I dove into the science of why I have days where I get nothing done.

I go from opening socials, to answering an email, to scratching a minor task off the to-do list. I feel like I’m working, but no actual progress is being made.

So I learned why this happens, and it’s actually the same reason why people get addicted to cocaine:

It’s a vicious circle fueled by dopamine.

The more the brain is used to high levels of dopamine, the more boring other things start to feel.

And that is one of the reasons why cocaine is addictive. Such high levels of dopamine are released when someone does it, that everything else in life just feels boring to them. Their “dopamine tolerance” goes up.

So how does this apply to a regular workday?

Well, the higher the levels of dopamine, the more boring hard tasks will start to feel, and the less likely they get done.

So when we chase the “good feeling” of scratching small tasks off the to-do list, or scrolling through LinkedIn, we’re increasing our dopamine levels, making it harder and harder to start that big hard task that is truly important.

Crazy, right?