This is really important: Dopamine is a currency, and it's the way that you track pleasure; it's the way that you track success; it's the way that you track whether or not you are doing well or doing poorly ... If your dopamine is too low, you will not feel motivated. If your dopamine is really high, you will feel motivated. And if your dopamine is somewhere in the middle, how you feel depends on whether or not you had higher dopamine a few minutes ago or lower dopamine ... Your experience of life and your level of motivation and drive depends on how much dopamine you have relative to your recent experience.