Rewards are amazing. The returns from action, the benefits of effort. Attaching the right reward to something turns “you have to” into “you get to.”
My kids are already well-behaved; if I say “time to clean up” then I get a chorus of “okay Daddy” followed by a flurry of activity. But as my children reach a certain age (5 in my household, though that’s totally arbitrary), I begin to award money for certain kinds of chores. The money can then be spent on various trinkets and goodies at local stores without my input.
The kids already happily do the chores assigned, but once they cross this threshold, they start asking me – frequently – what chores they can do.
We can’t summon our desires from thin air. All reward takes a combination of effort and the right opportunity to make that effort. So every time such an opportunity presents itself, rejoice – you get to!
The Opportunity Machine 