Marketing Dopamine •  July 29, 2026
What This Practice Built
I started this month thinking I was writing about marketing. Somewhere along the way, I realized I was writing about people.

When I committed to writing every day this month, I thought I was challenging myself to become a better and more consistent writer.
Looking back, I do not think that is the most important thing that happened.
Somewhere along the way, I stopped writing only about marketing.
I started writing about people.
Every post seemed to circle back to the same ideas.
Trust.
Curiosity.
Consistency.
Relationships.
Attention.
Finishing what we start.
Those are not marketing tactics.
They are human behaviors.

No single post did the work. The practice did the work.

Some days the writing came easily. Other days I wondered whether I had anything new to say.
There were days when I felt focused and days when I became sidetracked. I worked on the Marketing Dopamine landing page, then realized my website no longer reflected where I was headed, so I changed parts of that too.
At times, I had to ask myself whether I was making a necessary change or simply following another bright, shiny idea.
Was I moving the project closer to the finish line?
Or was I chasing the good feeling that comes with beginning something new?
That question became part of the practice too.
Consistency did not mean refusing to make changes. It meant learning to recognize the difference between a strategic adjustment and a distraction.
It meant returning to the work even after the excitement of starting had faded.
Over time, my ideas became clearer. The posts began connecting to one another. What started as a blogging challenge slowly became a body of work.
I was no longer trying to produce isolated pieces of content. I was developing a philosophy around how people think, decide, trust, connect, and take action through marketing.
That is what this practice built.

Consistency does not require your best work every day. It requires returning often enough for the work to become clearer.

I also learned that the lighter the process, the easier it was to keep going.
I did not create an elaborate graphic for every post. I didn’t build a complicated production system. I tried to remove as many obstacles as possible between having an idea and publishing it.
AI made parts of the process easier, but it did not decide what I believed. It did not notice the patterns in my own life. It did not choose which questions were worth asking.
The tools helped me move faster.
The practice helped me think more deeply.
That may be the most important distinction of all.
Technology will continue to change.
Human behavior will not change nearly as quickly.
That is why I am more convinced than ever that Marketing Dopamine is the book I was supposed to write.
If you have been reading along this month, thank you. I started July trying to explain marketing. I am ending it understanding people a little better.

Lisa Carmichael is the author of Marketing Dopamine: What Your Brain Is Really Doing When You Think You’re Building a Business. Learn more at marketingdopamine.com.