Offering an external reward for an activity that a person already intrinsically enjoys will paradoxically decrease their overall motivation to continue doing it once the reward is removed.

A closer look

Offering an external reward for an activity that a person already intrinsically enjoys will paradoxically decrease their overall motivation to continue doing it once the reward is removed. This overjustification effect is exactly why turning your beloved, relaxing hobby into a desperate side hustle to survive late-stage capitalism will absolutely murder your passion for it within six months. As soon as you attach a monetary value to knitting, baking, or painting, your brain flips a switch and recategorizes it as miserable labor, draining all the joy from the activity and leaving you with yet another tedious chore you have to complete for ungrateful clients. It is the ultimate proof that monetizing your passions truly does ruin everything, transforming the things we used to do for love into just another bleak entry on our daily anxiety-inducing checklist