How To Force Your Brain To Crave Doing Hard Things

Get the FREE One-Month Day checklist here: www.flowstate.com/onemonthday Rían here. Thanks for watching. Ever feel like you're not living up to your full potential? Like there should be more—more focus, more drive, more achievement? Turns out, there's a specific type of motivation that unlocks all of that...and science shows it's far more powerful than the usual suspects like money, praise, or fame. With the science-backed techniques in this PDF, you can use this type of motivation to complete a month’s worth of work in less than a day.

"You listen to the song to enjoy the song, not to finish listening to it." I love it.

Me trying to force my brain to watch this video

5 intrinsic motivators that keep you motivated, keep you in the flow state: 1) Curiosity: The insatiable urge to learn, a book you cannot put down. 2) Purpose. You make sacrifices because the work is something you care about/passionate about. 3) Mastery: Pursuit of excellence and continuous improvement, the musician who practices after the concert. 4) Autotelicity: The Love of the work you do it just because you love it even if you did not get paid. 5) Autonomy: The feel of being in control of the when, how, and what of your work. To sum up:  You need to be in control of a passionate objective in which you want to become supremely accomplished.

Dropped out of my PhD 10 years ago and joined industry. Your success story is inspiring me to start my own research lab. I don't know how I'll make it work but I'm super excited!

There's so much value distilled and compressed in these 25 minutes of content, that it's evident a lot of work and effort has been put into it. So thank you for making this available.

One idea: when I see videos like this they always talk about what people that achieved success had in common, but this can be miss leading, making a study about all the people that failed is as much as important

Lazy people are looking for summary of the video like me😂

🎯 Key Takeaways for quick navigation: 00:00 🧠 There's a hidden motivation switch in the brain stronger than money, praise, or fame. 00:14 🚀 Flow states can be accessed at will, leading to greater productivity and engagement. 00:42 ⏰ Many struggle with procrastination and lack of motivation daily, feeling disappointed at the day's end. 01:25 🔄 The issue is not just a lack of motivation but lacking the right type of motivation. 01:54 ⛽ There are two types of motivation: extrinsic (external rewards) and intrinsic (inner drive). Extrinsic motivation is temporary, while intrinsic is more lasting and self-sustaining. 02:49 🌟 Intrinsic motivation is like fusion energy; it's efficient, self-sustaining, and makes hard tasks feel easy. 03:17 🚀 Extrinsic motivation can jumpstart endeavors, but intrinsic motivation provides the sustained push. 03:30 🔧 To enhance motivation, focus on five intrinsic motivators: curiosity, mastery, autotelic purpose, autonomy, and purpose. 04:27 🧩 Curiosity drives an insatiable need to learn, while purpose provides a deeper meaning to the work. 05:38 🎯 Mastery is the pursuit of excellence; autotelic activities are done for their inherent pleasure. 07:03 🔑 Autonomy provides a sense of control in one's work, ensuring the work feels like one's own. 07:46 🔄 Identifying and aligning intrinsic motivators can lead to significant career and personal shifts. 08:55 💡 When all intrinsic motivators align, they release performance-enhancing neurochemicals and reduce cognitive load. 09:26 🌀 Intrinsic motivators enhance focus and drive, leading to flow states, which further amplify motivation. 09:53 🔄 Intrinsic motivation feeds flow, which in turn feeds back into intrinsic motivation, creating a virtuous cycle of unstoppable drive. 10:08 🚀 Titans of industry like Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos have sustained motivation for decades due to this cycle. 10:20 🧠 Figures like Einstein and Marie Curie were driven by their intense intrinsic motivations, leading to groundbreaking discoveries. 10:35 🏆 Athletes like Michael Jordan and Serena Williams' achievements highlight the power of intrinsic motivators when maxed out. 11:04 🔍 Curiosity: An urge not just to know but to deeply understand. Where the mind drifts often reveals one's curiosity. 11:46 🎯 Mastery: The endless pursuit of improvement. It's about acquiring new skills and the biochemical pleasure from progression. 12:56 💖 Autotelicity (Audicity): When work feels like play and what you're doing feels like the most important thing. 13:23 🌎 Purpose: Tying your work to a cause or mission greater than yourself, leading to increased persistence and motivation. 14:05 🤲 Autonomy: The sense of ownership and freedom in your tasks. It's about having a say in your actions without external constraints. 14:47 📊 To harness the power of these motivators, identify where you currently stand with each and optimize them. 15:27 📚 Curiosity can be enhanced by seeing direct results from learning and immediate feedback. 16:52 🎼 Mastery requires deliberate practice, pushing oneself to the edge of their comfort zone. 18:01 🎮 For Audicity, focus on what you're naturally good at; strengths lead to flow and eventually love for the activity. 19:10 ❤️ A clear purpose boosts both motivation and job satisfaction. It's crucial to identify tasks that align with one's life mission. 19:24 ✍️ For autonomy, reflect on the degree of freedom and ownership you felt in the past month to evaluate its presence in your life. 19:38 🧠 The feeling of autonomy at work relates to the degree of control and choice one has. 19:52 🔄 Two ways to increase autonomy: perceptual and literal. 20:05 🖼️ Shift your perspective and view current tasks as a stepping stone in a bigger plan. 20:33 📈 Even low-autonomy jobs can be framed as learning opportunities for bigger future goals. 20:47 💪 Gain "Fu autonomy" by acquiring skills, networks, and knowledge that offer flexibility and choice in one's career. 21:14 🏃 Having options boosts confidence, allowing you to leave unsatisfying roles without fear. 21:29 🔍 Concentrate on areas of your work that you can fully control to feel more autonomous. 21:56 📊 Aim to boost each intrinsic motivator and adjust based on life's changes and challenges. 22:25 ❤️ High intrinsic motivation leads to greater work passion, even amidst life's hurdles. 23:05 ⛓️ Relying solely on extrinsic motivation can make you a slave to external rewards and fears. 23:19 🚀 When intrinsic motivation takes over, you're less influenced by external pressures. 23:46 🧘‍♂️ Strive to become a "Zen Warrior" – detached from externalities but deeply engaged in your work. 24:01 🌊 True motivation arises when you immerse yourself in the flow of work, irrespective of ext

Don’t know why so many find this video so good, I think he waffles on and on.

I’ve found this channel just yesterday and already watched 4 videos and I love it! It’s such a profound wisdom packaged in easy to digest form and presented really well. No fluff, no bs. And it comes from a guy who’s into personal development for years upon years and you speak directly to my problems. Sometimes I feel like I have all this potential and I just can’t work. You give me hope to get unstuck in life. Thank you

Finally, a video where how my brain is operating is totally explained. I knew there was more to what I was going through, rather than just being labeled just can’t follow through.

🎯 Key Takeaways for quick navigation: 00:00 🧠 Understanding Intrinsic Motivation - Intrinsic vs. extrinsic motivation: Extrinsic motivation (money, status) is temporary, while intrinsic motivation (curiosity, purpose) sustains motivation. - Intrinsic motivation's power: It's like fusion energy, self-sustaining and efficient, fostering an upward spiral of skill development and accessing Flow State. 03:30 🎯 Five Intrinsic Motivators - Curiosity: The insatiable desire to learn; activates dopamine and drives attention and pleasure in learning. - Purpose: Finding meaning beyond oneself in work; leads to greater persistence and boosts oxytocin and serotonin. - Mastery: The pursuit of continuous improvement; releases dopamine and endorphins, fostering a loop of skill improvement. - Autotelic (Audacity): Loving activities for themselves; blurs lines between work and play, key to achieving Flow State. - Autonomy: The feeling of control; enhances focus and positive emotion, driven by a sense of agency in decision-making. 11:18 🚀 Boosting Intrinsic Motivators - Curiosity boost: Immediate feedback and leveraging learning lead to a high curiosity motivator. - Mastery elevation: Deliberate practice, skill identification, and seeking challenges foster a strong drive for improvement. - Audacity enhancement: Emphasize strengths over mere interests; strengths trigger flow and foster love for activities. - Purpose alignment: Articulate a clear purpose and connect it with daily tasks to increase motivation and job satisfaction. - Autonomy increase: Design a broader life trajectory, make current roles part of a self-designed journey, and develop "Fu" skills for more options. 21:14 🗝️ Building Autonomy for Intrinsic Motivation - Exercising autonomy: Developing autonomy outside of work can mitigate the lack of autonomy at work. - Focus on controllable aspects: Enhance autonomy within the smallest part of your work and allocate time outside work to fully own an activity. - Boosting intrinsic motivators: Elevating one motivator can energize the rest, aiming to increase each by five points yearly. 22:11 🔄 Balancing Intrinsic Motivators - Constantly upgrading motivators: Intrinsic motivators may shift based on work requirements or life's natural shifts. - Identifying motivation dips or surges: Understanding intrinsic motivators helps pinpoint reasons for fluctuations in motivation. - Sustaining motivation: Aim to reach and maintain a balanced state of high intrinsic motivation, aligning motivations even during life's turbulence. 23:05 🌟 Transformation with Intrinsic Motivation - Increased excitement for work: Elevating intrinsic motivation leads to anticipating work like a child awaiting Christmas morning. - Effortless engagement: Working hard becomes natural and effortless when driven by intrinsic motivation, akin to playing a video game for hours. - Diminished reliance on extrinsic motivation: As intrinsic motivation grows, dependence on external rewards diminishes, leading to an untouchable state of engagement. 24:01 🧘 Zen-like Engagement with Intrinsic Motivation - Detached engagement: Growing intrinsic motivation creates a state of detachment from external success metrics while engaging deeply in the work itself. - Autot motivation: Pursuing the experience of the work itself over future rewards or advantages, embodying a monk-like warrior focused on mastery, purpose, audacity, curiosity, and autonomy. - Resistance to suffering: Increasing intrinsic motivation brings immunity to external influences, pursuing intrinsic values over external approval or rewards. Made with

Finally video with some usable, understandable, practical information in it on how and what I can do something about in my thinking, perceptions and actions to both kick things off and keep them driving! Thank you Rian. I look forward to seeing more of your videos. I am definitely going to put this information into practice starting today!

Rian, you are an absolute Godsend! Thank you so much for creating this. It’s exactly what I needed to understand. I’m highly purpose driven, but felt stuck in soul-draining jobs which affected my mental health and wellbeing for nearly a decade, so when I say this video really helped me get through my stuck state, it really has. I’m so grateful you shared this with us. Really interested in this and will look into it further. Thank you once again!

You are probably the only YouTube channel that made me watch all of your previous videos because every video you do is meaningful. Now I never skip a video because you are the best source of information about productivity there is on YouTube.

Love this Rian! Purpose is extremely powerful. It took me years to find mine and I attribute my addiction to cheap dopamine to this. When you constantly desenstize your brain with these instant gratification activities, it becomes harder to pick up on the things in your daily life that you actually love to do. Learning to control myself has recovered my brain's reward system and this made me find my purpose. Like you explained in the video, this truly unlocks unlimited motivation. It seems to others like I'm working all day but it feels to me like I'm playing all day.

I love “YouTube University” but this is one of the best videos I’ve seen. Excellent, inspiring, needed as I launch my new biz and working harder than ever. I feel affirmed that my purpose and desire for mastery are high. My curiosity and autonomy fluctuate as I have to learn things I don’t always want to and do often feel under pressure. Autotelicity feels lowest but definitely present at times. Sometimes sheer willpower and discipline + remembering extrinsic motivators are needed to start, then the momentum increases in these intrinsic motivators to keep going.

This is genuinely one of the best videos I've watched on YouTube. Brilliant stuff ❤

I’ve found this channel just yesterday and already watched 4 videos and I love it! It’s such a profound wisdom packaged in easy to digest form and presented really well. No fluff, no bs. And it comes from a guy who’s into personal development for years upon years and you speak directly to my problems. Sometimes I feel like I have all this potential and I just can’t work. You give me hope to get unstuck in life. Thank you 🙏🏻