The 5 chemicals shaping your energy, focus and motivation

If there’s one idea that completely changed how I understand my own motivation, energy, and emotions—it’s this:

Your daily experience = chemical cocktail

Feeling off? Irritated? Unmotivated?

It’s easy to internalize that as a personal failure, like something’s wrong with you.

But often, it’s not you as in you at a fundamental level.

It’s your neurochemistry.

We don’t talk about this enough.

We expect ourselves to be focused, creative, calm, and motivated on demand—without ever learning how those states are actually created in the body.

The truth is:

If you want more consistent focus and energy, you need to understand the system that produces it.

And once you start to understand that?

You stop taking every dip in motivation so personally.

You start recognizing the patterns.

You start learning how to shift your state—not with willpower, but with awareness and small, consistent tools.

A Deep-Dive Series into your Neurochemistry

Over the next 5 weeks, I’m breaking down the 5 key chemicals that shape how you feel, focus, and function—day to day.

• Dopamine → motivation & pursuit

• Epinephrine → energy & drive

• Acetylcholine → focus & learning

• Serotonin → calm & contentment

• Cortisol → rhythms & resilience

Scientists have identified over a hundred different neurotransmitters in the human nervous system. But when it comes to peak performance and recovery… these five are key.

What you’ll get in this series:

Each week, I’ll break down one of these neurochemicals across three layers:

1. Baseline – What naturally affects your daily levels (sleep, light, nutrition, etc.)

2. Directed – Tools you can use to shift your state in minutes (movement, breath, visual field, etc.)

3. Applied Productivity – How to approach your to-do list based on your neurochemical state

Practical. Science-backed. Behavior-first.

No supplements, no drugs, no biohacking hype.

No oversimplification to please the social media gods (for example: there’s no such thing as a “dopamine detox”)

Just simple and free tools you can try right away.

But first: a quick Nervous System 101

Before we dive into each chemical, here’s a quick primer on how they work in your system.

The first thing to understand is this:

Your brain gets all the glory, but it doesn’t work alone.

It’s part of a body-wide messaging network called the nervous system—an intricate loop of electrical signals and chemical messengers.

These chemical messengers, known as neurotransmitters and hormones, are what shape how you feel, focus, move, and recover throughout the day.

Think of it like this:

Your brain has different circuits for different states:

• Focus

• Play

• Anxiety

• Connection

• Curiosity

• Etc

Whether these circuits are activated or suppressed depends on which chemicals are flowing through your system at any given moment.

This means that when you're foggy, fried, frozen, or hyper-focused, it’s not just a matter of discipline or mindset.

It’s about the chemical environment you’re operating in.

And here’s why you should care about this:

These chemicals aren’t just passively sloshing around in your system.

You can actively influence them.

Every single thought, feeling, and action you experience is tied to electrical impulses and chemical messengers.

Once you understand how your nervous system and neurochemistry work, you can start to use them to your advantage.

You can trigger the release of certain chemicals—deliberately shifting your brain and body into states of focus, motivation, recovery, and resilience.

Now, I'm not suggesting we reduce our entire emotional experience to a chemical equation.

We're complex beings with thoughts, beliefs, and experiences that shape our lives.

But understanding the chemical underpinnings of our moods can be incredibly empowering.

Why?

Because it means we're not helpless in the face of our emotions. We're not at the mercy of random mood swings or inexplicable feelings of lethargy. We have tools—simple, accessible tools—to influence how we feel.

As Andrew Huberman says, “We’re more than a bag of chemicals, but all of this stuff is hardwired into us.”

So now, on days when I'm feeling off, instead of spiralling into negative thoughts, I ask myself:

• Did I get enough morning sunlight?

• Have I moved my body today?

• Have I had any meaningful connection or touch today?

• Is my environment helping me focus—or making it harder?

Often, just addressing one of these can shift my entire day.

And if this sounds like a checklist—you're absolutely right. That’s the point!

We’re not trying to fix or control everything.

We’re learning to notice what we feel, without judgment, and then ask:

“What simple action could shift my chemistry right now?”

That’s what this series is about:

Understanding the connection between what we do and how we feel + learning how to work with it.

First up: Dopamine—the chemical of pursuit and motivation

Next week, we’re starting with the molecule creating your sense of motivation, drive, that feeling of “let’s goooo!”

You'll learn how to increase it naturally, why it's not about pleasure but about pursuit, and how to use it to get into momentum—even when your brain wants to scroll or nap.

See you next week!

Need support applying this to your own life or work? Learn more about coaching here → https://nspotential.com