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Sheila Neisler

The Dope on "Dope" & Self-Sabotage

I'm interested in bad habits and self-sabotage (mine - not yours - not-to-worry!) Seriously though - why do I have a major success then fall back to earth (more about that later) - but screwing up - and I realized that my mind's addiction needs its fix! The place in the brain for both pleasure and pain are the same place - to get back to equilibrium something bad has to happen to offset the something good - UNLESS you check yourself and seek a different habit (think about losing weight, you weigh in - pat yourself on the back . . . and then head to the ice cream shop). I used to do that when I was making calls out of town - have a good morning - head to Dunkin' for some coffee and "holes" - my reward (pleasure) for pain (making sales calls).

Here's an article I found in the NYT about our addiction to dopamine (ironically - dope's meaning - Webster: a narcotic / Slang -anything "good" - has NO relationship to the juice your brain spits out to make you feel good). However, if you're reaching for your phone too much / living on Facebook & I-gram / headin' for the potato chips / or checking email when you're supposed to be "in the zone" working on a project and have ran into a wall / road block - being present - and understanding your brain's present state - can help you "check" that bad decision. PS - as I was writing this, gotta text - and YEPPERS - I answered it.

Here's more about Dopamine - and my friend Curtis tells it better than me:


Seriously, in the book - Atomic Habits by James Clear - he noted that the "thought" of the action actually lit up our brain more than the action itself - i.e. checking out email - and realizing that there wasn't a career-changing email wanting to hire us- Studies showed that cocaine addicts had a higher dope-hit seeing the white powder than when they ingested it.



So let's create some better "Dope" Habits - Atomic habits - how your lifestyle - and life process can be hacked to facilitate making better habits (choices) or getting rid of bad habits. Creating "matter over mind. . . "

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