You can want things you don’t like and like things you don’t want | Psyche Ideas

Desire (as opposed to need) is an intellectual appetite for things that you perceive to be good, but that you have no physical, instinctual basis for wanting – and that’s true whether those things are actually good or not.

They labeled the drive that dopamine seemed to induce as “wanting” and called the joy of being satiated, which did not seem to be connected with dopamine, “liking.”

"Focus on your likes, not your wants.

• You may not want to exercise, but you like how it makes you feel.


• You may not want to write, but you like the feeling of accomplishment.


• You may not want to wake up early, but you like the calm beauty of morning.

Wanting is the desire you feel before doing something. Liking is the satisfaction you feel after do