How to Trick Your Brain Into Doing Hard Things

"Brainy What-Why-How"

Your weekly nibble of science-backed goodness to help you move better and feel unstoppable.

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What (the TL:DR)

Big goals feel impossible because your brain thinks the effort isn’t worth the reward. 

The remedy: Make the steps smaller and the rewards sooner. 

Then your brain stays in the game long enough to win.

Why (the geeky psychology)

When your brain looks at a big goal and goes:

“Wow, that’s a LOT of effort… and the payoff feels so far away…”

…it dials down your motivation.

It's called effort discounting, and it is the enemy of both consistency and starting.

I'm sure you know: motivation runs on dopamine. And dopamine jumps when your brain perceives a reward.

The problem of course is that we live in a world engineered for instant rewards. (Thanks capitalism!)

  • Tap button ➡️ food arrives

  • Scroll ➡️ entertainment

  • Click ➡️ validation

Your brain loves that because it’s efficient and easy.

But long-term goals.... *sigh* ...They don’t pay out quickly.

Things like: 🤸🏽‍♂️ holding a 15-second handstand, consistently 🗣️ learning a new language 🧠 diving into applied neurology*

They require sustained effort with delayed reward...which your brain is not naturally excited about.

So if you rely on motivation alone, you’ll stall. 

Instead, you have to work with your brain, not against it. Hack that dopamine, my friend. 

How (apply it to your life) 

1️⃣ Name the thing 
What do you actually want to get better at? Be specific. 

2️⃣ Shrink the task 
For example, a handstand isn’t one skill — it’s hundreds.

So don’t train “handstand.” 

Train: learn to grip my fingers, or kick up to vertical even if you fall immediately.

That counts.

It's the same with anything: make the first/next step almost too easy to avoid... 

3️⃣ Add rewards along the way 
You need dopamine before the end goal.

That’s why language apps work — they gamify progress.

Create your own version of that:

  • train somewhere you enjoy being

  • stack the task with something social 

  • give yourself a small reward 🍬 after showing up

4️⃣ Make the big goal mean something 
Even with small wins, the big goal can still feel far away.

So anchor it to something bigger than the outcome.

For me, learning a one-arm handstand isn’t just a skill — it’s proof that you can learn reallllly hard things after 40.

That matters more than the hold itself.

For you, maybe it’s:

  • having a full conversation in a new language

  • being able to help your clients out of pain 

  • showing yourself you don’t quit anymore (👈 big one for me)

Make it personal. Make it matter.

Big goals don’t fail because you’re lazy.

They fail because your brain doesn’t see enough reward soon enough.

So don’t wait for motivation. Build it.

Adell 💋 

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