‘Dopamine Anchoring’ Is the Science-Backed Hack for Getting Through Everything on Your To-Do List

When you were a child, adults in your life probably used a kind of barter system to convince you to do things. Eat your vegetables? You get a dessert afterwards. Does your house work? You get half an hour of additional television. Unfortunately, when we grow, we do not get small treats for the things we are supposed to do. But why can’t We reward ourselves to be good responsible adults?

Let me present you “the anchoring of dopamine”, a hacking approved by Tiktok for having essentially deceived you to do all these boring and unpleasant tasks on your task list. The anchoring of dopamine is, in fact, everything to bring you together. Of course, the little indulgences that we want as adults tend to be a little different from those we were children.

“Do you know this feeling when you turn on a candle, play your favorite song, and suddenly this life administrator does not feel so heavy?” said Claire Thompson, psychotherapist, life coach and hypnotherapist. “It is the anchoring of dopamine – and it is one of the simplest and most moving ways to move your state and make things happen.”

The anchoring of dopamine is essentially all about the tasks of “bad” sandwiches with “good” things. “In its heart, the anchoring of dopamine consists in associating something that you like with something that you usually resist,” explains Thompson. Promise that you will have a long luxurious foaming bath after a gym session. Or maybe you put your favorite reading list and order shots while you book all these dentist and doctor appointments that you have rejected. The key is to do the even A “good” thing every time you do a “bad” specific task.

Tactics are based on the psychological principle of “the mental anchoring effect”, that is to say when you build a mental habit or anchor through repeated actions. For example, if you turn on the same candle each time you go through your night routine, you will start to associate this smell with bedtime.

This involves “activating the brain dopamine system to make habits more pleasant, rather than forced,” explains Thompson. Instead of anchoring tasks with a specific odor or taste, you anchor these tasks with a sensation that comes from a hint of dopamine. In other words, these boring tasks will actually start to feel GOOD. “It is a nervous way adapted to the system to strengthen motivation, concentration and emotional resilience.”

It works “because dopamine is a well-being chemical that strengthens behavior”, explains Tam Kaur, author of self-assistance. “When you constantly reward a difficult habit with something pleasant, over time, your brain begins to connect both. It’s like giving you a psychological high-food to do something hard.”

The content of content Shelby Sacco is a defender of the method.

In a tiktok video on the anchoring of dopamine, she explains that by connecting the “good” and “bad” tasks, “over time, your brain will begin to associate pleasure or happiness with this task than you hate to make it easier to do.” She cites an example of a combination of going to the grocery store by listening to a soothing audio book. “Now, I can’t wait to go to the grocery store, because I like to listen to my audio book.”