How to trick your mind into doing anything

Les brown said, “Do what is easy, and your life will become hard. Do what is hard, and your life will become easy.”

Read that again.

Through my experience in a demanding sport, I have gained profound insights into the power of mind control. The human capacity for mental strength is truly remarkable and seemingly limitless. It may sound surprising, but there are simple and accessible techniques that can trick your own mind into achieving incredible feats. However, it is important to note that developing mental strength requires sacrifice. If you genuinely desire to break free from damaging mental addictions, it will demand effort and dedication. There will be moments when you confront harsh realities, but with resilience, you can learn to endure and overcome them. By embracing this process, you can undergo a transformative journey akin to being reborn. This is precisely why I urge you to continue reading—to discover the invaluable wisdom and insights that lie ahead.

The root of today’s problem

The ease with which we can spend hours scrolling on our phones, fully engrossed in a single screen, raises an interesting question: What sets apart this activity from others, such as reading or working, which may require more effort and focus? The answer lies in our body's dopamine levels—plain and simple. Dopamine, often called the "pleasure molecule," plays a significant role in our motivation and desires.

Dopamine fuels our desires, compelling us to prioritize certain tasks over others. It creates a sense of motivation that drives us to complete specific activities. When engaging with our phones, the instant gratification and stimuli trigger dopamine release, making the experience highly rewarding. As a result, we find it effortless to devote prolonged periods to this activity.

However, activities like reading or working may not provide the same immediate dopamine surge. They often require sustained attention, mental effort, and delayed gratification, which can make them feel less enticing in comparison. The key lies in understanding how dopamine influences our desires and recognizing that cultivating discipline and focus can help us redirect our motivations toward more productive endeavors.

By acknowledging the role of dopamine in our behaviors and consciously shifting our focus and desires, we can overcome the allure of instant gratification and cultivate a stronger drive to engage in activities that align with our long-term goals and personal growth.

Phone addiction

It is undeniable that as human beings, we are often drawn to seeking instant gratification. Social media platforms play a significant role in providing that immediate sense of reward. Unbeknownst to us, we can easily become addicted to the quick clicks, swiftly navigating from one post to another, eagerly anticipating the influx of bright red hearts and lighthearted comments from individuals we may not have spoken to in years. This is the expectation placed upon us. Consumerism perpetuates these never-ending cycles, compelling us to constantly seek online attention.

The consequence of this addiction is that we become increasingly distracted, to the point where it feels like our liberties have been stripped away from us. Our full potential remains untapped and unheard of, while our work ethic becomes lost somewhere in the midst of it all.

It is important to recognize the impact of these distractions and consciously address them. By acknowledging the hold that social media and consumerism have on our lives, we can reclaim our focus, redirect our energies, and restore a sense of purpose and productivity. This may involve setting boundaries with technology, cultivating mindfulness, and actively engaging in activities that nurture personal growth and fulfillment.

While it can be challenging to break free from these patterns, it is within our power to regain control of our lives and rediscover our true potentials. By doing so, we can cultivate a stronger work ethic and pursue a more balanced and meaningful existence..

Skinner’s box

Graduate Harvard student and psychologist B.F. Skinner compared the human behavior of loving servitude to the way that a rat will work better if it was rewarded with food. His experiment on this is referred to as the Skinner box. It represents the idea that with negative reinforcement, rats would react negatively a reduce their level of work. When rewarded with food however, the rats became far more productive, as they kept wanting more and more.

This small representation, allows for a deeper message. Our little habits and proneness to our screen time is distracting us from reality, as we can so easily suppress our real feelings, ignore them, and live inside an idealistic world, while our freedom is being snatched away from our eyes within an instant.

With all what attracts us to our screens, we can find ways to break through them. Here are a couple of solutions:

1. Dopamine detox

While there can be some extreme suggestions of this method, I highly believe that a slow start, leads to consistent results and long term success. Detaching yourself completely from all external sources may be too difficult at first, and lead for a huge craving to older habits. Those external sources include, the internet, phone, computer, music, phonography, and junk food. Something you can start with is, instead of these dopamine receptors, you will try to find internal sources of gratification which may come from something within your control. For example, going on a walk, meditating, reflecting, exercising, journaling, etc. Find one good habit in which you may be able to replace with a negative one. For example, instead of spending your time on your phone, you may want to put it away and try doing a home workout.

It could be anything, as we all have different attributes which allow us to have more desire over certain things. One may prefer to paint, cook, or practice an instrument. Whatever that may be though, setting a goal for ourselves to improve at that hobby will more likely allow us to want to do it more, hence leaving our phones for longer period of time. A sustainable way of ensuring this is by avoiding all your additive behaviors every once a week, and replacing them with healthier habits.

Our dopamine tolerance is what allows our bodies to adapt to any type of environment. For example, if you live in the heat, for a very long time, your body will feel extremely cold at the slightest hint of breeze. But, if for a week, you live in the snow, your body will soon adapt to the cold. It works the same way as for those healthier habits.

2. The power of control

With discipline, comes great sacrifice. At times in our life, we must no longer rely on our motivation as reason for work. There are voices in our heads that will try their best to drag us down, back into the deep hole of addiction to instant gratification. Voices that will try their upmost best, just to break you. For getting out of bed, becomes a huge task, just because of that voice, reminding you of all the easier things that you could rather do. We have all been there. We have all been a victim of that voice at one point, and there is no shame in that. Fortunately, though, we, humans have the great ability in fighting that voice. One strategy in doing that is mastering your emotions.

“Only the disciplined ones in life are free. If you are undisciplined, you are a slave to your moods and your passions.” Eliud Kipchoge

3. Mastering your emotions

You have to simply accept that it will never be easy. Something that I noticed whenever I had a gallop day, laying in bed and scrolling on a screen, is that those were the days when I struggled the most to fall asleep. My mind had been distracted all day with different types of noises, colors, and mixed emotions, that all got messed up and lost within each other. My motive to getting off my phone, to neglecting all the things that I know I’m prone to do, was to have good sleep tonight. I mentally felt better, the next day and the one after that. Find your own motive.

I eventually found internal joy, and wondered if it was going to last. It lasted.

As a track athlete, there are days where I absolutely hate getting up before the sun, especially in the winter. However after forcing myself into doing it so many times, I reached a point where I no longer felt emotion when I woke up and got ready to go. I was able to adapt. I did not see it for the hard duty that it was, but for the excitement I knew I was going to get when I was out and running. This is the beauty of controlling the mind. Being able to get yourself to do all these great things, and not question how you did them.

You have to keep humbling yourself. You are not the main character, nobody cares about your accomplishments. The truth may be hard to accept, but it’s relevant to your way of thinking, and the way you perceive the world. Allow yourself to progress over long periods of time, teach yourself how to be patient, there is no rush. People who want the easy way out will often ask questions like how do I get abs, fast? Shut the hell up, that’s how. Because, it isn’t supposed to be fast.

“Watch your thoughts, they become words; watch your words, they become actions; watch your actions, they become habits; watch your habits, they become character; watch your character, for it becomes your destiny.”

— Frank Outlaw

4. The power a journal holds

One way that I keep track of everything in my life, is through journaling. Through all my 12 years of experience in journaling, year after year, with a new journal, I have noticed a pattern. I have always referred to my little writings as a certain theme. They each fall into certain categories, in which I have found essential in keeping one’s emotions in check. These categories are: Thoughts, notes, ideas, to-do’s, and personal goals. Under thoughts goes everything. A dump of randomicity and all the feels. Under notes goes anything that I can write down from a lesson, YouTube video, book, or person. To-Do’s are my daily tasks, and those are crucial. I need to always be aware of how my day will go, what are the things I’m working towards today? Lastly, comes personal goals, and those refer to all my aspirations and accomplishments I desire for myself within the coming months and years. I especially love writing those ones because I can always come back to them and reflect on whether or not I was able to achieve them.