productivity hack

A big reason many tasks don’t get done is that they are boring and seem to make time go slower than usual. Cleaning the house, doing the dishes, or folding your clothes can be a drag, so it’s easy to put them off until the last minute.

Jenny Park, a finance influencer on TikTok, has found a way to stop procrastinating: by taking advantage of the body’s ability to produce dopamine, the “feel-good” neurotransmitter.

Dopamine is part of the body’s reward center and is released when we are feeling pleasure. It floods our brain with a “rush” when we are having sex, doing drugs, shopping, scrolling through social media, or smelling cookies. It also plays a role in learning, blood vessel function and mood regulation.

Once we get a dopamine hit, we’re likely to return for more. That’s why people are easily addicted to scrolling through social media, or in extreme cases, cocaine and heroin.

Park says we can stop procrastinating over understimulating tasks by pairing them with dopamine-releasing activities.

"If there are certain mindless things around the house that I just dread doing, like putting away clothes or unloading the dishwasher, I will save certain YouTube videos or podcasts that I can only do for these specific tasks," Park explains in the video. "I'll listen to the podcast and then mindlessly do the task and it makes the time go by so much faster, then I'm tricking myself into getting dopamine from this task."

Park is right that podcasting can make mundane tasks more pleasurable. When people listen to long-form conversations that require deep engagement, their brains release dopamine, which makes them want to seek out more podcasts. So, when people say podcasts are addictive, they are correct.

"Steal this life hack and you'll be way more productive!" Park captioned her video.

The video was a big hit on TikTok, earning over 30,000 views. Park’s followers in the comments shared how they use the dopamine trick to accomplish things they don’t want to do.

“Task stacking: Doing something you have to do + something you enjoy doing,” Samantha wrote. “This is how I trained for a half marathon. I was only allowed to watch ‘New Girl’ on the treadmill and it works!” Maiden added.

This is how I get myself on the treadmill, lol,” Cait wrote. “I’ve been saving shows to only watch when I’m at the gym and it makes it fly by and makes me go in the first place.”

For Park, getting things done is all about creating the perfect space for herself to be effective, whether listening to a podcast she loves while doing something mundane or altering the timeframe for a task.

“I definitely used to struggle with procrastination until I stopped seeing it as a character flaw,” she told Upworthy. “For bigger tasks like work, I now just know that I do my best work in a tight time frame. So I will intentionally try to create that environment and not feel stressed. Or, I’ll find ways to get dopamine while still being productive. These days, I’m way more productive and less stressed.”

The bottom line on Park’s hack is that everyone works differently, and it’s okay for you to find your own way to accomplish a task, whether that means listening to a podcast or watching an episode of “Friends” while you’re doing it. Altering the time frame can also mean giving yourself a sense of urgency, as in Park's case. The key is to find what works for you and to run with it.

Follow Jenny Park on TikTok here.