Season 14 Episode 374 reviews neuroscientist Friederika Fabritius on the limits of willpower with tips from Dr. Andrew Huberman's research on how to strengthen the anterior mid-cingulate cortex through deliberate focus and challenging tasks. The episode also reviews the brain's reward system and practical strategies—like Dr. Anna Lembke's 30-day dopamine reset—to protect motivation and long-term self-control.
Practical takeaways include conserving willpower by simplifying choices, using meditation and focused exercises to build concentration, del...
Season 14 Episode 374 reviews neuroscientist Friederika Fabritius on the limits of willpower with tips from Dr. Andrew Huberman's research on how to strengthen the anterior mid-cingulate cortex through deliberate focus and challenging tasks. The episode also reviews the brain's reward system and practical strategies—like Dr. Anna Lembke's 30-day dopamine reset—to protect motivation and long-term self-control.
Practical takeaways include conserving willpower by simplifying choices, using meditation and focused exercises to build concentration, deliberately practicing difficult tasks to grow resilience, and rethinking how we reward children to avoid overstimulating their prefrontal cortex.
On today's episode #374, we’ll learn:
✔ Practical Tips for Building our Willpower/Resilience/Concentration
✔ The Importance of Understanding our Brain's Reward System for Ourselves and Our Children
Welcome back to SEASON 14 of The Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast, where we connect the science-based evidence behind social and emotional learning and emotional intelligence training for improved well-being, achievement, productivity and results—using what I saw as the missing link (since we weren’t taught this when we were growing up in school), the application of practical neuroscience.
I’m Andrea Samadi, and seven years ago, launched this podcast with a question I had never truly asked myself before: (and that is) If productivity and results matter to us—and they do now more than ever—how exactly are we using our brain to make them happen?
Most of us were never taught how to apply neuroscience to improve productivity, results, or well-being. About a decade ago, I became fascinated by the mind-brain-results connection—and how science can be applied to our everyday lives.
That’s why I’ve made it my mission to bring you the world’s top experts—so together, we can explore the intersection of science and social-emotional learning. We’ll break down complex ideas and turn them into practical strategies we can use every day for predictable, science-backed results.
For today’s Episode 374, we continue our journey into our mind (and brain) with PART 2 of our interview review with neuroscientist, Friederike Fabritius, who we covered on our last EP 373[i] and her book The Leading Brain: Neuroscience Hacks to Work Smarter, Better and Happier.
VIDEO 1 Click Here to Watch
Today we’re reviewing a topic we’ve covered a few times on this podcast — willpower — that Friederike says “is limited and (that she) tries not to waste on people and processes that are just not worth it.”
She explains:
“To a certain degree, I try to simplify my life—I have five kids, a career, and I write books. So, in order to manage all of that, I say no to almost everything else. If I say yes to everything, by the end of the day I’m exhausted. If I then sit down at my desk to write, the result would be a disaster because my willpower is already depleted and I feel like collapsing on the couch. So, you need to be wise about not wasting your willpower on things that aren’t worth it.”
On Episode 294[ii], “Beyond Our 5 Senses: Understanding and Using the 6 Faculties of Our Mind,” we explored how to develop and use this important mental faculty. I find all six faculties of our mind fascinating—but the will is one of my favorites. It’s what I’m using right now, sitting at my desk on a Saturday, to stay focused long enough to write this episode.
YOUR WILL gives you the ability to concentrate. It helps you hold a thought on the screen of your mind, or choose thoughts of success over thoughts of failure. With a highly developed will, you can lock into a task, block out distractions, and accomplish what you set out to do.
We also looked at willpower in Episode 344[iii], “The Neuroscience of Resilience: Building Stronger Minds and Teams,” where we explored how grit and mental toughness relate to new research from Dr. Andrew Huberman. His work shows what happens in the brain when we develop strong willpower—the same kind of strength we need to overcome adversity or, as Friederike describes, to sit down and write a book after a long day. This discovery even made one of the world’s leading neuroscientists jump out of his chair—and I was right there with him in excitement.
I can still remember exactly where I was when I wrote my notes about this—on my cellphone notepad when I learned this brain fact.
Did you know there’s a part of the brain called the anterior mid-cingulate cortex? It’s not just one of the centers for willpower—scientists believe it may hold the secret to the will to live. (Dr. Andrew Huberman)[iv]
This region increases in size when we do things we don’t want to do—like adding exercise when we’d rather rest, or resisting foods we really enjoy. OR, think about the tasks in your day that you would rather skip over. When you do them anyway, you are strengthening and growing this part of your brain.
🔑
Key Points to Think About with Our Will Power
- Willpower is Limited – Use It Wisely
- Friederike explains that willpower depletes throughout the day.
- Simplifying life and saying “no” to unnecessary things helps conserve mental energy for what truly matters.
- I always say to fiercely protect your energy and beware of what many would call energy leaks that directly impact our willpower.
- The Will Is One of the Six Faculties of the Mind
- Covered originally in EP 294: “Beyond Our 5 Senses.”
- The will allows us to concentrate, choose thoughts of success, and block distractions or other limiting thoughts that might occasionally creep into our minds.
- The Neuroscience of Willpower
- Andrew Huberman’s research shows that developing willpower strengthens brain regions involved in resilience and grit.
- The anterior mid-cingulate cortex is linked to willpower and even the “will to live.”
- This brain area grows when we do things we don’t want to do (e.g., exercising or resisting temptation).
- Making it Personal
- Think about where YOU use your willpower to stay focused on a task.
- Like I explained how I have to use my own willpower to sit at my desk on a Saturday to write this episode.
- This demonstrates willpower in real time and makes the science relatable for all of us.
🧠 Practical Tips to Develop This Faculty of Our Mind: Our Willpower
- Practice deliberate focus. Meditation strengthens your will, as does a simple candle-gazing exercise—staring at the flame of a candle, until you and the flame become one. I tried this in my late 20s, and after a few hours of focus, I could finally (in this exercise) feel my attention expand beyond distractions. Developing this faculty takes time and patience, but once you master it, you’ll know you can sit, focus, block out the outside world, and do anything.
- Do challenging, difficult things that you don’t want to do. Every time you push yourself through discomfort, you’re strengthening your anterior mid-cingulate cortex—and in turn, your will to actually live. This part of the brain is larger in athletes, and will increase in size with deliberate challenge.
THINK ABOUT THIS:
Do you think you push through challenge, or often do things that are difficult EVERY day? Do you think you have a highly-developed willpower? If the answer is yes, keep working on it, because this part of the brain Dr. Huberman noted “will keep its size in those people who live a long time.”
VIDEO 2 Click Here to Watch
In this second clip, Friederike explains why it’s so important to understand the reward system in our brain. She says, “With my kids, I don’t give them everything right away. It’s tempting, because you see their happy faces, but it’s best not to do that—it throws off the reward system in their brain. They need to work for things to work out.”
She said “with my kids, I don’t give them everything right away. It’s tempting, we live in a society where we could buy them a present every day. I could give them chocolate every day, it’s tempting because you see their happy faces but it’s best not to do that because it will throw off the reward system in their brain, and they will need to work for things to work out. If you give them everything you ruin their PFC (prefrontal cortex) and then later in life when you’re not there anymore, they will expect the same from their surroundings. And that’d difficult. You will not be there.”
Her comment reminded me of our interview with Stanford University’s Dr. Anna Lembke, author of Dopamine Nation on Episode 162[v], where she shared her 30-Day Dopamine Fast designed to help us reset the brain’s reward pathways—especially when, as Friederike mentioned, our prefrontal cortex has been “flooded with dopamine.”
When Friederike said this in the interview, it really hit home for me. None of us willingly want to flood our kids’ brains with dopamine — but without understanding how the brain’s reward system works, I realized I was doing exactly that with both of my kids at the time of this interview. Thank goodness there are simple and science-backed ways to reset the brain, like Dr. Anna Lembke’s 30-Day Dopamine Fast.
Dr. Lembke uses the acronym DOPAMINE to guide this reset:
- D – Data: what are you using, how much, how often?
- O – Objectives: what does it do for you?
- P – Problems: what are the downsides?
- A – Abstinence: stop using it for a month and see what happens.
- M – Mindfulness: be prepared to feel worse before you feel better.
- I – Insight: notice what you learn when you stop.
- N – Next Steps: can you move forward without that behavior?
- E – Experiment: go back out into the world and see what works for you.
I used to bribe my kids when they were little with small pieces of chocolate. If I needed them to get in the car quickly, I would say “get in the car and I will give you a chocolate” not realizing what I was doing to the reward system in their brain. When we know better, we can do better.
“As parents, Friederike reminds us that understanding that we can in fact flood our children’s brains with dopamine, without realizing it, brings us back to the importance of this understanding of the application of simple neuroscience in our daily lives.”
If there’s something you want to change in your life, try going without it for 30 days and observe what happens. As Dr. Lembke notes, even when moderation is possible, many people find it’s easier—and more freeing—to choose abstinence in the long run.
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Key Points: Understanding the Reward System and Dopamine Regulation
- Friederike on the Reward System:
- Giving children everything they want can “throw off” their brain’s reward system.
- It’s important for kids to work for rewards to strengthen their prefrontal cortex (PFC) and build resilience.
- Connection to Dr. Anna Lembke’s Work (Dopamine Nation):
- Lembke’s 30-Day Dopamine Fast helps reset the brain’s reward pathways when overstimulated by constant pleasure or instant gratification.
- The goal is to restore balance in the brain’s dopamine system.
- The DOPAMINE Acronym:
- D – Data: What are you using, how much, how often?
- O – Objectives: What does it do for you?
- P – Problems: What are the downsides?
- A – Abstinence: Stop using it for a month and see what happens.
- M – Mindfulness: Be prepared to feel worse before you feel better.
- I – Insight: Notice what you learn when you stop.
- N – Next Steps: Can you move forward without that behavior?
- E – Experiment: Return to the world and see what works for you.
- Practical Takeaway:
- Try a 30-day break from something you rely on (social media, sugar, shopping, etc.) and observe how your brain and mood respond.
- Parenting Insight:
- Parents can unintentionally flood their children’s brains with dopamine through constant rewards or treats.
- Applying simple neuroscience helps promote patience, motivation, and long-term emotional regulation.
REVIEW and CONCLUSION
As we wrap up Episode 374, and Part 2 of our review of Episode 27 with Friederike Fabritius, we covered two key areas of the brain that we can strengthen with awareness and practice.
🧠
Clip 1: The Neuroscience of Willpower
- Andrew Huberman’s research shows that developing willpower strengthens brain regions involved in resilience and grit.
- The anterior mid-cingulate cortex is linked to willpower—and even the “will to live.”
- This brain area grows when we do things we don’t want to do, like exercising or resisting temptation.
2 Practical Tips to Develop Willpower:
- Practice deliberate focus. Meditation strengthens your will, as does a simple candle-gazing exercise—staring at a flame until your attention and the flame become one.
- Do challenging things you don’t want to do. Every time you push through discomfort, you strengthen your anterior mid-cingulate cortex—and your will to live.
💡
Clip 2: Understanding the Reward System and Dopamine Regulation
- Friederike reminds us that giving children everything they want can “throw off” their brain’s reward system.
- Kids need to work for rewards to strengthen their prefrontal cortex and build resilience.
- This connects with Dr. Anna Lembke’s research from Dopamine Nation, where she outlines a 30-Day Dopamine Fast to reset the brain’s reward pathways when they’ve been overstimulated by constant pleasure or instant gratification.
Practical Application:
Try a 30-day break from something you rely on—like social media, sugar, or shopping—and observe how your brain and mood respond.
I hope these two review clips help us all re-think ways to strengthen our willpower and reset our brain’s reward system as we move into a strong final quarter of 2025.
I’ll see you next week as we revisit Dr. John Ratey’s work that focuses on exercise and our brain.
RESOURCES
Video Clip 1 on Will Power https://www.youtube.com/shorts/W6AKDbcII48
Video Clip 2 on our Dopamine Reward System https://www.youtube.com/shorts/c_0W-uesd6o
REFERENCES:
[i] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE 373 PART 1 with Friederike Fabritius on “Fun, Fear, Focus: Neuroscience Hacks for Peak Performance” https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/fun-fear-focus-neuroscience-hacks-for-peak-performance/
[ii] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE 294 “Beyond Our 5 Senses: Understanding and Using the 6 Faculties of our Mind” https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/beyond-our-5-senses-understanding-and-using-the-six-higher-faculties-of-our-mind/
[iii] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE 344 on “The Neuroscience of Resilience: Building Stronger Minds and Teams” https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/the-neuroscience-of-resilience-building-stronger-minds-and-teams/
[iv] How to Build Willpower Dr. Andrew Huberman with David Goggins https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84dYijIpWjQ
[v] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE 162 with Dr. Anna Lembke on her book “Dopamine Nation” https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/medical-director-of-addictive-medicine-at-stanford-university-dr-anna-lembke-on-dopamine-nation-finding-balance-in-the-age-of-indulgence/
