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How to Become a Storytelling Genius (Dopamine Ladders) — Transcript

by Kallaway · 5,051 words · 734 segments · language en · Watch on YouTube

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  1. 0:00If you want to get people truly addicted
  2. 0:02to watching your content, there's one
  3. 0:03trick you should be using every single
  4. 0:05time. It's called the dopamine ladder.
  5. 0:08And if you can understand this one
  6. 0:09framework, you'll become a master of
  7. 0:11attention overnight. Now, I know this
  8. 0:13works because content is all I do all
  9. 0:15day long. I have a million followers.
  10. 0:17I've done billions of views. And I've
  11. 0:18spent years studying exactly how to use
  12. 0:21psychology to grow faster on social
  13. 0:23media and YouTube. So, in this video,
  14. 0:24I'm going to break down the six levels
  15. 0:26of the dopamine ladder. how it works,
  16. 0:29why it works, and most importantly, the
  17. 0:31specific tactics for how you can use it
  18. 0:33to your advantage. All right. Now,
  19. 0:34before I explain the dopamine ladder,
  20. 0:36it's critical to understand the
  21. 0:38psychology of how attention actually
  22. 0:40works. Like, what is really going on in
  23. 0:42a viewer's brain when they watch a
  24. 0:44video? And this alone will be a huge
  25. 0:46unlock for you. There are six stages of
  26. 0:48a viewer's journey when watching content
  27. 0:49that release increasing amounts of
  28. 0:51dopamine. And if you can ascend them
  29. 0:53through all six stages, they will have
  30. 0:54watched your entire video and want to
  31. 0:56come back to watch more. Now, eventually
  32. 0:58if you get them to the end of the
  33. 0:59dopamine ladder and you do that
  34. 1:00consistently, you will create a
  35. 1:02Pavlovian effect. And this really is the
  36. 1:05ultimate goal if you're making content.
  37. 1:07Pavlov is the famous scientist that
  38. 1:08proved classical conditioning. Every
  39. 1:10time he rang this bell, he gave a dog
  40. 1:12food so that eventually whenever the
  41. 1:14bell rang, the dog's mouth would water
  42. 1:16because it represented that sound with
  43. 1:18getting food. You're really going after
  44. 1:20this same thing when it comes to
  45. 1:21content. Because the ultimate sign of
  46. 1:23attention mastery is when you can make
  47. 1:25dopamine release in the brain of a
  48. 1:27viewer just by seeing your name or face
  49. 1:29without actually watching any of your
  50. 1:31content. And if you can do that, you've
  51. 1:33basically created a super fan that will
  52. 1:35watch every single thing you make. This
  53. 1:37is when you reach king status in
  54. 1:39attention land. Now, if you can learn to
  55. 1:40do this on command, you can pretty much
  56. 1:42build any business as big as you want.
  57. 1:44It's that powerful. Okay, so the
  58. 1:46question is, what are the six levels?
  59. 1:47And how do you make your content so that
  60. 1:49the viewer ascends through the dopamine
  61. 1:51ladder and you instill the Pavlovian
  62. 1:53response? And that's what we're going to
  63. 1:54break down right now. All right, the
  64. 1:56very first rung in the dopamine ladder
  65. 1:58is the exact same for all visual
  66. 2:00content. Whether it's short form or long
  67. 2:01form, it applies the same. And this
  68. 2:03first rung is called stimulation. Okay,
  69. 2:06the stimulation step is what happens in
  70. 2:07the very first one to two seconds of the
  71. 2:10video. Think of stimulation like a
  72. 2:11visual stun gun that gets someone to
  73. 2:13stop and lock in on one thing. It's like
  74. 2:15a deer in the woods noticing something
  75. 2:17out of the corner of their eye, and they
  76. 2:18can't resist the urge but to pick up
  77. 2:20their head, look, and lock in on that
  78. 2:22one spot. Now, dopamine from stimulation
  79. 2:25comes from colors, motion, and
  80. 2:26brightness that is picked up initially
  81. 2:29from the eye. So, literally, if you show
  82. 2:30a combination of colors, motion,
  83. 2:32contrast, and brightness that is
  84. 2:34different from what the viewer typically
  85. 2:35sees, they're going to get a hit of
  86. 2:36dopamine, and they will pause for a
  87. 2:38split second. And this is all you need
  88. 2:40to earn the space to get them to level
  89. 2:41two. Now, to prove this is how it works,
  90. 2:43I'm going to show eight 9x6 images on
  91. 2:46the screen with colors and motion, but
  92. 2:48I'm going to blur it out so you don't
  93. 2:49know exactly what they are. I want you
  94. 2:51to look at these and tell me exactly
  95. 2:52which one your attention goes to first.
  96. 2:54All right. Now, for most people, these
  97. 2:56were the two that they noticed and
  98. 2:58visually focused on. See, your eyes go
  99. 3:00to the ones that have more motion,
  100. 3:02color, and brightness. That's just how
  101. 3:03your subconscious brain works. You can't
  102. 3:05override it. And again, to prove it to
  103. 3:06you in another way, if you were to watch
  104. 3:08your social media on grayscale or black
  105. 3:10and white, I guarantee it just wouldn't
  106. 3:12be as interesting to you. What's really
  107. 3:14happening under the hood here in your
  108. 3:15neurochemistry is that your brain is
  109. 3:17processing things in two stages. The
  110. 3:19first stage is the rapid subconscious
  111. 3:21processing stage. It's called bottoms up
  112. 3:23processing. And this processing happens
  113. 3:25so fast in like 200 milliseconds that
  114. 3:27your eye and brain are just catching
  115. 3:30vivid colors in motion. They're not
  116. 3:31actually comprehending what they're
  117. 3:32seeing. But knowing this is how you hack
  118. 3:34people on the treadmill to pause and pay
  119. 3:36attention for a split second. So for
  120. 3:38you, the tactical tip is that when
  121. 3:39you're making your own content, you need
  122. 3:41enough color, motion, and contrast to be
  123. 3:43able to visually stun them for the first
  124. 3:441 to 2 seconds. But here's the thing. If
  125. 3:46everybody copies the exact same motion,
  126. 3:49color contrast pattern, the viewer will
  127. 3:51become desensitized because the whole
  128. 3:52feed will have it and then that will
  129. 3:54stop working. This is why coming up with
  130. 3:56your own unique visuals, your unique
  131. 3:58color palette, the motion, the aesthetic
  132. 4:00that you want is really critical because
  133. 4:01it helps you cut through the feed and
  134. 4:03trigger this subconscious stimulation.
  135. 4:05Okay, so that's level one. Now,
  136. 4:07stimulation is the weakest and the
  137. 4:08shortest of the dopamine releases, but
  138. 4:10it's a very important precursor like we
  139. 4:12said because if you don't trigger the
  140. 4:14focus, the rest of the levels don't even
  141. 4:16matter. All right, level two in the
  142. 4:17dopamine ladder is called captivation.
  143. 4:19And this is where the comprehension of
  144. 4:21what you say and how you say it really
  145. 4:23starts mattering. The first step was
  146. 4:24literally just visual brain hacking. But
  147. 4:26here, this is where the sauce really
  148. 4:28starts coming in. Now, captivation is
  149. 4:30the curiosity stage. Massive amounts of
  150. 4:33dopamine are released in the viewer's
  151. 4:34brain as soon as they are captivated by
  152. 4:36an open question that they ask in their
  153. 4:38own head. Many people call this a
  154. 4:40curiosity loop. Your video must drive an
  155. 4:42open question that puts the viewer into
  156. 4:44a loop so that they hunt for the answer.
  157. 4:46Now, the reason curiosity loops work so
  158. 4:49well for triggering dopamine is because
  159. 4:50the human brain is a problem-solving
  160. 4:53machine. It evolved to be really good at
  161. 4:55thinking critically and taking open
  162. 4:57complex questions and solving them. The
  163. 4:58bigger and more non-obvious the
  164. 5:00question, the bigger the curiosity, the
  165. 5:02higher the stakes, and the more dopamine
  166. 5:03that gets released. The more relevant
  167. 5:05the question to the viewer, the bigger
  168. 5:07the curiosity, the higher the stakes,
  169. 5:08and the more dopamine that gets
  170. 5:10released. For example, if you made a
  171. 5:11video that got a viewer to ask the
  172. 5:13question to themselves, hm, I wonder
  173. 5:15when the aliens are visiting Earth.
  174. 5:17Well, this is a pretty huge question.
  175. 5:18So, it could be very curiosityinducing.
  176. 5:20But if they don't care about aliens,
  177. 5:21then it's not going to be relevant at
  178. 5:22all and they're going to churn. They
  179. 5:24won't be captivated. So, tactically,
  180. 5:26it's important to ask yourself these
  181. 5:27couple questions as you're structuring
  182. 5:29the hook to make sure you're setting up
  183. 5:31the best possible question. First, what
  184. 5:33is the most curiosityinducing question
  185. 5:35that I could ask about this topic to
  186. 5:38trigger in the viewer's mind? And
  187. 5:39second, how well will that question map
  188. 5:41to something the viewer cares about
  189. 5:43given the ideal avatar I think I'm
  190. 5:45attracting? And then you have to figure
  191. 5:47out what words you say and visuals you
  192. 5:49show to try to get that question to pop
  193. 5:51in their head. Now, there's two ways to
  194. 5:52get a question to implant in a viewer's
  195. 5:54mind. You could literally ask it like
  196. 5:57rhetorically the way I just did, or you
  197. 5:59can imply it with details and try to get
  198. 6:01them to put it in their own head. Either
  199. 6:03way, as quickly as possible in the
  200. 6:04video, you need the viewer to pop a very
  201. 6:07interesting question in their mind or
  202. 6:08they're not going to be captivated. And
  203. 6:10if the question doesn't pop or it's just
  204. 6:11not that interesting, then they're going
  205. 6:13to bounce and you have no chance. So,
  206. 6:14for example, let's say I was scrolling
  207. 6:15the feed and I saw this really
  208. 6:17attractive person with this red and
  209. 6:19orange vivid graphic behind them that
  210. 6:21was moving. I might be stimulated enough
  211. 6:23from level one to pause for a second and
  212. 6:25see what they have to say. But then, if
  213. 6:27that person starts the video saying,
  214. 6:28"Here's how you do your makeup for the
  215. 6:30holidays." The questions that are going
  216. 6:31to pop into my mind are the following.
  217. 6:34How does she do her makeup? Why is she
  218. 6:35doing it like that? These are the types
  219. 6:37of questions that pop into a curious
  220. 6:38mind regardless of who it is. But for
  221. 6:40me, I don't obviously care about the
  222. 6:41topic of makeup at all. And so that's
  223. 6:43not relevant to me and I'm churning
  224. 6:44immediately. Basically, she got me on
  225. 6:46the stimulation and bought me into the
  226. 6:48first kind of question posing period,
  227. 6:50but then she didn't get me on the
  228. 6:52captivation. The reality is, if your
  229. 6:54hooks are not hooking, it means that the
  230. 6:55question that popped in the viewer's
  231. 6:57mind is either not relevant to them or
  232. 6:59just not interesting enough to hold
  233. 7:01them. So that's level two of the
  234. 7:03dopamine ladder. If you want to
  235. 7:04captivate the viewer and get them to
  236. 7:06keep watching, you have to pop a
  237. 7:07curiosity based loop in their mind from
  238. 7:09the question. The act of opening that
  239. 7:11loop will release dopamine. Now, here's
  240. 7:13a few pro tips for triggering a massive
  241. 7:15amount of curiosity in this process. For
  242. 7:17one, you can use contrast, where you
  243. 7:19compare a known thing to an unknown
  244. 7:21thing. Or two, you can frame a super
  245. 7:24shocking or weird premise that they've
  246. 7:26never seen or heard before. Typically,
  247. 7:28unknown things pop curiosity better than
  248. 7:30anything else because curious people
  249. 7:32want to know what the thing is they've
  250. 7:33never seen. All right, level three in
  251. 7:35the dopamine ladder is anticipation. So
  252. 7:37far, you've stimulated them initially to
  253. 7:39get them to give you a chance and then
  254. 7:41you've captivated them by opening a
  255. 7:43curiosity- based question in their head.
  256. 7:45This next step, anticipation, is super
  257. 7:47powerful and this is really where people
  258. 7:48get locked in into the video.
  259. 7:50Anticipation is what happens when a
  260. 7:52viewer begins to guess in their head
  261. 7:54what the answer might be to the question
  262. 7:56you just posed in level two. This is
  263. 7:58essentially a mystery novel playing out
  264. 8:00in their head in real time as they watch
  265. 8:02the video. Typically, what happens is as
  266. 8:04soon as a question pops in someone's
  267. 8:05head, they immediately are trying to
  268. 8:07anticipate what the answer might be.
  269. 8:09It's kind of like this subconscious
  270. 8:10guessing game that goes on. Now, the
  271. 8:12more information you give someone that
  272. 8:13helps them anticipate what the answer
  273. 8:15might be, the more curious they're going
  274. 8:17to become right up until the answer is
  275. 8:19revealed. The highest level of dopamine
  276. 8:20is achieved just before the answer
  277. 8:22comes. So what you want to do is give
  278. 8:24them details to get that anticipation
  279. 8:26close. Ratchet up that curiosity and
  280. 8:28then just before you deliver the answer,
  281. 8:30yank it away and head fake them in
  282. 8:32another direction. Typically adding
  283. 8:33misdirection, non-obvious twists, and
  284. 8:35head fakes is a great way to reset the
  285. 8:38curiositybased anticipation loop. And
  286. 8:41this will make them guess the answer or
  287. 8:42get distracted, pop a new question, and
  288. 8:44then restart the process. This is why
  289. 8:46it's called a curiosity loop. The loop
  290. 8:48is them seesawing between question,
  291. 8:50anticipation, and answer. Or if you
  292. 8:52don't want to yank away the answer, you
  293. 8:53could give them the answer and then pop
  294. 8:54a second question right after that.
  295. 8:56Either way, this looping game of new
  296. 8:58questions and new answers is how you
  297. 9:00build anticipation. Now, here's a big
  298. 9:02pro tip on anticipation. The viewer is
  299. 9:04only able to anticipate what the answer
  300. 9:06might be if they're clear on the facts
  301. 9:08that you're giving them. If you throw a
  302. 9:10bunch of rogue details in that don't
  303. 9:11really make sense with the question or
  304. 9:13they can't understand the facts that
  305. 9:14you're presenting, they're going to get
  306. 9:16confused and bounce. So tactically for
  307. 9:18you, as you develop your story, if you
  308. 9:20want to ratchet up anticipation, you
  309. 9:21want to ask yourself this. Based on the
  310. 9:23question the viewer should have in their
  311. 9:25head from level two, what should they be
  312. 9:27anticipating the answer to be? And based
  313. 9:30on that answer, what additional facts or
  314. 9:32context can we give them to get them
  315. 9:34closer to it? From there, should we give
  316. 9:36them the answer or is there a way to
  317. 9:37head fake or tease them away from it to
  318. 9:40reset that curiosity loop? This
  319. 9:42curiosity anticipation process is kind
  320. 9:44of like the edging of the storytelling
  321. 9:46world. Now, if you've ever seen those
  322. 9:48visual hooks where it looks like
  323. 9:49someone's about to get hit by a car, the
  324. 9:51car is like slowly approaching. This is
  325. 9:53using anticipation to get you to hold
  326. 9:55on. The reason these work so well is
  327. 9:56because you originally see the person
  328. 9:58and the car coming and it pops the
  329. 10:00question, is that person going to get
  330. 10:01hit by a car? Is that car really going
  331. 10:02to run them over? And then as the car
  332. 10:04slowly approaches, you start
  333. 10:06anticipating, wait, there's no way. Oh,
  334. 10:07wait. I think they might they might be
  335. 10:09getting hit by the car. Ah, and he comes
  336. 10:11really close. That anticipation building
  337. 10:13is in real time working to drive that
  338. 10:16curiosity in you. It releases dopamine
  339. 10:18as you anticipate what might happen.
  340. 10:21These are the types of hooks that play
  341. 10:22on the anticipatory instinct in your
  342. 10:24brain and they work super well at
  343. 10:26driving dopamine. All right, the next
  344. 10:27level in the dopamine ladder, level
  345. 10:28four, is called validation. Validation
  346. 10:31comes when you do end up giving them the
  347. 10:33answer to the question that you popped
  348. 10:35in level two. In other words, level four
  349. 10:37is you closing the loop. Now, the goal
  350. 10:39with validation is to make sure you
  351. 10:40reward or answer with something that was
  352. 10:42nonobvious that they wouldn't have
  353. 10:44expected before. Typically, with
  354. 10:46entertainment content, this is the
  355. 10:47resolution of the story. You don't end
  356. 10:49it on a cliffhanger. You actually wrap
  357. 10:50up the loose ends and close the loop
  358. 10:52nicely. For example, in the case of the
  359. 10:54incoming truck hook, usually they don't
  360. 10:56get hit by the truck and they end up
  361. 10:58being safe. And that's how you close the
  362. 10:59loop. Once that loop is closed, you
  363. 11:01realize the story is complete and more
  364. 11:03dopamine gets released as that's
  365. 11:05finished. On the education side, the
  366. 11:07validation or reward in this case would
  367. 11:10be you actually sharing the tip or the
  368. 11:12story or the recommendation that gives
  369. 11:14them concrete value that they can use to
  370. 11:16solve a problem. If the viewer leaves
  371. 11:18this flow without the loop being closed,
  372. 11:20they're going to be unsatisfied and they
  373. 11:22won't release that final dopamine. So,
  374. 11:23it's curiosity, question, anticipation,
  375. 11:26what could the answer be? And then
  376. 11:28validation, giving the actual answer.
  377. 11:30All three phases release dopamine at
  378. 11:32each time. are the first four levels we
  379. 11:34just went through of the dopamine
  380. 11:35ladder. These are kind of like the base
  381. 11:37levels that you can pull with any script
  382. 11:39and visual storytelling. And again,
  383. 11:41those were stimulation, captivation,
  384. 11:43anticipation, and then ultimately
  385. 11:44validation. But the last two levels of
  386. 11:46the dopamine ladder is really where you
  387. 11:48start building cult fandom. This is
  388. 11:50where you ascend beyond the individual
  389. 11:52story and into the storyteller. The
  390. 11:54first four have to do with the video
  391. 11:55itself. We'll call that the message. The
  392. 11:57last two are more with the messenger.
  393. 11:59Level five is called affection. Now,
  394. 12:01affection is the stage where the viewer
  395. 12:03starts taking a liking to the creator or
  396. 12:06personality that was delivering the
  397. 12:07story. And this is why it's kind of hard
  398. 12:09for Faceless content to fully ascend to
  399. 12:12that Pavlovian peak. It's easy for
  400. 12:14Faceless to get those first four levels,
  401. 12:16but it's hard when there's nothing to
  402. 12:17like, when there's no personality to
  403. 12:19attribute that taste, trust, and like
  404. 12:22to. And this is what happens in the
  405. 12:23brain. As the viewer begins to realize
  406. 12:25they like and trust the person that's
  407. 12:27delivering the message, more dopamine is
  408. 12:29released. And think about it, if you
  409. 12:31already like someone, you're going to
  410. 12:32give them a lot longer leash when you
  411. 12:34watch their content. For a stranger, you
  412. 12:36might churn right away. But if it's
  413. 12:37someone you like and you already know,
  414. 12:39there's dopamine that's being released
  415. 12:40there that buys a lot more time of your
  416. 12:42attention. Now, as long as that viewer
  417. 12:44recognizes it's you, that likability
  418. 12:46will carry over from video to video. So,
  419. 12:48of course, the million-dollar question
  420. 12:49that everyone asks is, "How do I improve
  421. 12:51my likability so that I can speed up
  422. 12:54that process to get through level five?"
  423. 12:56And here's four ways to improve your
  424. 12:57liability. The first one, attractiveness
  425. 13:00is a massive factor. Now, I hate to say
  426. 13:02it as someone who has a face for radio
  427. 13:03and a voice for vaudeville silent films,
  428. 13:05but the reality is when you're
  429. 13:07attractive, people just like you more.
  430. 13:09It's subconscious and it's how humans
  431. 13:11behave. So, if you're good-looking, lean
  432. 13:13into it, show yourself more, and I
  433. 13:14guarantee the liability will go up. The
  434. 13:16second thing that improves likability is
  435. 13:18your overall vibe. the way you look, the
  436. 13:20way you dress, the way you sit, your
  437. 13:22posture, the way you carry yourself. All
  438. 13:23of that signals silently to someone and
  439. 13:26it goes into them deciding if they like
  440. 13:27you more or not. The third thing,
  441. 13:29smiling is great for subconscious
  442. 13:31likability. Joy is an emotion that
  443. 13:34transfers through the camera lens. So if
  444. 13:35you look like you're happy or
  445. 13:36passionate, people will feel that warmth
  446. 13:38themselves when they watch you. And then
  447. 13:40fourth, and this is the easiest one, if
  448. 13:42you're making education content, if you
  449. 13:44actually solve a problem for them, max
  450. 13:46trust and likability will be
  451. 13:48transferred. The easiest way to get
  452. 13:49somebody to like you and trust you is to
  453. 13:51actually help them with something
  454. 13:52they're struggling with. Agnostic of how
  455. 13:54attractive you are, how smiley you are,
  456. 13:56etc. Number four is the strongest one.
  457. 13:58So, likability is one of those things
  458. 14:00that you want to try to improve over
  459. 14:01time. But the reality is you don't want
  460. 14:02to force it. Just be yourself. Be
  461. 14:04authentically passionate in what you're
  462. 14:05doing and then try to live that out. The
  463. 14:08more value you can deliver and the more
  464. 14:09valuable you can be, the more likable
  465. 14:11and trustworthy you will seem to the
  466. 14:13viewer. All right, we've approached
  467. 14:14level six, and this is really where the
  468. 14:16Pavlovian response really starts kicking
  469. 14:18in. But before we go into that, let's
  470. 14:19just recap where we were. The first
  471. 14:21level was stimulation. This was
  472. 14:22subconscious. It's motion, colors,
  473. 14:24brightness. All you have to do is get
  474. 14:25somebody to focus, a little bit of
  475. 14:27dopamine released, but that's what locks
  476. 14:29them in, right? So, that's the
  477. 14:30precursor. Then, we talked about the
  478. 14:31three levels that really have to do with
  479. 14:33the specific video and the storytelling
  480. 14:35in it. And that was captivation with
  481. 14:37initial curiosity, anticipation, getting
  482. 14:40them to guess what's going to happen and
  483. 14:42maybe leading them through a head fake
  484. 14:44or zigzag on that curiosity. And then
  485. 14:46ultimately validation, giving them the
  486. 14:48answer and closing the loop so that they
  487. 14:50get that dopamine release on the full
  488. 14:51cycle. Those were 2, three, and four.
  489. 14:54Then level five is likability. Right? So
  490. 14:56you've got the answer from the video,
  491. 14:58but now we've ascended beyond the
  492. 15:00message into the messenger and we're
  493. 15:01going to likability. If the viewer likes
  494. 15:03you, they'll give you more leash.
  495. 15:05They'll have dopamine release every time
  496. 15:07they see you because they'll remember
  497. 15:08that they like you and that'll be
  498. 15:10helpful. Level six, the final level, the
  499. 15:12final frontier, is called revelation.
  500. 15:15And this is really where the viewer
  501. 15:16begins to realize that you're going to
  502. 15:17be a continued source of value for them
  503. 15:19over time. Now, typically both
  504. 15:21entertainment and education content can
  505. 15:23ascend from level 1 to 5. But it's much
  506. 15:25easier for educational content to ascend
  507. 15:28from five to level six, revelation.
  508. 15:30Entertainment content can only get to
  509. 15:32level six if the viewer decides that
  510. 15:34that creator is going to be a consistent
  511. 15:36source of maximum entertainment for
  512. 15:38them. Meaning, every piece of content
  513. 15:40they see is going to for sure be above
  514. 15:42their line when it comes to
  515. 15:43entertainment. And this is just a really
  516. 15:45hard bar to achieve. Maybe Mr. Beast has
  517. 15:47this level of Pavlovian response.
  518. 15:49Anytime someone sees his face, they know
  519. 15:50it's going to be entertaining. But if
  520. 15:51you're an entertainment creator and
  521. 15:52you're not Mr. Beast, you're competing
  522. 15:54with Netflix, the NFL, Kaisat, Mr.
  523. 15:57Beast. It's just hard to beat the best
  524. 16:00maximum bar in the entertainment
  525. 16:02category. But on the education side, if
  526. 16:04you solve specific problems for people
  527. 16:06that they have in their life, they will
  528. 16:07tie you with a consistent source of
  529. 16:10value for solving in that area. And when
  530. 16:12they have this revelation that you're
  531. 16:14going to consistently help them, it
  532. 16:15releases max dopamine whenever they see
  533. 16:17you because you've trained that you
  534. 16:20equal value. That is the Pavlovian
  535. 16:22response. As a corlary, imagine dating
  536. 16:24someone and then realizing that over
  537. 16:26time after spending a lot of time with
  538. 16:27them, you always feel good and you
  539. 16:29always feel love. That means in the
  540. 16:31future whenever you hear their name,
  541. 16:32you're going to get a huge hit of
  542. 16:34dopamine because you're going to think
  543. 16:35positively and feel those feelings
  544. 16:37again. It's the same way here with
  545. 16:38content. Now, the way to achieve this
  546. 16:40level six revelation, especially with
  547. 16:42education content, is to deliver
  548. 16:44non-obvious differentiated value over
  549. 16:47and over and over. If they are deeply
  550. 16:49struggling with a problem that you talk
  551. 16:50about, it might only take a couple of
  552. 16:52pieces of content for them to ascend
  553. 16:54from level one to six and then build
  554. 16:55that Pavlovian response. If they're not
  555. 16:57really struggling with your topic area
  556. 16:59that much and it's more of a nice to
  557. 17:00have, it might take a lot more pieces of
  558. 17:01content for you to build that Pavlovian
  559. 17:03bond. But either way, when you can hit
  560. 17:05this level six state, you have won the
  561. 17:08attention game because it means if they
  562. 17:10hear your name, see your face, or see
  563. 17:12your name, even without watching the
  564. 17:13content, they're going to get the
  565. 17:15dopamine hit that leads them to watch
  566. 17:17it. All right. All right. Now, super
  567. 17:18quick before we end this video, I just
  568. 17:19want to show you one live example of an
  569. 17:21actual short form video and break down
  570. 17:23as I narrate through the dopamine ladder
  571. 17:25and the different levels as we ascend
  572. 17:27through them. And I'm just going to do
  573. 17:28short form video because it'll be easier
  574. 17:30to watch. And because I always do
  575. 17:31education examples, I'm going to do an
  576. 17:33entertainment example on this one. All
  577. 17:34right. So, this example is from a
  578. 17:36creator named Citizen. If you don't know
  579. 17:38him, he's kind of like a musician that
  580. 17:40uses these viral stitch clips to market
  581. 17:42his music. So, we're going to pull the
  582. 17:43video up on the side. We're going to
  583. 17:44watch it and then pause it a lot as I
  584. 17:46narrate through the different pieces.
  585. 17:50Okay, so the first step in the dopamine
  586. 17:51ladder, as we know, is stimulation. And
  587. 17:53this happens fast. Right away, there's a
  588. 17:55slight zoom in. You see two people
  589. 17:57hugging. You kind of see this like
  590. 17:59perspective from a car of a car. It's
  591. 18:01something you don't normally see on the
  592. 18:02feed. That alone is all that's needed to
  593. 18:05give me a slight hit of dopamine and
  594. 18:06narrow my focus on the video. Next, we
  595. 18:08go to level two, which is captivation or
  596. 18:11curiosity.
  597. 18:14Now, as I'm watching this unfold through
  598. 18:17the first like 2, three, 4 seconds, the
  599. 18:18questions that are popping in my head is
  600. 18:20this. First, who are these people? Why
  601. 18:22are they hugging? Do I care? This almost
  602. 18:24made me churn cuz I was like, why do I
  603. 18:26care about this?
  604. 18:29Then I look down and I read that little
  605. 18:30text across. It says, "Bro, what did I
  606. 18:32just witness?" And that pops the
  607. 18:33question in my head, "What are we about
  608. 18:35to see?" Now I'm curious again.
  609. 18:39Then as the girl walks away and gets in
  610. 18:41the car, I notice the shoelace stuck in
  611. 18:42the door and I notice him noticing it.
  612. 18:45And that pops the question, "Oh no, is
  613. 18:47he aware? Is she going to drive away?
  614. 18:48What's going to happen?" Right? Three or
  615. 18:50four rapid questions in succession. So
  616. 18:52at this point, my curiosity is pretty
  617. 18:53high. I've got all these open questions
  618. 18:55and I'm really curious to see what's
  619. 18:56going to happen. Next level three is
  620. 18:58anticipation.
  621. 19:01So, because I see the main character and
  622. 19:03he sees that he's stuck, I'm
  623. 19:04anticipating, is he going to get out or
  624. 19:06is he going to get dragged by the car?
  625. 19:08I'm trying to figure out what's going to
  626. 19:09happen. That's me anticipating the
  627. 19:11solution.
  628. 19:14Now, as the car starts pulling away, I
  629. 19:16can see he's going down. So, I'm trying
  630. 19:18to anticipate what's going to happen. Is
  631. 19:20he going to be dragged? Are they
  632. 19:20actually going to film this? Right? I'm
  633. 19:22still really curious. Now, level four is
  634. 19:24validation where I find out the answer.
  635. 19:27let me off.
  636. 19:27>> And in this case, he falls backwards
  637. 19:29like I would have expected, but then it
  638. 19:31hard cut match cuts away to him getting
  639. 19:33dragged singing a song. The audio comes
  640. 19:35in and he starts singing. That's not
  641. 19:37what I was expecting. So, I get the
  642. 19:38validation of closing the loop that he's
  643. 19:40okay, but also this shocking headfake
  644. 19:43moment where the answer is not what I
  645. 19:45expected. And because now I know he's
  646. 19:47not hurt, I get that dopamine release of
  647. 19:49that initial anticipatory loop closing.
  648. 19:51But also, I'm kind of interested in why
  649. 19:53is he doing this? Does this music video
  650. 19:55strategy work, etc.? All right, level
  651. 19:56five now is affection. Now, here,
  652. 19:59assuming this is the first video you've
  653. 20:00seen of this guy, you probably haven't
  654. 20:01seen enough to determine if you like or
  655. 20:03trust him or not. And with entertainment
  656. 20:05content, as I mentioned, it's a lot
  657. 20:06harder to determine affection and
  658. 20:08revelation than it would be with
  659. 20:10education content. But I will admit, I
  660. 20:12found this pretty funny and shocking,
  661. 20:13and I kind of give a hat tip to him. So,
  662. 20:15if I saw another video from him, I'd
  663. 20:17probably watch it because I wanted to
  664. 20:18see what crazy stunt is he going to come
  665. 20:20up with next. Now, level six, the last
  666. 20:22one, is Revelation. And it would have
  667. 20:24taken me probably several other videos,
  668. 20:25but eventually I would have realized
  669. 20:26this guy is like a viral marketer meets
  670. 20:29music, which is kind of an interesting
  671. 20:30category. And if I like marketing or
  672. 20:32music or his music, I might realize
  673. 20:35every time I see one of his videos, I
  674. 20:36get entertained in this unique way and
  675. 20:38also get to see his song. So I may
  676. 20:40associate this like entertainment value
  677. 20:42drip with him. Now, in this case, I'm
  678. 20:44not going to have the full Pavlovian
  679. 20:45effect because this is an entertainment
  680. 20:46use case, but you can imagine how this
  681. 20:48ladder would work for educational
  682. 20:50content, and if he was giving me a tip
  683. 20:52that I could use in my life, I might
  684. 20:54have that Pavlovian effect much faster.
  685. 20:56So, this is a great example of how the
  686. 20:58dopamine ladder works in content. And
  687. 21:00when Citizen made this video, he
  688. 21:02specifically engineered those pieces to
  689. 21:04trigger you through those loops so that
  690. 21:06you kept watching. And I promise you, if
  691. 21:08you take any piece of educational
  692. 21:09content that has worked on you and you
  693. 21:11analyze it in this way, going through
  694. 21:13these levels in the dopamine ladder,
  695. 21:14it'll all be there clearly why you liked
  696. 21:17it and why you kept watching. All you
  697. 21:19have to do is figure out how to reverse
  698. 21:20engineer that when you make your content
  699. 21:22and you'll be good to go. All right,
  700. 21:23guys. That is all I've got for this
  701. 21:25video. As a recap, we covered the full
  702. 21:27dopamine ladder, all six levels that you
  703. 21:30need to get the maximum dopamine
  704. 21:32released in the viewer's brain and get
  705. 21:33them to keep watching for longer. This
  706. 21:36will make them addicted to your content
  707. 21:37if you can do it consistently. Your
  708. 21:39goal, as I just mentioned, is to use
  709. 21:40these levels, this framework, as a
  710. 21:42checkpoint, as a checklist that you can
  711. 21:44ascend the viewer through. Are you
  712. 21:46driving the right curiosity? Are you
  713. 21:48driving the right dopamine releases?
  714. 21:50This is a great framework for that. As
  715. 21:52always, guys, I'm trying my absolute
  716. 21:53best to cover the non-obvious stuff that
  717. 21:55gives you an edge when you're trying to
  718. 21:57grow on social media and YouTube. And
  719. 21:58one last thing, if you're an
  720. 21:59entrepreneur or a business owner, I
  721. 22:00built a completely free community called
  722. 22:02Wavy World that has 65 other trainings
  723. 22:05just like this one. So if you want to
  724. 22:06learn the advanced mode of YouTube and
  725. 22:08social media, it's in there for free.
  726. 22:10Also, there's 37,000 other people in
  727. 22:12there that are all teamed up, partnered
  728. 22:14up, giving each other feedback. So if
  729. 22:16you want a peer group that's in the
  730. 22:17content trenches as a business owner,
  731. 22:19they're in there as well. I've got a
  732. 22:20free invite link for you below in the
  733. 22:22description. All right, we will see you
  734. 22:23guys on the next video. Peace.

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