On Depression And Anxiety: How Micro Goals Facilitate Positive Emotion

The following is a transcript excerpt from Dr. Jordan Peterson’s “Depression & Anxiety.” In this segment, he addresses the facilitation of positive emotion, the brain’s neurochemical influence with an example of a micro goal, and the acquisition of skills versus counterproductive micro conceptions in relation to depression. Dr. Peterson’s extensive catalog is available on DailyWire+.

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We talked about the amelioration of negative emotion. We can also talk about the facilitation of positive emotion. If you break down a person’s goals into different domains, you can establish micro goals. Then, as people observe themselves moving positively toward the accomplishment of micro goals, their positive emotion systems start to turn back on.

Imagine you make a micro goal and the goal might be: This month I am going to clean up my room. So, the first thing you do is organize your sock drawer, which is harder than it sounds because maybe you have 30 pairs of socks in there that…