Too true. My favorite quote on this topic is that "work will never love you back". It's easy to get wrapped up in what we are doing (sometimes the less important it is to the world, the more I need to get wrapped up in it to be motivated), but work pales in comparison to:
* a good conversation with a friend
* time outside, contemplating nature and purpose
* a hug from a family member
But we don't treat it like that, unfortunately.
Of course, we all need to eat and I realize I'm speaking from a position of privilege (not worried about where my next meal is coming from).
Once you get to an income of X (where X varies by location, needs, but is definitely a finite number), time is so much more valuable than money.
I just want to note that this is a poor generalization. Much like how people wonder how I have the discipline to get up early and workout, it's because I enjoy it. I also enjoy my job the vast majority of the time, and I suspect many others do also. My dad always comments "I'm amazed you get paid to play on the computer all day...", "Me too dad, me too".
If you enjoy your work more than other things, that's great. For me, even within the domain of tech, there are much more interesting things I'd like to do with tech than what I do for my job - and most of the things on my list will not be supported by the market - they're confined to hobbies.
* time outside, contemplating nature and purpose
* a hug from a family member
you can do all these while working a lot....
