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How to create a productive workspace at home
How to balance work and personal life while working remotely
How to maintain focus and motivation while working remotely
What's motivation neurologically?
For motivation, there are multiple brain regions involved, but one in particular is the reward centre of the brain. It consists of two key areas: one called VTA (ventral tegmental area) and the other called nucleus accumbens (or NACC).
During pleasant activities, the VTA secretes a chemical called dopamine. Dopamine is called the molecule of pleasure – anything that feels enjoyable to us, it feels that way because of dopamine.
And different activities secrete different levels of dopamine. And the things which are enjoyable, such as our favourite food, or time with our loved ones, they secrete high levels of dopamine.
Interestingly, there is some research showing that actually in order to secrete more dopamine, we need unpredicted rewards.
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When you link a task, you don't want to do!
It changes whether you stimulate reward centres or pain centres in the brain. When we resent something, we naturally stimulate our pain centres, which changes our emotional state and the blood flow to different regions of the brain – blood and energy is prioritised for your muscles.
This so...
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Break?
A good rule of thumb is having at least one break an hour and a half. Every 90 minutes, take a 15-minute break. For some people, this is too long – so they might work for 45 minutes and take a five to 10 minute break. It depends on your own individual preferences.
As the day goes by, severa...
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Conclusion
Take a piece of paper and write down one thing that would be really meaningful for you to get done today. It can be something tiny – sending an email or working for a small amount of time. It’s still better than nothing, right?
Once you’ve finished reading, set yourself a 25-minute timer an...
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Creating unexpected rewards!
Some things naturally create a level of surprise. For instance, social situations naturally bring a level of uncertainty. When you have a meeting with somebody, they might praise you or they might tell you off or they might be neutral. You don’t know. So, if you’re working from home and really fe...
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Large work needs large motivation.
Don’t even started until you see a point in doing it, because it’s going to be really unpleasant. If you if you stimulate pain centres related to that task, A) your performance will be worse, B) you won’t enjoy it, and C) it would take much, much longer for you to get it done.
So, write dow...
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Other curated ideas on this topic:
The Role of Dopamine in Our Brain's Communication
Dopamine: a special chemical in our brain that helps nerve cells communicate with each other.
- Produced in (substantia nigra, hypothalamus, and ventral tegmental area)
- Involved in (movement, motivation, reward, and pleasure)
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