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Michael Long, author of Taming the Molecule of More and co-author of The Molecule of More, joins us to discuss the science of dopamine, why we’re constantly chasing “more,” and how understanding brain chemistry can transform our approach to retirement and finding meaning.
Michael Long joins us from the Washington, DC area.
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Bio
Michael Long is a physicist, writer, and co-author of the international bestseller The Molecule of More (translated into 25 languages, 500,000+ copies sold) and the author of Taming the Molecule of More.
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For More on Michael Long
Website: tamingthemolecule.com
Books: The Molecule of More and Contact: Available through website for book club discussions
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Mentioned in This Podcast Conversation
The Molecule of More by Daniel Leiberman and Michael Long
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About The Retirement Wisdom Podcast
There are many podcasts on retirement, often hosted by financial advisors with their own financial motives, that cover the money side of the street. This podcast is different. You’ll get smarter about the investment decisions you’ll make about the most important asset you’ll have in retirement: your time.
About Retirement Wisdom
I help people who are retiring, but aren’t quite done yet, discover what’s next and build their custom version of their next life. A meaningful retirement doesn’t just happen by accident.
Schedule a call today to discuss how The Designing Your Life process created by Bill Burnett & Dave Evans can help you make your life in retirement a great one – on your own terms.
About Your Podcast Host
Joe Casey is an executive coach who also helps people design their next life after their primary career and create their version of The Multipurpose Retirement.™ He created his own next chapter after a twenty-six-year career at Merrill Lynch, where he was Senior Vice President and Head of HR for Global Markets & Investment Banking. Today, in addition to his work with clients, Joe hosts The Retirement Wisdom Podcast, which thanks to his guests and loyal listeners, ranks in the top 1 % globally in popularity by Listen Notes, with over 1.6 million downloads. Business Insider has recognized Joe as one of 23 innovative coaches who are making a difference. He’s the author of Win the Retirement Game: How to Outsmart the 9 Forces Trying to Steal Your Joy.
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Wise Quotes
On Dopamine as the “Molecule of More”
“If you’re not familiar with dopamine, you hear it’s the molecule of happiness. It’s the thing that makes you happy. You get that dopamine buzz. And it turns out he’s a psychiatrist, of course. I’m a physicist. We’re both accustomed to analyzing systems, looking at things in a big picture. Dopamine is not about happiness. It’s nowhere near happiness. It is a promise-maker. It is a driver. It is a compound, a chemical in your brain, a neurotransmitter. And that’s what we mean. It’s just a chemical in your brain that drives you toward getting the next thing. And there are evolutionary reasons for this, of course. There are practical effects that happen. But until you understand that, there’s a lot of insights about life that you need. simply can’t quite get your arms around. And that’s what led to this, the molecule of more. We thought if we’re fortunate enough we can change the way people talk about dopamine and they no longer say molecule of happiness, they say molecule of more…We have to be wired for more in order to move through life in the first place. If we were just satisfied with the things around us, I’d never get up out of the chair, you know, and neither would you. We would be happy. But happiness isn’t what moves us forward. Challenge is what moves us forward.”
On the Dopamine Buzz
“So most things aren’t salient to getting through the day. They’re just wallpaper. But if something appears that is more salient than normal, we better pay attention. And that’s dopamine’s first job. It’s to check for something that is more salient as soon as it gets your attention, and it might be useful, then your brain goes, okay, we better investigate. And that’s that feeling you get. That’s the dopamine buzz for real that says I better go find out what this is because it could be if you’re a caveman Something to eat because I gotta kill and keep I gotta kill and eat in the same day You know or it could be something dangerous that I better avoid I better watch out for that and that worked pretty well for a long time but in the 21st century – Wow! That noise out there in the yard is probably the neighborhood fox running around. I don’t need to get worked up about every new possibility that comes around and yet the 21st century is built on nothing but and if you think about media especially, it’s about nothing. But can I get your attention with the slight promise of something better? That’s the whole point of the internet and and commerce on the internet. That’s the whole point of television commercials I hope one of advertising we’re surrounded by this constant dopamine opportunity and it can drive us mad.”
On Neil Armstrong and the Moon Landing
“Neil Armstrong walked on the moon and after he got back… someone asked him in an interview how did it feel… to be on the moon. And here’s what he said, word for word, it was something we did. Now we should do something else. You see that the power of this chemical in our brain, it doesn’t matter what you do. My friends, it’s not going to make you happy forever.”
On Meaning
“Aristotle said, if you want to find a satisfying life, and I can’t believe that this wonderful formula is so easy to articulate, make a list of the things that you like to do. Then make another list. What are the things that you do well? Now, which actions, which skills and activities appear on both lists? Now we have a constructive way to spend our time, okay? But that’s, as we say in physics, I’m not trained as a physicist, as we say, as mathematicians say, it’s necessary but insufficient. Okay, so here’s the other thing we need to do. We need to make a third list, and these are the things that Aristotle called virtues that we need to think about matter to us. And when I talk about virtue, I’m not talking about being good. I’m talking about things like love, truth, liberty, knowledge and its pursuit, grace toward others in the form of forgiveness, kindness. Now, we have a list of things that we love to do that we’re good at, and we have a list of virtues that matter to us. Pick out the two or three that matter most to you. What of those activities advance the virtues that mean something to you? And these are the things that we should do. Now, again, another caveat. If you’re thinking that virtues are all about big ideas that change the world, erase that.”
