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Procrastinate with Other Tasks Another counterintuitive finding that Dr. Huberman addresses in the episode is this: procrastination isn't always bad. Done right, it can actually nudge you into goal-mode. Imagine you're about to sit down to do some deep work on a high priority project. Instead, you tidy up your desk a bit, send a quick message, and water your house plant. To the untrained eye, you're procrastinating. You lack self discipline and need to listen to David Goggin's audiobook on repeat. But Dr. Huberman cites some evidence that you may in fact be a productivity ninja with an intuitive understanding of your own neuroscience. There are several recent studies which have shown that a little bit of multitasking before a work session can actually help you get going! Here's why some pre-task multitasking can work: "It probably reflects some adaptive mechanism where you use action and somewhat varied multitasking action in order to generate adrenaline in your system, because adrenaline just gets you into action." Now if you get completely sidetracked and end up organizing your closet in reverse alphabetical order, then you might have taken things too far. And once you've actually started your activity, the usual rules of focused combat apply: lock your smartphone in a high security bank vault and try to stay on task. But you might have spotted a theme developing here. A lot of these goal-oriented techniques work by amping up your adrenaline and thereby activating your CARPE DIEM mode. Focus Your Eyes to Focus Your Mind Dr. Huberman tells us that the following strategy is one of the most powerful productivity hacks in all of neuroscience: Focus your visual attention on a single point for 30-60 seconds. And... uh... that's it. Just pick a point on the wall, or on your computer, or in the distance and... stare at it. You can blink but don't move your head and don't look away at anything else. No, really, that's it. Not only is this the simplest strategy to get yourself started on goal related activities, it's quite possibly the most important. He says: "I would argue that the visual system and harnessing your visual attention to a narrow point is going to be the most effective way to get your brain and body into a mode of action to pursue whatever goal it is you're trying to pursue." Dr. Huberman discusses a study that had two groups of people race to cross a finish line. They found that people who focused on the goal line were 23% faster and used 17% less perceived effort compared to those who did not stare at the goal line! It almost seems too simple to be true, but there's a hefty amount of neurobiology backing this up. It's all about how it changes your sense of space. All goals, by definition, are beyond your reach, right? Your target exists in some other place or time. The iced frappuccino you're craving is down the road at your local coffee shop. Your dream salary, beach holiday, and quest for world domination all exist in the future. Even the act of planning a goal requires you to shift your imagination from the present to the future. Dr. Huberman defines all of this as "extrapersonal space"—anything that exists in some distant time or location. The opposite of this is "peripersonal space"—everything in your immediate surroundings. This includes you, your internal sensations and anything nearby (e.g. a coffee cup within reach). If you're just chilling at home and you've got everything you need, your peripersonal space is "sufficient" and you'll probably feel quite relaxed. When you're relaxed, your gaze will typically be soft and roam around. But when you need to go get something and you shift into goal pursuit mode, your focus tends to shift toward a specific target. Maybe it's some place, person, or food in the extrapersonal distance that you're trying to obtain. Your visual focus literally becomes more narrow, which is associated with an increase in energy and alertness. By switching up your visual focus, you can reverse engineer these different states. By staring at a target, you trigger your goal pursuit mode. You shift yourself into extrapersonal space. You're signaling to your brain and body that it's time to hunt and gather. "We are placing our focus outside our body, and therefore we are placing the brain into goal pursuit mode." Not only that, focused visual attention is associated with the increased levels of systolic blood pressure and adrenaline which we've been harping on about. So staring at a fixed point is a super simple way of simultaneously shifting yourself into extrapersonal space and jacking up your physiology. A goal pursuit double whammy. So, the next time you sit down to get some work done, try having a staring competition with your coffee cup. If a concerned passerby asks you what you're doing, just smile knowingly and say... "neuroscience". If you want to learn more about how to train your attention in this way, we recommend checking out: You can only respond to what you notice. PART III — GOAL PERSISTENCE Things are really starting to come together here. You've got challenging goals with action plans. You've got strategies to pump yourself up to get started. Now there's just one essential component left to cover: showing up consistently for the long haul. Some goals take a long time. What you need to develop next is persistence. Persistence is the difference between you writing the first chapter versus finishing the entire novel, between taking a few Spanish classes and achieving fluency, between surviving the first year of your startup or taking it all the way. Success means supplying your goal circuitry with an abundant stream of energy over long timescales. Fortunately, Dr. Huberman tells us about that too. Give Yourself A Pat On The Brain Adrenaline is what makes you feel like putting in effort, kicking ass, and taking names, right? Well, Dr. Huberman tells us that adrenaline is made from dopamine. No dopamine = no adrenaline. And nothing will keep your dopamine levels topped up like the feeling that you're making progress. The neurochemistry of long-term goal pursuit feeds off the belief that you're on the right track. This leads us to two dopamine-related protocols that Dr. Huberman recommends to make you motivated over the long haul. Have A Weekly Check In Take some time to review the progress you've made on your goals once a week. Nice and simple. This review can act as your "dopamine milestone"—a pit stop where you signal to your brain that things are moving forward. It's a chance for you to stop off at your neurochemical fueling station and top up your motivation tank. If you're not used to weekly reviews, then it's probably better to start small and just focus on building the habit before trying to dial in the perfect process. You can start with something as simple as opening your notes app on a Sunday and writing—"What progress did I make over the past week?" Once checking in becomes second nature, you can get more sophisticated with it as you see fit. You can use it as an opportunity to update your action plan, reflect on what held you back during the week, or track specific metrics like Dr. Huberman's "minutes spent doing zone 2 cardio" or Cal Newport's "hours spent doing deep work." The key is to just send some kind of signal to your brain that things are moving in the right direction. Once a week is the general guideline from Dr. Huberman, but he adds a caveat that you should go with whatever works for you—whatever interval you can keep up and find most useful. "I think that checking in at the end of the week, looking back on the previous week, and assessing how well you performed in pursuit of a given goal, how many times a week you ran, or how many times you studied, or how many times you did something that you wanted to do or avoided something that you didn't want to do. I think that's a reasonable and tractable schedule." Reward Your Effort The next tip is one of Dr. Huberman's most interesting pieces of advice: you might be able to think your way to higher dopamine levels. All you have to do is develop a bias for progress. If you want to stay motivated over the long run then you must reward yourself mentally when you take action on your goals. And the way you do that is by throwing yourself an internal party when you put effort into your priorities. You really have to pat yourself on the brain when you make an effort. We can personally attest to the power of this one. Every time we finish a deep work session, we take a moment to induce a feeling of achievement. It's gradually made our work more rewarding over time and it's become way easier to get started. Obviously, we still need to care about outcomes. And it's natural to get down about how far away we are from our goals, or the fact that the quality of our work isn't good enough yet, or to get discouraged by the obstacles in front of us. But in order for us to keep showing up and to keep swinging over the long run, we have to practice feeling good about the fact that we turned up to bat. Dr. Huberman says: "If we constantly place ourselves into a mode of thinking we are failing, well, then indeed, we are not going to turn out much dopamine." So, the next time you make an effort on something important — take note, and then take pride. Celebrate progress, not perfection! Build A Spacetime Bridge Last but not least, spacetime bridging is the daily practice that Dr. Huberman uses to keep his goal circuitry "tuned up". It's a short, daily exercise which is designed to teach your visual, cognitive, and emotional systems how to seamlessly transition between focusing on different time scales and locations. Remember, goal-oriented behavior is processed by your brain in relation to different places in space: far away goals are like locations that are many miles away, and short-term goals are like things that are closer to your personal space. According to Dr. Huberman, Spacetime Bridging builds your brain up to be able to seamlessly transition focus between goals at different time scales. This, in turn, improves your ability to set, plan, assess, update, and execute them. Here's the 5 step process: Close your eyes. For three slow breaths, focus all of your attention on what you can feel within your body. Examples of internal sensations might include your breath, your heartbeat, or the feeling of your feet touching the ground. Open your eyes. Look at a part of your body. For example, the palm of your hand. Keep 90% of your attention on your internal sensations still. But direct 10% of your attention to the part of your body you're looking at. Do this for three slow breaths. Now look at something which is outside of your body. If you're inside, it might be an object on the other side of the room. If you're outside it might be something 5-15 feet away. As you breathe in slowly for another three breaths, keep just 10% of your attention on those breaths. Direct 90% of your focus at whatever external thing you're looking at. Now look at something which is as far away as you can possibly see. Ideally, you can see a horizon or out of a window. Focus 100% of your attention on what you're looking at for another three breaths. Finally, expand your vision as wide as possible. Rather than focusing on anything in particular, you're trying to soften and widen your focus so that you can see everything in your periphery. Do this for three breaths. Dr. Huberman says that he moves through each of these stations 2-3 times. The whole thing can take about 90 seconds to 3 minutes depending on how slow your breaths are. The exercise is performed once a day. "This behavior, or this practice, rather, is teaching us to use our visual system and thereby our cognitive system, and thereby our reward systems, to orient to different locations in space, and therefore to different locations in time. And that is the essence of goal directed behavior." Moving between these stations on command is the foundation of setting, planning, monitoring, and executing goals. You'll also train your ability to launch from your peripersonal space into that extrapersonal, goal-oriented mode of pursuit. "I do believe this can be greatly beneficial in allowing one to set particular goals and then move through the milestones to those goals and to constantly update one's pursuit and reward in reaching those milestones and eventually, the overall goal." the nine physical adaptations from exercise). I designed this protocol to address all major fitness goals, including strength, hypertrophy, endurance, and cardiovascular training. Below, I describe the protocol, include specific exercise suggestions (modifiable examples), and explain ways to modify this core schedule, should you choose. I also provide tips for integrating a consistent fitness regimen into your week, but with flexibility. Resistance Training Two key principles for resistance training will help you get the most out of the foundational protocol: Use alternative training schedules ("periodization") to optimize your strength and muscle hypertrophy. Alternate between Schedule A and B monthly: Schedule A: ~4-8 repetitions (heavier weights) and 3-4 sets per exercise with 2-4 minutes rest between sets Schedule B: ~8-15 repetitions (moderate-lighter weights) and 2-3 sets per exercise with ~90 seconds rest between sets Choose two exercises per muscle group. Exercise #1 should focus on bringing the muscle into a shortened or maximally contracted position at the end of the range of motion (e.g., leg curl, seated calf raise, bicep preacher curl, leg extension, chest cable crossover). Exercise #2 should focus on resistance occurring for the muscle group when it is in a lengthened position (e.g., standing calf raises, incline dumbbell curls, deep squats, glute-hamstring raises or straight legged deadlifts, incline press, etc.). *Keep weight workouts to 50-60 minutes of hard work after a warmup, 75 minutes maximum. This assists effectiveness and recovery. The 75 minutes does include rest between sets and does require not getting stuck waiting for equipment too long, avoiding texting between sets, etc. Warm up, then get it done. Foundational Fitness Protocol I have created the following routine to encompass training for all major physical fitness goals over the course of a week. This protocol was also designed to target muscle groups twice per week: one day directly and one other day indirectly. I start with Day 1 on Sunday and end with Day 7 on Saturday; however, modify the start day to make sense for your schedule View Fitness Protocol PDF Protocol Modifications & Notes While I have included exercise suggestions in the PDF, choose the exercise that you can perform correctly, through a full range of motion and with the proper form. The best exercise you can do for a body part is one that you can perform safely. Also, adjust according to your strengths and weaknesses. I confess I never train my chest, but I do get enough chest training from dips. That's me. You should train for your needs as they relate to aesthetic and safety needs. Adjust the above exercise suggestions based on your fitness level or personal goals, while keeping the range of physical goals throughout the week. While the specific days you perform each workout are unimportant, spacing between the days helps to ensure proper recovery. Also, if you miss a day, you can double up on some workouts later in the week. I sometimes swap day 4 and 5 if I need to. If you decide to adjust workout days, note that many studies have found that cold submersion (i.e., ice baths) will blunt some strength-hypertrophy improvements from that day's training session. Therefore, refrain from ice baths immediately after resistance training. (It is likely that cold showers do not have this same effect.) If you do ice baths on weight training days, wait 6-8 hours, or do them before training. Breathing During resistance training, lower your heart rate between sets using physiological sighs: take two full inhales through the nose followed by one full exhale through the mouth – trying to release all the air in your lungs. After a training session, use 3-5 minutes of deliberate slow breathing to "downshift" the nervous system, relax the mind and body and aid muscle recovery. Flexibility Holding static stretches is the best way to improve your overall flexibility. Hold each major muscle group in a static stretch for 30-60 seconds and repeat between 3x a week and daily. I do this at night before sleep or while waiting for dinner to cook or (confession!) while on work calls. While holding the stretch, long exhales will further relax muscles and deepen the stretch. Training Fast vs. Fed This is up to your personal preference. I like to train fasted and before noon but after drinking caffeine, water and electrolytes, because I don't feel sluggish during workouts, but if you just ate a meal and time is limited, it's more important to get in the workout than not to train. Some people prefer to train after eating. It's very individual. I don't weight train at night because it keeps me awake. Cardio does not seem to have the same effect on me. Training Obstacles While consistent training is the goal, there are likely real-world obstacles you will face: Illness-Cold: Sometimes, with mild cold symptoms, a short, lighter training (decreasing duration and or intensity of the workout by 50% or more) will help you feel better. However, skipping training and allowing yourself time to recover, if you are truly sick, is better. Once recovered, slowly ramp back up to your training program over 3-7 days. Poor Sleep-Stressful Events: Consider skipping your workout if you are under chronic stress unless you think it can help you reset. Focus on getting a good night's sleep or relaxing, and double up on workouts later in the week. Also, try 10-30 minutes of Non-Sleep Deep Rest (NSDR) to feel more refreshed. Afterward, you might feel up for the scheduled workout. For additional tools for stress, see this episode. Hopefully, this foundational fitness protocol will provide you with a framework for physical goals that you can modify based on your schedule, fitness level and personal goals. Supplements While supplements are not necessary, many people—including myself—derive tremendous benefits from them. Here are some to keep in mind, given their effects on physical performance and muscle recovery. Alpha-GPC: 300mg, 30-60 minutes before key workouts. Alpha-GPC promotes the release of acetylcholine, a neurotransmitter involved in memory, attention and skeletal muscle contraction. It has been shown to increase power output in athletes. L-Tyrosine: 500mg, 30-60 minutes before key workouts. L-Tyrosine is an amino acid that can increase the production of dopamine and related neurotransmitters that positively impact energy, motivation and mood. Thus, L-Tyrosine is a powerful tool for enhancing exercise performance. Creatine: 5g daily. Creatine is a molecule that stores high-energy phosphate groups that ultimately lead to the regeneration of ATP, the primary energy carrier in the body. In thousands of studies, creatine has been shown to effectively increase exercise performance. Whey Protein: 40g, 30-60 minutes after workout. Whey protein is a well-absorbed source of protein that is useful for post-workout fueling. Research shows that consuming whey protein benefits muscle gain and fat loss, particularly post workout. Done correctly, deliberate cold exposure can positively affect brain and body health. Below, I detail some of those benefits and how best to access them. Safety Never get into a dangerous body of water. Also, never do deliberate hyperventilation before or during cold water (or any water!) immersion. Start slow (warmer than colder)—as cold shock is possible; just as with lifting weights or other forms of exercise, you'll need to find the right temperature for you, yet prioritize safety. How cold? This is the most common question I hear, and it makes sense to ask that. However, it is truly impossible to answer, as some people tolerate cold better than others. The key is to aim for a temperature that evokes the thought, "This is really cold (!), and I want to get out, BUT I can safely stay in." For some people, that temperature might be 60F, whereas for others, 45F. Here is the key: the colder the stimulus (water immersion, shower, etc.), the shorter amount of time you need to expose yourself to the cold. One study showed significant and prolonged increases in dopamine when people were in cool (60F) water for about an hour up to their neck, with their head above water. Other studies describe significant increases in epinephrine from just 20 seconds in very cold water (~40F). The good news is that as you do deliberate cold exposure more often, you will be more comfortable in the cold at all times and can start to use colder temperatures with more confidence, just like exercise. Ice bath, cold shower, or cryo? Most of the studies use ice baths or cold water immersion to the neck. Those are best, but cold showers can work too (and are more accessible to most). Cryo is very expensive and harder to access and not subject to much variation in protocols, so it is not considered here. To Increase Energy and Focus Deliberate cold exposure causes a significant release of epinephrine (aka adrenaline) and norepinephrine (aka noradrenaline) in the brain and body. These neurochemicals make us feel alert and can make us feel agitated and as if we need to move or vocalize during the cold exposure. Cold causes their levels to stay elevated for some time and their ongoing effect after the exposure is to increase your level of energy and focus, which can be applied to other mental and or physical activities. Building Resilience & Grit By forcing yourself to embrace the stress of cold exposure as a meaningful self-directed challenge (i.e., stressor), you exert what is called 'top-down control' over deeper brain centers that regulate reflexive states. This top-down control process involves your prefrontal cortex – an area of your brain involved in planning and suppressing impulsivity. That 'top-down' control is the basis of what people refer to when they talk about "resilience and grit." Importantly, it is a skill that carries over to situations outside of the deliberate cold environment, allowing you to cope better and maintain a calm, clear mind when confronted with real-world stressors. In other words, deliberate cold exposure is great training for the mind. Enhancing Your Mood While not true of every stress, cold exposure causes the prolonged release of dopamine. Dopamine is a powerful molecule capable of elevating mood, enhancing focus, attention, goal-directed behavior, etc. Even short bouts of cold exposure can cause a lasting increase in dopamine and sustained elevation of mood, energy, and focus. Listen to Episode #39 to learn more about dopamine's role in the body. Metabolism In the short-term, cold exposure increases metabolism as the body has to burn calories to increase core body temperature. The total calories burned from the cold exposure are not that significant. However, the conversion of white fat (energy storage) to beige or brown fat (which are highly metabolically active) can be beneficial for: Allowing people to feel more comfortable in the cold (i.e., cold adaptation) Triggering further and more sustained increases in metabolism Of course, calories on (consumed) versus calories out (metabolized) or "CICO" governs whether you gain, lose, or maintain weight. There is no escaping the laws of thermodynamics. A Solid Basic, Science-Supported Protocol Consider doing deliberate cold exposure for 11 minutes per week TOTAL. NOT per session, but rather, 2-4 sessions lasting 1-5 mins each distributed across the week. Again, the water temperature should be uncomfortably cold yet safe to stay in for a few minutes. You can do more, but this should be the minimum to achieve the benefits of cold exposure. You can do very cold, very brief exposures for adrenaline release too, but the 11 minutes is based on a recent study that explored a range of effects and is a good solid, basic protocol for ongoing use. The Huberman Lab "Counting Walls" Approach Undoubtedly, during (or before) cold exposure, you will find your mind pushing back against the challenge. Your mind will say, "I really don't want to do this," even before getting in, or "Get me out of here." You can imagine those mental barriers as 'walls.' Those walls are, in fact, the effects of adrenaline pulses in your brain and body, which in this case is what triggers the eventual adaptive response. After all, if it were easy, then there is no stimulus for your body to change (adapt). By maintaining top-down control of your reflexive urge to exit the cold environment, you will have successfully traversed that wall. Challenge yourself by counting walls and setting a goal of "walls" to traverse (e.g., 3-5 walls) during the round of cold exposure. You can also go for time. Up to you. The advantage of the walls approach is that it carries over to other scenarios more seamlessly, as most of life's stressors don't lend themselves so well to merely timing the duration until it passes. It also enhances your sense of mind-body connection to do it this way. Shivering and The Soeberg Principle The Soeberg Principle based on deliberate cold researcher Dr. Susanna Soeberg is: To enhance the metabolic effects of cold, force your body to reheat on its own. Or "End With Cold." Also, allowing your body to shiver may enhance metabolic increases from cold. Shivering causes the release of succinate from muscles and further activates brown fat thermogenesis. Try this protocol to increase shivering, either during or immediately after cold exposure: Don't huddle or cross your arms while in the cold or after getting out. Also, don't towel off. Let your body reheat and dry off naturally. Admittedly, this is tough. Unless doing deliberate cold exposure on a hot sunny day, admittedly, I prefer to take a hot shower and towel dry after cold exposure, but I am no doubt limiting the metabolic effect by doing that. Physical Recovery A meta-analysis of cold-water immersion effects on recovery found that cold exposure can be a highly effective recovery tool after high-intensity exercise or endurance training. Short interval (< 5 mins), cold water immersion demonstrated positive outcomes for muscle power, perceived recovery, and decreased muscle soreness (in part due to a reduction in circulating creatine kinases). The problem is that cold water immersion (but not cold showers) can limit some of the gains in hypertrophy, strength or endurance if done in the 4 hours or so after training. It's better to wait 6 to 8 or more hours until after training, or do it before training UNLESS your goal is simply to recover without adaptation (for instance, when in a competition mode and not trying to get better, stronger, etc.) Day or night? After cold exposure, your body heats up—yes, HEATS up—for reasons discussed on the Huberman Lab Podcast with Dr. Craig Heller from Stanford. Body temperature increases tend to wake us up, whereas body temperature decreases tend to shift us toward sleepy states. Thus, I suggest using deliberate cold early in the day and not too close to bedtime. Sometimes it's better to do it late than never, but not if it perturbs your sleep. If deliberate cold affects your sleep, try doing it earlier in the day, or not at all. Increasing the Resilience-Enhancing Effects of Deliberate Cold Exposure Staying completely still while in cold water allows a thermal layer to surround your body, 'insulating' you from the cold. To be most effective as a resilience training tool, move your limbs while keeping your hands and feet in the water. That will break up the thermal layer and you will experience the water as (much) colder than if you stayed still. This is also a good way to increase the potency of a cold stimulus without having to make the water colder. This is akin to slowing down the movement of a weight lift to remove reduce momentum and provide more tension on the working muscles. |
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