How to design motivation like a casino

Hi everyone,

Welcome back to our shared journey of learning to become The Attention Master.

Here is what you will learn today:

• The exact reward system Instagram stole from casinos (and why it works)

• Why your workplace accidentally designed motivation to fail

• How to make important work feel as compelling as your feed

What if I told you that your work is boring because it runs on the wrong reward system - while Instagram keeps you hooked using the most addictive one psychology has ever identified?

Here's the thing: we've been treating scrolling addiction like it's about willpower or self-control. But the latest research from behavioral psychology tells a different story.

Instagram isn't more entertaining than your work. It's just designed using the exact same principles that make slot machines impossible to quit.

Your work could feel just as compelling. It just runs on the least motivating reward schedule possible. Let's dive into what's actually happening:

The Stanford Class that created your scrolling habit

There's a psychology class at Stanford taught by BJ Fogg. He literally taught the Instagram founders how to design their app to be as addictive as possible.

His lesson? Not all rewards are created equal.

Think about school. Every Monday, there's a test. What do you do? Slack off after Monday's test, cram Sunday night before the next one. That's a fixed interval schedule - predictable timing, predictable behavior. Boring, but not addictive.

Then your teacher switches it up: "We'll have surprise quizzes this week." Now you study a bit more consistently because you can't predict when it's coming. That's a variable interval schedule - better, but still not the most powerful.

Sales teams run on fixed ratio schedules: every 10th sale gets you a bonus. You know exactly what it takes. Work hard, get reward, maybe take a break, go again. Motivating, but you can see the finish line.

But here's where Instagram gets scary:

The most addictive reward system

Variable ratio schedules: Sometimes you swipe twice and find an amazing post. Sometimes you swipe 20 times and get nothing good. Sometimes it's just once.

You never know. That unpredictability? That's what keeps you hooked:

• The "For You" page doesn't show you great content consistently. It's amazing stuff randomly mixed with mediocre posts.

• Your Stories views are unpredictable. Sometimes 100 views, sometimes 10, sometimes 500 - with the same follower count.

• Post engagement is random. Even your best content might flop while something you threw together goes viral.

• Notification timing is deliberately irregular.

The infinite scroll. The unpredictable content quality. The random notification timing.

It's all designed using the most addictive reward schedule psychology has identified.

Even as creators, we're trapped in the same loop. We keep posting because we hope the next one will go viral. We never know which post will hit, so we keep trying.

It's identical to gambling. You don't know if this slot machine pull will pay off. You don't know if this scroll will show you something incredible.

So you keep pulling. You keep scrolling.

Where modern life gets it wrong

Meanwhile, your actual work? It runs on the least motivating schedule possible.

Fixed interval: "Do your job for a month, get the same salary on the 30th."

Once your brain figures out "nothing extra happens if I push harder," effort flattens. You get that brief burst of hustle when you start a job or right before review season. Then? Coasting.

Promotions and bonuses feel random, but in the wrong way - not contingent on your behavior. They go to whoever plays politics or happens to be on the "right" project. That creates learned helplessness, not healthy motivation.

The only variable rewards in most workplaces? Slack pings and fire drills. Random urgent messages. Surprise "need this by EOD" crises.

So what gets reinforced? Checking Slack compulsively. Shallow work. Constant context switching.

Meanwhile, deep work - the thing that creates real value - has almost no reward schedule around it.

Of course people avoid it.

How to use this for good

If variable ratio schedules are this powerful, why only let Instagram use them against you?

For couples: Put "love rewards" into a draw pot - small treats, date ideas, household task exemptions. Add some blank papers too. Every time someone does a household chore, they get to draw. You don't know what's coming, often nothing, but the fact that the more you do the more chances you get? It actually makes cleaning... less horrible.

For self-employed people: Turn boring lead-gen into a "reward lottery." Every pitch sent, every post published, every deep work block completed earns you a "ticket." Draw at unpredictable intervals. Some tickets say "Take the afternoon off guilt-free," some say "Order your favorite lunch," some are blank. Suddenly "one more email" has that "maybe this is the one" energy - but you control it, not an algorithm.

For team leads: Design bonus structures that combine predictable and variable rewards. Keep quarterly bonuses transparent and tied to clear metrics - that's your foundation. Then add unpredictable non-monetary rewards on top: when the team crushes a target, surprise them with an extra day off. When someone handles a crisis without being asked, give them lunch on the company or early finish on Friday. The bonus is predictable. The timing and form of the extra rewards isn't. Now your team has both stability and that "good things happen when I push harder" motivation.

That’s it for today.
This knowledge comes at 0 cost.
If you learned something, be generous
and share it with friends or family.

See ya next week
Stephan

ONE MORE WAY WE CAN HELP

We know that mastering your attention is extremely difficult. It's not going to happen in a day. That's why we've created Lemio, an app designed to be your personal buddy on the journey.