UNDERSTANDING HAPPY CHEMICALS AND HOW WE CAN USE THEM IN OUR BUSINESS LIFE AS CREATIVES.
Introduction to happy chemicals.
Just as the name suggests, happy chemicals such as serotonin, dopamine, oxytocin, and endorphins are natural substances that contribute to our happiness and general wellbeing. From a biological perspective, they are special hormones or neurotransmitters released by the limbic system in the brain to perform an array of essential processes in the body.
Serotonin, also dubbed as the [wellbeing hormone], powers the body with enough moods, and is essential for digestion, sleep, brain function, among others. Dopamine rewards the body with an exciting feeling after an achievement. It’s the feeling that emerges when you’ve achieved or made a step towards an important goal in your life. While endorphins and oxytocin help the body relieve pain and bond with other people respectively.
All these happy chemicals reimburse you with positive feelings that promote wellbeing. However, how can we use them in our business life? Let’s explore happy chemicals and how they can come in handy in the business environment.
Serotonin
Serotonin has diverse functions that maintain the wellbeing of the body. This hormone regulates digestion, sleep, appetite, moods and maintains efficient brain functioning. Research cites it as the well-being or the happy hormone as it controls several metabolic processes that keep the body healthy and boosts self-esteem.
It increases self-esteem when released in the central nervous system (the brain) making you feel more valuable or significant in the community. The feeling of importance gives you confidence and pride in your work and this bounds you to yield good results.
In a business scenario, serotonin would be key to generating good results and making bold decisions that favor your firm’s success. You can be working harder in the business when you feel confident about what you’re doing. And setting strategies that will maintain the reputation of the business in the eyes of its competitors.
For example, if your working schedule was eight hours a day, you can stretch it with 2 more hours. In the long run, the business output will obviously surge with some margin. The serotonin confidence would also help pillar the business standard by improving its logistics, services, or products.
Dopamine
Dopamine compels the brain to trigger an exciting feeling in the body when we are about to receive an award. Although, you don’t necessarily need to be on the stage awaiting an award for the brain to release dopamine. The happy chemical also works when you feel proud of yourself. Either for making a step closer towards a long-sought goal, or helping a friend reach his goal.
It also motivates you to quest for a higher milestone. Internationally, dopamine would help transform our business lives by motivating colleagues to compete for the higher prominent positions, and entrepreneurs to grow their businesses through reinvestments.
For example, it would make you work harder to deliver quality results to be promoted to a better-paying position in a company. On the other hand, an entrepreneur would be motivated to reinvest his profits to increase the value of his business.
Oxytocin
The brain releases oxytocin when you trust people. It’s that feeling that makes you deem people perfect to work with and feel safe when you’re with someone. Basically, this hormone motivates you to trust a person or strengthen the bond in a relationship.
In the business arena, oxytocin can be used when making alliances with other ventures and inviting investors to your business. It would help pinpoint the right business partners to merge with and investors to liquidate shares to. This would in return subject your business to a fruitful environment by dealing with legit parties.
Endorphins
Endorphins are released to oppress physical pain. It gives the body a brief state of euphoria when it’s in pain to survive the situation. Mostly, they are released during childbirth to suppress the pain but the happy chemicals are also present when we feel distressed. Generally, endorphins help relieve the body from real physical pain or distress.
In the business world, they can be helpful when dealing with economic slumps and project breakdowns. An economic plunge or just a normal business drawback could submerge your business venture as a creative. The question is, how would you handle such a painful situation?
It would be devastating to see your business rendered out of operation considering all the efforts and investments injected. During such a sad business crisis, endorphins would be released to mitigate the distress and motivate you to try a new venture or revive the old business.
