How motivation works in the brain: Exploring the science

Have you ever had one of those days where the alarm goes off and you kick straight into gear? 

You hustle into the kitchen and whip together breakfast, head to work early, and cheerfully check off one task after another. At the end of the day, you have enough time and energy to spend on a hobby, then kick back and relax. 

For many of us, motivation feels like a mystery. One day you’re full of it, and the next day a lack of motivation makes you struggle to focus on the same tasks. And when you’re stuck in a rut, productive days like this one can feel like a fluke. After a period of focus and success, it’s natural to wonder, “Where does motivation come from, and how can I channel mine more often?” 

The science of motivation is a complex interplay between different brain regions, your body’s hormones, and your ability to set goals and incentives. And it’s responsible for more than your ability to tick items off the to-do list — motivation also influences your energy levels and emotional well-being. Fortunately, you can learn how motivation works in the brain and leverage this knowledge so driven, exciting days don’t come around once in a blue moon.

What is motivation?

Motivation is the force that causes us to act on our desires or fears. It’s what inspires and energizes our behavior to advance toward our goals, even when internal or external influences get in the way. 

For example, the motivation to land a promotion empowers you to perform well at work even when you feel the creeping influence of impostor syndrome. Similarly, motivation to ace a presentation convinces you to put in a few extra hours of work even though the last episode of your favorite show is tempting you to call it a day. 

There are two types of motivation:

• Intrinsic motivation: You’re self-motivated to do something because of how it makes you feel, not because of a reward. For example, someone who plays piano and practices because they enjoy learning new songs and improving their skills. 

• Extrinsic motivation: You complete a task or work toward a goal to receive a reward or avoid a consequence, like someone who plays piano and practices to win a competition or avoid chastising from their teacher. 

Whether intrinsic or extrinsic, your brain’s reward system controls your motivation. It’s this system that influences the levels of dopamine in your body — a hormone and neurotransmitter that drives motivation.

Motivational theory

Although motivation is rooted in the physiological (more on this later), it’s also a deeply psychological process. 

According to reward theory, a group of hypotheses that focus on the role of positive stimuli, we’re attracted to people and experiences that benefit us and fill us with positive, happy, and exciting emotions. This could be just about anything — a morning jog with the family pet, a friend who offers good advice, or the excitement of networking with new colleagues. 

This school of thinking suggests we develop relationships that are more rewarding than demanding, spurring us to seek out the things that come naturally to us. An athlete may crave the dopamine rush that comes with a 10-mile run, while a homebody can’t wait to curl up in a blanket and dig into a book. 

The incentive theory of motivation is a related concept focused on extrinsic motivators. Some psychologists believe our behavior is driven by rewards and reinforcements. External incentives prompt us to act a certain way, like going to work each day to earn a paycheck at the end of the month or pushing through a long book to discover the twist ending.

Both reward and incentive theories highlight the importance of developing our natural strengths and interests. After all, it’s important to feel fulfilled by each accomplishment throughout the personal or professional growth processes. Gearing up to work toward something you care about is much easier than finding the motivation to go through the motions for something that doesn’t benefit or excite you.

Positive emotions and intrinsic motivation

Remember: intrinsic motivation is when you act without needing an external reward. In other words, the joy of the act itself is enough to motivate you. But prioritizing your internal wants and needs isn’t a foolproof path to focus.  

Picture a novelist. Their life revolves around writing and the joy of telling stories. This doesn’t mean the process of crafting a novel is without rough patches that challenge their drive to continue. 

Motivation is a physical and psychological process, but it can also be viewed as a skill developed with hard work, practice, and perseverance. Reframing motivation in this way helps to separate likes from wants. The novelist likes to write, but they want to complete a novel — a goal that demands process, strategy, and hard work. 

Dedicating your professional life to a career that matches your natural strengths and interests is a great way to inspire consistent motivation. But learning how to harness that motivation with mental fitness and a growth mindset brings a larger sense of purpose that turns intrinsic joys into big accomplishments. 

What causes motivation in the brain besides just dopamine being released? First, we need to understand that research has found that three main factors influence our motivation: our physiological state, environment, and past. These factors influence what parts of the brain control motivation, which is primarily the amygdala. But let's circle back to our friend, dopamine.

The dopamine signal moving in between neurons and receptors inside the synapses of our brain allows signals to keep moving. For our motivation, the dopamine pathway is crucial. The reward pathway — or mesolithic pathway — in the middle part of our brain goes to the cerebral cortex, which is on the top of our brains.

Dopamine also travels through is the nucleus accumbens. As soon as there's an abundance of dopamine, it lets our brains know that something good will happen. Specifically, it means a reward.

When dopamine floats move through the reward system, it teaches our brain to connect this brain activity to pleasure. It keeps us in pursuit of more dopamine in each part of our brain. This then spurs our motivation. We know that if we work, we’ll have a rush of this neurotransmitter. Our brain uses that to its advantage. 

The neuroscience of motivation: Dopamine 

Dopamine is the happy hormone that controls the brain’s reward system and drives us to do things that feel good. It’s produced in the brain and communicates messages throughout the nervous system. 

You may readily associate the feel-good emotional state caused by dopamine with a pleasurable experience like eating ice cream, taking a leisurely bike ride, or spending quality time with your friends. But it also plays a central role in your emotional state and bodily functions, including:

• Memory

• Pleasure 

• Attention

• Mood

• Learning

• Sleep 

Dopamine motivation: How does it impact the brain?

Dopamine plays a key role in motivating you to reach your goals by activating your internal reward system. It helps teach you what feels good and bad, guiding you to choose actions that bring back the positive stuff and avoid the negative. 

The reward pathway — or mesolithic pathway — begins in the middle part of your brain and extends to the cerebral cortex. The release and utilization of dopamine are carried out over several regions of the brain:

1. When you experience a pleasurable stimulus, the ventral tegmental area (VTA) releases dopamine. 
2. This dopamine travels to different parts of the brain with dopamine receptors: the amygdala, hippocampus, nucleus accumbens, and prefrontal cortex. These four locations uptake dopamine, triggering unique functions.
3. The amygdala’s job is to interpret emotional stimuli and send out messages to different parts of the brain circuit, including the hippocampus. The dopamine tells your amygdala that you’re having a pleasurable experience, inciting positive emotions. 
4. The nucleus accumbens translates emotional inputs into motor responses, cueing the brain to select a behavior and act on it.
5. Meanwhile, the prefrontal cortex (PFC) diverts focus toward the pleasurable stimulus and creates a memory. These positive and negative associations aid your ability to self-regulate your behavior.
6. The hippocampus, the brain’s memory center, retrieves long-term memories that continue to guide problem-solving and decision-making.

Dopamine reinforces learning and incentivizes reward-seeking. For instance, the piano player gets a taste of happy hormones thinking about playing a tune, and the act itself releases more dopamine.

How to release dopamine to increase your productivity

Researchers at Vanderbilt University found that people we consider “go-getters” — individuals who constantly seem motivated — have greater dopamine signaling, meaning they respond better to rewards.

But dopamine doesn’t stimulate motivation in a vacuum. According to behavioral neuroscience, three factors influence your motivation and interact with your body’s dopamine neurotransmitters: your physiological state, environment, and past experiences. Learning how to tap into these forces to create higher dopamine levels can help you increase your motivation and productivity. 

Here are 10 ways to boost your dopamine: 

1. Record your accomplishments 

Reminding yourself of your achievements fills you with the confidence to push forward or fight off debilitating feelings of imposter syndrome. Likewise, the joy that comes with adding a new achievement to your list of successes can motivate you to complete a task. 

2. Share your work 

Inspiring others around you gives you positive external reassurance. In turn, this confidence inspires you to start a new project or push through challenges on a current one. Sharing your work also helps develop mutually beneficial connections with friends or colleagues, inspiring a group dynamic where you encourage each other to keep working toward your goals. 

3. Exercise: 

There’s a reason it’s called a “runner’s high” — research shows that regular physical activity boosts your dopamine levels. In fact, just 150 minutes of moderate aerobic activity each week can boost your overall mental and physical health. If that number sounds overwhelming, set the fitness goal to grow your activity incrementally and do what works best for your lifestyle.  

4. Prioritize your well-being 

Stress decreases your ability to produce dopamine. Self-care practices such as yoga, meditation, and a nighttime routine to unwind after a long day helps fend off the mental fatigue that weighs on your mind and leaves you feeling disengaged from your goals.  

5. Set achievable goals 

Break down large goals into small, manageable tasks and let every check on your to-do list fill you with the motivation to keep pushing forward. For particularly difficult projects, create an extrinsic reward system. The completion of a task at work could be rewarded with a walk around the block, a coffee break, or a phone call with a friend. 

6. Put on your favorite jam

Listening to your favorite music can boost dopamine levels by 9%. As a result, putting on a great playlist while you work can put you in the zone. Likewise, taking a break out of your work schedule to dance or move around picks up your energy and keeps you happy. 

7. Do you

Hobbies improve your overall well-being and sense of happiness. Your brain naturally seeks out experiences that will fill you with positive emotions, so set aside time to do the things that make you feel good, like jogging, a painting class, or a card game with your family. 

8. Hype yourself up

Understand that your work has importance and value. The feeling that your efforts are meaningful can be a valuable intrinsic motivator. For example, contributing to a project at work that alleviates pressure from your coworkers and makes their days easier might keep you driven and inspired. Comprehending your worth is critical to seeing the bigger picture, whether at work or home.

9. Eat a balanced diet 

Foods high in magnesium and tyrosine kickstart your dopamine system. Fill your kitchen with nutritious foods like fruits, leafy greens, chocolate, and green tea. 

10. Fix your sleep schedule 

Improving your sleep hygiene helps you achieve consistent REM sleep, which increases dopamine levels. A few simple fixes include creating a pre-sleep routine, avoiding caffeine, and unplugging from electronics before bed.

4 behavioral drivers behind motivation

While triggering your natural dopamine pathway is an excellent way to spark motivation, understanding what pushes you toward action can fan the flames into an inferno. Let's explore four main drivers of behavior:

The drive to learn new things

You may be motivated to seek out the “why” and bring clarity to a subject that interests you. Every new piece of information fills you with contentment as you put the puzzle pieces together. 

In the workplace, you want to sharpen your skills, expand your know-how, and earn hands-on experience. Every lesson learned is a step towards professional growth, whether you’re developing managerial skills or acquiring transferable skills to open your career options. 

The drive to bond with others

Well-being is influenced by social health, meaning you feel better with people who make you feel comfortable and safe. You’re likely motivated by personal connection in some way or another, whether you’re an extrovert bent on having a huge social network or an introvert who nurtures a select few close friendships. 

Being around like-minded people who fill your life with mutual support also motivates you to practice important social skills, like being a better listener, showing gratitude, and exercising more patience. 

The drive to protect

You may feel a need to protect the things that fill you with joy. These could include a person, a place, your life’s work, or your value system. When the things you love are threatened, you’re motivated to stand up and defend them. 

Take stock of what makes you tick in your personal and professional life. If you value your sense of independence and flexibility, this might motivate you to prove you’re ready for a promotion or make the transition to remote work for more freedom of time. 

The drive to gain

Success doesn’t have a finish line. Every single day, you add big and small items to your list of accomplishments. These could include a successful presentation, special thanks from a manager, or a promotion and a new corner office. 

Some accomplishments can be achieved quickly, while others take time and perseverance. Learning to value the milestones that require both short-term and long-term commitment provides a sense of fulfillment that pushes you forward. 

Find your motivation

Good news: You don't have to be a neuroscientist to understand and harness the science of motivation. You simply need to find what moves you and put in the right amount of effort to achieve your goals. 

Understanding how motivation works in the brain allows you to tune into your body and hack its natural functions, whether you’re looking to activate your dopamine system or learning to complement intrinsic motivation with planning and hard work. Having the right mindset is also crucial when learning how to become and stay motivated.