Feel Happier and More Accomplished, No Extra Time Required
Created using Dall-E
Have you heard of the “effort-driven reward cycle”?
No?
Well, I hadn’t either…until recently.
But once I learned about it, I felt it deeply in my bones.
It’s something I’d been doing all my life without realizing it.
And it’s something that humans thrive on.
So, what is it?
Well, I asked my good friend, ChatGPT, for a one sentence definition and here’s what they said:
“The effort-driven reward cycle is a behavioral loop where effort toward a task is motivated and reinforced by a rewarding outcome, encouraging the repetition of the behavior.”
Essentially, the “effort driven reward cycle” is when you make, or work on, something and you receive immense pleasure from using that thing, or experiencing that thing, or what the effort of that thing has done for you, that you want to keep doing it.
Want some concrete examples?:
It’s when you spend time weeding your garden and planting flowers, and you get to sit back and literally smell the roses
It’s when you literally get to “enjoy the fruits of your labor” (e.g. when you eat a carrot you grew in the ground, or your windowsill planter)
It’s when you serve a delicious meal that you cooked
It’s when you spend time on Duolingo for months and then realize you can actually have a conversation in Spanish when you’re in Mexico on vacation
It’s when you spend hours practicing violin, and move from screechy to beautiful
It’s when you start exercising, and then notice it’s easier to carry those heavy grocery bags up the stairs, or walk uphill without getting winded
For me, it’s when I use bowls that I made myself in the pottery studio
Or when I gift a hat that I knitted to a new baby in my community
For my sister, it’s when she fills all the cracks in the plaster walls of her 1940s house, or repaints the radiators
In short, when when you do the thing, you reap a reward, and you want to do more of the thing.
Even when doing the thing is hard.
When we are on the absorbing end (i.e. endlessly scrolling), instead of the making/doing end, there’s still pleasure to be had, for sure.
But it’s not the same, and it’s perhaps a bit more fleeting.
Binge-watching TV is not nearly as satisfying (to me) as spending hours in the pottery studio. (And let me say that I LOVE binge-watching TV. Although, I’m just now realize that I’m almost never watching TV without some knitting needles or a crochet hook in my hands!).
So, how can YOU be more satisfied with your time, without actually getting any MORE of it?
Figure out what hits that “effort driven rewards cycle” button, and experiment with swapping in one of those activities, for something that’s less satisfying that you’re currently doing.