SHOULDN’T THE RESULT BE THE REWARD IN AND OF ITSELF?

Last week I ended the blog reminding you to plan a reward for when you finished midterms. This week I’m putting forth support for a strong, “No!” to the contention that the reward for effort is solely in the result. 

 I’ve blogged before about using rewards and reinforcers to keep yourself motivated over the long haul. Summarizing that blog, “WHEN” rewards are for when you reach a milestone and “IF” rewards are for if you achieve a goal or target. “Reinforcers” are for the effort that you put in to get there.

Applying this to midterms, for example. You would “reinforce” for each effort you put into studying for midterms. You would do a “WHEN” reward when you finish midterms. You would do an “IF” reward if you achieve the grade you targeted.

Why bother? Shouldn’t just getting through, just getting the grade be reward in itself?

If we were all Mr. Spock, maybe. But we’re not. If you have a job, think of how much easier it is to put in the extra effort, especially on the tedious tasks, if your boss brings you a coffee when they see you putting in that extra effort–that’s a reinforcer. How much more you appreciate the boss, and like or tolerate the job when the project is complete, if your boss takes you out for lunch–that’s a WHEN reward. Then think about the trip your team gets when you all reach the target–that’s an IF reward.

It’s not about how much money the boss spends on the coffee, the pizza or the trip. It’s the recognition and validation of the worth of your effort, recognition that you have engaged in goal-directed behaviour.

Back to your academic workplace now. I’m not aware of anyone bringing you a coffee for mapping out your textbook. And most profs aren’t going to provide an attaboy when you raise your quiz mark from a C- to a B+. That’s because they are not your boss. They are your client or your customer (there’s something to chew on). 

When it comes to your day-to-day job as a student, you, my friend, are the boss of you. And if you want to perform well for that boss, the findings of industrial psychology are just as valid between you and that boss as they are at Starbuck’s, CanadaPost, MicroSoft, or Red Cross international. 

So. What do you think of the boss who never acknowledges effort throughout the project? Or the boss who just keeps moving you on from one project to the next, with no appreciation or celebration? Or the boss who says, “Yeah we’ll have to do something to celebrate,” but somehow never does.

Don’t be that boss.

Go back and read the detail in that earlier blog, if you need to, for suggestions on how you might reinforce and reward your effort (https://www.stevevogel.net/rewards-that-motivate/).

Then be the boss you’d want to work for. You’ll respect that boss more; you’ll find it easier to work for that boss when all is not going well; and you are more likely to get the results that both you and that boss are after!

Next week: Dealing with the Prof. 

Let me know how it goes! [email protected]

The information in this blog cannot take the place of support from your own mental health professional or community health resources. Reach out to them. And IF YOU ARE IN CRISIS PLEASE DIAL 911.