According to the latest research in terms of what is driving people’s business acumen, it has been found that most successful entrepreneurs have higher levels of dopamine in their brains than other people. It is a sort of chemical tendency or a genetic deviation that brings two upgrades: it makes people more creative and enables them with extreme determination for achieving their goals and ability to bear risk in unpredicted situations. Below we will have a look at what makes up an entrepreneurial mind and how to make use of it.

Why Dopamine

Once you get interested in something new and unusual, you start to experience a pleasurable wave of interest and it means that the molecules of dopamine have been emitted in your brain. For example, when you see a new coffee shop across the street full of people or notice someone attractive in the bar. At this moment you discover something interesting which promises to make your future brighter, better and richer and you get excited about it. To learn about dopamine and get a scientific understanding of its importance for our mental and physical health, get a profound book The Molecule of More: How a Single Chemical in Your Brain Drives Love, Sex, and Creativity and Will Determine the Fate of the Human Race.

Some forms of “new” like a coffee shop you have not seen before, are quite straightforward but finding a new business book that helps to come up with a solution to a difficult problem will stimulate the release of dopamine as well. It is the creative process when you make new connections between the things which have been previously unrelated. Entrepreneurs are particularly good at “connecting the dots” as once Steve Jobs said: their mind is set to look for new opportunities whereas other people with lower dopamine levels will simply miss them.

Another positive aspect of having a higher level of dopamine is an above-average ability to realize personal ambitions. It is achieved through a better neurochemical stimulus of the control circuit in the brain which helps to discover what we need and achieve our goals with higher determination. It is driving people to strive for more as well as to think and create new things.

How to Make Your Dopamine Work

The more you understand about dopamine, the better you can use it for your own benefit. If you noticed that you are good at coming up with creative ideas to mundane tasks if your mind can connect a recent news story you watched to your complicated task at work – then accept congratulations from us! You have a dopamine level which can potentially turn you into a successful entrepreneur! Although it is beneficial, usually it makes some other simple things rather difficult for you: for example, like being organized with your daily routine or sticking to your original plan. Here is some advice to help you unleash your creativity and stop tilting at windmills.

• Do not try to fix you

The problem starts when you realize that you have difficulties with sticking to your original plan or meeting a deadline; then you look around and you realize that most people you know on the contrary succeed at doing that! And you start being harsh on yourself, you criticize your abilities and lose your confidence. Our advice: do not look around, do not compare yourself, and do not try to make yourself “normal” or “like everyone else”! If you are lucky to have this dopamine-dominated set of mind, it means you are an original thinker and a creative problem-solver! What can be even better in the century of multi-tasking and cross knowledge?

            You might be disorganised about the methodological part of your business idea, but if you managed to find a truly great idea – you can find someone else to help you with its day-to-day realisation! It is like working in a team: you do not try to do everyone’s work but the tasks you feel most capable of. You can apply the same idea to your life and running a business: if your added value comes from an ability to think in an usual way, you should surround yourself with people who are skilled at here-and-now tasks. You don’t change yourself, you change the situation!

• Give yourself permission to relax

It is very good that you have a plan and you try to be efficient most of the time. At the same time, even scientists all as one say that you become more productive if you have regular breaks to let your brain wander. It will let your brain connect and associate things in a way you have never thought of before. Brian Wilson from the Beach Boys successfully used ordinary objects as musical instruments for his music which drew more attention to their band since the beginning. Steve Jobs studied calligraphy and was interested in design and aesthetics which made his products innovative and appealing to people. These ideas and decisions were born in the mind of an entrepreneur not through rigid agendas and conference calls; on the contrary, they came through observation, comparison, and enjoyment of the process.

Random things that collided in your head can lead to something greater and it is not a waste of time to let yourself switch off and observe nature, people and yourself. Your attention will be redirected from the concrete world of tasks to the world of abstract and not-yet-existent experiences and ideas. Our suggestions to stimulate this set of mind:

• Take a hot bath
• Go to a museum or attend your favourite theatre play
• Switch on your favourite music
• Read an inspiring book (maybe something from Bill Gates’ reading list?)
• Talk to people who inspire you and who have a lot of news
• Dance
• Play a musical instrument
• Switch on your player and get lost in the city
• Go further away from civilisation into the nature

Get yourself permission to enjoy yourself! Your dopamine will mix your experiences into a new abstract idea which can be the next “Facebook”!