Basically as kids we are rewarded for doing things like going to school. Good effort on exam and learning = A+. But then carrying into real life that kills our motivation for doing things without the reward (if we're not getting paid for it we must not like it).

It also has the opposite affect, if we get a reward for something we don't like doing it either. Maybe people would like doing things more if they got paid less!

Right now there is an article about bloated web pages, good illustration of that.

All the world is not a Vax, and all the world is not the Web.

You probably need to recalibrate your definition of "reward". It's not just about money. One way or another, though, your actions either need to result in some sort of real reward, or you will eventually stop doing them. Things like "good feelings because I helped someone in need" are absolutely a form of reward.