Nobody hands out awards for doing the dishes without being asked. That’s why it counts.

Work with no reward attached is the clearest thing you do, because nothing external is pulling you toward it. Dishes, laundry, taking the bins out before anyone asks, none of it earns credit and most of it is only noticed when it stops. That absence of reward is not a flaw in the system. It is what makes the act genuinely yours rather than a transaction.

Do one unasked household thing this week and say nothing about it afterwards. Resist mentioning it, which is harder than doing it. The whole value sits in that second part.