Reward is necessary

A world where everyone would work out of passion for what they do, where we enjoy every minute we spend working and where rewards don't matter is a really nice dream that won't ever become reality, or, at least, not in the near future.

The reason for that is pretty simple - we need to work for other reasons other than passion. We need to pay the bills, we need to buy food, to pay the rent, to make sure we have enough clothes, to pay for Internet and all kind of things.

This makes working out of passion and not caring about rewards pretty difficult. Sure, in some situations we can do a bunch of things without caring what we get in return, especially when we're financially stable, but if that's not the case, then investing time into something we like means having less time for work, which results in less money.

That's why I believe that rewards are important, even when you do something out of passion. Let's take writing as an example, mainly because that's something I do every day. Do I enjoy it? Of course I do! Do I do it solely for the money? No, not really, I publish on several places besides Steemit without getting anything in return. Do I feel like doing it a lot more when I get rewarded for it? Hell yes!

As some of you know, I started writing on this website with one objective in mind - making enough money to buy a computer. I accomplished my goal a few months ago, and while I discovered I like writing a lot more than I expected, I'm not sure I would do it as much if I wouldn't get rewarded at all. I don't think I'd have the motivation.

You see, people need to feel like what they do matters, like their actions help them make some kind of progress. Some people want fame, others want money. There are people who just want to feel like they're the best, while others simply want to know a bunch of things.

What matters is that we always do things for some kind of reason, and rewards is why most of us work. But what happens when you do something for a long period of time without getting anything in return? What happens when you write for several years without being noticed by anyone? What happens when you code for months without making any money?

The answer is pretty simple - you lose your motivation. I'm not saying you stop enjoying that activity, just that you don't feel like doing it as often, especially if you really want or need some kind of reward. For some people, money is the main problem - they need to pay for all kind of things, and because of that they can't afford to waste time on activities that don't provide them with any money. For others, the desire to get famous and get noticed is so big that whenever they fail in getting what they want, they stop feeling like working.

This becomes even a bigger problem when getting the rewards we desire doesn't depend entirely on us.

Sure, if you want people to notice your work as a writer, then you need to promote it. If you want to make money as a developer, you need to code for other people or create apps. If you want to get a job as an artist, you need to draw a lot and get your work out there.

In some cases, it all depends on you, but often, it doesn't. If you want to make money doing what you do, there's a big chance that no matter how much you promote your product, people won't be interested in buying it.

I think the best way to deal with that is to either find different ways to promote what you do, in such a way that even more people will hear about your product, or to work in the same area but on other projects.

For example, let's say you write books for kids. There are already many similar books out there and because of that it's probably gonna be pretty hard for you to get noticed with your work and make any money with it. So, what can you do about this?

Well, either find a way to promote what you do in such a way that a huge amount of people will notice you, or try to write about different subjects, or in a different way. If you like kids a lot and you also love to write, instead of writing stories for kids, try to make a blog and write about how to take care of them or how to rise them properly.

That kind of blog would probably have a lot more success simply because there are a lot of people who want advice related to their kids, and therefore, you'll have a bigger audience to approach. You can also write stories for kids at some point in the future, and either publish them on your blog or sell them as books to the people who follow you.

The example above just shows you how you can get the rewards you want by using a different approach when it comes to what you do. If you stick to your working routine and you don't give up, that can work as well. It doesn't matter what you do and how you do it, as long as you get what you want from your work.

Rewards are important, no matter how much we love to deny it. Receiving something for your work motivates you and keeps you working. When rewards are gone, your motivation starts to fade off, little by little.

Making sure you receive something for what you do, even if it's something small, is important. Work out of passion if that's what you want, and focus on just creating cool things for people, but don't ignore the importance of rewards just because you want to feel different.

Reward yourself whenever you can and make sure your work gets you something you want. Otherwise, without realizing, your motivation may start to fade off, and then you'll find yourself unwilling to work without knowing why.