Creating Urgency and Motivation
Last week, we reflected on:
- The power of facing reality to motivate action
- How hopelessness can be a tool for progress
- Distinguishing between real and false hope
The next two weeks, we delve into Creating Urgency and Motivation, which is deeply tied to our brain’s neural circuits and the dopamine system. We’ll draw from both Dr. Andrew Huberman’s work and Dr. Henry Cloud’s book Necessary Endings:
Chapter 8: Creating Urgency: Stay Motivated and Energized for Change
Huberman Lab Podcast
The next two weeks we're focusing on:
- Understanding and Creating Urgency
- Strategies for Maintaining Urgency
Understanding Urgency
Urgency is the force that drives us to act. It is essential to making progress in life and achieving the personal “better” we seek. Without a sense of urgency, we delay or avoid difficult decisions, often getting stuck in situations that no longer serve us. Urgency shifts us from contemplation to action, especially when we recognize that an ending is necessary.
But how do we create this sense of urgency?
We must convince our brains that the stakes are high—both in terms of avoiding negative consequences and in desiring positive outcomes.
Why is Urgency Important?
Our brain’s complexity is vast, so let’s focus on a few core concepts from the Huberman Lab podcasts.
In The Science of Setting & Achieving Goals, specifically the chapter on Brain Circuits for Setting & Pursuing Goals, we learn that the amygdala—a brain region linked to fear and anxiety—plays a key role in motivation. We often set goals to avoid negative consequences or out of fear, like avoiding embarrassment or failure. This ties the sense of urgency to the brain’s fear circuitry, making fear a key driver for action.
In contrast, the dopamine system motivates us by making us want to pursue rewards. Here’s how it works:
What Dopamine (Really) Does Dopamine is responsible for our motivation and drive. It operates through two mechanisms: tonic release (a baseline level that determines our general motivation) and phasic release (peaks above the baseline, which increase during pleasurable or rewarding experiences). The ratio of these two determines how motivated or driven we feel. Dopamine acts as a neuromodulator, meaning that it influences whether multiple brain circuits become active or inactive. It operates through two release methods: Synaptic Release: In this process, dopamine is released in a local and specific manner. Volumetric Release: This is a broader dopamine release that affects multiple circuits simultaneously. When dopamine is released volumetrically, it can shift our general mindset. As Dr. Huberman explains:
- Dopamine is a molecule in your brain and body that, when released, tends to make you look outside yourself and pursue things outside yourself. It’s the way you track success and pleasure.
- If your dopamine is too low, you won’t feel motivated. If it’s high, you’ll feel very motivated.
- If your dopamine is somewhere in the middle, how you feel depends on whether or not you had higher or lower dopamine a few minutes ago.
Thus, the key to creating urgency lies in managing both our fear (through the amygdala) and our desire for rewards (through dopamine).
Strategies for Creating Urgency
With this foundation in neuroscience, let’s explore practical strategies for creating urgency in our own lives. Dr. Cloud offers several effective techniques:
1. Play the Movie Forward
Reflecting on the negative consequences of inaction helps us engage the amygdala’s fear circuits. By vividly imagining the frustrations and missed opportunities we’ll face if we don’t act, we create an emotional urgency to move forward.
What frustrations or setbacks are you rationalizing or avoiding?
How will you feel in a month, six months, or a year if nothing changes?
2. Focus on Positive Outcomes
While fear can push us to act, dopamine rewards can pull us toward positive outcomes. Visualizing the benefits of change can energize us and help create internal urgency.
What change have you been pushing off?
For a moment fast forward and picture yourself six months from now.
How will this situation or your life be different, even better, because you made that change?
3. Create External Pressure
Accountability to others and setting clear deadlines are powerful ways to create external urgency. Dr. Cloud emphasizes the value of having “ending alliances”—people who support your commitment to change.
Who can help hold you accountable in this process?
4. Structure and Measurement
Maintaining momentum in change requires a consistent sense of urgency, and that’s where structure and measurement become crucial tools.
Structures like deadlines, routines, and accountability systems help keep the focus on what matters most. For example, Dr. Cloud suggests creating “Ending Alliances”—teams of people who support and hold you accountable to the changes you’re aiming to make. This brings in external pressure that sustains urgency over time.
Equally important is measuring your progress. Immediate feedback is essential for keeping momentum, and the more frequent the feedback, the better the performance. Many large companies, such as Google and Microsoft, have replaced annual performance reviews with continuous feedback systems to improve productivity. The same applies to our personal lives—frequent check-ins on our progress help reinforce commitment and focus.
To stay motivated, it’s vital to keep your long-term vision visible. Regularly remind yourself of the positive outcomes you’re working toward. Writing down your goals or keeping visual reminders in places you see daily can keep your future aspirations in front of you.
However we learn in the Huberman Lab episode “The Science of Setting & Achieving Goals” that there are limitations of keeping visual reminders in the same place continuously. Dr. Huberman explains that while visual reminders can be helpful, their effectiveness diminishes over time due to habituation. So to maintain their impact, he suggests periodically changing the location or format of these visual cues.
How can you sustain the motivation and keep your future in front of you every day? Write it down? Put it on the wall? Anything that works for you
In addition, setting clear deadlines and breaking goals into milestones are effective ways to sustain progress. These small, tangible steps ensure you don’t lose track of time or allow inertia to take over.
What deadlines and milestones do you need to create to keep you moving forward?
Furthermore, building a structured system that keeps you focused on what matters and helps you leave behind what no longer serves you is crucial. This might involve creating plans, timelines, or regular check-ins with a coach to maintain accountability and direction.
What structures do you need to create that keep you focused on what matters and leave behind what no longer serves? Plans? Timelines? Check-ins with a coach? Anything that keeps you moving forward.
By establishing these structures and regularly measuring progress, you create an ongoing sense of urgency, ensuring that your energy and focus are sustained throughout your journey of change.
5. Stay Close to the Misery
Dr. Cloud advises not to escape the discomfort of your current situation. Instead, stay mindful of what’s not working, which reinforces the urgency to act.
What discomfort are you avoiding by rationalizing or “medicating” the issue?
6. Make an Executive Decision
Sometimes, you simply need to make a clear decision to act. In business, this is often done by executives, but the principle applies in personal life as well.
What decisive action do you need to take to create urgency?
All these strategies are easier to implement with guidance. If you’d like personalized support, please reach out for your free coaching consultation.
The last two weeks we focused on:
- Understanding and Creating Urgency
- Strategies for Maintaining Urgency
Coming up next:
A deeper dive into Overcoming internal and external barriers
Additional Resources
With gratitude, Renate
Written with ❤️ in Chiang Mai 🇹🇭