Dopamine is your body’s natural reward system. Learn to make it work for you.

When you experience a pleasurable situation, dopamine is released into your brain, stimulating you to seek out these activities in the future. It works for drugs, sex, food, and pretty much anything else you enjoy. Your addiction to dopamine is the reason you exert incredible effort to complete seemingly impossible tasks; it is a drug and you want it bad.

For most of us, talking is a quick and easy way to get a fix of that drug we love so much. We love to talk about our friends, our spouse, our jobs, drama, the coworker that broke down and started streaking through the office. Thanks to dopamine, humans are creatures of gossip. Most of us can turn even the most boring of topics into decent conversation.

Both fortunately and unfortunately, work is not exempt from these topics. Every time we start a new and interesting project, we are on the rooftops screaming about it. This can be a good thing; it opens the door for outside help. If someone knows you are working on something, they may offer to contribute. Issues arise when the project is challenging and exhausting. If you consistently abuse the fact that talking about a project can be more pleasurable than actually working on the project, you have bought yourself a one-way ticket on the dopamine train to disaster.

Blabbing about a project is a great way to ensure it remains forever incomplete. Learn to keep some projects secret until they are actually finished.