If you can't remember the last time you felt excited by life, say goodbye to these 7 habits

A friend slid into our Saturday café catch-up looking like her emotional battery icon was stuck on red.

“Honestly, I can’t remember the last time I felt genuinely hyped about anything,” she sighed, swirling her flat white as if it were a chore.

We nodded—because feeling flat has become weirdly normal. Yet the difference between grayscale days and technicolor ones usually comes down to the small, automatic habits we stack (or allow to stack up) every 24 hours.

Below are seven of the sneakiest excitement-killers I see in coaching sessions, plus the simple swaps that can coax your spark back online.

1. Doom-scrolling before your brain has even booted

Problem

Reaching for your phone the second your eyes un-crust hijacks your dopamine circuitry with a rapid-fire blast of random novelty—headlines, notifications, ads—before you’ve decided what you actually care about. Paradoxically, that quick-hit novelty dulls motivation for real-world pursuits.

Psychologist Kyle Emanuel Brown calls this the “dopamine hijack,” noting that modern life overloads our reward system until focus and joy shrink to thumbnail size.

Solution

Defend the first fifteen minutes as a micro-curiosity window. No screens—just brew coffee, stretch, and let your mind drift toward one thing you’d like to explore later (a recipe, a walking route, a riff you want to learn on guitar).

The brain still gets novelty, but the source is intentional, so dopamine points you toward lived experience instead of infinite scroll.

Extra nudge: Place your phone in airplane mode overnight and leave it outside the bedroom. The tiny friction of stepping into the hallway to “check one thing” often buys you the screen-free quarter-hour your brain needs to come fully online.

2. Saying “yes” to every single ask

Problem

Chronic over-committing packs your calendar so tightly that anticipation becomes anxiety. Excitement needs margin; without breathing room, even fun invitations feel like extra tabs slowing the browser of your life.

Solution

Borrow the spark-slot rule: keep at least two evening blocks per week utterly blank until 24 hours out. When an invite appears, you can say yes with genuine enthusiasm—or decide that what excites you more is a long bath and an early night. Either way, you re-learn the delicious feeling of choosing instead of reacting.

Why it works: Anticipation is half the pleasure cocktail. Giving yourself space to look forward—whether to a concert or to reading in bed—re-primes the brain’s reward system for slow-burn joy rather than frantic obligation.

3. Living the exact same day on loop

Problem

Humans crave pattern, but copy-pasting yesterday indefinitely starves the brain of surprise. Small hits of activenovelty (trying a funky ice-cream flavor, taking an alternate route home) refresh attention and optimism far more than passive novelty (scrolling).

Solution

Schedule one micro-quest each week. Keep it tiny: pop into the neighborhood art-supply shop, attend a public lecture on mushrooms, swap playlists with a friend. Not only does this inject novelty you can look forward to; it also arms you with a Monday-morning story—an underrated joy generator in its own right.

Build the muscle: Start a shared note titled “Micro-quests” and jot ideas whenever curiosity sparks. When Friday rolls around, pick one. Decision fatigue dissolves, novelty stays fresh.

4. Treating social media like a mirror instead of a window

Problem

Five minutes of highlight-reel comparison can morph into a background hum of “I’m behind.” Over time, that hum mutes excitement because every goal feels inadequate next to somebody’s curated finish line.

Happiness researcher Dr. Sonja Lyubomirsky has shown that counting our own everyday wins—through a simple gratitude practice—boosts life satisfaction far more reliably than passive comparison.

Solution

Adopt the 3-for-Free rule each evening: jot three unexpectedly nice moments from the day (the cashier’s joke, nailing a presentation slide, your cat’s 2 a.m. hallway zoomies) before opening any social app. This primes the brain to see your feed as a window into others’ reality, not a distorted mirror of your worth.

Upgrade: Pair the practice with a weekly “photo-dump” to friends—no captions needed. You’ll relive good moments and turn sharing into celebration rather than comparison.

5. Skipping the “micro-wins” download

Problem

Many of us hit the pillow replaying everything unfinished. That cognitive after-taste teaches the brain that effort rarely leads to payoff, throttling eagerness for tomorrow.

Solution

End the workday with a two-line done list. Note the single most satisfying task you wrapped and one skill you stretched (however slightly). This tiny ritual closes the feedback loop, reminding your brain progress happened—and progress is rocket fuel for anticipation.

Momentum hack: Keep the list in a running document called “Proof.” On Friday, skim the week’s entries. You’ll start the weekend feeling capable, not depleted, and Monday inherits that energy.

6. Letting movement become optional

Problem

When exercise feels like an all-or-nothing production—gym bag, 60-minute block, perfect playlist—we default to nothing. But stagnant bodies whisper “low power” to the mind.

Solution

Inject movement micro-bursts: ten push-ups while coffee brews, a two-song dance-break between emails, walking meetings. Beyond the metabolic perks, these bursts create mini peaks of adrenaline and endorphins that translate into a felt sense of aliveness long after you sit back down.

Reality-proofing: Stack a movement burst onto a non-negotiable habit (brushing teeth, making tea). Pairing the new with the automatic shields it from “I’ll do it later” syndrome.

7. Having conversations with your inner critic in first-person

Problem

When self-talk loops “I’m so lazy,” you merge with the criticism and excitement evaporates. Flipping pronouns sounds silly but shifts perspective.

University of Michigan psychologist Ethan Kross found that using your own name or “you” instead of “I” in inner dialogue immediately reduces stress and clears the path for action planning.

Solution

Next time dread whispers, “I’ll mess this up,” answer in second person: “You’ve prepared; you’ve got this.” That linguistic zoom-out lets encouragement sneak in where critique once reigned.

Practice prompt: Write tomorrow’s biggest worry at the top of a sticky note, then respond beneath it using only you or your name. Stick it on your laptop as a ready-made pep-talk.

Final words

Excitement isn’t a personality trait—it’s the natural side-effect of minds continually fed with choice, novelty, progress, movement, and kind narration.

Audit your day for the seven habits above, pick just one to swap this week, and notice how fast that drained-battery feeling starts flickering back into green.

Momentum loves proof, so keep collecting small evidence that life can still surprise you—then meet me at the café next Saturday and tell me what sparked.