When you say 'work' you have to be be explicit in what you mean. Do you mean 'work' as it has come to mean in the industrial capitalist revolution way? Or the kind of 'work' that, say, a forager/gather type society would do? It could mean effort towards creating something new and neat, like music or story telling.

The reason I ask is because without distinctions, it is difficult to tell what your motivations are and what about what kind of work you find attractive.

As a side note, the word 'work' of the industrial revolution sense being combined with notions that it automatically makes you better than people who don't 'work' in the same sense because it makes them more childish was one of those 'white-man's burden' type justifications for imperialism because of that particular poem's observation that non-european first nation people were 'half-devil and half-child'.

NOT an accusation of you. Just an observation. :) This is and, will be, a contentious topic in the near future, I think.

I took "work" to mean purpose, which applies in either case.

The problem comes when people limit themselves to a singular purpose and spend the rest of their time being consumers. The don't learn and grow and so end up in this rut for the duration. You're left with aging, atrophied, one-dimensional automatons who don't know anything else besides the grind and T.V. to relax in the evening. Rinse, repeat. When they retire they have no idea what to do with themselves and the thought of figuring it out probably makes them anxious so they stick to what they know.

Speaking of which, I gotta go. TMZ is on soon...