if I am unmotivated right now what should I do

When feeling unmotivated, Andrew Huberman provides several strategies:

1. Visualization of Failure: If you're struggling to get motivated, spend a few minutes visualizing the negative consequences of not reaching your goals. This visualization can tap into your autonomic nervous system and release neurotransmitters like epinephrine, norepinephrine, and dopamine, which can help kickstart your motivation 1.

2. Tackle the Pain Trough: Understand that a lack of motivation can be due to a trough in dopamine levels, which is experienced as a lack of desire or craving. By doing something more effortful or even somewhat painful but safe, like a cold shower, you can rebound out of this dopamine trough and regain your motivation 2.

3. Gradual Engagement: When procrastinating, you might find yourself engaging in activities to avoid the one you're avoiding, like cleaning the house. Instead, engage in a very short duration of the task you're avoiding to start generating momentum, using those small completions to gradually pull you out of procrastination 3.

   Motivating Through Visualization

   Andrew Huberman

   Andrew Huberman discusses the power of visualization in achieving goals. He explains how positive visualization can motivate us when we are already feeling motivated, but when lacking motivation, visualizing failure can be a more effective strategy. He debunks the myth that imagining something creates the same neurochemical and neural circuit states as actually experiencing it.

   

   Huberman Lab

   Goals Toolkit: How to Set & Achieve Your Goals | Huberman Lab Podcast

   Explore similar conversationsView full episode summary

   1

   2

   3

   4

   5

   6

   7

4. Leverage the Middle Problem: When your motivation dips mid-process or mid-week, acknowledge this "middle problem," and then break your tasks into smaller chunks. By tackling these chunks with deliberate focus, you can increase motivation and make it through the toughest parts of your task 4.

5. Implement Growth Mindset: Adopt the belief that your current inability to do something well is just temporary. By telling yourself you haven't achieved it "yet," you can create a more positive approach to the task and build motivation over time 5.

6. Turning Effort into Reward: Learn to find pleasure in the effort itself by developing a growth mindset and leveraging the fluctuations of dopamine. This approach can help you feel motivated despite challenges 5.

7. Self-Reflection: Engage in self-awareness practices, focusing on what's important for you and what might be keeping you from feeling motivated. Sometimes, understanding your current mental state and the overwhelming external factors can provide clarity on the next step forward 6.

8. Action Despite Anxiety: If procrastination is driven by anxiety, pushing against that anxiety by engaging in the task can help you overcome it. This approach forces you to face the discomfort head-on, eventually building momentum 7.

Try implementing one or more of these strategies to help you overcome the feeling of being unmotivated.

You're welcome! If you have any more questions or need further assistance, feel free to ask.

Looking directly at the sun is generally not considered safe, particularly when the sun is high in the sky and bright enough to cause pain. Andrew Huberman recommends against staring at the sun, especially if it is so bright that it is painful to look at, as this can damage your eyes. However, there are specific contexts where indirect sun exposure can be beneficial, particularly in the morning when the sun's angle is low.

In the morning, when the sun is low in the sky, it can be safe to view it as the brightness may be tolerable and not painful to the eyes. This can help trigger a cortisol spike and set your sleep-wake cycle for the evening. It is advised to look towards the sun without directly staring at it if it seems too bright. It's important to blink whenever necessary and never to look at any light source, including sunlight, that is so bright it causes pain or discomfort. Sunglasses should not be worn during this morning exposure to allow the photons to properly reach the retina and trigger the desired signals in the brain. Corrective lenses with UV protection are acceptable, as they still allow enough light through to stimulate the circadian response 1 2.

Also, Andrew Huberman mentions that even on cloudy days or if you live in an area that doesn't have much sunlight, the ambient light outside is still far greater than what you get from artificial light sources indoors. It is suggested to chase some sunlight during the day to expose your eyes and skin to sunlight as much as you safely can 3.

In all cases, Huberman advocates safety first, where one should not gaze at the sun if it's painful and to avoid looking at any light source that's so bright it causes discomfort. So while morning sunlight can have benefits for regulating the circadian rhythm and mood, caution is always warranted to prevent eye damage.