7 tools to help you start enjoying the journey
The big chase:
What if happiness is not achieved by a pursuit but is attained by the pursuit itself?
What if there is no special reward at the peak of the metaphorical mountain you're climbing yet the climb is immensely rewarding in itself?
We find ourselves chasing goals we believe will change our lives, make us happy, and once we get them everything will be smooth sailing ever after.
The problem is that life is more complex than that. Any goal achieved will most probably not solve all of your problems or make you the happiest version of yourself. Though achievements can and do make you happy, the effect is usually short-lived.
Yet we crave the pursuit. Even knowing that many of our challenges will stay unsolved and that happiness is temporary, we gaze starry-eyed at those all promising goals.
But if happiness is achieved only by reaching your destination, then the journey is something mundane that just needs to pass and does not bring us the joy we desire.
Since the journey is where we spend most of our time, it's quite a shame to go through it unfulfilled.
Concerningly, some goals can potentially stay unmet when the path towards them is unwelcoming. If that is the case one can be motivated to quit or find it hard to persistently make progress. That’s definitely hurting productivity.
Why is that? And what can be done about it?
Hedonic treadmill:
This hedonic treadmill or hedonic adaptation theory (sometimes mistakenly referred to as the hedonistic treadmill) states that every person goes back to their baseline level of happiness regardless of the experiences they have. Simply put, some time after a positive or negative event the happiness level will gravitate towards the baseline.
Dopamine & motivation:
Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that plays an important role in an individual’s motivation mechanics and reward system. It’s important for the ability to learn what is good or bad as well as the actions necessary to obtain the good and avoid the bad.
The reward system in our brain relies strongly on dopamine. Dopamine is the neurotransmitter that facilitates the communication of the different areas in our brain which constitute the reward system. When we’re expecting a reward, dopamine-releasing neurons are activated in order to reinforce the actions taken.
When a reward is greater than expected, more dopamine is released. Less dopamine is released if the reward is less than expected. Interestingly, the expectation of a reward is actually what contributes to the strongest emotional reactions rather than the reward itself.
The mechanics of dopamine:
Dopamine is released by the firing or activation of specific groups of neurons. These neurons dispatch dopamine in either a ‘tonic’ mode or a ‘phasic’ mode. In the tonic mode, a baseline level of dopamine is consistently released while in the phasic mode there is a major increase or decrease in the amount of dopamine released.
It’s important to note that most increases in dopamine levels are transient. Additionally, after a spike in dopamine, there’s a drop below baseline levels. The magnitude of the drop is actually proportional to the spike. So a short-lived sharp spike in dopamine levels may actually have a bitter-tasting after effect.
Dopamine hits:
Certain foods and activities give us a strong dopamine “hit” or a sharp increase in dopamine release. Some examples are scrolling social media and eating chocolate. Yet due to the mechanics of dopamine release, these hits may be followed by a pretty bad drop in dopamine levels, potentially leaving you with a feeling of emptiness or simply displeasure.
How do the hedonic treadmill & dopamine influence our ability to enjoy the journey?
A possible explanation for the way dopamine motivates us to constantly seek out new goals is that it’s constantly pushing us towards finding more resources, tools, areas of knowledge, useful physical & virtual locations, people to connect alongside other things.
The hedonic treadmill theory reinforces this explanation from a behavioral perspective. If we constantly return to our baseline levels of happiness then we’re also constantly trying to go above baseline levels and experience higher levels of happiness and positive emotions.
While such a “greedy” tactic & behavior allows capturing whatever is immediately available, it may hinder deeper and long-term processes. The journey is specifically such a deep and long-term process.
Actionable tools to take control & start enjoying the journey
1. Accept that there is no silver bullet. Due to the complex nature of life and the multitude of factors affecting and constraining our experiences, it’s rare to be able to execute big moves in a short time frame. Processes are usually very gradual and slow. Yet if you are persistent then you will dramatically improve your odds to see positive results.
2. Actively expect to be enjoying the journey. As demonstrated in the research done by Alison Looby, modifying expectations has a high potential to improve mood and cognition. Similar research-backed advice is also given by Professor Andrew Huberman. He recommends attempting to spike dopamine while engaged in an activity or effort in contrast to doing so prior to or after (Listen at 1:47:31 of his podcast episode on dopamine).
This step may seem superficial, obvious, or not impactful. Yet note that this is research-backed advice. Consider giving this approach some time and thought regarding how it can be implemented.
3. Develop an awareness of self. This awareness allows one to focus on himself and recognize his own emotional, mental and physical state. One key tool for improving your self-awareness is starting to ask ‘what’ caused something more than ‘why’. The more you develop this ability the greater you become at the skill of objectively interpreting your own actions, thoughts, and feelings. An awareness of self helps pave the way towards critically examining our own patterns of emotion, thought, and action. It gives us a better understanding of ourselves and our tendencies to fall into traps of short-term dopamine pursuit. This understanding is important towards breaking potentially negative internal patterns and building healthy ones.
4. Positive perception, interpretation, and view of life. In her research, Sonja Lyubomirsky found that people who are generally happy tend to have a positive outlook on life. Their interpretation of events and perception of life, in general, is more positive than negative. Sounds simple, but in reality, this implies that enjoying the journey and happiness is a proactive choice. At times not an easy one, but nonetheless a very important one.
5. Gratitude. It can be practiced as listing things we are grateful for. This is a useful practice but not the only one. A key paper to consider is “Neural correlates of gratitude” by authors Glenn R. Fox and colleagues. The results reveal that when subjects heard stories of holocaust survivors who received help from others, they felt strong positive emotions and gratefulness. An effective practice advised by Professor Andrew Huberman (Huberman Lab #47) is to think of times when we helped others resulting in their gratitude as well as stories of people in need who were assisted by others which resulted in their gratefulness.
6. Meditation. Research done by Barbara Fredrickson and colleagues shows that practicing “loving-kindness meditation” can improve one’s baseline levels of happiness. In some ways it allows one to rise above the hedonic treadmill. Research also suggests that consistently meditating and fostering positive thoughts has the ability to create a change that lasts.
7. Spread out things you enjoy doing over time and finish things you don’t in one go. This is a simple scientifically backed tool. It helps you experience more joy over time from the things you like while reducing to a minimum the discomfort experienced by the things you don’t.
Take action!
Hopefully, you have gained information and tools which will assist you to start enjoying the journey, not the destination. The mechanisms of dopamine and the hedonic treadmill can be understood and used to your advantage. Proactively anticipate to enjoy the journey you are on and plan on how to best put the tools mentioned to practice.
Thank you for reading and may you gain compounding returns.