Hijack Your Brain: The Dopamine Tap
Your brain isn’t lazy—it’s wired for reward.
Welcome to the Hijack Your Brain series.
I work a full-time job, a part-time job, write fiction, run Human at Work, and somehow still manage to have a life somewhere between the margins.
People often ask how.
The truth? I’ve learned how to hijack my own brain.
These are the small, repeatable, science-backed habits that keep me creative and productive—without burning out.
When motivation feels impossible, it’s not because you’ve failed at discipline. It’s because your brain is doing exactly what it evolved to do: conserve energy until the reward feels worth the effort.
The good news? You can teach it to see progress as that reward.
The Science of Motivation
Dopamine often gets labelled the “pleasure chemical,” but that’s not quite true. It’s the neurochemical of anticipation. Neuroscientist Wolfram Schultz’s classic experiments at the University of Cambridge showed that dopamine levels spike not when we receive a reward, but when we expect one. That means your brain releases dopamine when it predicts success—when it senses that effort will lead somewhere meaningful.
It’s the neurochemical equivalent of hope.
That’s why visible progress—checklists, trackers, streaks—works so well. These tools translate invisible effort into measurable reward. Every time you check off a task, you’re closing a feedback loop that tells your brain: Yes, this is working; keep going.
Without that feedback, motivation drains.
With it, discipline becomes almost effortless.
How I Gamify My Own Work
Sometimes it’s simple: when I finish a task, I click it off my digital to-do list. There’s something deeply satisfying about that small sound, that flicker of visible progress as it disappears into my “done” tracker.
But I also like to build challenges into my systems. Can I really write 100 blog posts? What about 100 in every category? Those questions turn effort into exploration. Each target becomes a level to unlock rather than a mountain to climb.
Most of my tracking lives digitally—I don’t love wasting paper—but for bigger or longer-term projects, I’ll pull out a sheet of graphing paper and assign each square to a milestone.
Watching the grid fill in, slowly solidifying one shaded box at a time, is its own kind of dopamine hit. It’s a visual proof of progress, a pattern that tells my brain: you’re building something real.
Gamifying isn’t about points or prizes, though you can certainly add those systems if you want! Moreso, though, It’s about visibility and momentum—making the invisible work visible enough to feel rewarding.
Each small win—every checkmark, shaded square, or self-set challenge—gives my brain that pulse of dopamine it needs to keep moving.
It transforms effort into reward and repetition into rhythm.
The Feedback Loop Framework
To design your own dopamine system, try this:
Find your tracking system
Experiment with ways to make progress visible. Digital to-do lists, Kanban boards, habit trackers, or even a simple note in your phone—all of them work if they give you that clear sense of “done.”
I’m mostly a digital gal, but for larger or long-term projects, I sometimes sketch grids on graph paper and shade in each square as I move forward. Watching the pattern build is its own quiet reward.
(I’ll be sharing my decades of trials, errors, and what’s worked best for me soon—stay tuned.)
Use it or lose it. Seriously, though, use it.
Each to-do gets entered on your list.
Then break big goals into smaller tasks you can actually knock off—not too micro, not too massive.
This small adjustment gives your brain more chances to register success. A dozen visible wins are far more motivating than one distant finish line.
Examples:
Too big: “Write my book.”
Too small: “Open Word doc.”
Just right: “Draft 500 words.”
Each step should feel meaningful enough to matter, but doable enough to finish in one focused sitting. That balance is where the dopamine loop thrives.
3. Cue Productivity
Examples:
Finish a draft → take a walk outside and let your brain reset.
Submit a proposal → make a really good coffee, the kind you save for wins.
Write 500 words → text a friend or colleague to celebrate showing up.
This isn’t about tricking yourself—it’s about working with your neurochemistry instead of against it. For more on this topic, check out→ Hijack Your Brain: The Simple Science of Cueing Productivity (Also linked at the end of this article.)
4. Track Effort, Not Just Outcomes
This is the non-negotiable step.
Log "30 minutes of focused effort" even if the task wasn't completed.
This tracks showing up and acts as a necessary win to manage the perfectionism trap.
Why It Works
Every time you complete a micro-task, your brain releases a small burst of dopamine that says, “yes, keep going.” That signal strengthens motivation, builds momentum, and makes the next action easier to start.
Over time, these micro-rewards rewire your motivation loop. You stop waiting to feel ready—and start feeling rewarded for showing up.
Flow Through Feedback
Discipline isn't about brute force. It's about designing systems that make effort rewarding. Over time, these micro-rewards rewire your motivation loop. You stop waiting to feel ready—and start feeling rewarded for showing up.
Your brain isn’t fighting you; it’s just waiting for proof that what you’re doing matters.
A Question for You:
What's the smallest visible win you can track today to give your brain a dopamine spike?
Share your micro-reward strategy!
Leave a post in the comments. Speak soon!
