Recap: Intermittent Reward, known as Variable Ratio Reinforcement Schedule within Applied Behavior Analysis, is a powerful concept from psychology. It states that the anticipation of reward for a behavior increases motivation to do that behavior, and the rise in motivation is higher when the reward is not guaranteed
As you begin to use this concept as a motivation tool, there are a few things you’ll learn along the way that are not always obvious. Here are a few of them to help you get the most out of it faster:
- Reserve some rewards to use exclusively with your intermittent reward system. The more powerful these rewards, the better. However, you need to become comfortable waiting out the unpredictable gap between when these are awarded. If you often desire some reward X and want to reinforce behavior Y, being able to harness the thought process “I really want X, but I need to earn it by doing Y” is a good tool for helping you consistently engage with Y. Ease into this— maybe even reserving only a single reward to be exclusive to your system
- Use your intermittent rewards system to break through feelings of resistence. When you are sitting there trying to get moving on a task but struggling to actually start, you are primed for a motivation boost from a reward. As a bonus, overcoming this mental block exercises the brain’s anterior mid-cingulate cortex, which will make it easier to overcome resistence in the future and has its own set of benefits
- Choose the right difficulty of tasks to earn the chance of a reward. If you can do the task easily, perhaps as a habit, you don’t need to boost your motivation to do it. On the other hand, if the anticipation of reward isn’t enough to get you started on the task, it’s too hard so consider breaking it into smaller steps. This one can be tricky because at different points in the day a task can change in subjective difficulty, and a reward can change in subjective satisfaction. I find that afternoon and evening tasks can be harder for me to get started, so I’m more likely to engage with those by using intermittent reward
- Don’t be self-conscious about the rewards you choose. Your brain knows what it wants, and if you can use that to move toward your goals and values, make that trade! It’s a good way to redeem guilty pleasures because it’s not simply an indulgence, it’s a tool. You can always talk about it euphemistically later if anyone asks. However, keep in mind that every reward has to be an investment whose payoff (the reinforced behavior) outweighs the cost of the reward (time, money, etc.). As an example, very addictive behaviors are too risky to use as reinforcers because the positive behavior you are trying to reinforce can easily be outweighed by the negatives of addiction
- Keep it flexible! If you complete your reward task, but the going is still easy, you don’t have to stop yet. Keep going until you feel like you’ve really earned it. If you find yourself desiring something but haven’t used it as a reward before, there’s no reason it can’t be one right now!
- Respect the result. This goes beyond just not rewarding yourself if you haven’t earned it. You also want to avoid indulging self-congratulatory feelings or celebrating the completion of the tasks. If the desire for the reward really is still strong, set up another way you can earn a chance at it and give it another go, or you can always try again later. The times when the reward is not given are crucial to the application of random intermittent reward so make the no-reward moments count
- Use our app! We’re building a phone app to make it easier, more effective, and fun to use intermittent reward. It’s currently available with an invitation on iOS through TestFlight. Get your invite!
As always, take one or two ideas at a time (starting with number 7 if you haven’t yet) and experiment. As you train your brain, you can try slightly different strategies that might not have worked as well previously. Revisit how you use intermittent reward periodically and re-adapt it to what you currently need