Aversion is a strong ally.

INSIGHT (what we need)

The tendency to constantly reward ourselves after doing hard work is a less effective motivator.

Hooray, you finished that long list of things to do for the first time this week. Now for a rewarding glass of ice cold Prosecco or piece of tarty key lime pie?

Not so fast. Turns out that doing this on the regular not only desensitizes us to effective dopamine hits of general completion, but lowers our baseline by just expecting a reward that doesn’t meet our predicted expectation. This is a reason never to promise someone “the most amazing experience ever once you finish this tough task” as getting that dopamine hit in advance can crash their pre-existing levels if they don’t receive the reward, or it’s not up to par. (a.k.a. the Dopamine Predictive Error and “Arg, biology! Why are you so cruel!”)

This is when you pause and realize much of our built environments are over promised pleasure centers for dopamine addiction!  

“The Best Ever” and “All-you-can _____” value propositions tap into our unfortunate human weakness of expecting rewards or excess when dabbling. It’s what makes people eat more food than they need to, buy into threats of FOMO, and exercise wastefulness and negligence as a privilege. It feeds hoarding mentality AND taps into a base human desire to use more than what is sensible just because it’s available. Companies make money on this value proposition for services that actually take work that most won’t do (ie. gym memberships). And lose cash when they offer passivity on a silver platter (ie. free movie tickets and king crab buffets).

Pulling back from the gluttonous tilt: even constantly rewarding yourself with what seem like harmless dopamine hits (“good job” recognition, social “likes”, or a new toy) can actually train our biology in detrimental ways. When we neurologically over-reward the system, it begins to require extra motivation to get going. Meaning, that persistent pat on the back is going to make it harder to get off the couch for game time.

Now, I’m not proposing tough love self-flagellation (though it may feel that way to some as we all have a different perceived notion of consequences and rewards). However, it can be revealing to examine where you tend to self-reward, self-sooth, or self-congratulate to the point where you might be less effective than usual. Reduce the volume and just get the work done. Then witness how your ‘toughness’ or grit to get through harder work persists.

So instead of built-in punishment, we can reframe the aforementioned value proposition with reverse effect: “All you can EARN.” If money buys future behavior for good performance, then companies can offer the compounding effect of getting the gold. Reinforcing healthy behavior and giving discounts to those who “do the work” – and keeping a loyal customer in the process. This is implicit in the world of performance-based services where it takes time to reap the fruits of your efforts. This is also highly different to a Guava Pass or Class Pass, where they still reinforce the idea of dabbling and trialling as much as possible with very little efficacy. It may be easier to sell and offer a taste…but harder for clients to achieve real results.

All you can EARN value would look like 1) having access to a trial upon special circumstance, 2) applying for suitability or ability to commit, and 3) putting a down payment on one’s future…which reaps coupons, discounts, incentives, rewards, etc at various milestones of completion. And perhaps, the more over-looked but highly effective 4) pain avoidance (or building consequences if you don’t hit targets. In our dopamine-addicted culture of over-rewarding, we let companies take advantage of our cravings. But with brains wired more for loss or risk aversion, there’s an opportunity to creatively design struggles into modern life to support people towards their goals, rather than over-promising comfort to our demise.

INSPIRATION (what we want)

TrainMore: a gym where you pay less the more you workout.

Understanding built-in consequences as rewards, this gym doesn’t penalize you for working out less, but rewards you for working out more.

• An urban fitness community in the Netherlands that rewards healthy lifestyles with memberships that match your specific goals and reward your workouts with a discount. 

• Get a membership and get three months free along with rewards of a 1 Euro discount for each workout.

• It works: members workout 70% more than the national average.

• Flex memberships expand into classes, health drinks and supplements, and an app to support your training.

• As one of the fastest growing clubs in the NL, TrainMore’s work-based rewards system conditions the good kind of dopamine hit for its customers.

INNOVATION (what we wish for)

SIGNED: a (self-imposed) digital ‘consequence contract’ that you sign with a goal-oriented wellness program you are enrolled in to up the stakes.

• Outline your terms for successfully completing a wellness program you have signed up for (ie. 90-day fitness program) by setting your own consequences and rewards.

• This playful yet binding legal document requires you pay double the amount of money to the program if you do not hit your goals.

• You can also set non-monetary consequences with your partner, or friends (or enemies!) that would also motivate you to finish (ie. giving your spouse a massage every night before bed for 3 months, mowing your friends lawn for the rest of the year OR volunteering hours to a group you dislike).

• The legal contract is signed by the witnessing party (whether the program you joined, a friend, or your spouse).

• The exercise requires you to create a consequence that is painful enough to ensure you hit your goals but also not punishing. Enough for the loss aversion to motivate your desire for success.

• 
  “No more cutting corners with a SIGNED contract!”

How can you do more, with ample energy, in less time? 
Click on the free cheatsheet below for foundations or sign up to a live cohort with a group to dig deeper and design your own flow playbook.