Your brain has two different systems for responding to enjoyable sensations, experiences, and things: a “pleasure circuit” and a “wanting system.”
The two systems usually work together—but not always.
The Pleasure Circuit
Liking is the pleasure you experience from something. In your brain, mu-opioid and cannabinoid receptors work together to produce the experience of pleasure. The same pleasure-generating areas in the brain are activated for all pleasures, from gustatory and sensual to musical, artistic, and altruistic.
The pleasure circuit is considerably smaller and far more fragile than the “wanting system,” so it can be elusive and is always transient. Liking something is not enough to motivate you to go after it. You also need to want it. Indeed, your brain needs to crave it.
Life’s intense pleasures are less frequent and less sustained than intense desires. —Dr. Kent Berridge, University of Michigan
Furthermore, wanting actually enhances and, in a sense, prolongs your liking, whereas the instant gratification you derive from pleasure quickly dissipates it. That’s what the hedonic treadmill is all about: the need to acquire more and more of the things or experiences that initially brought you pleasure in an attempt to maintain a steady state of pleasant feelings.
When you work toward a reward (something you and your brain both enjoy)—and you earn it rather than simply treating yourself to it because you can—you actually enhance your enjoyment of it.
But you have to be intentional about applying rewards. Otherwise your brain will respond to any passing potential pleasure by going after it and taking you along for the ride. It may be a short ride, but even a few of those short rides can completely derail you.
This serves your brain’s drive to maintain the status quo. If you are running as fast as you can on the hedonic treadmill, you won’t have much attention for expanding your mental model or making any significant changes in your life.
The Wanting System
Wanting is the desire you have for something. The desire to get or achieve something is driven by dopamine in your brain, although the neurons that respond to dopamine are interspersed with neurons that respond to opioid and cannabinoid neurons. In a sense, your brain likes to want, which is why, according to Kent Berridge, “we are hardwired to be insatiable wanting machines.”
When liking and wanting become uncoupled, you can want something without liking it. And according to Stanford University researchers, if you don’t get something you want, you desire it more while liking it less.
The dopamine that is released in response to wanting or craving something is a powerful motivator. When dopamine levels are diminished, you will still like what you like, but you will be less inclined to take action to get it. When dopamine levels are elevated, you will be more inclined to take action to get something, whether or not you actually like it.
That’s because wanting and liking can happen both consciously and unconsciously. You may want something your brain doesn’t like or want, and your brain may want or like something you don’t want.
If you don’t clearly identify what you want—and determine how you’re going to get it—you’re liable to end up going along for the ride getting what your brain wants (and then wondering what the heck happened). What you want needs to be compelling enough to you to activate the amygdala, thus creating a sense of urgency. Amygdala activation is critical in getting you to act on your desires. It settles down when you receive or achieve them.
In the case of long-term goals, once you’ve identified a desired outcome both you and your brain want, your brain gradually and steadily releases increasing bursts of dopamine the closer you get to it. The more your brain craves the desired outcome, the more dopamine it will release.
Note: We need air, water, food, shelter, sleep, and other people. Everything else is a want.