341. How To Be Awesome At Chasing Deep Dopamine Over Cheap Dopamine

What Dopamine Really Is
Dopamine is a neurotransmitter. It’s often labeled as the pleasure chemical, but it’s more about motivation and drive. It plays a key role in what gets your attention and what keeps you engaged. Every time your brain anticipates a reward, dopamine is involved. It’s what makes you chase something, whether that’s a cookie, a workout, a new follower, or a big goal. It’s not the dopamine itself that’s the problem. It’s where you’re getting it from and how often. If you constantly flood your brain with quick and easy sources of dopamine, you make it harder to get motivated for the slower, more meaningful things.

Andrew Huberman explains it this way: dopamine is not about the pursuit of happiness, it is about the happiness of pursuit. He also teaches that dopamine is a currency. We are always spending it, and when we use it on things that require no effort, we get very little return. But when we invest it in things like a hard workout or a creative project, the return is stronger and lasts longer. He emphasizes that dopamine is what drives us to act, to seek, to pursue… it is not simply about feeling good. It's about staying in forward motion.

 

What Is Cheap Dopamine
Cheap dopamine comes from fast, easy sources that take very little effort and offer very little reward long term.

Some examples of cheap dopamine:
Scrolling social media
Watching endless TikToks or YouTube videos
Snacking out of boredom
Clicking for likes or notifications
Gossiping or complaining
Online shopping for things you don’t need
Checking your phone over and over without purpose

These things feel good in the moment, but often leave you feeling worse later. It’s like junk food for your brain… sweet, salty, addictive, and ultimately unfulfilling.

Studies show that excessive exposure to short-form content or fast dopamine triggers can lead to decreased attention span, mental fatigue, emotional numbness, and a decreased ability to feel reward from slower, more meaningful tasks.

Huberman also talks about dopamine stacking... when you stack multiple sources of cheap dopamine together, like scrolling while snacking while listening to background noise. This overstimulates the reward system and makes it harder for your brain to enjoy simple or quiet activities. You become desensitized, and what used to bring joy now feels flat. That’s the cost of too much cheap dopamine.

 

What Is Deep Dopamine
Deep dopamine is the kind of reward your brain gets from actions that require effort, presence, or skill. It builds over time and leads to a longer-lasting sense of fulfillment.

Examples of deep dopamine:
Strength training or physical exercise
Reading a book
Writing or creating something
Deep, uninterrupted work
Learning a new skill
Spending intentional time with people you love
Completing a long project
Volunteering or contributing in a meaningful way

These habits take more focus and often feel slower, but they leave you with a sense of momentum and pride. You don’t crash after them. You build from them.

When you choose deep dopamine, you’re making a longer-term investment in your mental clarity, emotional resilience, and sense of purpose. You start feeling calm instead of anxious, proud instead of overstimulated, and you strengthen your ability to focus and follow through.

Huberman explains that deep dopamine is often tied to effort. It’s the system that rewards you after doing something hard, not something convenient. And that’s what makes it powerful. The satisfaction comes from knowing you earned it.

 

Why This Matters
The more often you go for quick, cheap dopamine, the more your brain becomes desensitized to it. Over time, you stop getting the same hit from a scroll or a like, and your baseline dopamine levels drop. It’s harder to feel motivated. Harder to feel joy. Harder to stay focused. You might feel like you need constant stimulation to avoid feeling bored or anxious.

But when you flip that script and start choosing deep dopamine more often, your brain rebalances. You regain your ability to enjoy slow progress. You stop needing quick distractions and start enjoying the quiet confidence that comes from doing things that matter to you.

Research shows that daily engagement in physical activity, creative work, or focused learning helps restore natural dopamine cycles, improve mental clarity, reduce stress, and increase emotional stability.

Huberman explains that one of the fastest ways to rebalance your dopamine system is to temporarily reduce cheap dopamine triggers and replace them with effort-based rewards... even small ones. The shift doesn’t require massive lifestyle changes. It starts with awareness, then small swaps, and finally momentum.

 

How to Train Yourself to Choose Deep Dopamine

Recognize the patterns. When you feel the urge to scroll, pause and ask yourself what you’re looking for. Are you bored? Anxious? Trying to avoid something else?

Replace, don’t just remove. If you’re going to stop scrolling, have something better ready. A walk. A good podcast. A book. A 10-minute workout.

Make a plan ahead of time. Don’t wait until you’re tired and distracted to decide what matters. That’s when the cheap dopamine wins.

Give yourself permission to enjoy effort. Deep dopamine often comes with friction. It’s not always fun in the beginning, but the payoff is real and lasting.

Set up your environment to support better choices. Turn off notifications. Put your phone in another room. Put your workout clothes or journal somewhere visible.

Celebrate your wins. When you choose deep dopamine over cheap dopamine, take a second to notice how it feels. Reinforce that feeling.

Huberman reminds us that the brain changes based on what it’s exposed to regularly. Choosing deep dopamine isn’t about perfection. It’s about consistently reminding your brain what fulfillment actually feels like.

 

The world is full of cheap dopamine. It’s built into our apps, our habits, and even our conversations. But you don’t have to live in reaction mode. You can train your brain to want the things that give you long-term growth and peace instead of short-term distraction. Start by noticing. Then start swapping. Choose things that challenge you, ground you, stretch you, and make you proud. It won’t always be easier in the moment, but it will always be more fulfilling. That’s how you create a life that actually feels good to live... one deep dopamine choice at a time.