DailyHabitAI
72 IDEAS · 3 MENU DESIGNS · PRINTABLE
Build a dopamine menu like a restaurant menu: starters, mains, sides, desserts and specials. Pick from 72 ideas or write your own, then print it.
Menu
Order something when you feel stuck
How to order: stuck or flat, have a starter. A dull task ahead, add a side. Desserts are fine, with a timer.
dailyhabitai.com/tools/dopamine-menu/
Stuck or flat? Start here.
A dopamine menu is a short list of things that lift your mood or energy, laid out like a restaurant menu: starters are 5-minute boosts, mains take longer, sides make a boring task easier and desserts are nice but easy to overdo. When you feel stuck, you order from it instead of reaching for your phone.
The restaurant layout is the point: you choose a course by how much time and energy you have, then pick from a short list instead of deciding from scratch.
| Course | What it is | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Starters | Quick boosts, 2 to 10 minutes | Dance to one song, step outside, make a fancy drink, ten jumping jacks |
| Mains | Longer and more filling | A walk with a podcast, cooking something new, a call with a friend, a workout |
| Sides | Added to a boring task | A playlist while cleaning, body doubling with a friend, a timer race, a café instead of your desk |
| Desserts | Pleasant but easy to overdo | Scrolling, one episode, short videos, a mobile game: each with a timer |
| Specials | Bigger treats now and then | A concert, a day trip, an escape room, a museum |
The idea grew in the ADHD community: Jessica McCabe of How to ADHD popularised it in 2020, and many people use it with or without a diagnosis. It works as a decision aid. When an under-stimulated brain looks for something, a ready list of better options is easier to act on than willpower. There are no studies of dopamine menus themselves, and a menu is not a treatment for ADHD, low mood or burnout. If nothing on any list feels enjoyable for weeks, talk to a doctor.
Cutting back on the quick rewards first? Read the dopamine detox guide or try the social media detox tracker, and use this menu to fill the time you win back. For calm, everyday care rather than quick boosts, the self-care checklist sorts ideas by how much time they take.
Things you already enjoy and can actually do: a few quick starters (a song, a walk to the window, a fancy drink), two or three longer mains (a walk with a podcast, cooking, calling a friend), sides that make chores easier, a short dessert list with a time limit and one or two specials. The menu above opens with an example you can change.
The idea comes from the ADHD community. Jessica McCabe of How to ADHD popularised it in 2020 as a way to find stimulation on purpose, when an under-stimulated brain would otherwise drift to scrolling. Many people without ADHD use it too. It is a planning aid, not a treatment.
Starters (quick boosts, under 10 minutes), mains (longer and more filling), sides (something you add to a dull task, like music or a friend on the phone), desserts (pleasant but easy to overdo, so set a timer) and specials (bigger treats now and then).
There are no studies of dopamine menus themselves. The idea draws on what is known about reward and motivation, and many people find a ready list makes it easier to start something. Treat it as an experiment: keep what helps, cross out what you never pick.
A dopamine detox cuts back on quick, easy rewards such as scrolling for a while. A dopamine menu plans better rewards to reach for instead. They work well together: the detox clears space and the menu fills it. Read the dopamine detox guide for the first part.
Yes. Print menu gives your menu on one Letter or A4 page in the Bistro, Diner or Garden design, with empty lines left for your own ideas. Print blank menu gives the same page with every line empty. Save for phone makes a wallpaper-sized image.
Only in this browser on this device. Nothing is sent to our server and there is no sign-up. Print it or save the image to keep a copy elsewhere.
New plans, guides and app features, a few times a month at most.