TRTC - What Choice WILL You Make?

The Road to Change:

Step Five: Would You Like a Penny or a Million Dollars?

If I offered you a million dollars TODAY or a penny that would double in value every day for 30 days, which would you choose?  Most people would go for the instant gratification of a million dollars instead of waiting for that penny to compound.  But if you delayed your gratification and took the penny, at the end of 30 days, you’d have $5,368,709.00.  A little bit of restraint yields a much larger return, so why do people give up so easily on their goals for the immediate return of pleasure?

I have been comparing the weight loss process to money management for decades and wondered why it wasn’t an effective strategy.  If 80% of Americans are in debt, it makes total sense that 74% of Americans are also overweight or obese.  Clearly, having a shiny new object or satisfying a desire for chocolate is more important than long term financial stability or disease-free, healthy Golden Years.  Are we destined to be gluttonous?  Or is there a physiological reason we seek instant gratification?  Turns out, we need to develop a better relationship with dopamine. 

What is dopamine?  It’s a neurotransmitter, a chemical released by neurons, to send signals to other nerve cells.  In the brain, dopamine is a major contributor in reward-motivated behavior (food, sex, drugs, social media).  The anticipation of the reward increases the levels of dopamine which further drives the behavior and produces more dopamine.  It’s termed the dopamine feedback loop, or in pop culture, it’s the drive for the next high.  Let’s look at this example:

I’ll use myself as an example.  When I bought my new car, I was SO proud of myself and I posted a picture of myself with Olive (yes, my car’s name is Olive) to my social media page.  Then I waited.  Ten minutes later I checked my news feed and there they were.  All the likes and comments congratulating me on my beautiful new car.  Hello fresh dopamine dump.  These feel-good feelings are addictive, which leads to another post and another and another. 

This is why getting rid of social media is so hard. 

This is why it’s hard to eat one chip. 

This is why changing ANY behavior that makes us feel good, REALLY hard.  But you can do it.

You’re never getting rid of dopamine, but you can change the behaviors that drives the feedback loop.  Have you ever volunteered and then felt really good afterwards?  That’s dopamine.  What about finishing a marathon?  Yep, dopamine again.  How about the feeling you get after cleaning a dirty house?  Our dopamine friend again.  In drug/alcohol recovery, they suggest changing the people, places and things associated with the behavior of drinking or drugs.  Yes, it’s hard, but small, consistent steps taken every day, compound into new behaviors.  Hmmmm, where have I heard this before????

Here is your Step 5 Challenge: Take Action to Change Behavior

The hard work is already done:

·       You’ve collected data.

·       Identified obstacles.

·       Reverse engineered how to be successful.

·       Learned how to make your steps small enough to manage. 

The next part is ACTION.  You need to start acting on your intentions and start to create new feedback loops. 

Example from Bri and adopted by Karen V: 

Bri wanted to spend less time on social media and spend more time doing her artwork (both activities gave her a dopamine dump).  First, she set a limit on her phone for social media.  She allowed herself 1-hour a day to scroll news feeds.  Once she was successful, she DELETED all social media from her phone, so now she must turn on her computer to scroll.  This change of environment changed her behavior.

Post your action steps on trainerize!