Why Do We Work, and Why Should We?

Photo by Jordan Whitfield on Unsplash

Human work involves physical actions and/or mental decisions. It is normally performed to solve problems — situations in our lives that require periodic attention or that threaten us in some way — or to create new ideas or things that are useful to us or to other people.

Positive rewards for work can be intrinsic — the pleasure or other satisfactions in performing the work — and/or extrinsic — responses…