Novelty + Cheap Dopamine, Sonder & Feedback Loops

My parents arriving at the finish of our 25 km run through the Vietnamese rice paddies and forests.

65 and 68 years old. The oldest out of +300 participants. My heroes!

“It may only be chemicals shooting around in your brain, but after a long run, everything seems right in the world.” - Adharanand Finn

🤸‍♀️ IN THIS WEEK'S STRETCH:

• Too Many Books. Novelty bias and cheap dopamine are destroying my reading life.

• Sonder. A good reminder that you're not special (no one is).

• Tightening Your Feedback Loop. Micro speed, macro patience.

📚 MORE BOOKS. MORE, MORE, MORE!

Download sample. Purchase.

Return sample. Purchase.

Click. Click. Click. Click.

I'll come across an interesting book, get excited, download it to my Kindle and start reading. Forget about the 2 other books I was so enthusiastic about last week.

About 30-35% into the book, I lose interest. But not to worry, I quickly get distracted by the promise of another book.

Like a spoiled kid on Christmas morning.

It bothers me. Why can't I focus? Why don't I finish anything? Is it me? Is it the books?

It turns out it has everything to do with:

1. My brain's obsession with novelty

2. A neurotransmitter called dopamine

Novelty is the most powerful signal to determine what we pay attention to in the world.

That makes a lot of sense from an evolutionary standpoint:

• Learning: As prehistoric nomads, our scenery was constantly changing. By exploring the new and the unknown, we learned. The more we learned, the more our chances of handling different and more difficult tasks expanded, and our chances for survival increased.

• Survival: We had to be vigilant for whatever was new in our environment to quickly answer the most important questions: "Can I eat it? Can it eat me? If not, can I mate with it?"

• Efficiency: We're efficiency machines. We don’t want to spend time and energy noticing the many things around us that don’t change from day to day. Only the new, shiny stuff matters.

The result:

Our brain is wired to ignore the old and focus on the new.

Now, neuroscientists have found that novelty causes several brain systems to become activated.

The main one?

The dopamine system, one of the most popular feel-good neurotransmitters.

Dopamine: double-edged sword

Dopamine is the molecule of motivation, pursuit, and desire. It's released in our brain in anticipation and craving for something external.

Researchers have determined that dopamine is intricately linked to the brain’s curiosity state. When you explore and satisfy your curiosity, your brain floods your body with dopamine, which makes you feel happier. This reward mechanism increases the likelihood that you’ll try and satisfy your curiosity again in the future.

This was all very helpful in the days when being curious meant we'd live another day to pass on our genes.

Today, it's not as simple.

We've become addicted to the dopamine rush associated with novelty, and our Information Age offers lots and lots of novelty that is always accessible through our devices.

High levels of dopamine without any effort are disastrous, removing all desire and motivation. Whether that comes in high potency stimuli like drugs, food, porn, video games, or in my case, books — it’s all the same problem: there’s no more effort required.

I don’t like the book? No problem, just download another one. Unlimited options. Less than 10 seconds. Just one click.

Now, why is it a double-edged sword? ⚔️

For every bit of dopamine that’s released, there’s another circuit in the brain that creates a feeling of pain and craving.

When you engage in something you want, there's a feeling of pleasure. But there's a mirror image of that - a feeling of pain. These feelings overlap in time very closely so it’s hard to sense the difference, but it's there.

It sounds weird but I've noticed it in myself. When I'm looking up new books or clicking on a bunch of articles, opening tab after tab - I feel this sense of discomfort, annoyance, and clenching in my stomach.

I know I'm wasting time and falling into the same trap, but I can't seem to stop myself. It's not an enjoyable experience. I'm not learning or using my time well.

So what now?

The good thing is that having an awareness of this novelty bias and the danger of cheap dopamine (i.e. dopamine without effort) is helping me better understand my behavior.

Now that I understand it better, I also know what I need to do:

Remove my credit card from my Kindle.

It's literally that simple. Create friction in the book-buying process. No more one-click purchases.

It's worth learning more about dopamine as it has such a big impact on all areas of our life, so I've downloaded a new book: The Molecule of More.

(Just kidding. It's on my reading list though. 🙈)

SONDER

The realization that each random passerby is living a life as vivid and complex as your own.

I love this word and I'm so happy I found this description.

I’ve been thinking about this concept since reading a post by Raptitude called You Are Always the Other Person.

It’s worth reading the full article, but in essence:

“In life, there’s you — the omnipresent Protagonist — and then countless Other People. Most of them are bit players, but some of these Other People are major characters in your story. They might spend quite a lot of time onscreen, but they always remain Other People. You never get to see inside their heads, you don’t get to choose their behavior, and ultimately you know them only by what they do and what they say. Most of the time, no matter how large their role in your story, they’re simply offscreen — somewhere out there in the world, doing who knows what.”“I am a first-person protagonist in the small and specialized corner of reality that is my own life. In everyone else’s life, I’m an autonomous — and to some degree mysterious — visiting character.”

Why is it interesting to think about this stuff?

It reminds me of my cosmic insignificance.

I get so wrapped up in my own life - my thoughts, my feelings, my ambitions, my needs - that I forget there is a whole world out there of 7.7 BILLION lives just as real as mine.

I’m unique, but not special. Neither are you. No one is.

🔂 FAST ITERATION SPEED

Your improvement speed is proportional to the tightness of your feedback loop.

When Chris Sparks, a retired poker pro, was asked about the "one factor above all that influenced his rise to the top", he replied:

His fast iteration speed.

He was able to grow and learn quickly by continuously trying things and putting them into action.

The feedback loop is a combination of:

• An awareness of where things stand, and how that compares to where he'd like things to stand.

• Taking some form of small action to bring the current reality closer in line with his vision.

The tighter your feedback loop, the quicker you'll learn.

Be honest about what's working and what's not working. Prioritize small actions today over grand, future plans.

Sounds obvious, but it's not.

Take me and my writing.

I started this newsletter in January and it's going okay. But I keep bumping into the same challenges:I don't have a good format yet. I feel like I'm starting from scratch every time, and each edition takes me longer than it should. I should spend less time writing (i.e. worrying) and more time editing (i.e. making the work better). I don't spend enough time on distribution and promotion.

I know all of this. I've known it for months and I'm constantly thinking about it.

Yet I'm not taking any meaningful action to change it. Why? Who knows. Part of me wants to be stubborn and just keep doing what I'm doing. It's easier and more comfortable.

I haven't figured out yet how to override that part of me just yet... but I have a feeling that spending less time reading and more time DOING might be part of the solution. 😉