How to enjoy more.

An experiment at Stanford observed kids in Bing Nursery who loved to draw. The researchers then gave out rewards to some kids for drawing. When the rewards stopped, those very kids experienced less desires to draw.

"So, contracting for a reward to do this initially interesting and attractive activity subsequently had a negative effect on their interest. The misuse of rewards [...] undermined intrinsic interests, turning an attractive activity into something the child would only want to do if there was a payoff." (Bing Nursery School, Stanford)

This is the hand of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation: When we focus on the payment, we forget how much we love the job. The reward after the workout or the learning can rob us of the pleasures of engagement in the activity.

We can (re)engineer our goal-oriented culture by consciously experiencing joy when we engage in the activity that we (want to) love. The more time we spend to let ourselves know how much we love something (i.e. gratitude), the more we would actually enjoy the process, not the destination.

We can also remove extra dopamine boost that is not necessary. E.g. listening to music while running or always exploring a new place with a loved one. Getting used to the simple joy of an action (simply running & being with a loved one) heightens our enjoyment for every subtlety of life.