You're hitting on it pretty well. Your work has value to you, because there are other things you'd rather be doing. That means the product of your time needs to be valuable enough for your employer/customer to be willing to pay for it.

The easiest way to see the flaw in thinking work itself adds value is to just imagine how much you'd still get paid if technology made it possible to produce the same goods from the same inputs without your work.

Undisciplined

bitcoin

What is the issue with Michael Saylor's Bitcoin is "Digital Energy" Idea

kepford

I exchange my time, attention, and effort to create a product or service. The product or service may or may not have value but my work has value to me. I've never heard of a business that pays people to work. They want a product/result. But you don't get the result without the work. So the work by relation has value but not on its own. That said, my time has value to me even if not to others.