memes

You can work hard without creating shareholder value. Work hard for yourself and people you care about.

Hard work has an intrinsic value in that it promotes confidence, self esteem, wellbeing, and in the case of physical work: exercise, health, and a good night’s sleep. Of course, very little of these benefits can be had working in an office for some giant corporation where your job seems to be totally meaningless. It’s far more rewarding to be working for yourself (self-employed) and providing tangible value (growing food or producing crafts or artwork, or valuable service) for real people that you meet in person.

Our brains can’t be fooled. When something we’re doing seems useless, we feel useless, and getting paid doesn’t alleviate that. Even if we’re getting paid more than we think it’s worth, it still feels bad. But doing something that seems useful makes us feel really useful and valuable, even if we’re not getting paid for it at all (as with volunteering).