A dopamine menu is a list of activities you've pre-decided are good for you, organised like a restaurant menu so you can pull from it when your brain is too depleted to think of one. The concept comes from the ADHD community on TikTok, but the underlying idea is older: decision fatigue is highest in low-dopamine states, which is exactly when you most need to choose a healthy dopamine source. If you wait until then to decide, you'll pick the phone.
This free template uses the standard four-section menu structure:
- Appetisers — 2–5 minute dopamine hits. Pet the cat, splash cold water on your face, walk to the window, do five push-ups, drink a glass of water with ice. The goal is *something* before reaching for the phone.
- Mains — 20–60 minute proper resets. A walk, a workout, cooking a meal, calling a friend, a video game session, a creative hobby. These are what you do on a long break.
- Sides — things you pair with work to make it tolerable. Music, podcasts, a candle, a specific drink, a body-doubling tab open in another window.
- Desserts — special-occasion rewards. The thing you get when you finish a hard project: a movie, a meal out, a purchase you've been saving for.
Why it works (and why printing matters)
Dopamine menus succeed because they convert *choice* (high cognitive cost) into *selection* (low cognitive cost). In a low-dopamine state — exhausted, overwhelmed, post-deadline, mid-meltdown — your prefrontal cortex is offline. You can't *generate* a list of things that would help; you can only *pick from* one. A pre-written menu is the assistive technology.
Print it. Stick it on the fridge or next to your monitor. The whole point is that it's available without you having to open an app, search, scroll, or remember. If it lives on your phone, you've defeated the purpose — you'll open the phone and get sucked into a feed.
Pairs with
- ADHD Task Planner — the planner tells you what to work on, the menu tells you what to do when you can't.
- Morning Routine Checklist — your morning routine is essentially a permanent appetiser section.
- Sunday Reset Checklist — fill in or update your dopamine menu during your weekly reset.
Beyond the menu
If you want a daily ADHD-friendly planner that links to your dopamine menu and tracks which activities actually help (vs. ones you *thought* would help), LemTask ships with an ADHD mode that does exactly that. Free forever for individuals.