We spend a massive chunk of our lives making up excuses. You know the drill. We justify our late-night snacks as "fuel for tomorrow" or our impulse purchases as "investments in our mental well-being." But every once in a while, someone stops the charade. They look you dead in the eye and admit the simplest, most terrifying truth: i did it because i liked it. It’s raw. It’s honest. Honestly, it’s a little bit punk rock in a world obsessed with productivity hacks and moral posturing.
Think about Walter White in Breaking Bad. For years, he told himself he was cooking meth for his family. He clung to that noble lie until the very end when he finally breathed out the truth to Skyler. He didn't do it for the money or the legacy. He did it because he was good at it and it made him feel alive. He liked it. That moment resonated with millions because most of us are tired of pretending everything we do has to have a "why" that sounds good on a LinkedIn profile.
The Science Behind "I Did It Because I Liked It"
The brain doesn't actually care about your moral justifications. Not really. When we talk about the phrase i did it because i liked it, we are talking about the primary reward system of the human mind—the dopaminergic pathway.
Dr. Robert Sapolsky, a neurobiologist at Stanford, has spent decades looking at why we do the weird things we do. He notes that dopamine isn't just about the pleasure of the "hit"—it's about the anticipation and the pursuit. When you admit you did something just because you liked it, you're acknowledging the Mesolimbic pathway's dominance over your Prefrontal Cortex. Your logical brain (the PFC) wants to explain that you bought that vintage leather jacket because it’s "durable." Your midbrain knows the truth. You liked the way it made you feel like a character in a 1970s heist movie.
Sometimes, the simplest explanation is the most scientifically accurate one. We are biological machines wired for seeking.
Hedonic Adaptation and the Trap of "Productive" Hobbies
We’ve reached this weird cultural peak where even our hobbies have to be "side hustles." If you like knitting, you should sell on Etsy. If you like gaming, you should stream on Twitch. This ruins the pure, unadulterated joy of doing something for the sake of it.
The concept of hedonic adaptation suggests that we quickly return to a baseline level of happiness despite major positive changes. However, engaging in "autotelic" activities—things worth doing for their own sake—tends to provide more sustained satisfaction. When you can say "i did it because i liked it" regarding a hobby that makes zero dollars and earns zero social capital, you’ve actually won. You've stepped off the treadmill.
The Social Taboo of Simple Desires
Why is it so hard to say? Try it next time someone asks why you spent three hours reading about the history of the stapler. If you say, "I thought it might be useful for a trivia night," people nod. If you say "i did it because i liked it," they look at you like you've got a second head.
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We live in a "justification economy." Every action must be optimized. Every calorie must be tracked. Every minute must be accounted for. In this environment, admitting to intrinsic motivation feels like a confession of guilt. It's almost seen as a lack of self-control. But experts like Dr. Gabor Maté often discuss how the suppression of our authentic desires leads to a sort of "disconnection" from the self.
Maybe the reason we find the phrase so jarring is that it reminds us of our own lack of agency. We’re jealous. We want to be the person who does things just because they’re fun, but we’re too busy calculating the ROI of our lunch break.
Lessons from High-Stakes Decision Making
I’ve talked to entrepreneurs who made "bad" business moves that turned out great. They didn't follow the data. They didn't listen to the consultants.
Take the story of Yvon Chouinard, the founder of Patagonia. He didn't set out to build a multi-billion dollar "sustainable apparel" empire by following a 10-step plan for market disruption. He liked climbing. He liked making gear that didn't break. He liked the environment. His "why" was intrinsically tied to what he enjoyed doing, rather than what the market demanded. When you align your "liking" with your "doing," you often stumble into a level of excellence that people who are just "doing it for the money" can't touch.
Reclaiming Your Agency
Let's get practical. How do you start incorporating more of this "i did it because i liked it" energy into your life without turning into a chaotic mess?
It starts with the small stuff.
Stop explaining. Next time you take a long way home because the trees look nice, don't tell your spouse you "needed the extra steps for your fitness tracker." Tell them you liked the view. It sounds small. It’s actually huge. It’s a micro-dose of radical honesty.
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The Difference Between Liking and Compulsion
We have to be careful here. There is a massive difference between "i did it because i liked it" and "I did it because I’m addicted."
- Liking is expansive. It feels like a choice. It leaves you feeling satisfied or at peace.
- Wanting (Cravings) is contractive. It feels like a localized itch. It leaves you feeling hollow once the deed is done.
The philosopher Harry Frankfurt talked about "first-order" and "second-order" desires. A first-order desire is wanting a cigarette. A second-order desire is wanting to not want a cigarette. The phrase i did it because i liked it should ideally refer to those moments where your first and second-order desires are in harmony. You wanted to paint, and you’re glad you’re the kind of person who wants to paint.
Stop Overthinking the "Why"
We are obsessed with "finding our purpose." Simon Sinek made a whole career out of "Start With Why." And look, that’s great for corporate branding. It’s useful for rallying a team of 500 people to sell software.
But for your soul? "Because I liked it" is a perfectly valid "why."
It’s the reason why a kid picks up a stick and pretends it’s a sword. It’s the reason why an elderly man sits on a park bench for four hours watching birds. It’s the reason why you might choose a career in music even though your parents wanted you to be an accountant.
When we strip away the layers of social expectation, we’re left with our preferences. And our preferences are what make us individuals. If you only do what is logical, what is profitable, or what is expected, you aren't really a person—you're an algorithm.
Why Google Discover Loves This Mindset
Actually, let’s look at why you’re even reading this. Most "SEO content" is dry. It’s written for bots. It’s boring. But the things that actually go viral—the things that pop up on your Google Discover feed—are usually stories of human impulse.
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We are drawn to people who act on their instincts. Whether it's a guy building a castle out of soda cans or a woman who quit her job to travel the world on a unicycle. We click because we want to see what happens when someone stops asking for permission. We want to see the result of i did it because i liked it.
Actionable Steps for the "I Liked It" Lifestyle
If you’re feeling buried under the weight of "shoulds," try these specific shifts.
- The "No-Justification" Day. Pick one day a week. If someone asks why you’re doing something—why you’re wearing those shoes, why you’re eating that specific sandwich, why you’re listening to that weird 1920s jazz—you are only allowed to answer with "I like it" or "I wanted to." No further explanation allowed. Watch how uncomfortable it makes you feel at first.
- Audit Your Hobbies. Look at everything you do in your free time. If you find yourself doing a hobby because it "looks good on a resume" or because you "feel like you should be the type of person who does it," drop it. Replace it with something you actually enjoy, even if it’s "useless."
- Practice Radical Preference. When choosing a restaurant or a movie, stop saying "I don't care, whatever you want." Tap into what you actually like. Reclaiming your small preferences builds the muscle for reclaiming your big life decisions.
- Forgive the Past. We all have things we regret. But sometimes, looking back and saying, "I did it because I liked it at the time," is more healing than trying to find a complex psychological reason for a mistake. It allows you to own your history without being a victim of it.
The world doesn't need more people who are perfectly optimized. It needs more people who are alive. And being alive means, occasionally, doing things for the simplest, most human reason of all.
Start by identifying one "useless" thing you love. Do it today. When you're finished, don't post it for likes. Don't write a blog post about how it made you more productive. Just sit with the feeling. You did it. You liked it. That is enough.
Next Steps for Mastery
- Identify the "justification loops" in your daily speech—notice every time you use the word "because" to defend a personal preference.
- Read Flow by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi to understand the mechanics of being completely lost in an activity you enjoy.
- Spend twenty minutes doing something that has no measurable output or "value" to anyone but yourself.
The goal isn't to become purely hedonistic; it's to stop being an apologist for your own joy. The phrase i did it because i liked it isn't an excuse—it's a declaration of independence from the cult of constant utility.