can say that both with confidence

01:59Ence and humility because the protocols

02:02I describe were not created by me they

02:04are gleaned from the scientific

02:06peer-reviewed literature and they have

02:08been shown to work before we begin I'd

02:11like to emphasize that this podcast is

02:12separate from my teaching and research

02:14roles at Stanford it is however part of

02:16my desire and effort to bring zero cost

02:18to Consumer information about science

02:20and science related tools to the general

02:22public in keeping with that theme I'd

02:24like to thank the sponsors of today's

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04:44about goal setting and pursuit and as I

04:46mentioned a few minutes ago this is a

04:48toolkit episode so I'm not going to talk

04:50too much about the mechanistic

04:51underpinnings of the protocols for goal

04:53setting and pursuit I'm mostly just

04:55going to give you those protocols but

04:56before I do that I want to take just

04:58three minutes I promise just 3 minutes

05:00or less and describe the neural

05:02circuitry involved in goal setting and

05:05pursuit and there are two reasons to do

05:06that first of all the biology of goal

05:08setting and pursuit is absolutely

05:10beautiful it's incredible that we and

05:12many other animals in fact have this

05:14neural circuitry and that it works in

05:16the way that it does but equally

05:18important is that when we have a

05:19mechanistic understanding or framework

05:21for how a protocol or set of protocols

05:23work it makes it much easier to tweak

05:26those protocols and customize them to

05:28our unique needs okay so with that said

05:31the goal setting and pursuit circuitry

05:33essentially consists of four major

05:36stations in the brain although it's

05:37important to point out that each of

05:39those stations has a number of other

05:41connections that are important for the

05:43whole goal setting and pursuit process

05:45but we can distill things down to four

05:48major hubs or stations within the brain

05:50and those are the basil ganglia the

05:53lateral prefrontal cortex and the

05:55orbital frontal cortex so going through

05:58those one by one the amydala is a

06:00structure within the brain you actually

06:01have two of them one on each side of the

06:03brain that is involved in circuits

06:06associated with arousal in driving

06:08levels of alertness it's also involved

06:10in fear you've probably heard that many

06:11times before but also things like

06:13anxiety and actually the amydala can be

06:15involved in what we call positive

06:16veilance experiences not just the bad

06:18stuff like fear and anxiety but also

06:20positive forms of arousal and even

06:22learning the basil ganglia include a lot

06:25of different brain structures but for

06:27sake of today's discussion what you need

06:28to know is that the basil ganglia

06:30includes two major Pathways one is the

06:33so-called go pathway which is the

06:34pathway involved in generating actions

06:36and the other is the so-called no-go

06:38pathway or the pathway involved in

06:40withholding or ceasing action and this

06:43is really important to understand

06:44because with all goals we have to ask

06:47ourselves are we trying to learn how to

06:48do something new or are we trying to

06:51withhold a certain set of actions and of

06:53course any time we learn anything it's a

06:55process of both generating and

06:57withholding certain actions so we've got

07:00the amydala and we have the basil

07:01ganglia which has this go action

07:04initiating and no go action withholding

07:06circuitry within it and then there's the

07:08lateral prefrontal cortex which is

07:10involved in immediate and long-term

07:12planning and this is going to be a key

07:13component of today's discussion because

07:16we aren't going to be talking about

07:17lateral prefrontal cortex per se but we

07:19are going to be talking about time

07:21perception in the context of setting and

07:23achieving our goals because setting and

07:26achieving our goals is all about being

07:28able to orient both in space knowing

07:30where we are and what we're doing but

07:31also in time know where we are in that

07:34road of progress toward achieving our

07:36goal or crossing that finish line and

07:38repeatedly updating those Finish Lines

07:40in many cases and the fourth structure

07:43is the orbital frontal cortex which like

07:46all brain areas tends to be a

07:47multitasker it does a bunch of different

07:49things but for sake of today's

07:50discussion it's important to understand

07:52that the orbital frontal cortex is

07:54involved in evaluation of our current

07:57emotional state and arousal state

07:59as it relates to our goal Pursuit for

08:01instance are we happy because we are

08:04sensing progress or are we unhappy and

08:07feeling frustrated or sad or angry

08:09because we are feeling that we are not

08:11achieving progress or that somehow we

08:13can't get into the sorts of actions that

08:15are going to allow us to eventually

08:17reach our goals okay so I described four

08:19major structures all of which

08:20communicate with each other and of

08:22course a lot of other brain areas and

08:24those four structures were the amydala

08:25the basil ganglia the go and no-o

08:28circuitry the lateral prefrontal cortex

08:30and the orbital frontal cortex and those

08:32represent the core components of the

08:34neural circuitry involved in goal

08:36setting and pursuit now I realize I

08:39didn't time that section so I don't know

08:40whether or not it was 3 minutes or less

08:42but if it was shorter than 3 minutes

08:45great and if it was longer than 3

08:46minutes well I promise to shave a couple

08:48minutes off the end of this episode okay

08:50so now you have the understanding that

08:52we all have the same neural circuitry

08:54for goal setting and pursuit I find that

08:56amazing regardless of whether or not you

08:58want to achieve a fit Fitness goal or an

09:00academic goal or a work goal monetary

09:01goal relationship goal maybe you want to

09:03just get better at relaxing I've been

09:05told I should perhaps pursue that goal

09:08well you're going to use the same neural

09:10circuits for each and any of those I

09:13find that incredible I also find that

09:15very reassuring because what it means is

09:17that if we can focus on the tools and

09:19protocols that are anchored in the

09:22biology of goal setting and pursuit as

09:24we understand them to exist in all

09:26humans and indeed in other animals as

09:28well well then we should have the

09:30greatest possible confidence that we

09:32will in fact achieve our goals so how do

09:34we go about doing that well the first

09:36question you need to ask yourself is

09:38what goal do I want to pursue and the

09:41first protocol for deciding what goal

09:44you want to pursue is actually a quite

09:46simple one in terms of How It's stated

09:48but it's fairly complex for a lot of

09:50people to answer and that is which

09:53specific goal are you going to try and

09:55pursue because guess what folks most

09:58people who trying to achieve many goals

10:01simultaneously fail at all of them this

10:04is what I call the overhaul approach

10:06when people think okay you know in

10:08January 1 or next month or next week or

10:10perhaps even today I'm going to start

10:13exercising I'm going to start meditating

10:15I'm going to learn a language I'm going

10:16to learn to dance I'm going to do all

10:18these different things and that's just

10:20too many goals I think here is an

10:23appropriate place to highlight the word

10:25priority a priority literally means one

10:28thing that you place ahead of all others

10:30these days we hear a lot about

10:32priorities plural but we really should

10:35be thinking about priority and defining

10:37our priority for learning in a given

10:40phase so if you are somebody who wants

10:42to get more physically fit or you want

10:43to learn something cognitively that's

10:44terrific you are allowed to have

10:46multiple goals but I highly recommend

10:49that you first select just one goal of

10:52course you don't let go of other aspects

10:54of your mental health and physical

10:56health that you don't throw your life

10:57away in service to this one goal goal

10:59we've all seen how that goes and it's

11:01not a britty picture but rather that you

11:04continue to engage in healthy ways with

11:06the other aspects of your life that

11:08you're proficient at or mostly

11:09proficient at but that you select one

11:12goal that you're going to try and attain

11:14how you select that one goal of course

11:16it's going to reflect your values your

11:18motivation your resources but it's very

11:21important that you spend some serious

11:22time defining that one priority that one

11:25goal for this initial goal setting and

11:29Pursuit period and in a moment I'll tell

11:31you how long that goal Pursuit period

11:33ought to be but for some people the best

11:36way to define which goal they're going

11:38to pursue is to write out the different

11:40things that they want and then

11:41essentially cross off the various things

11:44that they're willing to put on hold for

11:45the time being and circle the thing that

11:47they're really going to focus on and

11:49only that thing and again this is highly

11:51individual it's going to depend on you

11:53your past your present your future your

11:54resources all of that but having that

11:57one priority is is going to really

12:00increase the probability that you're

12:01going to achieve your goal now we also

12:04know from the scientific literature that

12:06how lofty that goal is will impact

12:08whether or not you are able to achieve

12:10it and I think most people mistakenly

12:13believe that if a goal is easy to

12:15achieve it's more likely that they will

12:16achieve that goal sort of a duh but in

12:19fact the opposite has been shown to be

12:21true if a goal is too easy to achieve it

12:24seems that it doesn't recruit sufficient

12:27amounts of the arousal Network that

12:29involves the amydala but a bunch of

12:30other brain structures as well that get

12:33people into the necessary actions to

12:36continually pursue that goal this

12:38perhaps should not be surprising in

12:40order to learn something we have to

12:42shift our nervous system into states

12:44that are somewhat uncomfortable these

12:46should be safely uncomfortable States

12:49but they should be uncomfortable States

12:50and we're going to talk more about this

12:52as the episode continues but any kind of

12:55successful learning or goal Pursuit is

12:57going to involve errors it's it's going

12:59to involve failures it's going to

13:00involve frustration it's going to

13:02involve anxiety all of those states of

13:05Mind and Body in fact shift the brain

13:08into modes of so-called neuroplasticity

13:11they give it the ability to change and

13:13that should make perfect sense because

13:15if you can complete what you need to do

13:16easily there's absolutely no reason for

13:19the neural circuitry in your brain or

13:21body to shift in any way why would it

13:23rather those states of discomfort

13:26frustration anxiety Etc

13:29represent shifts in neurochemical states

13:32that literally open the opportunity for

13:34neuroplasticity to occur the changes

13:37between neurons that allow those neurons

13:39and their Associated neural circuits to

13:41perform differently in the future when

13:43we learn something so the key here is

13:46twofold first Define the specific

13:48priority goal that you're going to

13:50pursue and set aside all other goal

13:52Pursuits and in doing that it makes

13:55sense to pursue a somewhat loftier goal

13:58than perhaps a more mundane goal or if

14:01you know exactly what goal you're going

14:03to prioritize that you try and Achieve

14:06perhaps more than you think you ought to

14:08be able to achieve within that given

14:10goal and within the goal that you decide

14:12to prioritize you want to set a level of

14:15progress a level of performance that

14:17you're striving to attain that's a bit

14:19above what you actually believe at this

14:21time you can accomplish now in doing so

14:24you are inevitably going to encounter

14:26some frustration and anxiety but

14:28remember the component of the neural

14:29circuitry that we talked about at the

14:31beginning of the episode the orbital

14:32frontal cortex that orbital frontal

14:34cortex is not just part of a neural

14:36circuitry that assesses how we feel in a

14:38given moment as we are trying to pursue

14:40a goal but it also understands context

14:44it has the capacity to for instance see

14:48that you are experiencing anxiety know

14:51that you are frustrated but now that you

14:54understand that anxiety and frustration

14:56that comes with making errors is

14:58actually the Gateway it's a necessary

15:00gateway to achieving neural circuit

15:02changes so-call

15:03neuroplasticity well the orbital frontal

15:05cortex understands that context it

15:07literally can take information about

15:09neuroplasticity it can take information

15:11about frustration which you now have and

15:14it can combine those such that when you

15:16experience that frustration you

15:17experience those errors and you

15:20previously would have wanted to quit now

15:22you know that you are literally making

15:24progress you're literally shifting those

15:26neural circuits in the direction of

15:28improved learning now it's also

15:30important to remind that neuroplasticity

15:33the changes in neural circuits that

15:34allow for improved performance in the

15:36future does not occur instantaneously

15:39that frustration that occurs during our

15:41attempts to learn or to pursue a goal is

15:43the trigger for neuroplasticity the

15:44actual rewiring of neural circuits that

15:46allows for proficient correct

15:49performance occurs during deep sleep and

15:52other forms of deep rest this is

15:54something I've covered extensively in

15:56episodes on neuroplasticity and learning

15:58and if you you'd like to learn more

15:59about neuroplasticity in fact if you'd

16:00like a zeroc cost toolkit that defines

16:03the so-called super protocol for

16:05neuroplasticity and learning that is not

16:07just nested within the context of goal

16:09Pursuit and learning we have that you

16:10can go to hubman lab.com you go to the

16:12menu go scroll down to newsletter and

16:14you can sign up it's completely zero

16:16cost and you'll get that as a brief I

16:18believe it's a two or maybe three page

16:20PDF okay so returning to goal setting

16:22and pursuit first you need to set your

16:24goal you really should take the time

16:26required to Define your priority what

16:29are you going to try and learn and then

16:31you're going to pick a goal that really

16:33feels challenging that feels like it

16:35might even be Out Of Reach because that

16:37will recruit the neural circuits

16:39associated with arousal they're

16:41motivating enough to get you into action

16:44now I want to be very clear I'm not

16:46suggesting that you pick a goal that's

16:48impossible to achieve or that you

16:49believe is impossible to achieve that's

16:50not going to serve you well rather I'm

16:52saying pick a goal that feels just a bit

16:55Out Of Reach and don't obsess too much

16:56about whether or not it's a lot out of

16:58reach or a little bit Out Of Reach pick

17:00something you're excited to pursue that

17:01you would really like to accomplish set

17:04that goal and then just set aside all

17:06other goals still of course maintain or

17:09improve other aspects of your life that

17:10are necessary for daily living for

17:12mental health physical health Etc but

17:15really just focus on one goal I promise

17:18that you will be far more satisfied with

17:20the results if you can truly set a

17:22priority so once you've defined the

17:24specific goal that you are going to

17:26prioritize there are two more things

17:28things that you need to do before you

17:30start to pursue that goal the first one

17:32is that you need to define the specific

17:35verbs the actions that are involved in

17:38pursuing that goal this is absolutely

17:40critical a lot of people will set a sort

17:43of title goal or a goal State they'll

17:46say oh you know I want to be rich or I

17:49want to be smart or they will say I want

17:51to be fit or proficient in a given

17:53language it's really important that you

17:56put additional specificity on your goal

17:59in fact it's important that you put a

18:01lot of specificity on your goal and that

18:02you focus mainly on verbs when defining

18:06that specificity now there are a lot of

18:08reasons for this that have to do both

18:10with increasing the probability that you

18:12will achieve your goal as well as

18:14maintaining motivation as you pursue

18:17that goal so for instance rather than

18:19saying you want to be fit or you want to

18:21be a better Runner or swimmer you would

18:24want to get very specific about the verb

18:27that you're going to engage in order to

18:29achieve that goal now it's somewhat

18:31obvious in the case of running or

18:32swimming I think everyone understands

18:34that if you want to be a better Runner

18:36there is going to be some running

18:37involved if you want to be a better

18:38swimmer there's going to be some

18:39swimming involved of course but

18:42presumably there will be some other

18:43behaviors as well everything from

18:45driving to the pool or lacing up your

18:48shoes I mean there's an essentially near

18:50infinite number of verbs involved in any

18:53type of goal Pursuit so what we are

18:54talking about here is really defining

18:57the goal on a piece of paper and I do

18:59think that's important you should write

19:00this down and I think the process of

19:02selecting your goal that priority as

19:05well as defining the specificity of the

19:07verb action that you're going to pursue

19:09should be done on paper you of course

19:10are going to think but then you should

19:11write it out seeing things on paper and

19:14writing them out by hand with pen or

19:15pencil really has been shown to engage

19:18neural circuitry in a way that is

19:19different than typing with your thumbs

19:22into your phone which by the way is a

19:24new feature of human evolution I do

19:25believe this is the first time in human

19:27evolution that we have written with our

19:30thumbs I don't know I don't have a time

19:32machine I can't go back and check but

19:33I'm willing to place a bet that that

19:36statement is correct so the point is

19:38that writing things out is not only

19:40important it's also the most effective

19:42way to embed knowledge in our nervous

19:44system so I highly recommend that you

19:46write things out on a piece of paper in

19:49your process of goal setting so when we

19:51are talking about generating verb

19:53specificity about your goal it would

19:56look like the following so let's say I

19:57want to to quote unquote get more fit or

20:01learn conversational French or anything

20:03for that matter gardening maybe I want

20:06to build a gazebo in the backyard or a

20:08deck in the backyard the key thing to

20:10answer is what is the major block of

20:13action that's going to be involved in

20:15pursuing that goal so for instance if

20:17you want to get more fit and you're

20:18going to do that primarily through

20:20running and weight training or swimming

20:21and weight training you would want to

20:23get very specific in defining that

20:25priority goal as I'm going to run X

20:28number of miles per week or I'm going to

20:32go to the gym three times per week to

20:34lift weights although I would recommend

20:36getting even more specific than that I

20:38would recommend that you literally write

20:40down I'm going to go to the gym three

20:42times per week for a minimum of 60

20:45minutes where 50 minutes of that are

20:48carrying out hard work okay with of

20:51course rest between sets Etc or I'm

20:53going to attend three classes per week

20:56or perhaps even just one class per week

20:58of learning conversational French plus

21:02I'm going to spend two hours per week of

21:05practicing say word problems or

21:08mathematical problems whatever it is you

21:10want to Define first the priority then

21:12you want to define the verb action that

21:14represents the bulk of effort towards

21:16that priority so running in the case of

21:18the person who wants to get fit by

21:20running weightlifting in the case of the

21:22person that wants to get fit by

21:23weightlifting though of course I highly

21:25recommend people do both resistance

21:27training and uh cardiovascular training

21:29if indeed they want to be truly fit or

21:31in the case of language learning or

21:33learning how to code or gardening or

21:34something of that sort to really Define

21:36the verb actions involved and then to

21:39place specificity in terms of the amount

21:41of time that one is going to try to

21:44achieve each week in pursuit of that

21:47specific priority goal now I realize

21:50that that process itself takes a bit of

21:51time but when you look back on the

21:54100-year plus scientific literature of

21:56what leads to success uccessful goal

21:58setting and pursuit you find over and

22:01over again that those two components

22:03we've been talking about specificity and

22:05measurability are Paramount you just

22:07simply cannot discard those from the

22:09process if you expect yourself to

22:12achieve your goals so whether or not

22:14it's the ABC method or it's the smart

22:15method or the smarter method again all

22:17acronyms coined not by me but by others

22:20previous to this conversation you're

22:22going to find elements of specificity

22:24and measurability showing up again and

22:26again so these are key features of any

22:28protocol that you are going to use in

22:31order to try and set and achieve your

22:33goals and I should mention that setting

22:36specific goals and clearly defining the

22:39verbs that you're are going to engage in

22:40to pursue those goals and defining how

22:42long you are going to try and engage in

22:44those verbs each week to achieve those

22:47goals has significant impact on the

22:50probability of success we're not talking

22:52about a minor effect in fact in the

22:54original episode I did about goal

22:56setting and pursuit I talked about the

22:58so-called recycling study I'm not going

23:00to describe it in a lot of detail right

23:01now but essentially this study looked at

23:04motivating people to recycle more

23:06recyclable products in the workplace and

23:08what they found was that when people

23:10were told what the specific goal was and

23:13what specific actions they needed to

23:15engage in were and how much of a given

23:19batch of refu so say you know after

23:21lunch there's some boxes or some Forks

23:22Etc some napkins how much of that refu

23:26they were going to try to put into the

23:28recycle versus the trash it led to a

23:31greater than doubling of successful

23:34achievement of that goal now that's a

23:36perhaps trivial goal to some of you

23:37although let's face it recycling is

23:39important but that result has been shown

23:42again and again and again for different

23:44domains of goal setting and pursuit so

23:46this thing of setting specificity really

23:49spending time with it on paper setting

23:51specificity of actions of which specific

23:53actions and then setting specificity of

23:55how long you are going to engage in each

23:57of those actions each week greatly

23:59increases the probability that you will

24:02achieve that what previously seemed to

24:04be a all too lofty goal earlier I

24:07mentioned that during the course of

24:08today's episode we were going to dispel

24:10some common myths about goal setting and

24:13pursuit so now I'd like to mention two

24:16popular myths about goal setting and

24:18pursuit the first one is that if we set

24:22a Post-It you know a little Post-it

24:24sticky where you write down what you're

24:26trying to achieve and you put that on

24:27the refrigerator or you put that on your

24:29mirror that it increases the probability

24:32that you are going to stick to your goal

24:35turns out that is not the case and the

24:37reason for that is that your visual

24:38system adapts to whatever is regular in

24:40your environment doesn't matter whether

24:43or not that environment is sparse so it

24:46only has a few things in it or whether

24:48or not it is dense like a forest

24:51anything that shows up regularly in our

24:53visual environment gets canceled out

24:55this is actually a basic feature of the

24:58way your visual system is wired so for

25:00those of you that are taking a sticky

25:02note or a magnet or a sign and putting

25:04it on your mirror and leaving it there

25:06from day to day maybe that says you know

25:08run 60 minutes today or study French 20

25:12minutes or whatever the goal happens to

25:14be if you leave it there day today today

25:18it actually diminishes the likelihood of

25:21progress I know that seems kind of hard

25:23to believe but it's true instead a

25:26better approach is is to continually

25:29write that thing out each day and put up

25:31a new sticky put it in a new place

25:33perhaps on the refrigerator sometimes in

25:35the kitchen maybe on the windshield of

25:36your car although of course remove that

25:38while you're driving Etc if you are

25:40going to incorporate visual reminders in

25:42your goal setting and goal Pursuit

25:44process you want to change those each

25:46and every day this is actually something

25:48that uh perhaps app developers will

25:50start to incorporate because I think the

25:52notifications that come through on

25:54various apps designed to remind us to do

25:56certain things can be helpful but there

25:58too we tend to attenuate to them and we

26:02simply either do not notice them or we

26:03start to swipe them away over time so

26:06visual reminders can be very effective

26:08if you want to use them great you

26:09certainly don't have to but if you're

26:11going to use them you want to update

26:13them every single day otherwise your

26:15visual system and certainly the areas of

26:17your brain that are associated with

26:18assessing novelty and emotionality will

26:20simply start to cancel those away so the

26:23first common myth that we're dispelling

26:25is what I call the poit fallacy the the

26:27idea that if you write something down on

26:29a Post-It and you post it in an area

26:30that you frequent every morning or every

26:32day or every night that you stand a

26:34higher probability of adhering to what

26:36is on that Post-it that is simply not

26:38true you would want to replace it every

26:39day and you would also be wise to move

26:42that Post-it to different locations the

26:44second myth is that if you want to

26:47increase your motivation toward pursuing

26:49a goal and you want to increase the

26:51probability that you will achieve that

26:53goal that you should engage in so-called

26:56accountability meaning that you should

26:58tell people you are going to achieve

27:01that goal now I realize that there are

27:03some prominent examples in pop culture

27:06of people posting something on social

27:08media and saying you know in three years

27:10I'm going to be you know playing in

27:11Wembley Stadium or in two years watch

27:14I'm going to be at the top level of my

27:16game whatever that game happens to be

27:18sure there are examples of that and

27:21those are beautiful and inspiring

27:23examples however the scientific data

27:25tell us that if we inform people around

27:28us that for instance we are going to

27:30write a book or that we're going to

27:32start a podcast or that we are going to

27:34run a marathon or whatever it happens to

27:36be more often than not we get feedback

27:40that is generally positive inform I

27:43think that's good and to be expected

27:45frankly you know if a friend tells us

27:46hey I'm going to write a book or I'm

27:47going to pursue a new fitness goal or

27:49I'm going to learn a language we say

27:51great go for it you can totally do it

27:52you're very likely to succeed go for it

27:56how do you want me to support you as a

27:57there anything I can do to support you

27:59those all are frankly healthy exchanges

28:02and yet the data tell us that the

28:05positive feedback that we get from

28:07others when we announce that we're going

28:09after a goal activate certain reward

28:12systems and motivation systems within

28:14our brain that then quickly dissipate

28:17and then diminish the probability that

28:18we'll engage in the type of behaviors

28:21that actually lead us to achieve that

28:22goal so we have the posit fallacy and we

28:25have the myth of accountability fallacy

28:28within the context of goal Pursuit I of

28:31course am not saying that accountability

28:33is bad to the contrary accountability is

28:35a great thing both to ourselves and to

28:37others it's something that we should all

28:38cultivate throughout life I'm merely

28:41talking about the myth of accountability

28:42in the context of goal Pursuit and I'm

28:44actually being more specific than that

28:46I'm saying don't tell people that you're

28:48going to go out and Achieve something

28:50prior to initiating action toward that

28:53goal because in fact the positive

28:55feedback that we get will diminish the

28:57probability that we will continually

28:59pursue that goal in a way that allows us

29:02to achieve it so you could interpret the

29:04information I just gave you as meaning

29:06that perhaps it's better to tell someone

29:09who doubts us that we are going to

29:10achieve a goal and then of course

29:12they're not going to give us the

29:13positive feedback we're not going to get

29:15all that reward circuitry activated

29:16rather we're going to get the uh

29:18friction circuitry activated of us

29:21wanting to prove ourselves and overcome

29:24the uh let's just say the lack of faith

29:26in our ability to achieve a goal and

29:28indeed that can work there is evidence

29:30that can work but then of course you

29:33have to find someone who doesn't believe

29:34in you you have to get them to tell you

29:36they don't believe in you and that could

29:38have all sorts of delerious

29:39psychological effects that might

29:40undermine the goal Pursuit process and

29:42other things as well so if you are lucky

29:44enough to know somebody who doubts you

29:46go ahead tell them that you want to

29:47pursue your specific priority goal but

29:50more likely than not the best thing to

29:53do is to Simply keep that goal to

29:55yourself you may need to inform a family

29:57member or others of you know where you

29:59will be between the hours of say 8:00

30:00a.m. and 9:00 a.m. if you're going to be

30:02exercising or learning language or

30:03meditating whatever it is during that

30:05period of time but what I'm referring to

30:07here is what I will call the don't tell

30:09the world rule don't tell the world that

30:11you're going to achieve X Y or Z just

30:13simply tell yourself in fact I would

30:16suggest that the more time you can spend

30:18with that one or two or three sheets of

30:20paper where you defined the goal the

30:22specific actions that you're going to

30:24take how you're going to measure

30:26progress which we'll talk about bit more

30:28later the more time that you can spend

30:30with that goal in your mind and on that

30:33paper the higher the probability that

30:35you will achieve that goal that stands

30:37in start contrast to telling everyone

30:39around you that you're going to achieve

30:40a certain goal the so-called

30:41accountability myth or the myth of

30:42accountability within the context of

30:44goal Pursuit would be the more specific

30:46way uh to describe that myth now it

30:49turns out there is some utility to

30:50having one person that is a so-called

30:53accountability buddy if that person is

30:56really just L addressing accountability

30:59they are reminding you to do what you

31:01need to do or they are asking you did

31:03you do what you said you were going to

31:05do but that's a bit more of a tough love

31:07accountability model what the don't tell

31:09the world rule is really about is not

31:12getting the kind of dopamine and other

31:14forms of neurochemical reward that come

31:15from just simply saying that you're

31:17going to pursue a goal because as you'll

31:18soon learn that dopamine and other

31:21molecules too of course are going to be

31:23critically important not just for

31:25initiating the sorts of actions re IR

31:27ired to achieve your goals but for

31:30re-engaging and constantly updating your

31:32strategy to ensure that you reach your

31:34goals it's worth mentioning that the

31:37friction model of achieving your goals

31:39does work I mean I for instance am

31:41somebody that if you know I were to say

31:43to a family member or friend hey I'm

31:44going to achieve a particular goal and

31:46they said no there's no way you can do

31:48it that would recruit a certain set of

31:50neural circuits and uh hormones and

31:52neurochemicals in me that would make me

31:54much more likely to lean into the

31:57required set of efforts to achieve that

31:59goal but there's a danger in approaching

32:01a given goal that way especially if the

32:03goal is something that you already want

32:05to pursue which is that then a lot of

32:07your effort becomes framed in the

32:10context of making someone else wrong as

32:13opposed to achieving the goal and of

32:14course you can do two things in parallel

32:16you can achieve your goal and prove

32:17somebody else wrong but as we've talked

32:20about in various episodes on motivation

32:22and pursuit and the dopamine system and

32:24as we'll talk about a bit more in a few

32:26minutes the there something tremendously

32:28powerful about learning how to derive

32:31pleasure from the effort process itself

32:34that is learning to enjoy the process of

32:37pursuing a goal for sake of that goal

32:39for yourself rather than trying to

32:42pursue a goal simply to prove somebody

32:44else wrong I'll just tell you right now

32:46that intrinsic motivation motivation

32:49that is directly attached to the thing

32:51that you are doing and root to a goal is

32:54the most powerful and sustainable source

32:56of motivation

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33:53huberman the final protocol related to

33:56goal setting because because really up

33:57until now we've been talking only about

33:59goal setting we haven't yet talked about

34:01goal Pursuit is that you want your goal

34:04to be measurable and when we say

34:06measurable you really have to Define two

34:09things first of all you are going to

34:10have to Define how long you are going to

34:13pursue this goal overall in other words

34:15how long you think it will take before

34:17you achieve your goal and in addition to

34:20that you are going to have to Define how

34:22much time you are going to spend

34:24pursuing that goal each week or each day

34:27now there are an infinite number of time

34:29blocks that one could use to answer

34:31these questions so for instance you

34:33could set an overall yearly goal and you

34:35could break it down into monthly goals

34:37where you spend x amount of time on that

34:39goal each week and x amount of time on

34:42that goal each day and essentially

34:44ladder up from the shortest time frame

34:47to the longest time frame required to

34:49achieve that goal and certainly all of

34:51that is doable but that I believe is

34:53going to be an overwhelming amount of

34:55work and indeed is going to be

34:56counterproductive toward achieving your

34:58goal what I recommend which of course is

35:01gleaned from the scientific literature

35:02at least the consistencies or the center

35:04of mass that is the major findings that

35:08show up again and again in the

35:09scientific literature on goal setting a

35:11Pursuit is that you establish a roughly

35:1512 week period of time to focus on your

35:18specific goal now of course achieving

35:21the entire goal might take longer than

35:2212 weeks but chances are it's not going

35:25to take shorter than 12 weeks although

35:27if it does you could simply close out

35:29that goal Pursuit and then pursue

35:31another goal there's no reason you

35:33couldn't do that but there's nothing

35:35magical about this 12-week period but it

35:38seems to adhere to a number of things in

35:40society and culture in work schedules in

35:43seasonality meaning the holidays and the

35:46shifts in the overall Seasons that works

35:48for most goals and most people so a

35:5112-week cycle or roughly a thre month

35:54cycle sometimes called the quarterly

35:56cycle of goal Pursuit toward your

35:58particular goal I think is a good macro

36:01time to focus on and then within that

36:0512we cycle to Define very clearly how

36:08many hours each week and each day and on

36:11which days you will pursue that goal

36:14okay so it's 12-week cycle to pursue

36:16your goal that goal might be achieved by

36:18the end of that 12 weeks or even prior

36:20it might not be but you said a 12we

36:22cycle or quarterly cycle or if you

36:24prefer to think about it a 3 month cycle

36:28and then you define how many hours per

36:30week you are going to spend pursuing

36:31that goal and then you define how many

36:33hours per day you are going to spend

36:36pursuing that goal and then you define

36:39which days of the week you are going to

36:41pursue that particular goal I think

36:44those three numbers the 12-week

36:46quarterly AKA 3-mth cycle the number of

36:49hours per week and the number of hours

36:51per day and particular days that you're

36:54going to spend working on a goal is

36:56going to be effective for 90% if not

36:59more of different types of goals out

37:01there and as with defining the specific

37:03goal itself I highly recommend that you

37:05write this down with a pen or pencil

37:08there's just oh so much data to support

37:10the fact that writing things down

37:11ideally in complete sentences on a piece

37:13of paper with a pen or pencil serves to

37:15reinforce the goal setting and pursuit

37:17process greatly increasing the

37:19probability that you will achieve those

37:21goals so what you're really defining in

37:23that process are the specific verb

37:26action that you are going to take and

37:28the specific quantifiable amount of time

37:32that you are engaging in those verb

37:33actions in order to achieve your goal

37:36what we haven't discussed yet however is

37:38how to define or quantify the goal

37:41itself now of course in different

37:43Endeavors you're going to have the

37:44opportunity to quantify and Define goal

37:48achievement in different ways so for

37:49instance if you want to be able to run a

37:53sub six-minute mile or a sub five minute

37:56mile

37:57or if you're really impressive a sub

37:59four minute mile well that's a highly

38:01quantifiable goal that you can break

38:02down into a series of training steps or

38:05Milestones meaning that you could

38:07quantify at the beginning of your goal

38:08Pursuit how long it takes you to run a

38:10mile you could then set out to achieve a

38:15faster time within two weeks or three

38:17weeks and then do the appropriate

38:18training to achieve those numbers and

38:20simply keep updating that in order to

38:22eventually reach your quantifiable goal

38:25at 12 weeks again you might not complete

38:28your goal of running a sub five minute

38:30mile or sub six minute mile at the end

38:32of 12 weeks but perhaps if your goal is

38:34to be able to run a sub five minute mile

38:36by the end of the calendar year and

38:38you're initiating this whole goal

38:40Pursuit thing on the first of the year

38:42well then you have 12 months broken into

38:44four 3month cycles and you would

38:46essentially set the quantifiable goal at

38:48the end of the year December 31st

38:50perhaps is when you actually do that run

38:52um where you hopefully would achieve

38:55that sub 6 minute or 5 minute mile or

38:57maybe even 4 minute mile and then you

39:00backtrack from that date and you set

39:02Milestones of goals that you're trying

39:04to achieve that's a highly quantifiable

39:06set of goals because it is literally

39:08distance Over time however in a lot of

39:11Pursuits in fact I would argue in most

39:14Pursuits you don't have that very clear

39:18quantifiable result you might have for

39:20instance the achievement of a doctoral

39:22degree or a bachelor's degree or an AA

39:24degree or a professional degree of some

39:26sort which represents a Finish Line um

39:29you could perhaps even attach a gray

39:31point average or a publication goal to

39:34that but in most Endeavors that aren't

39:37athletic or aren't within the realm of

39:39Finance it becomes much harder to very

39:42clearly Define your goal in purely

39:45quantitative terms so that is the reason

39:48why we spent so much time talking about

39:50the measurability of the specific amount

39:53of time that you're going to engage in

39:55the verb actions that each day which

39:58days each week over the course of these

40:0112we Cycles because ultimately what's

40:04going to allow you to arrive at

40:06successful achievement of your goal

40:08regardless of whether or not that goal

40:10is highly quantifiable X number of

40:12dollars X number of minutes to complete

40:16a mile run or Swim

40:18Etc or it's something that's a bit more

40:21nebulous in terms of quantifiability

40:23like conversational French right there's

40:25conversational French that you can learn

40:27there's also conversational French that

40:29incorporates humor or that incorporates

40:32Good Humor or um perhaps you want to get

40:34better at writing poetry or simply spend

40:36time writing poetry can you quantify the

40:39quality of that poetry well perhaps uh

40:41you know if you could win a particular

40:43prize for poetry but I think for most

40:45Endeavors they are more Loosely defined

40:48in terms of their quantifiability now we

40:51can always attach quantifiability to the

40:53ultimate end goal if we choose so for

40:56instance

40:57I could decide that I'm going to learn

40:58conversational French and I could decide

41:01that the ultimate goal at the end of

41:03this 12we period is to be able to have a

41:0610-minute conversation with somebody who

41:08is fluent in French they're native born

41:10in France and that I'm going to make

41:12zero mistakes that's a pretty lofty goal

41:15but the point being that if you are

41:18picking a goal that is not easily

41:20quantifiable you want to be

41:22exceptionally precise about the amount

41:24of time that you are going to spend in

41:26engaging in the specific verb actions

41:28that are going to allow you to make

41:30progress toward your goal because

41:31ultimately whether or not it's a highly

41:32quantifiable goal or it's a more Loosely

41:35quantifiable goal in terms of the end

41:37goal the process of achieving goals is

41:40always going to be in the form of

41:42actions and actions themselves are

41:44always quantifiable it's number of hours

41:46of dedicated work toward that particular

41:49goal a common example of an end goal

41:51that's very hard to quantify in terms of

41:53the end goal itself is the writing of a

41:56book book for instance now you could set

41:57out to write an 800 page book but most

42:00people agree that the length of the book

42:01should have something more or less to do

42:03with the content and not the other way

42:05around in other words that you don't

42:06just want to add words in order to

42:08achieve a certain number of pages that

42:10said most all experienced writers will

42:13tell you at least two things they'll

42:15tell you first don't wait for

42:17inspiration simply set a period of time

42:20each day that you're going to write and

42:22write X number of words or for x amount

42:25of time each each day or perhaps even

42:27just three days a week but most of the

42:29experienced writers that I've spoken to

42:30write every single day and they write

42:32800 words per day or 2,000 words per day

42:35or 500 words per day whatever they can

42:37do consistently they may do it for time

42:40they may do it for words but they are

42:41writing during that time they are not

42:43waiting for inspiration to land on them

42:45they're not trying to get optimally

42:47caffeinated and perhaps they didn't even

42:49sleep that well the night before in

42:50other words they are dedicated to

42:52engaging in a particular number of hours

42:55of word generating action rather than

42:58trying to focus on getting the number

42:59one best seller at the end after the

43:02book is published of course they can

43:03wish for that number one position on the

43:05bestseller chart But ultimately the

43:08greatest probability of achieving that

43:10goal is going to come from engaging in a

43:13particular number of hours generating a

43:15particular number of words each day so

43:17again the highest probability of

43:19achieving our goals of achieving any

43:21kind of goal is going to be by

43:23understanding the specific verb actions

43:25that we need to engage in and then

43:27quantifying the amount of time that we

43:29engage in those specific word actions

43:31and then simply doing those verbs so up

43:35until now we've been talking about goal

43:36setting and we really haven't talked

43:38about goal Pursuit itself so now I'd

43:40like to talk about what the scientific

43:42literature says is the best protocol for

43:45initiating our goal Pursuit for starting

43:48toward our goal and to do so we have to

43:51address a set of key questions the

43:53questions you have to ask yourself are

43:55do I do I want to pursue this goal

43:57meaning am I highly motivated to pursue

43:59this goal or even mildly motivated to

44:01pursue this goal do I want to do the

44:03things involved to get this thing to

44:06accomplish this thing or am I feeling

44:08resistance do I not want to pursue this

44:11goal or perhaps this is a daytoday shift

44:14that occurs where some days you're

44:16really motivated and other days you are

44:18not now the reason to ask yourself the

44:20set of questions is that the data say

44:22that there are two different strategies

44:24in fact two markedly different

44:26strategies that you'll want to

44:27incorporate depending on whether or not

44:29you're motivated or you are unmotivated

44:32to pursue that particular goal for

44:33whatever reason and of course there's an

44:35entire psychology to motivation and you

44:37could get a therapist or a coach to work

44:39with in order to address that underlying

44:41psychology yes it might ladder back to

44:43Childhood issues it might ladder back to

44:45esteem things none of that can be

44:48covered here in any sort of meaningful

44:50depth because frankly we each have

44:52different circumstances different pasts

44:54different psychologies there are however

44:57some universals that we can all apply in

44:59order to help us get started toward our

45:02goal and this is nested in this whole

45:05concept of whether or not we should

45:06visualize the end and successful

45:09completion of our goal so keep the end

45:11in mind as we start off toward a goal or

45:14whether or not we should incorporate a

45:15different strategy here's how it goes so

45:18if you ask

45:19yourself do I want to achieve this goal

45:23and I would hope the answer is yes

45:24because the overall goal should be

45:26something that you want to pursue it

45:27should be something that you are deeply

45:29Desiring to accomplish then you have to

45:33ask yourself next do I want to do the

45:35things required to achieve that goal now

45:38maybe you don't want to do all of them

45:39you only want to do some of them but

45:42given that you've now carefully

45:43Quantified which specific actions you're

45:45going to be doing on which days and for

45:46how many hours and how many weeks for

45:48these 12we blocks you could simply ask

45:50yourself you do I want to do this thing

45:52today and if the answer is yes well then

45:57it turns out that spending just one to

45:59three maybe five minutes but even just

46:02one minute visualizing the outcome the

46:06positive outcome of course and the

46:07feeling state that you may have because

46:10of course you don't know you don't have

46:11a uh time machine you can't feel

46:14yourself into the future but you can

46:16make a good guess as to how you might

46:18feel in the future if you accomplish

46:19that goal spending one to three maybe

46:22five minutes in a sort of meditation

46:24although sort of a visualiz a is perhaps

46:26the better way to describe it thinking

46:28about that feeling State and the outcome

46:30and some of the things that are going to

46:32be associated with that outcome turns

46:34out to be a great practice to engage in

46:36just prior to initiating that day's work

46:38toward that goal however if you arrive

46:41to your practice meaning you show up to

46:43the piano to learn piano or you're

46:45sitting down to the table or maybe you

46:46haven't even gotten enough motivation to

46:49go toward the piano or toward your

46:50notebook or computer or whatever

46:52landscape it is that you are going to be

46:54uh pursuing your goal with in and you

46:56are having quote unquote a hard time

46:59getting motivated toward that goal well

47:01then it turns out what the scientific

47:03literature tells us is that visualizing

47:06the end keeping the end in mind positive

47:09visualization of all the good things

47:11that you'll experience when you achieve

47:12that goal is not going to be an

47:15effective strategy to motivate you

47:17rather if you are not feeling motivated

47:20then what the scientific literature

47:22tells us is that you actually want to

47:24spend one to three maybe 5 minutes

47:27visualizing failure visualizing how

47:30terrible you will feel if you do not

47:31achieve your goal visualizing severe

47:34consequences perhaps mostly of the sort

47:36like telling yourself gosh I set a goal

47:39I set a 12we block I quantify it I know

47:42I want to do this here I have the time

47:44to do it and I'm simply just not doing

47:46it and in that case you would think okay

47:49well you should kind of build yourself

47:51up maybe call a friend text a friend get

47:52some encouragement no the scientific

47:55literat tells us that when we are not

47:57motivated and it is a goal that we

47:58actually want to pursue and of course

48:00here I'm talking about adaptive goal

48:02Pursuit meaning things that are going to

48:03enrich your mental health physical

48:05health Etc not things that are going to

48:07be detrimental to us well then if you're

48:10not feeling motivated you want to spend

48:12one to three perhaps five minutes

48:14meditating concentrating on what it's

48:18going to feel like to fail and the fact

48:20that you are not succeeding but indeed

48:23that you are failing and I I know this

48:25sounds like rather harsh advice that

48:28this protocol uh sounds like kind of a

48:30self- flatulating protocol it's not

48:32intended to be self flatulation in fact

48:34it should not be self flatulation but

48:37rather what you want to do when you are

48:38not motivated is to think about failure

48:41and what that failure at the end of 12

48:43weeks will feel like and the reason for

48:46that is that the data tell us that when

48:48we visualize positive outcomes yes it

48:51deploys certain neurochemicals in our

48:53brain and body that make us feel good

48:56although frankly if you've heard that

48:58imagining something creates the same

49:00neurochemical and neuros circuit states

49:02in the brain as actually experiencing

49:04that thing that is simply not true

49:05that's a myth we've talked about this in

49:07previous episodes that's simply not true

49:09but if you are having a hard time

49:12getting motivated toward a goal that you

49:14actually want to achieve then spending

49:17that short amount of time thinking about

49:20how lousy you'll feel when you don't

49:21achieve it recruits certain elements of

49:24your so-called autonomic nervous system

49:25it creates shifts in the release of

49:27things like epinephrine norepinephrine

49:30even release of the so-called reward

49:33molecule dopamine which in fact is not

49:35the molecule of reward it is the

49:37molecule of motivation and it's

49:39associated with pain It's associated

49:41with negative thoughts and of course

49:43it's associated with positive thoughts

49:45and outcomes but basically what I'm

49:47saying is if you're highly motivated to

49:49do something you're ready to go spend

49:51one to three minutes maybe five

49:52visualizing the positive outcomes that

49:54you're going to EXP experience when you

49:56ultimately finish out that 12 we cycle

49:59as a consequence of all the great work

50:00that you've done if however you are not

50:03motivated you're feeling like I don't

50:04want to do this thing I'm

50:05procrastinating I'm just not feeling

50:07like doing it yes I want to achieve the

50:08goal but I just don't feel like doing it

50:09well then your task is to take one to

50:12three maybe five minutes and think about

50:14how much more lousy you will feel when

50:18you do not achieve that goal at the end

50:20of 12 weeks and that the data tell us

50:23recruit certain elements of your nervous

50:25system your hormonal system that are

50:27more successful in getting you into

50:29action into starting toward your goal

50:31than were you to try and build yourself

50:33up towards all that positivity so yes

50:35indeed there is a place for negative

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51:44in terms of tools or protocols to both

51:47initiate and to sustain effort during

51:50your goal Pursuit process we need to

51:51think about the specific time domain or

51:54the amount of time that we're trying to

51:55do that within so for instance there are

51:59tools that you can use to stay motivated

52:01within the 1hour learning block that you

52:03happen to be doing on Monday morning for

52:05instance and there are other tools and

52:06protocols that you can incorporate

52:08towards staying motivated from one day

52:10to the next or from one week to the next

52:12but I think the most useful of those

52:13tools are going to be the tools that you

52:15incorporate to stay motivated within a

52:18given training block or practice block

52:21toward your goal because what I just

52:23described a few minutes ago was the

52:24process of how to initiate your daily

52:27work right you ask yourself that

52:28question am I motivated the answer could

52:31be yes could be no if you really want to

52:33get you know uh quantitative about it

52:35you could give yourself a 1 to 10 score

52:3710 being the most motivated frankly I'm

52:39not that quantitative about that sort of

52:41thing I'm more subjective about it but I

52:42know some of you are real um number

52:44junkies and you really like to quantify

52:46everything keep a journal and look back

52:48see how that relates to your sleep you

52:49know some people are of that orientation

52:50other people like myself are simply

52:52going to you know sit down and say okay

52:54it's time it's time to train or it's

52:56time to practice whatever the thing may

52:57be how motivated am I am I a I don't

53:00know like a six out of 10 or a seven out

53:02of 10 okay I'm ready to go I'm going to

53:04visualize the end in mind in a positive

53:07way or if I'm a two out of 10 or

53:09anything less than a four out of 10 I'm

53:11thinking I'm not that motivated so then

53:13I'm going to basically scare myself into

53:15doing the work that day so that's how

53:16you initiate the work each day and I

53:18just gave you a couple of quick examples

53:19of how you could quantify that took me

53:21about 30 seconds to do that example out

53:23loud take you about 30 seconds to do but

53:26again if you want to quantify it in more

53:28detail and write it down and relate it

53:29to other things be my guest so now you

53:32already have a science based protocol

53:34for how to get started each day toward

53:36your goal now what about within the one

53:39or twoh hour block or perhaps 90-minute

53:41block that you're going to use to pursue

53:44your goal and here it's very important

53:47that you have a number of tools that

53:49will allow you to both set the optimal

53:51amount of focus so that you're really

53:53concentrating on pursuing that goal

53:56you're concentrated on the verb actions

53:58that will deliver you to that goal is

54:00perhaps the best way to state that and

54:03that you can constantly update or renew

54:06your level of focus should it start to

54:09dissipate now I want to be clear I've

54:11done entire episodes about focus and how

54:13to increase focus with behavioral tools

54:16everything related to meditation which

54:18indeed can increase your ability to

54:20focus I've talked about nutritional

54:22tools supplementation tools prescription

54:24drug related tools there's a lot of

54:25information on that you can simply go to

54:27hubman lab.com put focus into the search

54:30function and it will take you to not

54:32only those episodes and the toolkit for

54:34that but the specific timestamps for

54:36that but what we are going to talk about

54:38now is not about how to increase Focus

54:40per se rather it's about how to use

54:43focus in particular visual focus in

54:45order to increase your or maintain your

54:48level of motivation within a given

54:51learning block within a given batch of

54:53time on a given day where you are

54:55pursuing your goal you're engaging in

54:56that practice which of course will

54:58include frustration anxiety it has to if

55:01you're going to get any better and how

55:03to set that motivation and keep that

55:05motivation throughout that hour or 90

55:07minutes or two hours is critical so how

55:09do you do that well it turns out it's

55:10fairly straightforward so it's anchored

55:12in the fact that your cognitive Focus

55:15your ability to maintain a narrow cone

55:17of attention as well as your bodily

55:20state of Readiness and your mental state

55:22of Readiness to perform work is

55:25powerfully anchored to your visual

55:27system as many of you have heard me say

55:29before your eyes are actually two pieces

55:32of brain I mean to be more specific the

55:34neural retinas that line the back of

55:35your eyes like py crust are literally

55:39two pieces of your central nervous

55:40system of your brain that were extruded

55:43from the cranial Vault during

55:44development so yes these two bits and

55:46for those listening I'm just pointing to

55:48my eyes your eyes are two pieces of

55:51brain outside of your skull and your

55:53eyes can view things broadly so so you

55:55can uh so-called soften your gaze and

55:57view the entire Horizon you can see the

55:58periphery of the room by relaxing your

56:00eyes you can actually do this now in

56:02fact when you drive most of the time

56:04you're doing this you're not looking at

56:05a particular focal point you're viewing

56:07things in so-call panoramic vision and

56:09of course you can draw your visual Focus

56:11to a particular location what we call a

56:12virgin eye movement that is you're

56:15bringing your eyes in toward the center

56:17toward your nose a little bit and you're

56:18focusing them in a more narrow cone of

56:20visual attention this is something you

56:22can do almost imperceptibly to others

56:24although if we were to measure your eye

56:26movements what we would see is that your

56:28eyes are actually moving inward a little

56:30bit toward your nose when you do this

56:32virgin eye movement and narrowing that

56:34cone of visual attention and then

56:35they're you relaxing into a state of um

56:38being slightly further out from your

56:42nose not the eyes themselves of course

56:44they can't move within the sockets but

56:45you know the pupils of your eyes are

56:47moving out a bit from your nose and

56:49you're in so-called panoramic Vision so

56:51essentially what I'm saying is that you

56:53can narrow or broaden your visual

56:56attention and that's something that can

56:57take a little bit of practice I highly

56:59recommend that you try this and that you

57:00practice it a little bit but indeed

57:02everyone has the neural Machinery to do

57:04this from birth this is not something

57:06that requires neuroplasticity to be able

57:07to do you can do this right now you can

57:10narrow your visual attention you can

57:12expand or relax your visual attention

57:14and thereby narrow or relax your visual

57:17field from being smaller or larger there

57:20are data that show that when we narrow

57:23our visual attention and we hold that

57:26narrow visual tension on a spot several

57:29things happen first of all there's

57:31recruitment of circuitry within the

57:32so-called brain stem that then deploys

57:35neurochemicals that increase our level

57:38of alertness and arousal that's right

57:40when you focus your visual attension on

57:42a more narrow location or one location

57:44in front of you and you hold that

57:48Focus you are causing the release of

57:50neurochemicals that increase your

57:52overall level of alertness in the brain

57:54brain and body conversely when you relax

57:57your visual Focus so-called panoramic

58:00Vision you are turning off that

58:03recruitment you're not actively

58:05recruiting molecules for relaxation

58:07within the brain but you are turning off

58:09this release of the neurochemicals

58:12associated with increasing focus and

58:14arousal so why am I talking about this

58:16in the context of goal Pursuit well if

58:18you are feeling lack of motivation at

58:21any point within a given training block

58:23or bism calling it this could be at the

58:26beginning this could be 5 minutes in

58:28this could be half an hour in you would

58:30be wise to pick a visual Target ideally

58:33a visual Target that is within the

58:35general range of the work that you're

58:37trying to perform in other words if

58:38you're doing desk work with a piece of

58:40paper you would draw that visual Target

58:42on a piece of paper approximately the

58:44same distance that you were reading or

58:46that you were looking at music um you

58:49can tell how little uh playing of piano

58:51I've done in my life but the point being

58:52that you set the visual Target at a

58:54approximately the same distance that you

58:56would be performing your particular work

58:58so if you're doing a sport the distance

59:00might be some many meters off in the

59:04distance whereas if you're doing desk

59:06work of some kind then it might be much

59:08closer and then you focus your eyes on

59:10that location and you actively work to

59:13maintain that Focus just like I'm doing

59:15now into the camera for a given period

59:17of time and I recommend that you set a

59:19timer and that you of course allow

59:21yourself to Blink like I just did there

59:24and that you try and Achieve at least 30

59:26seconds but even better would be 60

59:29seconds even better would be 90 seconds

59:31of that Focus virgin eye movement during

59:34which several things happen including

59:36the deployment of those neurochemicals

59:38from the brain stem that I talked about

59:39before which are going to increase your

59:41level of autonomic arousal and also

59:44increase your level of focus further and

59:46there I'm not just talking about visual

59:48Focus I'm talking about cognitive focus

59:50it has also been shown that when we

59:53focus on a particular point in the way

59:55that I'm describing here that it

59:56increases our so-called systolic blood

59:59pressure as many of you know blood

01:00:01pressure is always described to us as a

01:00:03given number over another number and the

01:00:05first number is the so-called systo or

01:00:07systolic pressure which is the amount of

01:00:09pressure your vascular system when the

01:00:11heart beats as the fluid of your blood

01:00:14is pumping through the arteries veins

01:00:17and capillaries of your system and then

01:00:19the bottom number is the amount of

01:00:21pressure within those arteries veins and

01:00:24capillar iies in between heartbeat so

01:00:26it's the systolic over the diastolic and

01:00:29what we know is that visual focus and

01:00:31here I'm still holding mine now on the

01:00:33camera so for those of you listening I

01:00:35probably blinked once or twice but I'm

01:00:36really trying hard to maintain my focus

01:00:38directly within the camera this visual

01:00:40Focus increases the systolic blood

01:00:43pressure it increases the deployment of

01:00:46those neurochemicals from the brain stem

01:00:47and we know it also can recruit The

01:00:51Liberation of molecules such as dopamine

01:00:53and some Associated molecules elsewhere

01:00:56in the brain that together act in a

01:00:59synergistic way to increase our level of

01:01:01focus and motivation this is based again

01:01:04on work describing the neural circuitry

01:01:07of what I'm describing here and work

01:01:09from Emily bis's lab which has shown

01:01:11that if people focus on a Target on a

01:01:13goal line literally a physical location

01:01:15within their environment and then they

01:01:17initiate some work it could be physical

01:01:19work or cognitive work not only do they

01:01:22experience significantly decreased

01:01:24levels of perceived effort while

01:01:26engaging in that work but they also

01:01:28complete that work in a significantly

01:01:31reduced amount of time meaning that

01:01:33within a given training bout or training

01:01:35block you are able to get significantly

01:01:37more work done and you perceive that as

01:01:39less effortful or requiring less effort

01:01:42than had you not done this visual Focus

01:01:45now I've been doing this for quite some

01:01:47time now into the camera this is

01:01:48actually a practice that I've been doing

01:01:50for well over a decade and it's actually

01:01:52a practice that I use when I podcast or

01:01:54when I post on social media it's part of

01:01:55the reason why I'm accused of being a

01:01:57non- blinker quite often but I want to

01:01:58remind people that you are allowed to

01:02:00Blink don't let your eyes dry out it's

01:02:02perfectly fine to Blink it's not going

01:02:04to inhibit the effectiveness of this

01:02:05protocol but I don't think I can really

01:02:08overstate how valuable this sort of

01:02:10protocol is first of all it's completely

01:02:12behavioral it costs nothing it's

01:02:14completely safe as long as you remember

01:02:15to Blink and it allows you to increase

01:02:19your level of focus your level of

01:02:21motivation and the sustainability of

01:02:24your focus and motivation while in goal

01:02:26Pursuit so it's a quite valuable

01:02:28protocol to incorporate and it's

01:02:29something that you can do once for 30

01:02:31seconds and then lean into whatever it

01:02:33is your writing process your running

01:02:34process it's something that you could do

01:02:36repeatedly throughout that learning bout

01:02:38and it's something that you can practice

01:02:40offline a little bit away from that

01:02:42training bout as a means to sort of

01:02:44learn and get familiar with so that then

01:02:46you can incorporate it very quickly and

01:02:48repeatedly and with much more

01:02:49Effectiveness during these different

01:02:51learning doubts again it's a highly

01:02:53valuable tool that's ground grounded in

01:02:54neural circuitry grounded in

01:02:56neurochemistry and that Emily bis's lab

01:02:59has shown in numerous domains physical

01:03:02Pursuits cognitive Pursuits can really

01:03:04help people achieve their goals and to

01:03:05achieve them more easily or at least

01:03:08with less perceived effort and more

01:03:10quickly now we can get a bit more

01:03:12granular about the incorporation of this

01:03:14tool this protocol but before we do we

01:03:16should acknowledge that all of the

01:03:18things that lend themselves to improved

01:03:21cognitive focus and physical ability

01:03:23still hold true right you still need to

01:03:25get good sleep as many nights of your

01:03:27life as you possibly can you still need

01:03:29to eat properly you still need to try

01:03:31and limit your stress we have podcast

01:03:34episodes related to all of those topics

01:03:35we have toolkits available at zero cost

01:03:37related to all of those topics I'm not

01:03:40saying that this visual Focus or visual

01:03:42Target Training is the only tool that

01:03:44you should incorporate it's a tool that

01:03:46you want to superimpose on the

01:03:47foundation of all the things that bring

01:03:50you to your practice with the best

01:03:51possible cognition the best possible

01:03:53physical Readiness and that when added

01:03:56to that Foundation of excellent sleep

01:03:59excellent nutrition social connection

01:04:01sunlight in the morning Etc is going to

01:04:03increase the probability that you're

01:04:05going to make those learning bouts as

01:04:07effective as possible now some of you

01:04:08may be thinking elevating your blood

01:04:11pressure is bad why would I want to

01:04:12elevate my blood pressure ah well it

01:04:14turns out that these increases in

01:04:16systolic blood pressure achieved with

01:04:18this visual Target Training or focusing

01:04:19on a Finish Line for some period of time

01:04:22are transient and they are perfect ly

01:04:24safe so essentially what it does is it

01:04:26boosts or bolsters the activity of the

01:04:29autonomic nervous system it kickstarts

01:04:31the deployment of those chemicals and

01:04:32those neural circuits that then allow

01:04:33you to be motivated for some period of

01:04:35time but then that is a transient

01:04:38increase in autonomic rousel which is

01:04:40why perhaps every 20 minutes or perhaps

01:04:43on the hour you might stop do a 30

01:04:45second or 60-second visual Target

01:04:48Training and then lean back into your

01:04:50process of however you it is that you

01:04:52are pursuing your goal I should also

01:04:54mention that if your eyes are getting

01:04:56tired doing whatever goal Pursuit you

01:04:58happen to be engaged in it's also a good

01:05:00idea to go into that panoramic Vision

01:05:02mode the easiest way to do that is to go

01:05:04outside or to be outside and to view a

01:05:06horizon and not look at any one

01:05:08particular point on the horizon but if

01:05:09you're indoors as I am now you can also

01:05:12just relax your eyes you know you know

01:05:14blinking a few times and getting rid of

01:05:15that virgin's eye movement and try and

01:05:17visualize the corners of the room or the

01:05:20sides of the room rather the floor and

01:05:21the ceiling all at once that's a good

01:05:23way to expl expl how to so-call relax

01:05:25your eyes and take you out of that

01:05:26virgin's eye movement and I say this

01:05:28because a lot of people will feel when

01:05:30they're pursuing their goal that it's

01:05:31kind of fatiguing so you have to

01:05:32remember to Breathe Right you still want

01:05:34to breathe as you're pursuing your goal

01:05:36and you certainly want to be visually

01:05:38focused on your goal so you're

01:05:39cognitively focused on your goal and

01:05:40you're motivated but that from time to

01:05:42time you also relax take a moment shake

01:05:44things off look into your panoramic

01:05:47Vision mode and then go back to your

01:05:49mode of goal Pursuit now there are a few

01:05:51other protocols that might seem Oho

01:05:54simple but frankly are oh so effective

01:05:57that I'd be remiss if I didn't mention

01:05:58them the first of those is actually

01:06:01something that I'm borrowing from Tim

01:06:03Ferris who did a post on Instagram which

01:06:06we will link to which I think is just

01:06:07spectacular which is 30 things that he

01:06:10wished he had known when he was 20 and

01:06:12while the internet is choca block full

01:06:14of such lists that particular list is

01:06:17truly impressive those are things that I

01:06:19too wish I had known when I was 20 but

01:06:21also when I was 30 and 40 and so on but

01:06:24one particular thing on that list of 30

01:06:26is particularly relevant now which is

01:06:29that the best productivity app is

01:06:32already on your phone which is to put

01:06:34your phone into airplane mode or more

01:06:37ideally and this is the one that I try

01:06:39my best to incorporate to Simply turn

01:06:41the phone off and remove it from my

01:06:44workouts or my attempts to learn

01:06:46language or my attempts to learn

01:06:47anything I realize that some people need

01:06:49to keep their phone with them for

01:06:50reasons related to communicating with

01:06:51family or uh co-workers Etc that's fine

01:06:55if you need your phone but to the extent

01:06:56that you can remove yourself from

01:06:58distractions that's certainly going to

01:06:59en enhance your ability to focus on what

01:07:02you need to focus on in pursuing your

01:07:04goals that sort of stands without saying

01:07:06it's kind of a duh and yet I think a lot

01:07:08of people are searching far and wide for

01:07:10the productivity app for the secret hack

01:07:12for the thing that's going to allow them

01:07:13to be Pro productive and oftentimes

01:07:15there are DOs actions that we can take

01:07:18in order to become more productive we're

01:07:19talking about some of those today we've

01:07:21talked about those in other episodes but

01:07:23there are of course important don't so

01:07:25don't have your phone facing up with

01:07:29Wi-Fi and Celler service on if you want

01:07:31to be productive at something that

01:07:33doesn't evolve your phone ideally you'll

01:07:35turn it over you'll turn it off you'll

01:07:36get rid of it you'll put it in the Next

01:07:37Room if you're like me you'll sometimes

01:07:39lock it in the car I think the most

01:07:41extreme that I've ever gone to ensure

01:07:43that I didn't um engage with my phone

01:07:44during goal Pursuit was during the early

01:07:47days of having my laboratory and I was

01:07:49writing multiple grants in parallel

01:07:51which is an immense amount of work I

01:07:52would walk into the lab labatory in the

01:07:54morning and I would hand a student or

01:07:56postto my phone and I'd say don't give

01:07:58this back to me until 5:00 p.m. and if I

01:08:00ask for it back if I even ask for it

01:08:02once everyone in the lab gets

01:08:04$500 there were quite a few people in my

01:08:06lab and so it's a significant cost to

01:08:08that and I must tell you there were

01:08:09numerous times throughout the day when I

01:08:11impulsively just thought okay I'm going

01:08:13need my phone damn it I don't want to

01:08:14have to do it and I also wanted to

01:08:15demonstrate to them that I could create

01:08:17an incentive system whereby I could

01:08:20basically Scruff myself into getting the

01:08:21work done and indeed um much to their

01:08:23dismay I never once had to pay them out

01:08:26although when we got the grants and

01:08:28indeed even when we didn't get the

01:08:29grants I did take them all to dinner now

01:08:31another key protocol for maintaining

01:08:33motivation while pursuing your goals

01:08:36stems from our understanding of the

01:08:38dopamine reward and motivation Pathways

01:08:41topics for which I have done multiple

01:08:44indeed three podcast episodes previously

01:08:47and we can provide a link to all three

01:08:48of those as well as the toolkit that

01:08:50we've published and that's available to

01:08:52you at zero cost on our website about

01:08:54how to regulate dopamine both Baseline

01:08:57dopamine stores and peaks in dopamine

01:08:59there's a lot there to be understood and

01:09:00Incorporated because it has to do with

01:09:03various things not just in the realm of

01:09:05goal Pursuit but also feelings of

01:09:07well-being um staving off depression

01:09:10things of that sort the dopamine system

01:09:11is linked to oh so many important

01:09:13aspects of Life far too many than we

01:09:15could discuss right now and we have

01:09:18those previous episodes in which we do

01:09:19discuss all of that material nonetheless

01:09:23it is important to understand that

01:09:24dopamine is the molecule of motivation

01:09:27and to some extent reward but really

01:09:29motivation and that if you want to

01:09:32maintain consistent motivation during

01:09:35say your individual bouts of work toward

01:09:39your goals and from one bout to the next

01:09:42so not just within a session but from

01:09:45day to day across sessions and from week

01:09:48to week and indeed from 12we cycle to

01:09:5212we cycle if that's required and from

01:09:54one goal that you set to the next goal

01:09:56that you define and decide to pursue you

01:09:59want to understand this particular

01:10:01feature of dopamine which is that yes

01:10:05dopamine and its release is highly

01:10:08valuable toward getting more motivated

01:10:11and feeling more motivated but that it

01:10:14has certain properties related to things

01:10:16like dopamine reward prediction error

01:10:18baselines of dopamine

01:10:20Etc that make it the case that if you

01:10:24reward yourself every time you reach a

01:10:26milestone say you finish out an hour or

01:10:28two hours of work so you treat yourself

01:10:30to something you reward yourself that

01:10:33you are going to diminish both the

01:10:35potency of that reward and you are going

01:10:38to reduce your motivation over time that

01:10:40might be surprising to you but if you

01:10:42were to watch those episodes it would

01:10:43all become clear as to why that is the

01:10:45case it is also true that if you were to

01:10:49only reward yourself when you accomplish

01:10:51your goal or perhaps more commonly if

01:10:55you look at the accomplishment of your

01:10:57goal as the only reward in the whole

01:11:00process of goal Pursuit and achievement

01:11:03that is going to undermine your

01:11:05probability of success as well rather

01:11:08the best way to incorporate the

01:11:09mechanics of the dopamine system such

01:11:11that you can achieve not just immediate

01:11:14motivation but ongoing motivation is to

01:11:16incorporate what is referred to as

01:11:18random intermittent reinforcement which

01:11:20is what the casinos use to keep people

01:11:22playing it simply

01:11:24means randomly reward yourself and

01:11:28randomly don't reward yourself for

01:11:29successful completion of Milestones

01:11:32those Milestones could be within a bout

01:11:35of effort or it could be across bouts of

01:11:38effort so let's say you set out at the

01:11:39beginning on your piece of paper to

01:11:42basically let's say run or practice at

01:11:44some cognitive Endeavor four hours total

01:11:46per week and you're going to do that

01:11:49Monday Wednesday Friday and Saturday

01:11:51should you reward yourself at the end of

01:11:53each session should you reward yourself

01:11:55at the end of each week the answer is it

01:11:58depends and it should depend in a random

01:12:00intermittent way so the simplest way to

01:12:02do this is whenever you complete a

01:12:04milestone could be at the end of a day

01:12:07you did your one hour whatever it was

01:12:09that you designated you were going to do

01:12:11on that particular day should you reward

01:12:13yourself cognitively or with some

01:12:16physical thing I don't know what that

01:12:19physical thing might be but it I don't

01:12:20know could be a meal could be a movie

01:12:22could be something that you enjoy well

01:12:24the answer is you should flip a coin and

01:12:26if it's heads yes reward yourself and if

01:12:28it's Tails don't it's that simple it is

01:12:32that simple it should be 50/50

01:12:34probability and it's random as to

01:12:37whether or not you reward yourself now

01:12:39with physical rewards like monetary

01:12:41Rewards or food rewards or a movie or

01:12:43participating in something else that you

01:12:45enjoy it's a bit easier to define the

01:12:47cognitive rewarding of One's Own efforts

01:12:50is something that people really struggle

01:12:52to comprehend but what I'm not referring

01:12:54to when I say cognitive rewards is I'm

01:12:57not referring to saying yes I'm the best

01:12:59and really trying to shower yourself

01:13:01with internal praise and tell yourself

01:13:03that you're the greatest thing that ever

01:13:04happened simply because you performed

01:13:05this learning bout what I'm simply

01:13:08referring to is the kind of

01:13:10internal dopamine reward that comes from

01:13:13telling yourself like yes I'm making

01:13:15progress I'm making progress I'm on the

01:13:17path I'm able to set a goal and achieve

01:13:18a goal which might seem like a healthy

01:13:20thing to do psychologically and in fact

01:13:21it is it's great I think it's really

01:13:24important that people be able to

01:13:25self-reward themselves especially

01:13:27self-reward for verbs that put them in a

01:13:30more adaptive stance in life that

01:13:32enhance their mental health physical

01:13:33health and performance and that of

01:13:34course also includes relationships we're

01:13:36not just talking about solitary Pursuits

01:13:38here we're talking about Pursuits that

01:13:40bring us into the world that allow us to

01:13:41lean into life with more Vigor and with

01:13:44more Effectiveness not just to help

01:13:45ourselves but to help others so what I'm

01:13:47referring to is completing something and

01:13:49internally patting yourself on the back

01:13:51for having completed that thing thing

01:13:53that is a good thing to do but if you

01:13:56want to maintain ongoing motivation

01:13:58you're not going to do that every time

01:13:59you're not going to punish yourself but

01:14:02rather you finish out a bout of learning

01:14:04you flip the coin let's say it lands

01:14:06tails on that day you simply shift into

01:14:09the next thing you need to do that day

01:14:10now it is not easy to suppress thoughts

01:14:13we know this it's very hard to suppress

01:14:15negative thoughts but it's still hard to

01:14:18suppress positive thoughts so internally

01:14:20if you're glowing from the fact that you

01:14:21performed well don't try and suppress

01:14:23that that's okay but if you flip a Tails

01:14:25then you don't want to actively engage

01:14:27in a self-reward process however if you

01:14:29flip the coin and it's heads well then

01:14:32you should absolutely engage in a

01:14:34self-reward process and that process

01:14:36should consist of 30 to 60 seconds of

01:14:39closing your eyes well you don't have to

01:14:41it works better if you close your eyes

01:14:42and simply thinking about the fact that

01:14:44yes you can set a goal you can engage in

01:14:47the specific set of questions do I want

01:14:49to do this practice today do I not want

01:14:51to do this practice today and then the

01:14:52specific set of actions maybe they

01:14:54involve visual focus and the other tools

01:14:56we talked about turning off of your

01:14:57phone Etc and you are somebody who can

01:14:59get things done you are somebody that is

01:15:02moving forward toward your particular

01:15:04goal and so you just sort of create a

01:15:06little bit of a positive cognitive loop

01:15:07around that ability that you are in fact

01:15:10building up and that's something that

01:15:11people often Overlook which is that not

01:15:14only is moving toward a goal great

01:15:17because it establishes more robustness

01:15:20in the neural circuits that allow us to

01:15:22perform that thing right I mean after

01:15:23all that's what learning is eventually

01:15:25you don't achieve the same frustration

01:15:27and errors that you do when trying to

01:15:29perform that thing eventually you learn

01:15:31how to play the piano you learn how to

01:15:32speak conversational French you run that

01:15:34sub six-minute mile but also the neural

01:15:37circuits associated with self-generated

01:15:40motivation and with the tools that we're

01:15:42talking about themselves are subject to

01:15:44neuroplasticity so those become more

01:15:46robust and that's fantastic because when

01:15:49you eventually reach one goal I would

01:15:51hope that you would then update and set

01:15:53out to achieve another goal and you will

01:15:55find that over time you will be more

01:15:57effective in achieving other goals by

01:16:00virtue of the work that you did in

01:16:02pursuing a previous goal because

01:16:04ultimately it's really about defining

01:16:06goals and then learning how to quantify

01:16:08the actions required and then engaging

01:16:10in those actions so there's the specific

01:16:13circuits involved in generating those

01:16:15actions which are very goal specific and

01:16:18then there are the circuits which

01:16:20circuits are we talking about we're

01:16:21talking about that amydala the lateral

01:16:22prefrontal cortex the orbital frontal

01:16:24cortex and the basil ganglia we talked

01:16:26about earlier that have been built up

01:16:28that have been reinforced because as I

01:16:30mentioned there is one universal circuit

01:16:33for goal Pursuit and achievement So

01:16:35Random intermittent reinforcement is the

01:16:38key and while I spent a good amount of

01:16:39time talking about self-generated

01:16:41cognitive reinforcement this also

01:16:43applies to any kind of physical rewards

01:16:45the movie that you're going to reward

01:16:46yourself with the ice cream cone the

01:16:49whatever that you're going to reward

01:16:51yourself with perhaps it's monetary

01:16:53perhaps it's food perhaps it's social

01:16:56random intermittent rewards are the ones

01:16:59that are going to keep you motivated and

01:17:01are going to best increase the

01:17:02probability of success not just within a

01:17:05given bout of learning not just dayto

01:17:07day not just week to week not just

01:17:09quarter to quarter but across the

01:17:10lifetime an important protocol to

01:17:13incorporate in your goal Pursuits is one

01:17:16that I learned from Dr Maya Shankar when

01:17:18she was a guest on the huban Lab podcast

01:17:21and she talked about the so-called

01:17:23middle problem the middle problem is the

01:17:25fact that people tend to have a lot of

01:17:27motivation at the outset of pursuing a

01:17:30goal although you now know that

01:17:33sometimes or some people don't have a

01:17:35lot of motivation when pursuing their

01:17:37goal at the start so they need to think

01:17:38about failures and how terrible

01:17:40everything will be and then they will

01:17:41certainly have motivation it's going to

01:17:42be a fear-based motivation but in

01:17:44general people tend to have more

01:17:46motivation at the start of pursuing a

01:17:48goal and at the end when they get close

01:17:52to or they start start to perceive the

01:17:54finish line but that most people

01:17:57experience the so-called middle problem

01:17:59where in the middle of a learning bout

01:18:02or in the middle of the week or in the

01:18:04middle of a 12-week cycle they are less

01:18:08motivated and this has actually been

01:18:09Quantified in numerous studies and there

01:18:12are several ways to overcome the middle

01:18:13problem the simplest one is to

01:18:16acknowledge it to recognize that it's

01:18:17coming and so when it does come and

01:18:19you're experiencing lower levels of

01:18:21motivation perhaps

01:18:23even increased failure rates and you're

01:18:25not performing as well you're getting

01:18:27frustrated to know that that's a natural

01:18:30process that everybody experiences and

01:18:32just knowing that can sometimes allow

01:18:34people to move through that to the place

01:18:37where then they can sense the end of the

01:18:39learning bout or they can sense that

01:18:40they're making some progress the finish

01:18:42line is there and then they get that

01:18:43increase in motivation again however

01:18:47sometimes the middle problem is such a

01:18:49problem that people need some tools to

01:18:51move through it and and the best way to

01:18:53move through the middle problem or in

01:18:55fact to eliminate it is actually to make

01:18:57the middle of a learning bout its own

01:19:00separate thing that you acknowledge the

01:19:02presence of and that you break up into

01:19:04three separate bouts so here we're

01:19:06talking about carving up the 1 hour

01:19:08learning bout or the two-hour learning

01:19:10bout into an initial phase where you

01:19:13either have naturally occurring

01:19:14motivation or you use fear-based

01:19:16visualization to increase your

01:19:17motivation you lean into that and then

01:19:20let's assume it's a 1H hour learning

01:19:21bout and then at about the 25 minute

01:19:24Mark you start to experience lower

01:19:26levels of focus perhaps then you use the

01:19:28visual Target protocol but then you go

01:19:30back into your bout of learning and

01:19:32you're not feeling very motivated it's

01:19:34hard your mind is drifting you want to

01:19:36pick up your phone you want to do other

01:19:37things you find yourself doing other

01:19:38things that's the period of time to take

01:19:41Say the 25 minute to 45 minute period

01:19:45within the session and divide it into

01:19:47perhaps three or even four smaller

01:19:50chunks of time and you perhaps have

01:19:52heard of chunking before chunking is

01:19:54simply breaking something down into

01:19:55smaller chunks that are more achievable

01:19:57that's simply what we're talking about

01:19:58here but really chunking up that middle

01:20:01section of a learning bout can be very

01:20:03effective at essentially eliminating the

01:20:05middle problem now for those of you that

01:20:07are going to be really nitpicky you'll

01:20:08say wait you take that 20 minutes from

01:20:10the 25 minute Mark to the 45 minute Mark

01:20:12within your hour learning bout and you

01:20:14divide it up into four little uh chunks

01:20:18and in those two middle chunks I'm going

01:20:19to feel the middle problem for those two

01:20:20middle chunks ah well that's not not

01:20:23actually the way it pans out fortunately

01:20:25when you break things down into small

01:20:26enough chunks you eliminate the middle

01:20:29problem and you experience sustained

01:20:31motivation now the extreme

01:20:33interpretation of that would have you

01:20:35measuring every minute or even every

01:20:36second of a learning bout and having

01:20:39consistent motivation throughout that

01:20:40because for instance if you can

01:20:41concentrate for 10 seconds why wouldn't

01:20:43you simply be able to just mark off

01:20:4510-second increments well at some point

01:20:47the marking off or the monitoring of

01:20:50those increments is going to be

01:20:51distracting to toward the thing that you

01:20:53actually want to do so the simple thing

01:20:56to do is to acknowledge the middle

01:20:59problem right the fact that we have more

01:21:01motivation at the start and at the end

01:21:03of our goal Pursuit sessions than we do

01:21:05within the middle and then to Simply

01:21:06chunk that middle section into three

01:21:09maybe four smaller chunks and if you

01:21:11need to incorporate things like the

01:21:12visual Target protocol one or three or

01:21:15perhaps even eight times within that

01:21:18middle section so be it it's going to

01:21:19help you move through with better focus

01:21:21and better motivation and what I just

01:21:23described can of course be applied to

01:21:25the longer bouts of effort that don't

01:21:27occur just during one learning bout but

01:21:30perhaps across the week so for instance

01:21:31if you are doing four days a week of

01:21:33language learning or Fitness training so

01:21:35maybe it's a Monday Wednesday Friday

01:21:36Saturday type of Schedule H you may

01:21:38notice that in the middle of the week

01:21:41the Wednesday training session tends to

01:21:42be the one that you're less motivated to

01:21:44do for whatever reason there could be

01:21:45any reason at all for which the

01:21:47motivation is lower in the middle of the

01:21:49week it doesn't matter well in that case

01:21:51you would want to First acknowledge the

01:21:53presence of the middle problem so you

01:21:54would want to acknowledge that that

01:21:56Wednesday training bout is prone to the

01:21:59middle problem because it is indeed the

01:22:00middle problem it's in the middle of the

01:22:02Monday and the Friday training bouts so

01:22:04then you would want to approach it with

01:22:05the understanding that it's going to be

01:22:07there and that you are going to need

01:22:08tools and protocols that will allow you

01:22:10to overcome it by for instance taking

01:22:13that one or two hour session on

01:22:15Wednesdays and putting a bit more time

01:22:17toward a visual Target protocol at the

01:22:19beginning to increase your focus a bit

01:22:22more more visualizing failure if you are

01:22:24feeling amotivated that means not

01:22:27motivated in nerd speak amotivated