Trick Your Brain With Things You Like for Learning

Hi, this is Ray.

I’ll confess something: my brain is a toddler with Wi-Fi. It doesn’t want to do what it should. It wants snacks, cartoons, and shiny distractions. Tell it, “Hey, let’s study calculus,” and it suddenly remembers we haven’t cleaned the fridge in six months. But here’s the good news… you can trick your brain into learning by tying it to things you actually like.

That’s right. You don’t always need iron discipline or endless willpower. Sometimes, you just need to sneak the broccoli of learning into the pizza of fun.

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Why Your Brain Loves Rewards

Our brains are wired to seek pleasure and avoid pain. Dopamine, the brain’s reward chemical, spikes when we do things we enjoy… eating, laughing, beating a boss fight, or watching cat videos at 2 a.m.

Learning, unfortunately, often feels like “work,” so your brain resists. But if you tie learning to things you already enjoy, you hack the dopamine system. Suddenly, learning feels less like drudgery and more like a game.

How to Trick Your Brain Into Loving Learning

Here are some science-backed ways to sneak learning past your brain’s defenses.

1. Gamify It

Games are dopamine machines. Turn studying into a game:

• Use flashcard apps with points and streaks.

• Reward yourself for finishing tasks (yes, chocolate counts).

• Time yourself and “beat your high score” in problem sets.

Basically, you’re turning “ugh, study” into “level up.”

2. Pair Learning With Favorites

Love coffee? Only allow yourself that latte during study sessions. Love music? Play your favorite playlist while reviewing flashcards (as long as it’s not distracting). By pairing pleasure with study, your brain links the two.

3. The Temptation Bundle

Psychologists call this “bundling.” Only let yourself do something you want while doing something you should. For example:

• Only watch Netflix while exercising.

• Only eat your favorite snack while reviewing notes.

• Only scroll memes after finishing a study block.

It’s like tricking your inner child with a bribe… except it works.

4. Connect Learning to Hobbies

Find ways to learn through things you already love.

• Into sports? Learn math through stats.

• Love cooking? Study chemistry through recipes.

• Obsessed with anime? Learn Japanese phrases through subtitles.

When you embed learning into fun, your brain barely notices the effort.

5. Use Storytelling

Our brains love stories way more than dry facts. Instead of memorizing isolated information, create a story around it. Like imagining atoms as characters at a high school dance. Yes, it’s silly. That’s why it works.

6. Social Rewards

If you like social interaction, turn learning into group activities. Study buddies, online challenges, or even posting progress publicly can trick your brain into associating learning with connection.

The Science: Why Tricks Work

When you connect learning to things you like, you’re activating the dopaminergic system. This system not only motivates you to start tasks but also improves memory encoding. Dopamine makes your brain mark information as “important”… so you remember it better.

That’s why gamified apps, rewards, and hobbies are so powerful. They don’t just keep you motivated. They literally help your brain store and recall what you learned.

Hacking the Brain Like a Game Console

Think of your brain as an old-school game console. You can’t just force it to play a game it doesn’t like. But if you swap in a cartridge labeled “Fun + Learning,” suddenly it boots up without complaints. You didn’t change the console… you changed the trick you used to run it.

My Own Trick Failures

I once promised myself I’d only eat chips if I studied. The problem? I ate the chips before studying, figuring “future Ray” would catch up later. Spoiler: future Ray did not.

Lesson learned: set up rewards so you can’t cheat. Like keeping the chips in another room, guarded by my wife, who is scarier than any boss monster when it comes to enforcing rules.

Real-Life Examples

• Language learners often use songs, movies, or games in their target language. Fun + practice = more recall.

• Musicians improve memory by practicing songs they love, not just scales. The enjoyment makes the repetition stick.

• Gamified learning apps (Duolingo, Khan Academy, Quizlet) thrive because they make learning feel like winning, not working.

Your Turn

The next time your brain whines about studying, don’t fight it head-on. Trick it. Pair learning with rewards, hobbies, or games. Bundle it with your favorite things.

Because once your brain starts linking learning with pleasure, it’s unstoppable. You’ll crave progress the way you crave your favorite show.

And one day, you’ll realize you didn’t just trick your brain into learning… you trained it to actually enjoy it.

References

1. Milkman, K. L., Minson, J. A., & Volpp, K. G. (2014). Holding the Hunger Games hostage at the gym: An evaluation of temptation bundling. Management Science, 60(2), 283–299. https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2013.1784

2. Adcock, R. A., Thangavel, A., Whitfield-Gabrieli, S., Knutson, B., & Gabrieli, J. D. (2006). Reward-motivated learning: Mesolimbic activation precedes memory formation. Neuron, 50(3), 507–517. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuron.2006.03.036

3. Deterding, S., Dixon, D., Khaled, R., & Nacke, L. (2011). From game design elements to gamefulness: Defining gamification. Proceedings of the 15th International Academic MindTrek Conference, 9–15. https://doi.org/10.1145/2181037.2181040