How to Grow From Doing Hard Things | Michael Easter

My guest is Michael Easter, a professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas and best-selling author. We discuss how particular daily life choices undermine our level of joy, our sense of purpose, our physical and our mental health and the daily, weekly, monthly and yearly steps we can all take to vastly increase our level of motivation, gratitude and overall life satisfaction. We discuss how effortful foraging for information, undistracted reflection and physical exercise are ways to ‘invest’ and therefore grow our levels of dopamine, energy and motivation, whereas low-friction activities are specifically designed to hijack or diminish them. We also discuss dopamine reward circuitry in the context of how to build and reset one’s energy levels and create a deeper sense of purpose in work, creative pursuits and relationships. Read the episode show notes at hubermanlab.com. Thank you to our sponsors AG1: https://drinkag1.com/huberman Maui Nui: https://mauinuivenison.com/huberman Helix Sleep: https://helixsleep.com/huberman Mateina: https://drinkmateina.com/huberman Function: https://functionhealth.com/huberman Timestamps 00:00:00 Michael Easter 00:02:14 Discomforts, Modern vs Ancient Life 00:07:35 Sponsors: Maui Nui & Helix Sleep 00:10:17 Modern Problems, Exercise, Trail vs Treadmill Running, Optic Flow, Hunting 00:20:01 Risk & Rewards, Intellectual vs Experiential Understanding 00:23:39 Modern Luxuries, First-World Problems, Gratitude, Tool: Volunteer 00:34:33 Rites of Passage, Tool: Challenge, Narrative & Purpose; Embracing Discomfort 00:40:43 Sponsors: AG1 & Mateina 00:43:33 Choice, 2% Study, Silence, Tools: Do Slightly Harder Things; Notice Resistance 00:54:05 Cognitive Challenges, Walking, Screens, Tool: Sitting with Boredom 01:01:53 Capturing Ideas, Attractor States, Tool: Being in Nature 01:06:50 2% Rule, Rites of Passage, Tool: Misogi Challenge 01:14:12 Phones, Sharing with Others, Social Media, Tool: Reflection vs Screen Time 01:23:23