On this episode, Dr. Rick Hanson and Forrest focus on motivating yourself: how we can incline our minds to break bad habits, and want the things that are good for it.
We all have things we know would be good to do, but it’s hard to do them. Equally, there are things that we know are bad for us, but we keep doing them anyway. Why don’t our brains just automatically want to do those good things?
On this episode, Dr. Rick Hanson and Forrest focus on a key aspect of motivation: how we can incline our minds to break bad habits, and want the things that are good for it.
During this episode they explore:
- How to “hack” the motivational circuit of the brain.
- The importance of forming clear relationships between action and reward.
- Why different people have different issues with motivation.
- How we can sustain motivation over time, rather than just going through short bursts of intense effort.
- The differing impacts of self-nurturance and self-criticism.
Timestamps:
- 0:40: Why doesn’t just knowing that something is bad stop us from doing it?
- 2:55: How does motivation work biologically?
- 7:00: The importance of connecting good behaviors to direct rewards.
- 8:50: Becoming good at imagining rewards.
- 12:40: Internalizing reward along the way.
- 14:20: Imbuing simple tasks with meaning.
- 17:30: Bringing playfulness to what you do.
- 19:30: Is there genetic variation in how easily motivated people are?
- 23:35: Having empathy for biological differences between people.
- 27:40: The relationship between nature and nurture.
- 33:35: The value of fulfilling expectations.
- 37:25: Identifying novelty.
- 39:40: Finding the fun factor.
- 41:00: Self-nurturance vs. self-criticism.
- 46:15: Recap
Dr. Rick Hanson offers 57 brief practices that strengthen the neural networks of deep well-being and resilience.
This program gives you just one thing to focus on each day to gradually change your brain for the better so you can handle the stresses and challenges of everyday life with greater ease, inner strength, and confidence.
Each practice is grounded in modern neuroscience and ancient wisdom, and Rick’s background in the very real world of business and raising a family.
Practices include a 1-2 minute video explaining the importance of the practice and how to do it, a recap, reflection, and suggestion for integrating it into your daily life, weekly emails with inspiration, support, and encouragement, an audio download, transcription, and printable handout.
They’re quick and easy to do, and each repetition strengthens key neural circuits – just like building a muscle in the gym. It’s the law of little things: a small thing repeated each day adds up to big results. Just one thing… that could change your life.
Use the code BEINGWELL at checkout for 10% off the purchase price.
