Coaching practices for I Started Paying Myself for Something I Used to Genuinely Love and Now it Feels Like a Chore Like the Moment I Attached a Reward to it the Joy That Used to Carry it Just Drained Out
Describe almost anything you are working through and IX Coach finds the practices whose real-world fit is closest. For I Started Paying Myself for Something I Used to Genuinely Love and Now it Feels Like a Chore Like the Moment I Attached a Reward to it the Joy That Used to Carry it Just Drained Out, these are the strongest matches in the current practice library.
Does this sound like the set of challenges you might be facing?
- I started paying myself for something I used to genuinely love, and now it feels like a chore
- There was this hobby I genuinely loved until I started tracking it and tying rewards to it, and now the spark is just gone
- The thing I once loved most has become pure obligation
- I caught myself the other day, halfway through something I used to do for the love of it, thinking only about the paycheck or the praise at the end
- Everything I enjoy eventually gets turned into a side hustle or something to optimize and post about, and the moment I start measuring it the fun drains out
Practices that may help
- Watch for overjustification — external rewards can undermine intrinsic motivation
For behaviors you already find intrinsically rewarding, adding external rewards can reduce your long-run motivation.
Contingency Management and Token Economies - Protect intrinsic motivation from over-justification
Be careful with rewards on things you already enjoy — they can undermine the enjoyment.
Self-Determination Theory, Made Usable - Recover intrinsic interest after it has been crowded out
Intrinsic interest that has been undermined can often be partially recovered by removing the reward and reconnecting to original reasons.
The Overjustification Effect: When Rewards Kill Motivation - Notice when your self-explanation shifts from interest to reward
When you catch yourself thinking "I do this for the reward," the overjustification shift may be happening.
The Overjustification Effect: When Rewards Kill Motivation - Protect your play zone from performance pressure
Designate activities that stay purely intrinsic — never evaluated, rewarded, or tracked.
The Overjustification Effect: When Rewards Kill Motivation - Monitor intrinsic interest over time
Overjustification is a slow erosion — check whether you still find the work interesting, not just whether you’re doing it.
The Overjustification Effect: When Rewards Kill Motivation - Fade the proxy as the habit takes hold
Wean off the immediate reward once the behavior starts delivering its own payoff.
Reward Substitution - Protect your rewards from overexposure
If a reward stops feeling rewarding, it can no longer do its motivational job — protect it by using it sparingly.
Reward Prediction Error: Using Dopamine Science to Stay Motivated - Use unexpected rather than pre-committed rewards
Unexpected rewards after a good performance rarely undermine motivation; expected rewards often do.
Intrinsic vs. Extrinsic Motivation: What the Research Actually Shows - Pricing things in life-hours
Convert a purchase into the hours of your life it costs to earn, then decide.
Voluntary Simplicity, Made Practical
Related concerns
- The Overjustification Effect When Rewards Kill Motivation As A Parent
The overjustification effect is the finding that offering expected, tangible rewards for activities people already enjoy can undermine their subsequent interest in those activities once the reward is removed. Lepper, Greene, and Nisbett demonstrated this in children in 1973; later meta-analyses confirmed the effect is real for specific reward types, though the strong version of the claim — that any reward harms any intrinsic motivation — is overstated.
- The Overjustification Effect When Rewards Kill Motivation At Work
The overjustification effect is the finding that offering expected, tangible rewards for activities people already enjoy can undermine their subsequent interest in those activities once the reward is removed. Lepper, Greene, and Nisbett demonstrated this in children in 1973; later meta-analyses confirmed the effect is real for specific reward types, though the strong version of the claim — that any reward harms any intrinsic motivation — is overstated.
- The Overjustification Effect When Rewards Kill Motivation When Burned Out
The overjustification effect is the finding that offering expected, tangible rewards for activities people already enjoy can undermine their subsequent interest in those activities once the reward is removed. Lepper, Greene, and Nisbett demonstrated this in children in 1973; later meta-analyses confirmed the effect is real for specific reward types, though the strong version of the claim — that any reward harms any intrinsic motivation — is overstated.
- The Overjustification Effect When Rewards Kill Motivation During Conflict
The overjustification effect is the finding that offering expected, tangible rewards for activities people already enjoy can undermine their subsequent interest in those activities once the reward is removed. Lepper, Greene, and Nisbett demonstrated this in children in 1973; later meta-analyses confirmed the effect is real for specific reward types, though the strong version of the claim — that any reward harms any intrinsic motivation — is overstated.
- How To Not Kill Motivation With Rewards
Rewards tied to quality or to your own goals protect motivation better than rewards tied to doing the activity at all.
Use rewards that signal engagement, not compliance
- Intrinsic Motivation Erosion
Overjustification is a slow erosion — check whether you still find the work interesting, not just whether you’re doing it.
Monitor intrinsic interest over time
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