What's in it for you?
When I moved to New York, I got a credit card with 1.5% cashback (I had no idea what that event meant until that point). Since I was traveling a lot, I had several accounts at different airlines to collect points and miles. I had numerous stamp cards at different coffee shops and sandwich places in NYC and LA. I chose a phone plan provider based on the added values such as free device insurance. I signed up for newsletters to benefit from promotions at online clothing stores. I got an Amazon Prime membership to receive a discount at Whole Foods. My very personal habits, decisions, and actions were driven by incentives and rewards. Something I mostly knew from work.
I realized that everything around me is built on this system: work, education, consumption, travel, and financial growth… but also relationships, and communities, and protecting the planet is incentivized. It's a tool to get people doing things and it especially works in the capitalistic society we live in, since most rewards have financial benefits. In general, I'm not against this concept, if anything I participated in, used it, and took advantage of it. The question is, how much meaning do I give to material rewards? How important are they for me? Do I make decisions based only on rewards or is it just a “sweet cherry on the top”? Do I even start something new without knowing the reward? Can I be in service of others based on empathy and kindness or do I need to be rewarded? It goes hand-in-hand with motivation. Being motivated by anger or frustration can be very toxic. Doing things to prove to others how great you are, might not be the best. Motivation to do something out of fear could lead to poor decisions. But all of them aren’t particularly negative. If you imagine a wide range of motivational factors, fear, and anger can be very valuable. Similar to incentives and rewards, it’s about how much meaning and importance we give to those factors.
I learned that material rewards are often most important and expected in the context of work. The value of intrinsic rewards such as learning something new, professional and personal growth, or well-being seemed to be very little in comparison. Growing up in a time when people would tell us “You should be happy to have a job” - this expectation confused me at times. I realized that the incentives of a system dictate how people behave. Of course, people look for material rewards in any given aspect of their lives, if the system in itself is hyper incentivized. It’s no surprise how many people spend more money on their credit cards to unlock the next reward even though that reward makes them spend more money. At the same time, I do agree, that some of the most complex problems need to be incentivized to be solved. I always believed that someone who is making an impact on climate change should also make money. It’s the most bizarre thing, that someone in the weapon industry, or social network owners (who use our data probably 24/7) have yachts the size of a soccer field, and the person who makes their living in the alternative energy sector should better wear old sandals. But that’s another topic. There is a sense of entrepreneurship in incentives and rewards, and some challenges might benefit from the question: What’s in it for me?
Over the past years, I’ve been thinking about what motivates me. Can I build intrinsically rewarding practices and habits for my benefit and well-being? Some of them are very connected to my routines (Seven Things). A long day of work can be rewarded with a nice run that has all the positive effects for me. Or cooking a nice meal that goes far beyond meal prepping for my body and mind (and making my partner happy). A long business lunch can inspire a new piece of writing and the practice of writing is a reward in itself. I put more effort into a hobby or project with the opportunity to expand my knowledge and network. Finding the right balance between internal and external incentives and rewards might also help us to preserve traditions and techniques. Learning how to treat a Bonsai Tree most likely won't lead to a bonus payment, but has incredible value.
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