Your Brain can work Against your Dreams.

[Z Dalvi]

Recently I heard somewhere this: "The brain is not suited for entrepreneurship". I doubted it, but I did some research (can't help it, I'm a rascal) and find out some pretty cool things about how our neurology can work against the dynamics of starting a company. I think it can be very useful to understand how our brain works so we can avoid the traps, bullshit and biases that can slow us down. Here's 2 great examples for me of things that often kept me down:

1. How Fear of Taking Risks Works (Neurologically)
The amygdala is part of your brain’s limbic system — the emotional core. Its main job is to detect threats and trigger a fight/flight/freeze response. When faced with uncertainty, financial loss, or public failure, the amygdala lights up as if you’re facing a physical predator. This triggers stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline, which shut down long-term thinking (like innovation) and prepare you to survive, not create. Entrepreneurship triggers the same neural alarms as life-or-death scenarios — even though the danger isn’t physical.
Also, Your prefrontal cortex is the part of the brain that handles logic, planning, and long-term goals. In risky situations, the amygdala can hijack this system, overpowering reason with emotion. You might logically know the risk is worth it, but emotionally you feel stuck, anxious, or frozen. In a “threat state,” your brain chooses safety now over growth later.

1.1 We hate losing more than we love to win
This is a big one for me. Behavioral economists (like Daniel Kahneman) discovered we’re wired to avoid loss more strongly than we pursue gain. This is called loss aversion — and it’s a survival bias. So even if the upside of a risk is high, the brain focuses disproportionately on what could go wrong. Why does this mechanism exist? Simple. Taking a risky path in the forest could mean death. Playing it safe increased survival. Social rejection from a tribe could lead to isolation, which meant no food, protection, or reproduction. Our ancestors who hesitated survived. Those who took reckless risks often didn’t pass on their genes. As many of you know, in the modern era those who hesitate often lose.

1.2 So our brains evolved to favor:

• Predictability over possibility
• Safety over success
• Familiarity over freedom

That’s why entrepreneurship — which thrives on innovation, ambiguity, and bold moves — feels unnatural at a neurological level.

Can You Rewire This?​

Thank God Yes. The brain has neuroplasticity — the ability to change based on what you repeatedly do, think, and feel.


Practical rewiring techniques:
Small, frequent risks: Train your brain by taking low-stakes risks daily. One little step a time, like everything else. Do not do dumb sh*t like drink and drive, but take risks that, for example, teach you about rejection. Ask the girl, ask for a discount in a store, ask for the sale, ask for the partnership, ask for help, just ASK, or you can't get it, simple.
Reframe fear: Ask yourself, “What’s the cost of not taking this risk?”. Many think about the cost of taking the risk, one thing I like to think about is the regret I will havei f I don't take it. Think about your life if you don't accomplish your goals, if you don't put in the work. This can help you reframe fear and also see things on a more helpful perspective.

2. The Dopamine Loop: How Your Brain Tricks You Into Building the Wrong Business by doing the WRONGS TASKS and DESTROYING YOUR FOCUS​

2.1 What is Dopamine, Really?​

Dopamine isn’t about pleasure. That’s the first myth to kill. if you study how the levels of dopamine change with time, you would find that the dopamine is not greater at the moment you receive the reward, but at the moment you see it. A monkey produces more dopamine when he is seeing the banana, not eating it or after eating it, this is super important to understand what dopamine is actually about. Dopamine is about anticipation, motivation, and pursuit. It’s what drives you to act — not what makes you enjoy the outcome.

Modern Human version?

You post meaningless stuff on social, read that email, answer that conversation that doesn't take you anywhere, distract yourself...
Refresh the page.
Small dopamine spike.
Do it again.
Repeat until burnout.
We’ve essentially become rats hitting a lever for pellets.

2.2 The Loop: Why You Can’t Stop Doing “Busy Work” and "Test new things"​

The dopamine loop works like this:

1. Cue → Something triggers your brain. A task. A notification. A new idea. A new Shiny object.
2. Craving → Dopamine spikes. You feel pulled to act.
3. Action → You do something — check email, tweak the website, make a Canva graphic.
4. Reward → A small win. A click. A comment. A task completed.
5. Repeat → Your brain says: “That felt good. Let’s do it again.”

Problem is: the loop rewards action, not impact nor focus. For you brain, it is not about importance, it is about quick rewards.

You start to prefer quick tasks over deep work.

You redesign your logo 3 times instead of calling 10 leads.
You buy a course about landing pages instead of finishing your landing page.
You scroll “marketing tips” on youtube or instagram instead of marketing your business.

You feel busy. But you’re just running in a neurological hamster wheel that won't take you anywhere near your real goals.

2.3. Why Entrepreneurs Are Especially Vulnerable​

The early stages of a business are full of uncertainty, ambiguity, and resistance. You need to be reslient, to resist shiny objects, to be focused, to say NO to that friend who calls you to that party where you will drink youself to death. You need to say NO to that new BRO Marketing offer. You need to say NO to your fatigue because the work isn't done yet. That is hard for our brain, but there's also something else:
When you are doing "busywork" that distracts your brain from the things you know you have to do and gives it a better feeling, a better "experience": That's exactly when the dopamine loop kicks in — because your brain hates ambiguity and loves feedback, even when the feedback doesn't mean anything or isn't useful.

Dopamine prefers:
Clear wins over unclear outcomes
Short-term over long-term
Shiny over strategic

It’s not your fault. Your brain is trying to protect you from the discomfort of not knowing if your efforts will pay off.

Even so, it is your problem, and if you want results, you can't keep getting into this traps.
Dopamine wants hits. Entrepreneurship needs patience.

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2.4. The Evolutionary Trap​

This whole mechanism made sense back in the jungle.

Your brain evolved to:

Seek food quickly
React to threats fast
Prioritize survival over long-term vision

It didn’t evolve to:

Tolerate six months with no revenue
Build a brand from scratch
Take strategic, invisible action every day
That’s why the dopamine loop feels natural. And why focused, long-term entrepreneurship feels uncomfortable as hell.

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5. The Hidden Cost: Shallow Wins, Deep Regret​

Every time you follow the loop, you get a quick hit — but no traction.

Eventually:

Your projects stay half-built
Your brand stays unclear
Your vision starts to fade
You burn out without breaking through

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So Can You Rewire This?​

ALSO YES.

Our brain is full of problems, but it is possible to reprogram basically anything in it.
Neuroplasticity is a fantastic concept that reveals many beliefs such as "I am too old to learn this" or "I am too young to succeed in this industry" to be FALSE scientifically almost always.

Your brain can be reprogrammed — but only if you stop feeding it junk dopamine and start feeding it strategic tiny wins everyday.

Here’s how:​

Kill notifications. Dopamine thrives on interruptions.
Block dopamine slots (email, socials) during deep work.
Avoid low-hanging “tasks” in your first work hours — protect your focus.
Celebrate consistency, not just completion, society doesn't see your progress, just your results. That doesn't mean you shouldn't see your progress.
Pair boring but strategic work with a small reward (coffee, music, walk).

Rewire the loop: teach your brain that focus = satisfaction.

​

Every day, do one thing you’re avoiding. (That thing you thought just now)
Call the lead. Publish the landing page. Film the ugly video you didn't edit properly.
Don’t wait to feel “ready” — that’s just your brain protecting itself from risk. You will NEVER be ready and have all the information you "need".
The more you lean into resistance, the weaker the loop becomes.

Let your vision, not your inbox, drive your day.

Final Thought: You’re Not Broken — You’re Just Wired Wrong (for This Game)​

The dopamine loop is not evil. It’s not a failure. It’s just outdated software.
Entrepreneurship is running 2025 code on a caveman operating system.
But you’re not doomed to obey it.
Rewire it.
Retrain it.
And reclaim your ability to do the work that matters — not just the work that dings.

Comment your thoughts on this, can you relate to something here?
there is also a great chapter in Unscripted about biases, great read as always by MJ.
See you guys in the next one.

 

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[MJ DeMarco]

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