Beyond acquiring enough income to provide yourself and those you support with the basics of survival, it's really a desire for more ease, comfort, and opportunities for enjoyment. Some want more than the basics for survival. It's true that sometimes people get carried away, and work becomes the sole focus of living. Why? Work can be the most interesting, enjoyable, and fulfilling part of your life. It's true. I have experienced it myself.

I get an extreme sense of accomplishment doing my work, so it’s easy to want to keep working all the time. It’s fun and rewarding

related: Would You Stop Working If You Won 1 M€ In The Lottery? 👀 #674294

People conflate "having a job" and "working." Most people who have a job have it because they need to pay the bills. Most people who actually work do it because they cannot not do it. The word "profession" in Estonian is "elukutse" which literally translates to "life's calling" - which is what work should be all about IMO. Also, people like to define themselves via their job - it's quite widespread in the culture (you meet someone, one of the first things they ask is quite often "what do you do for a living?"). Some people (most people?) haven't truly found themselves so they think what they do is who they are...

I'm in academia. I love my work. I fantasize about it when I've been on holidays for more than a few days. I'll take out the laptop as soon as I've put my kid to bed. I spend every minute of my day with my kid when he's not sleeping or not as school. At some point, i slept less hours so that i did not have to compromise on time to work and time with the kid. My two passions at the time. Now that he's a bit older I've managed to re-add sport to the equation. For me, it's all about doing stuff that give me satisfaction. Work just happens to be a very important one to give me satisfaction.

It's all about comfort and laziness, but also, some people like to be told what to do! We are humans, we explore the limitless borders of our short existence. Work is something that has been indoctrinated since long time, since someone understood that could control others with less confidence and more emotional awareness.

We have free will for a reason, we have the power on our side to decide what to do. Why the majority choose to work? Because they are stuck in a belief system, they haven't selected to continue following the “safer path”!

Therefore, there's a lack in general for people to be able to choose the values they want to live by. Fewer people usually define metrics to measure their own success.

If you are questioning yourself about this, just consider there's no way back after you take the red pill 🤣

When you work at Walmart you fantasize about retirement When you work on freedom tech you fantasize about working until the day you die, like Hal.

Before bitcoin TheWildHustle didnt care about jobs or careers, thought people who did were a little strange, and missing out on the good stuff in life.

After bitcoin TheWildHustle considers those who aren't engaged in meaningful work as...... really missing out on the good stuff in life.

Hopefully TheWildHustle becomes a 95 year old bitcoin veteran, still resolute in guarding the realms of men.

People (including me in the past) can have their sense of self completely wrapped up in what they do for a living. Their careers. Why? Because when you are good at something you usually get acceptance and respect for your skill and hard work. It can be a trap because your work will not be their for you when you can't perform. Your company will not love you. Your co-workers are not your family.

What I have learned is that I need to be aware of becoming to wrapped up in the praise of others. For some money/wealth is a huge motivator. Never has been for me. I started out my current career out of desire to provide for my family. As I became more successful I discovered my self-worth was getting to strongly tied to my career. The key is balance. Work is good for most people but like most things it can become an ultimate thing. I still enjoy my work but I have other things that are very key to who I am. My faith, my family, and my hobbies in addition to my work.

Here's something I've noticed. These days people seem to think that they have to do work that matters... If they can't do work they love they are not interested in working. This is a black hole of disrepair. All work that someone is willing to pay for matters. At least it matters to the person or company paying you. If it didn't matter, they would not agree to pay you.

Of course based on your personal moral values some work is not valuable. But that is subjective to your beliefs. Over and over again I have heard therapists advise depressed people to get jobs. This rings true for me because there was a time in my life where I was in a field where I would lose my job due to layoffs. I would receive unemployment benefits but there was a psychological effect. I think there are many factors but one was feeling like I wasn't producing any value. Or put another way, I wasn't desired. I wasn't needed. I think these factors can lead people to become obsessed or even addicted to work. But its not the work. Its the side effects of work. Work is hard. Great work requires emotional and physical energy.

Learning to work and work well is a skill we don't really teach. We focus on knowledge. Information. Not ethics. Laziness is not a virtue, but rest has value and is required for you to do good work.

Work is money 💵 You have to do some work for money

They're scared of who they really are, and what reality is for, believing they are meat robots only...

You are right on the money on this one. Work is just a diversion to keep us preoccupied at all times until the day we you-know-what.

Are you sure this is universal? Where are you from? USA? Most people I know that have office jobs will stop working if they could. People who do manual labor even more. The only people who I know will continue working the same are artists. End even they I have already noticed stop doing things that they don't like once they have enough security to actually do things they do like.

Because I am a man, and I must build

I recommend the book Burnout Society

The author makes a case that we are living in an achievement society where the individual becomes both master and slave in the endless pursuit of doing more. We have eliminated the thoughtful solitude of boredom. We have become obsessed with doing and no longer know how to not-do for fear of falling behind.

A good insight from the book raises the point that in the Christian mythology god makes the day of rest the holiest of days.