Uploaded November 2020 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
Most of us spend most of our lives working in one way or another. Most of us also eagerly anticipate the times when we can stop working. When we get the chance, how many of us really stop altogether? What motivates us to work or not work, and our feelings about the work we do?
There is something more to work than material necessity. Doing work that you feel is meaningful and worthwhile tends to make you happier and healthier; doing work that you feel is pointless or shameful tends to lead to the opposite. The motivation to work for the sake of meaning is less obvious than for financial or material gain, but it may be just as potent. When thinking about the shape of society we want, it would be a mistake to think of work only in terms of the material gains it produces and delivers. Depriving people of meaning causes suffering just as surely as depriving them of food, shelter, medical care and comfort. Work will always be a vital part of human life, but work for work’s sake, even accompanied by all the material riches you can imagine, will never be enough. At the end of the day, what are we all really working for?
Come discuss this with us on
Twitter twitter.com/PEGSInstitute
Instagram instagram.com/pegsinstitute
Facebook facebook.com/PEGSInstitute
Watch on Odysee odysee.com/@PEGSInstitute:c
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Sources
‘The Selfish Gene’, ‘The Extended Phenotype’ and ‘The God Delusion’ by Richard Dawkins.
The Oxford Handbook of Meaningful Work - Edited by Ruth Yeoman, Catherine Bailey, Adrian Madden, and Marc Thompson - https://books.google.com.au/books?id=40SCDwAAQBAJ&lpg=PT233
Volunteering and health benefits in general adults: cumulative effects and forms by Jerf W. K. Yeung,corresponding author Zhuoni Zhang, and Tae Yeun Kim - ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5504679
Data on Australia's Welfare: Volunteers (2019) - https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/australias-welfare/volunteers
Credits
Written by Andrew Johnson and Jackson Winter
Spoken by Andrew Johnson
Edited by Jackson Winter
Icons made by MD Badsha Meah, www.wishforge.games, Charlie, icon king1, Raj Dev, fengquan li, Free Preloaders and Shabna Ashraf from freeicons.io
by Freepik from flaticon.com
Yacht by Becca, Palace by monkik, Knit by Icons Bazaar, Game by Adrien Coquet, Paint by Gregor Cresnar, Mobile Phone by Iconnic and Human Evolution by Gan Khoon Lay from the Noun Project
All other graphics created by Jackson Winter
Music
Night Snow by Asher Fulero
1940's Slow Dance (Sting) by Doug Maxwell, Media Right Productions
Most of us spend most of our lives working in one way or another. Most of us also eagerly anticipate the times when we can stop working. When we get the chance, how many of us really stop altogether? What motivates us to work or not work, and our feelings about the work we do?
There is something more to work than material necessity. Doing work that you feel is meaningful and worthwhile tends to make you happier and healthier; doing work that you feel is pointless or shameful tends to lead to the opposite. The motivation to work for the sake of meaning is less obvious than for financial or material gain, but it may be just as potent. When thinking about the shape of society we want, it would be a mistake to think of work only in terms of the material gains it produces and delivers. Depriving people of meaning causes suffering just as surely as depriving them of food, shelter, medical care and comfort. Work will always be a vital part of human life, but work for work’s sake, even accompanied by all the material riches you can imagine, will never be enough. At the end of the day, what are we all really working for?
Come discuss this with us on
Twitter twitter.com/PEGSInstitute
Instagram instagram.com/pegsinstitute
Facebook facebook.com/PEGSInstitute
Watch on Odysee odysee.com/@PEGSInstitute:c
Support us on Patreon patreon.com/PEGSInstitute
Sources
‘The Selfish Gene’, ‘The Extended Phenotype’ and ‘The God Delusion’ by Richard Dawkins.
The Oxford Handbook of Meaningful Work - Edited by Ruth Yeoman, Catherine Bailey, Adrian Madden, and Marc Thompson - https://books.google.com.au/books?id=40SCDwAAQBAJ&lpg=PT233
Volunteering and health benefits in general adults: cumulative effects and forms by Jerf W. K. Yeung,corresponding author Zhuoni Zhang, and Tae Yeun Kim - ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5504679
Data on Australia's Welfare: Volunteers (2019) - https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/australias-welfare/volunteers
Credits
Written by Andrew Johnson and Jackson Winter
Spoken by Andrew Johnson
Edited by Jackson Winter
Icons made by MD Badsha Meah, www.wishforge.games, Charlie, icon king1, Raj Dev, fengquan li, Free Preloaders and Shabna Ashraf from freeicons.io
by Freepik from flaticon.com
Yacht by Becca, Palace by monkik, Knit by Icons Bazaar, Game by Adrien Coquet, Paint by Gregor Cresnar, Mobile Phone by Iconnic and Human Evolution by Gan Khoon Lay from the Noun Project
All other graphics created by Jackson Winter
Music
Night Snow by Asher Fulero
1940's Slow Dance (Sting) by Doug Maxwell, Media Right Productions
