2026 – The Year of Deep-Rooted Dopamine
I have been sitting on the idea of a Habits website for years. Not in a dramatic way. Just one of those things that floats around your brain while you’re cooking dinner or walking somewhere. “I really need to do that.” “That would be so good for Habits.” “One day.”
One day turned into two years. lol. And in honour of what I’m about to talk about, I finally did it!
Habits now has a site! A proper home, a place for everything we’re building to live beyond Instagram and event links. And this is the very first blog post on it. Which feels fitting, because building this site is the exact kind of thing I mean when I say: 2026 is the year of deep-rooted dopamine.
Not the quick hit, or the post-it-and-move-on kind of win, but the slow, been-meaning-to-do-this-for-ages, sat-down-and-actually-did-it kind. And honestly, it feels so good.
Not flashy good. Not viral good. Just “I’m proud of myself” good.
We’ve all become dopamine addicts, let’s be real. Our phones have absolutely fried us, that’s a fact. We are used to quick stimulation, constant notifications, reels, and emails. Tiny little hits of something new, and they feel good for about three seconds before we’re onto the next thing.
But lately I’ve felt it, and I think you probably have too, that weird flat feeling after hours online. Like you’ve consumed loads but created nothing. Moved a lot but progressed nowhere. Stimulation is not the same as satisfaction, and I think a lot of us are craving the latter.
I keep seeing it everywhere.
Running clubs are popping up with no agenda other than “let’s move together”. Ceramics classes are fully booked, community dinners, people deleting apps, friends actually leaving their phones on the table face down and meaning it.
It feels like we are collectively remembering that a deep connection feels better than a distraction.
So what actually is deep-rooted dopamine?
It’s the feeling you get when you:
Finally sort that chaotic drawer you’ve ignored for a year.
Clear your downloads folder instead of pretending it doesn’t exist.
Implement the software you invested in instead of paying for it quietly in the background.
Finish the website that’s been sitting in your brain since 2023.
It’s not glamorous, no one claps, but your nervous system relaxes. Your shoulders drop, you feel… capable. And your brain literally thanks you.
Deep-rooted dopamine is earned. It’s training for something instead of just talking about it. It’s building the system instead of working around the mess. It’s staying in the zone long enough to feel momentum instead of switching tabs every four minutes. We’re here for the hyper focus.
Building this site was exactly that
This website has been in the “I’ll do it when I have time” category for far too long. And as you probably know, if you run anything yourself, when you’re busy with client work, you romanticise having time to work on your own internal projects. Then, when you finally have space, you start craving the buzz of the busy season again. It’s never perfectly balanced.
I came back from Sri Lanka feeling clearer than I have in ages. Energised, full of ideas, and then I landed straight into a full workload with Sloe. Client projects that needed attention, deadlines that weren’t going to move just because I’d been swimming in the Indian Ocean.
So I didn’t have weeks of dreamy, uninterrupted creative time to build this. I did it in pockets: Focused afternoons, evenings where I didn’t scroll, moments where I chose “build” over “consume”.
And that is exactly the point. Deep-rooted dopamine doesn’t require a perfect work session; it requires commitment.
Now Habits has a home (woo!), a place where these thoughts can live properly, and that feels incredibly rewarding.
I think 2026 is asking this of us. Not to do more, be louder, or optimise every minute. But to go deeper. To choose the project that’s been hovering for years and actually do it. Because the satisfaction from that doesn’t disappear when your battery dies. You feel truly, genuinely, proud of yourself. One of those, “Shit yeah, we did it!” moments.
That’s the energy I’m bringing into 2026. And I’m really glad you’re here for it.
You’re in good company.
Alix
