“Work is its Own Reward” is a Pleasure-Based Liquid Drug made by the Hypothalamus of your Brain, connected to the “Flow State” that is caused when you reach the sweet spot/balance between Boredom and Anxiety during Work when the World vanishes around you, and you have Perfect Focus. “I need to get back into the swing of things” or “I’ve lost my groove” are statements said by a drug addict of this specific flow reward chemical.

Step back from yourself and realize what is actually going on. You are a drug addict that is experiencing withdrawal symptoms. Your Hypothalamus is your Dealer. Humans are Wired for Story, and Punishment/Reward Dynamic. You can see this in the way Religion is designed if you pull back and take a generalized look at it. If you don’t know how to shake that feeling, you could try a dopamine detox(See YouTube Videos on that Subject) or you could seek YouTube Videos on the Flow State and how to Activate it in your Work.

My guess is that the Dopamine Detox will bring you to a place where it takes less of the Flow Chemical to get the same Reward Feeling, but the cost of doing that is falling out of the Habit/Discipline of reaching the Flow State. There always seems to be a trade-off somewhere, after all. Life-Hacks are corrected by Entropy, which you can’t beat. You can side-step Entropy, but the Universe will always correct the Error, you dirty little hacker.

This makes me imagine "The Relationship Journals" where a Couple will document when and how their Partner released Dopamine as a reaction to something they did. This information is shared mutually for Communication and Empathy. These Journals are Relationship Hacks and Force Multipliers for Mutual Attraction. The 80/20 Rule applies. 80% of your Results come from 20% of your Efforts. Once you know what that 20% is, then just do that, and Efficiency will Increase. The Most Work for the Least Effort at the Highest Rate of Production for whatever you want.