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Back in 2018, I became obsessed with something that, at the time, seemed like a brilliant way to make a little extra money: phone applications that rewarded you for doing everyday activities.
The idea was simple. You use an app, complete certain tasks, collect points, and eventually exchange those points for cash, gift cards, discounts, or other rewards. It felt like getting paid for something I was already doing.
One app in particular caught my attention: Sweatcoin.
The concept behind Sweatcoin was straightforward. The more you walked, the more points you earned. Those points could then be redeemed for various rewards available inside the app.
For me, however, it wasn’t just a casual way to earn a few rewards.
I saw one particular reward that immediately caught my attention.
It was a $1,000 reward.
There was just one problem.
It required nearly one million points to redeem.
Instead of looking at that enormous number and thinking, “That’s probably not worth it,” I looked at it as a challenge.
I started doing the math.
If I could earn around 500 points every day, or perhaps even more, I figured I could eventually reach my goal. It would take a long time, but I was willing to put in the work.
And that’s where things started getting a little ridiculous.
The Beginning Of The Mission
At first, my plan seemed reasonable.
I would simply walk more during the day. Instead of sitting around, I would go outside and get some exercise while earning points at the same time.
It seemed like a win-win situation.
I would become more active, get some fresh air, and eventually earn a valuable reward.
But once I became focused on the $1,000 reward, my mindset changed.
I wasn’t walking because I wanted to exercise anymore.
I was walking because I needed points.
Every step became part of the calculation.
Every day became another opportunity to get closer to that million-point goal.
I even started looking at ways to increase the number of points I could earn. I considered getting a higher membership because it could potentially allow me to earn more points per day.
Instead of asking myself whether the reward was worth my time, I was asking myself how I could maximize my points.
That distinction seems small, but looking back, it was incredibly important.
I had turned an app that was supposed to encourage healthy activity into a personal mission.
And I was becoming obsessed with it.
When The Grind Gets Out Of Control
The problem with chasing points is that there is always another point to earn.
If you walk 5,000 steps, why not walk 10,000?
If you can earn 500 points, why not try for more?
If you can get a better membership, why not upgrade?
The goal keeps moving because there is always another milestone ahead.
I remember spending days walking almost nonstop, sometimes continuing until around midnight.
At the time, I didn’t think much of it.
I was focused on the reward.
I had convinced myself that all of this effort would eventually pay off when I finally reached that massive number of points and redeemed the $1,000 reward.
But my body eventually gave me a very different answer.
After several days of pushing myself, I injured my leg badly enough that I could no longer walk normally.
Suddenly, my grand plan came to a stop.
The app was still there.
The points were still there.
The $1,000 reward was still there.
But I couldn’t keep walking.
And that’s when I started looking at the entire situation differently.
What Was My Time Actually Worth?
The injury gave me time to think about what I had been doing.
I had spent hours walking around every day because I was chasing points that might eventually turn into a reward.
But what if I had spent those same hours doing something else?
What if I had used that time to learn programming?
What if I had learned video editing?
What if I had studied digital marketing, graphic design, sales, investing, writing, or another valuable skill?
There are countless skills that can potentially increase your earning ability.
Instead, I had been walking around for hours trying to accumulate tiny amounts of virtual currency.
That realization changed my perspective on these types of apps.
The question isn’t necessarily whether an app is legitimate or whether you can actually receive rewards.
The more important question is:
Is the reward worth the time you’re putting into earning it?
That’s a completely different way of looking at things.
The Hidden Cost Of “Free” Rewards
One thing I’ve learned is that something can be free financially while still being expensive in terms of time.
An app might say that you can earn rewards without spending money.
Technically, that’s true.
But you’re still spending something.
You’re spending your time.
And time is one of the few resources you can never get back.
If you spend an hour walking to earn a small amount of rewards, that hour has a cost. If you spend several hours every day doing it, the cost becomes much larger.
Of course, walking itself isn’t a bad thing.
In fact, walking can be excellent exercise. If an app motivates someone to become more active, that’s a positive outcome.
My problem wasn’t with walking.
My problem was with how I was using my time and why I was doing it.
I wasn’t walking because I enjoyed it or because I wanted to improve my health.
I was walking because I had become obsessed with reaching an arbitrary number inside an application.
And eventually, I pushed myself far beyond what was reasonable.
Why I Eventually Gave Up on These Apps
After that experience, I decided that I no longer wanted to spend my time on apps that required me to perform physical activities just to earn small amounts of money or rewards.
For me, the opportunity cost was simply too high.
I’d rather sit at home for a few hours and learn something that could potentially become a valuable skill.
That’s the approach that makes more sense to me now.
Instead of asking, “How can I earn a few dollars from this activity?” I prefer to ask, “How can I use this time to become more valuable?”
That could mean learning a new technology, improving my writing, studying business, learning how to create content, developing a professional skill, or simply becoming better at something I’ve always wanted to understand.
The reward isn’t immediate.
That’s the difficult part.
Learning a skill doesn’t give you instant gratification.
You might spend weeks or months learning something without making a single dollar from it.
But there’s a major difference between the two approaches.
When you’re learning a valuable skill, you’re potentially building an asset that can continue benefiting you long after you’ve finished learning it.
With a points-based app, you may spend hours earning rewards that disappear as soon as you redeem them.
But Are These Apps Really A Waste Of Time?
I don’t think the answer is the same for everyone.
If you enjoy walking anyway, and an app happens to give you some rewards for doing it, there’s nothing wrong with using it.
If the app motivates you to get off the couch and exercise, that’s arguably a great benefit.
And if you’re already going for a walk, checking an app afterward and receiving a few points doesn’t really cost you much additional time.
The problem comes when the reward becomes the reason you’re doing the activity.
That’s exactly what happened to me.
I wasn’t using the app casually.
I was trying to optimize my entire day around earning points.
That’s when something that started as a fun little experiment turned into an unhealthy obsession.
My experience doesn’t mean everyone should stop using reward apps.
If you enjoy them, use them.
If they motivate you to walk more, that’s great.
Just don’t let the reward become more important than the activity itself.
And don’t make the mistake I made by pushing yourself beyond reasonable limits just to reach an arbitrary number on a screen.
The Bigger Lesson
The biggest lesson I took away from the experience wasn’t really about Sweatcoin.
It was about opportunity cost.
Every hour you spend doing one thing is an hour you can’t spend doing something else.
That doesn’t mean every hour needs to be productive.
Sometimes you should relax.
Sometimes you should watch a movie, play a game, go for a walk, or simply do nothing.
Life isn’t a productivity competition.
But when you’re deliberately spending hundreds of hours chasing a financial reward, it’s worth asking whether there is a better use of that time.
For me, the answer became obvious after I injured my leg.
I could spend my time chasing points, or I could spend my time developing skills.
I chose the latter.
Today, I’d much rather sit down and learn something that could potentially help me earn more money in the future than spend hours performing tasks for tiny rewards.
Maybe that means learning a skill that can lead to freelance work.
Maybe it’s learning a technology that could improve my career.
Maybe it’s building something of my own.
The specific skill doesn’t matter as much as the principle.
Invest your time in things that can grow in value.
What I Would Do Differently
If I could go back to 2018, I wouldn’t necessarily tell myself to stop walking.
I’d tell myself to stop obsessing over the reward.
I’d still go outside.
I’d still exercise.
I’d still enjoy the benefits of being active.
But I wouldn’t spend my entire day trying to maximize points.
I would also spend some of that time learning.
Even one or two hours a day spent consistently learning a valuable skill can add up to hundreds of hours over the course of a year.
That’s a lot of time.
And unlike points in an app, knowledge can stay with you.
A skill can improve your career.
It can help you start a business.
It can help you earn money.
It can open doors you didn’t know existed.
That’s a much more interesting reward to me.
Final Thoughts
My experience with Sweatcoin started with a simple idea: walk more, earn points, and eventually get $1,000.
Instead, I ended up with an injured leg and a lesson that has stayed with me ever since.
The lesson wasn’t that walking is bad.
It wasn’t even that reward apps are inherently bad.
The lesson was that your time has value, and you should think carefully about where you spend it.
If you already enjoy walking and these apps give you a little extra motivation, go for it.
But if you find yourself spending hours every day chasing points, ask yourself what else you could be doing with that time.
You could be learning.
You could be building.
You could be creating.
You could be developing a skill that might eventually be worth far more than the reward you’re chasing.
For me, that’s why I no longer use apps that require me to perform physical activities in exchange for small rewards.
I’d rather sit at home, learn something new, and invest in myself.
And honestly, after everything that happened, I think that’s a reward worth chasing.
