My wife always says that I am happiest when I am busy working. The same could be true for most of us. We, perhaps, work because doing so gives some purpose and meaning to our life. What drives such behaviour?

Our ancestors, the hunter-gathers, spent most of their time surviving - searching for food and shelter. Today, we do not have to exert as much energy to feed ourselves or find shelter. We, hence, have to find avenues to spend our energy. Most of us typically turn to work to find meaning to our life.

Effort and reward

You may well argue that we work to earn money and sustain our lifestyle. It could be true. But suppose you win a lottery that pays you an annuity or stable cash flow for life. It is possible that you may not be as happy as you would be if you are working.

We like to associate effort and reward. And working to earn a living requires more effort than winning a lottery. You may be, hence, happier when you earn Rs 1 lakh a month using your skills then when you receive the same amount of money from a lottery. Besides, our sense of purpose is lost when we do not have a job. We, therefore, feel unhappy and miserable. That is why the current level of unemployment across the globe has created more mental illness than can be explained by just loss of income.

There could be other implications as well. Research has shown that our purchase decision is a function of two variables - the pleasure of consuming a product and the pain of paying for it. Logically then, the pleasure of consuming a product could depend on how we finance it. Buying, say, a car with your earned income can provide more happiness than buying it from unearned sources including gifts and lotteries.

It is generally true that we prefer to be busy than to remain idle. But being meaningfully busy - working and spending- makes us happier!

(The author is the founder of Navera Consulting. He can be reached at >enhancek@gmail.com )

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