A Dopamine Menu Template You Can Fill In Right Now

Quick primer if you landed here first: a dopamine menu is a pre-built list of activities, organized like a restaurant menu, that you choose from instead of trying to think of something to do when you're already stuck. It works by removing a decision from a moment when deciding is the hardest part, not by changing your brain chemistry. Here's the full breakdown if you want it.

This post skips the theory. Below is a template you can fill in directly: copy the structure, paste it into your notes app, and start writing. No download, no signup, no waiting.

Before you fill anything in

One rule matters more than the categories: write this for your worst day, not your best one. If you're filling this out feeling reasonably okay right now, that's fine and normal, most people do. Just hold every item to one test before it goes on the list: could I still do this if I had zero energy and hated everything? If the short answer is "only sometimes," it's too big for this list. Cut it down or leave it off.

The other rule: be specific. "Listen to music" is a decision waiting to happen. "Put on [song title]" is not. Every time you fill in the blank with something vague, you're handing a future depleted version of yourself one more decision to make. Name the actual song, the actual person, the actual show and episode.

The template

Copy this structure and fill in your own answers. Aim for 3 to 5 items per section; more than that turns the menu itself into a new thing to get stuck on.

STARTERS (under 2 minutes, no setup, lowest possible bar)

• Step outside for: _______________
• Play this song: _______________
• Do this with my hands (fidget, stretch, ice cube, cold water): _______________
• Text this exact message to this exact person: _______________
• _______________

MAINS (10 to 30 minutes, some setup, still low-barrier)

• Walk this specific route: _______________
• Watch this show, this episode: _______________
• Do this one small task, just the first step: _______________
• Cook or eat this specific easy thing: _______________
• _______________

SIDES (things to do alongside something else, for when a "main" is too much on its own)

• Listen to this podcast episode while I: _______________
• Keep this object nearby (fidget, textured item, weighted thing): _______________
• Chew this specific gum/snack while I: _______________
• _______________

DESSERTS (bigger, for when there's more to spend)

• This hobby, with materials already set out: _______________
• Time with this specific person, no performance required: _______________
• This specific errand that also gets me outside: _______________
• _______________

WHERE THIS LIVES (a menu you can't find when you need it doesn't work; pick one):

• [ ] Saved as a note titled so it's easy to search for
• [ ] Taped somewhere I'll actually see it (fridge, mirror, inside a cabinet door)
• [ ] Written in a planner page I check daily
• [ ] A photo on my phone, pinned or favorited

What a filled-in example looks like

Blank templates are hard to picture in the abstract, so here's one filled in as an example. Don't copy it exactly; the specificity is the point, and specificity means it has to be yours. But if you're staring at the blanks with no idea where to start, this shows the level of detail to aim for.

Starters: step outside for one minute, no shoes needed. Play "[a specific song]," the one that never fails. Hold an ice cube for thirty seconds. Text "you up?" to [a specific friend who won't need an explanation].

Mains: walk to the end of the block and back, same route every time so there's nothing to decide. Watch [a specific comfort show], an episode already picked. Put one dish in the sink, just one, not the whole sink. Make toast, the easiest food in the house.

Sides: [a specific true-crime podcast] while folding one load of laundry. A textured phone case to hold while on a call. Sour candy while doing anything that needs ten more minutes of focus than feels available.

Desserts: an hour with the paints already out on the table, no setup required. Coffee with [a specific person] who never asks how the week is going unless invited to. A drive to [a specific nearby place] with the windows down.

Notice none of these require a decision once the trigger hits. The decision already happened, back when this list was built.

Filling it in section by section

Starters first. This is the section that gets used the most and thought about the least, which is backward, so start here. If you're struggling to think of four low-effort items, steal from this list and adjust: step outside and back in, splash water on your face, put on socks, open a window, hum one song for thirty seconds. None of these fix anything. They're not supposed to. They just prove to your brain that movement is still possible.

Mains second, and be ruthless about the size. A "main" that actually requires showering, dressing, and driving somewhere is not a main; it's a project wearing a main's clothes. If an item needs more than one decision to execute ("figure out where to go," "decide what to wear," "check if it's open"), break it down until it's a single action, or move it to desserts where it belongs on a better day.

Sides are the easiest to skip and the most useful to keep. These aren't meant to replace a main; they're for the days when a main is too much but doing absolutely nothing feels worse. A podcast plus folding laundry. A fidget toy plus sitting outside. Pairing something automatic with something slightly effortful.

Desserts last, and only if you have real examples. Don't force this section. If nothing comes to mind, leave a blank and come back to it later. A half-empty menu you'll actually use beats a full one you built to feel thorough.

Common ways this goes sideways

Filling it out while already stuck. Trying to build this on the day you need it defeats the purpose; you're asking a depleted brain to do the exact planning work the tool is meant to remove. Fill it out on an ordinary day, before you need it.

Copying someone else's list wholesale. Other people's specifics won't work as your specifics. Their comfort show isn't your comfort show. Use examples for the shape of the thing, then swap in what's actually true for you.

Treating the categories as fixed. If "sides" doesn't map onto your life, rename it. The four-part structure is a scaffold, not a rule. What matters is having options at different effort levels, not matching a template exactly.

Making it stick

A menu that lives in a document you never open doesn't do anything. This is the part most versions of this template skip, and it's the part that decides whether the whole thing works.

Implementation intentions, deciding in advance exactly when you'll use something and not just that you have it, are what make a plan like this actually get used instead of just existing. So pick a trigger now, while you're building it: "If I've been on the couch for twenty minutes without moving, I open this list and do one starter." "If I get home from a hard day and freeze at the door, this is what I do first." The trigger doesn't have to be perfect. It has to exist.

Print it, tape it somewhere visible, or save it under a name you'll actually search for later ("stuck list" works better than "dopamine menu 2026" if that's what you'll type). The format matters less than whether future-you can find it in under ten seconds, because ten seconds might be all you have.

What comes after the menu

A dopamine menu solves one specific problem: the moment-to-moment stuckness of not knowing what to do next. It's not a weekly structure, and it's not trying to be. If you've built this and found it useful, the next natural step is a system that does the same pre-deciding for your actual week: what needs attention, what can wait, what a reset looks like when things slide. The free Weekly Reset page works on the same principle as this template, fewer decisions required in the moment, because the thinking already happened when you had the capacity for it.

For the mechanics of why starting things is so specifically hard on some days, see task initiation; it's the same brain science this template is quietly working around.

Common questions

How do I fill out a dopamine menu template?

Work through four sections — starters (under 2 minutes, no setup), mains (10-30 minutes), sides (things to pair with something else), and desserts (bigger activities) — and fill 3 to 5 specific items into each. Every item should pass one test: could you still do it on your worst, lowest-energy day.

Is there a free dopamine menu template I can use without downloading anything?

Yes. The fill-in-the-blank template in this post can be copied directly as text into any notes app, document, or printed page, with no download or signup required.

How many items should go in each section of a dopamine menu?

3 to 5 items per section is a reasonable target. More than that can turn the menu into its own decision-paralysis problem, which defeats the purpose.

Where should I keep my dopamine menu so I actually use it?

Somewhere you can find it in under ten seconds when you're already stuck: a searchable note with a memorable title, taped somewhere visible, in a planner page you check daily, or a pinned photo on your phone.