It's 2 PM. You've lost all momentum. You can't think of what to do, and the blankness is paralyzing. This is where a dopamine menu saves you — not by fixing the motivation, but by removing the decision.
What it is
A pre-built list of activities, organized by effort level, that give your brain a dopamine bump. You create it when you're feeling good so it's ready when you're not.
Building yours
Appetizers (5-10 min): A playlist. A walk. A snack. Stretching. Activation tools, not productive tasks.
Main courses (15-30 min): A hobby project. Cooking. A workout. A phone call. These restore dopamine more substantially.
Sides (alongside work): Background music. Working in a specific spot. Body doubling. Environmental modifiers.
Desserts (full reset): Long hike. Creative project. Intense workout. Emergency reserves for truly stuck days.
Why it works
When executive function is depleted, choosing what to do is itself impossible. A pre-built list bypasses the decision bottleneck entirely. Keep it on your phone's home screen or in your brain dump. One glance away.
You don't need to feel motivated to get moving. You just need a menu. Build yours today — future-you will thank present-you.