5 Instant Energy Boosters You May Not Know

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5 Instant Energy Boosters You May Not Know

When your energy dips, you can perk up your neurochemistry if you know how it works.

1. Divide a task into chunks
Your brain releases dopamine when you see the finish line, and it feels great. But when the end is not in sight, your energy may drop. You can spark your dopamine by dividing big tasks into small chunks. This may seem illogical, but your mammal brain is not a logic machine. I learned this trick from a cycler who told me he bikes up a mountain by dividing it into quarters and celebrating each milestone. He doesn’t stop to rest; he just celebrates neurochemically. That sounded dumb to me until I learned about dopamine. Now I divide my long hauls into chunks!

2. Distraction
We presume distraction is bad, but we’re drawn to it because it works. Imagine your ancestors singing a capella while carrying the harvest in from the fields. Boring, back-breaking labor filled their days and they needed distractions to stay positive. Today’s work is not always suited to distraction, but it works great for some tasks. For example, last night I had to finish a tedious graphics project. Fortunately, my desktop was full of short video talks I had put aside for this purpose. I listened to the talks while doing the graphics and had a great time, even though either task alone would have bored me.

3. Hedonic Reset
Your brain is designed to adapt to things - even good things; so when you’re eating the most delicious brownie ever, your brain actually stops noticing it after a few bites. Yikes! You can reset your brain to regain some happy chemicals, the way you can make salt taste saltier if you go without it for a day. For example, if you have to take a life-or-death credentialing exam, bring a brownie with you, but don’t eat brownies the whole time you’re studying for the exam. You will long for the brownie, and it will give you a great feeling just when you need it most. I use this trick for air travel - when I find something fun to read, I put it aside for my next long plane ride, and end up actually looking forward to the tortuous journey.

4. Sincerity
Have you noticed that your energy spikes when you work on a project you believe in? That’s because your brain releases dopamine when you approach a reward that meets a need. Of course it’s more complicated- if you worked on your passion project all the time, you would not approach rewards all the time, and your dopamine would sag. This brain we’ve inherited is always trying to meet needs, both social and physical. We all have frustration because rewards are unpredictable and not within our control. Sometimes you have to give up one reward to pursue another. When you’re frustrated, it’s good to know that it only takes one step toward a reward to stimulate your dopamine, as long as you find a step you believe in. Maybe it’s hard to believe. Maybe the last step didn’t work. But you have inherited a brain designed to make course corrections again and again.

5. Variety
Something new and different gets you going, even when you’re tired. Novelty triggers dopamine. Imagine your ancestors living on acorns through the winter. They would walk far for a chance to eat berries. But after filling up on berries for a few weeks, they would walk far to eat fish. We’ve inherited a brain that responds to variety, so find ways to build it into your day. You could save your fun task to do in the middle of your dreary task. You could take on new tasks or do old tasks in new ways. You may think you don’t have the energy for this, but you might get a surprising boost.

You can’t be energetic if you abuse your body, so none of these strategies are meant to substitute for proper sleep, nutrition, and work/life balance. But even with great physical habits, your mental energy can sag in the face of tough challenges. It’s nice to know that your brain can release good feelings while you tackle challenges. It’s important to accept your limits, though. I lost my credit card twice last year because I let myself get so exhausted that my attention lagged. I was doing things I loved so I didn’t want to say no to anything, but I learned the value of accepting my limits.