Get Rewards For Good Behavior – a View on Motivation Eikev 5782

We hear a lot of talk on Motivation. That’s because Motivation plays an important role in every phase of a human lifespan.  Parents want children to be motivated. We engage in different forms of motivation by  offering rewards for good behavior or punishments for not preferred behavior.  Adults are involved in consistently motivating ourselves because that is when we perform best. We seek to be inspired and motivated. To accomplish goals  a certain attitude and effort has to be present. Business owners spend quite a great deal of time dealing with staff and motivating them to get the best out of their workers. Rewards in the form of higher pay, time offs, retiring plans and other life/balance incentives.

Rewards are an essential tool people use to get behavior outcomes. It is a way to motivate people. Does it work? Are they effective tools we can use as parents, as employers, and even with ourselves? 

The Parsha portion of Eikev tells us, use rewards to elicit good behavior, rewards are motivation tools. Moshe speaks to the Jews in the desert before his passing. Moshe reminds the Jews what G-d said.

                “And it will be, because you will heed these ordinances and keep them and perform, that the Lord, your God,                                 will keep for you the covenant and the kindness that He swore to your forefathers. And He will love you and                                  bless  you and multiply you; He will bless the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your soil, your grain, your                                   wine, and your oil, the offspring of your cattle and the choice of your flocks, in the land which He swore to your                            forefathers to give you”

God Rewards Good Behavior

G-d will reward people for good behavior- keeping the commandments. Hearing it this way, makes it so clear it’s ok to use rewards as motivators for good behavior, at least in the short term. Research on motivation goes both ways, you should and you shouldn’t. We know to begin any task is always the hardest. As pleasurable as it may be. The body and mind are not accustomed to doing. When we practice the act and it becomes a habit, a ritual, we seek to do it on our own. In the beginning that longing is not there. People have to be reminded and motivated by an external reward to do something. 

Throughout my parenting journey, there have been countless times that my child was not doing something I asked. I would explain the reason why he would want to do it, for his benefit. But, what I failed to see was that the child lacked the vision of knowing what’s best for him or lacked reasoning. It is necessary to offer incentives until the child creates a habit out of the doing. Small incentives, small rewards. 

G-d from the beginning has said he will reward us by being fruitful, and blessed with land, our crops and our families. All knowing G-d knows that we are people that forget and need incentives, people who need motivation to accomplish a task. The 613 mitzvot are not only commandments from G-d, they are tools to use for our benefit. Yet, it is hard to do them. To abstain or do. Hence, the reward is great. We have to know there is a reward, otherwise why do it. 

Motivation/Rewards In Education

To educate our children this is such a great tool we can use to motivate them, rewards. After they drink that yucky medicine, it will be exciting to get a treat. They no longer will fuss as much because they will be enticed to take it for the reward. Time to play after homework is a reward for doing their homework. This habit gets instilled into adulthood. Work comes after play because play is a reward. Buying ourselves something nice after an accomplishment is a continuation of that conditioning we received early on. 

 For good behavior, offer rewards. People need incentives to do a task. The greater the task, the greater the reward. We train our animal in us because we want to work with our animal and have it work for our divine soul.