The other day I was crunching some numbers and couldn’t get them to add up, no matter how hard I tried. I did this for a few hours and afterwards I was exhausted, like when you’re ready to go to sleep aftee physical exertion.
Usually these kind of things add up nicely and slowly but surely things just fall in their places nicely like a puzzle. When that happens, working is a breeze and even rewarding.
What is the phenomenon behind this? Why is pointless work so much more mentally taxing than working with a purpose?
In: Other
Dopamine. Doing something new and/or interesting releases dopamine in your brain, which feels good and refreshing and energizing. Non-interesting, repetitive work doesn’t give you that boost.
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