FALLING IN LOVE WITH IMPROVEMENT

By mics

FREE EBOOK

If you were sold this for actual money, report the seller, for you
were scammed.

It’s about time you found the truth, no more saturated BS from all
of the self ‘help’ gurus online that keep you hooked onto their
channels with no future sign of improvement. Continue reading to
change your path from one of a falling man to one who is
improving, growing and loving every bit of it.

Fig. 1: The 2 Paths of Improvers

Block out the BS, forget what profitable lies these gurus are
telling you. Listen and listen attentively.
 CONTENTS
How to Manipulate Your Dopamine into Chasing Hard Work

The Mindset to Keep You Pushing Forward

Re-Vamping Your Perception to Eliminate Unnecessary Effort

Tinkering With Your Self-Image for Success

Finish
How to Manipulate Your Dopamine System into
Chasing Hard Work

“Learn to spike your dopamine from effort itself.”

-Andrew Huberman, Neurobiologist
Often times you may find it that performing hard work can simply
lead to feeling worse about yourself, despite just having done
what everyone is telling you to do. Now don’t get me wrong, most
times, if done correctly,
Hard work = dopamine release.
But 90% of the time people fall down the ditch of:

“Surely I should feel a glimmer of joy, why do I still feel like utter
sh**?”

Short Dopamine Explanation

Very briefly will I explain your dopamine system and how
dopamine is, like, dopamine? So, I’m going to give you 3 things
that you must know. Dopamine, the molecule of motivation,
seeking and ‘more’. Epinephrine, also known as adrenaline, the
molecule of focus, stress and ‘fight or flight’. These two are
actually really closely related.

Finally, we have dopamine receptors, the little attachments that

latch onto dopamine molecules in your brain that actually sense
dopamine; these receptors are the reason why you really feel the
excitement from dopamine release. Having more of these
receptors would usually mean having more excitement, meaning
that it’s not really the amount of dopamine being released that
makes you feel good but how much released dopamine that’s
actually being sensed by your receptors that make you feel good.

If you have a low concentration of dopamine receptors but you’re

flooding your dopamine system with videogames, junk food and
dr*gs, then you will not have as many dopamine receptors; your
dopamine receptors will be downregulated and you’ll find less
enjoyment in normal activities.

If someone had more dopamine receptors and indulged in less

dopamine-releasing activities, then their enjoyment would
probably equate to that of the lazy, addicted gamer that I
mentioned earlier.

Because of this, I will mostly use the term ‘dopamine’ to describe

dopamine that’s being received, as compared to ‘empty
dopamine’ that simply overloads the receptors.

“You could compare it to putting 10,000 volts through a machine

that works perfectly fine at 240 volts. You don’t get enhanced
performance, you merely cook the machine.”
Automatically (through oxygenation), dopamine gets converted
into epinephrine; epinephrine does mutually for dopamine, and
the two together create a feeling of excitement and motivation.
Dopamine on its own is just motivation. Epinephrine on its own is
actually mental paralysis and somewhat fear. Combining these
two can make you focused and motivated.

If there’s anything you take away from this chapter, let it be this:

Dopamine, once released, wants more dopamine. This is evident

whenever you, for example, finish playing videogames and seek
the next dopamine-spiking activity.

Now, why am I talking about this? I wouldn’t usually give you a

neurobiology lesson, and so because of that, understand that
knowing what goes on is a very important part of growing. After
all, you must identify your enemy to defeat him.

The POWER of Dopamine

Dopamine can actually alter your mood, energy levels and of
course, your motivation to do something. Having low amounts of
sensed dopamine will make you feel moody, irritable, tired,
frustrated, and all of the above. I would call this feeling ‘f***
everything’ disorder, because I genuinely used to feel like saying
‘I hate everything, f*** everything’ (sorry mum & dad!)

All jokes aside though, having low amounts of (received)

dopamine means being in a poor mood most of the time, which is
why a lot of people who are addicted to a vice are usually the
most bitter. You may notice this in your daily life.

Flooding your dopamine receptors with unnatural releases of

empty dopamine into your brain will make you feel good in that
moment, but fries your dopamine receptors and, you could say, it
purges a fraction of those oh-so-useful receptors that you needed
to enjoy life. Worry not, these receptors can recover through the
breaking of bad habits and forming of better ones. (Continue
reading for more information)

One Important Thing

Choice & intent play very damn important roles in the
upregulation and release of dopamine. There are incredible
differences in dopamine levels & mood between choosing to step
into and stay in a cold shower, as compared to being pushed into
and forced to stay in it.

It is (obviously) better to choose to do hard work, as compared to

being forced to do it against your will. Choice & intent play huge
roles in dopamine release and the overall enjoyment of said
activity.

If you are working hard against your own will, you will NOT
release much dopamine; if anything, your dopamine levels may
begin depleting and your mood will decline.

Keep this in mind.

This is the root of the problem that I used to struggle with; I would
waste my whole day lazing around and then feel even forced to
do at least something, and not even feel good after doing it. I
chose not to make myself enjoy it and gave up hope severally.

This is ignorance, and one must get rid of it completely to find

love within improvement.

There are 3 big reasons for your problem:

1. You are spiking dopamine before and/or after performing the
hard work
2. You see the result as the reward
3. You are expecting too much dopamine

Spiking dopamine before and/or after the activity will already spoil
your brain and ability to enjoy the activity. To truly start
associating a dopamine release with that effort you MUST NOT
spike dopamine prior to / after the activity.

Andrew Huberman, Neurobiologist, speaks about this issue with a

lot of people; since dopamine usually marks our perceptions of
time, thinking of what comes after—the delicious meal, the sauna,
the hot fudge sundae, whatever your reward is—it actually makes
the hard work feel: one, longer and two, more painful. Thinking
only in terms of the reward completely destroys your chance at
enjoying the improvement part. To combat this, however, you
must start to associate a dopamine release with hard work.

Finally, of these three, you must also understand that expecting

dopamine & excitement from an activity that you’ve done before
will also be a one-way ticket to frustration and ‘f*** everything’
disorder. You must not become entitled to dopamine release—you
will get let down. Approach the activity with a mindset that says:

“It doesn’t matter whether I get the same enjoyment I got last
time from this activity, all that matters is that I’m doing it.”

“…How The Actual [insert expletive] Do I Do That?”

As vague as my (and Huberman’s) previous statements sound,

it’s actually really simple because you have an internally
generated reward system within your brain which ‘connects’ to
the ‘conscious-thinking’ part of your brain (the prefrontal cortex)
meaning that you can cognitively activate this dopamine-
releasing reward mechanism through your own will.

“Okay, so how do I do this then?”

Practice Exercise

You want to incorporate this practice ‘in the moments of the most
intense friction’ (friction between your will to continue going and
your will to stop) where you tell yourself—mentally:
“This is really boring/painful, and because it’s boring/painful, my
dopamine levels will be higher later on, and I am doing this by
choice through my own will, because I love it.”

This is important.

This sounds like lying to yourself, but do yourself a favour and

think of it as lying in the truth that you want to enjoy this activity,
you want it to even feel satisfying and pleasurable. Do yourself a
favour and notice that weirdly pleasureful but hardworking feeling
that you get when you say “I love it” and notice that to be the
‘weak’ dopamine release you get, since you’re new to this
practice. However, as you develop in this skill and continue doing
it, through your brain’s natural development, the dopamine
releases will become much easier to access.

(Very important—don’t consciously think ‘I am lying in the context

of truth’; just acknowledge why you’re saying ‘I love it’ and feel
into the phrase)

What this does is, over time (not going to specify, be patient), the
more you do this in the midst of hard work, you will find that you
can release dopamine YOURSELF simply within times of effort,
and what that starts to do is you will start to actually enjoy these
tasks, for you to unlock the first door to enjoying self-improvement
and eventually loving it.
“When you expect something to happen, you are highly motivated
to pursue it.” –Andrew Huberman

The beautiful part about this process is that the more you do it, it
becomes reflexive for ALL types of effort, so you can (emphasis
on CAN, not MUST) implement it into every form of effort. A few
ways that I like to personally train my brain to do this is through:

1. Intermittent Fasting
This is one of the best ways to start attaching a rewarding
dopamine release to hard work, here’s why. Eating food
releases dopamine, we know this. Eating food while deprived,
say, after 10 hours of sleep, releases even more dopamine.
The reason why you release more dopamine while deprived as
compared to normally eating food is simply because your
dopamine receptors (see above for explanation) haven’t seen
much dopamine to latch onto, so you could say that your
‘respect’ for dopamine has been heightened by fasting. This
means that your brain will automatically seek reward from other
things, since dopamine will do anything to get more dopamine.
‘Other things’ can include things such as working out, reading,
doing work, etc., and then you can additionally repeat the
phrases in your mind in the midst of that work.

2. Studying
This was done by Huberman during his youth as a student, he
would always force himself to study whenever there was a
feeling of great friction between stopping his study session, and
continuing. Since he is actively choosing to study rather than
 stop, he would get a rather small but substantial dopamine
release.

3. Cold showers
Doing this teaches me how to associate the same anticipation
& dopamine release with other activities, so I basically do this
to observe how my mind is during the cold shower so I can also
reflect it into my own days. The weird, freakish, excited feeling
one gets while in a cold shower should be imitated in other
forms of hard work to release dopamine similarly.

4. Running
Running and not stopping while also telling myself, ‘this will up-
regulate my dopamine levels’ and ‘I’m doing this by choice
because I love it’ is the way that I have started to see results
and actually enjoyed it slightly. It also has various positive
health effects. After finishing a burst of running, I would tell
myself, ‘that effort was the good part, I run because I love to do
it’ and put meaning behind it too. It sounds like delusion, but it
works.

Acknowledge the fact that this is what works for me, and that
you will have to use this information to make tools of your own
that work for you personally. I can’t fix your hatred for hard
work, you can. That’s your greatest superpower.

Keep in mind to not expect another spike in dopamine the next

time you do something, if you get a spike the first time. Dopamine
spikes and drops are random. Remembering this is key because
it allows you to actually enjoy the activity that you are doing and
prevent frustration.
Remove the Reward & See What Happens
A study was conducted where they had a group of children that
liked drawing. These children would simply sit and draw because
they enjoyed it, for the internal reinforcement of ‘I like drawing, so
I’m going to do it more’. Then, the children were given something
that they liked after they had finished drawing. What one can find
is that they stopped drawing as often because drawing was no
longer internally rewarding, as there was a bigger reward that
was external—that reward being what they were given after.

What one can gleam from this examination is that simply

rewarding yourself after doing some form of work completely
removes your ability to find an intrinsic reward within the activity.
Dopamine wants more dopamine, and to get more, it wants the
reward but doesn’t want the effort anymore.

Try this experiment, where, say for example you usually eat a
nice meal after doing homework. Next time you do homework
don’t give yourself that meal. Remind yourself, “I am not having a
meal after this.” What you’ll be able to find is that you find more of
a reward during that process of doing homework. You can also
simply do your tasks in a fasting window and then eat for the rest
of the day outside of that window (intermittent fasting).
The Mindset to Keep You Pushing Forward

“When you’re doing the right things whilst also enjoying the
process of those things? Yeah, that’s a happy life.”
-Anonymous
I’d like to introduce something called ‘The Substance Mindset’.

The core foundation of this mindset lies in the idea of substance

(made by me I think) which highlights the importance of an
activity. The way I gauge whether or not an activity is of
substance is through these questions:

1. Does this improve me in any way?

2. Do I enjoy this?
3. Will this aid my goals/dreams?

After asking these 3 questions during any form of activity, I

automatically start working harder due to the simple logic behind
breaking it down and observing the utility and benefit of doing
said thing.

To truly love improvement, you must optimise substance. THIS IS

IMPORTANT. If you don’t enjoy the task, see the previous
chapter to learn how.

To truly understand the feeling of ‘substance’ within a task, it

must be meaningful, enjoyable and a contribution to goals.

Revamping Your Perception to Eliminate

Unnecessary Effort
“Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see
is a perspective, not the truth”
-Marcus Aurelius

Some habits, i.e. meditation, are annoyingly hard to do, despite

the fact that all you really have to do is sit there and focus for a
few minutes. The reasons behind this are:

1. Your dopamine levels are f***ed (you can change it)

2. You’re over-complicating it
How to Unf*** Your Dopamine Levels
To regulate your dopamine levels, you have to cut out
overstimulating activities. You know this. I know this. But you still
choose not to get rid of it because you’re scared of missing out.
I’m going to simply list out different ways to stop each of the
common bad habits:

Social Media – [Update Your Self-Image]

Videogames – [Update Your Self-Image]
P*rn—Read Burgeon
Dr*gs—[Update Your Self-Image]

Notice how most of these habits can be broken through updating

your self-image, which is incredibly simplified in this course here
(and many more tricks) .

How To Under-Complicate Tasks

A commonly used way to reduce how much effort you put into a
task. This can mean a few things: simply doing an easier variation
of said task, breaking down the task into simpler steps and doing
things one by one. What this does is it, instead of overwhelming
your brain with so many different things, give it familiar ideas that
you understand.

Example: for someone who used to be addicted to gaming to now

start improving in real life, they can convince their brain that it’s
equal to levelling up in real life, since levelling up is a familiar
concept in their mind.
Make your grind familiar to you. Simplify.

Fig. 2: The Simplification of Habits

Tinkering With Your Self-Image for Success

 “Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can
achieve”
-Napoleon Hill

I go incredibly in-depth into this in this course here if you’re

interested. To give a shortened description,

Your Self-Image alone can change your habits & beliefs. Your
subconscious mind is a very complex and useful mechanism only
when you input the right beliefs into it. This mechanism runs
solely off of interpretations and works hard to create self-beliefs
and thoughts that correlate with the plugged in beliefs. It does a
lot more than what you would think.
 Fig. 3: Self-Image Works Both Ways

Not many people in the self-improvement space speak about this

because it wouldn’t be profitable. All they would have to do is
speak about this and teach people how to change it, and nothing
more.

There’s nothing to over-complicate and squeeze out another 8

videos from, just the truth behind your control over your
perceptions. See here for more.

Again, this alone can simply be what makes improvement easy

for you and habits to become like a second nature.
 Fig. 4: The 2 types of improvers

AUTOSUGGESTION IS OVERPOWERED!
You may or may not be familiar with the idea of autosuggestion,
the ‘cheat code’ to utilising your beliefs (through affirmation) to
solidify and re-affirm things that you believe to be true about
yourself. For example, I would not use an affirmation saying that I
am happy, if I am depressed. That is avoiding problems.
However, I would use an affirmation that says I have a good
lifestyle, because I genuinely do. Using these affirmations can
similarly re-affirm beliefs that you have, say for example;

“The effort part is the rewarding part.”

This is simply an example of an affirmation that you can use.

How Do I Actually Use These?
It’s simple. Repeat the affirmation(s) (that meaning make a few
up yourself) and simply put meaning behind them, feel into the
saying, and really experience the emotion behind the phrase
each and every time you repeat it. Repeat 5-10 times daily for
optimal results.

Why Affirmations DON’T Work For Some

The programming that goes to the subconscious mind is derived
solely from the feeling that you get. Get the feeling again and
again and it’ll become normal. This is why some people also
visualise to ‘speak’ to the subconscious, because the experience
creates the feeling that normal experiences would give, and
therefore signals to the subconscious mind what you want it to
hear.

The people who fail with affirmations fail for two reasons:

1. they don’t experience the feeling

2. Their affirmation acts counterintuitively

The second reason could be confusing, but bear with me. If you
use an affirmation that you 100% cannot agree with (but do try to
feel it as true) then you’d experience a feeling of doubt and
disbelief. And guess what gets sent to the subconscious mind?
The doubt and disbelief. What you want to do is imagine yourself
as you are already that guy, even if it’s just imagination. After all,
your subconscious mind doesn’t know the difference between an
imagined experience and a real experience.
Don’t believe me?

When’s the last time you’ve had a really graphic and ugly thought
that came out of nowhere and made you feel sick on the inside?
The thought may or may not have had nothing to do with you, but
it’s simply just what happened and the emotion it evokes that
sends information to the subconscious mind to feed on.

If you want your self-image to really change, you must use this
practice daily while simultaneously changing your actions in
accordance to what you want to believe.
 END OF EBOOK

To conclude this short PDF,

 Unf*** your dopamine system—cut out bad stuff, stop spiking

your dopamine
 Learn to enjoy effort, not reward
 Do what is of substance, and what is meaningful
 Update your perceptions
 Reboot your self-image (see here)

Again, thank you for downloading and reading.

Take care.

Sources:
my fat brain

quotes: Andrew Huberman, Marcus aurelius, napoleon hill,

anonymous

bigmics 2023