I’ve talked about dopamine before. But if you remember it from here, turns out it’s not only known for the popular reward pathway. It’s also a major player in the Motivation Game.
In partnership with the mesolimbic pathway (which is essentially the connection between the midbrain and the outermost part of the brain; the cerebral cortex), dopamine fights the good fight by ensuring that we feel good. Whether it’s from a great night of sleep or from crushing our goals.
However, here’s where things get tricky. Or maybe trickier (because is the brain ever that simple?).
Motivation plays no favourites, and as such we can be motivated toward something or away from it. It all depends on where most of the dopamine hits.
If it’s the part in the brain called the nucleus accumbens (which in this situation, is more or less like your personal gym trainer), it’s safe to say that the motivation levels would be higher up.
However if it’s the insular, well, Godspeed, my friend.
And so comes the good news — there’s a way to help out!