CFAR describes reinforcement in a very striking way in some of their course materials: they call it "training your inner pigeon." Not only is that a nice, snappy turn of phrase, it illustrates the problem with attempting to self-administer rewards very nicely. Did Skinner's pigeons self-administer their rewards? No, of course they didn't. I shouldn't expect my inner pigeon to, either. So, my next step is to build a robot that gives me candy when I get stuff done.

The idea is that your conscious mind is to a degree separate from your lizard brain, so "you" train your "inner pigeon". You aren't your inner pigeon, you're Skinner.

Of course, the reinforced parts of the brain overriding the smart bits is what akrasia is all about, so I'm not sure how well this neat demarcation works in practice.