In the last post, I discussed why you shouldn’t work hard. Instead now I’ll discuss why you should.

1. People who consistently work hard tend to make more money. Who doesn’t want more money? Of course your education, IQ, race, gender, and other such factors affect your income. But your work ethic does matter a lot. Billionaires commonly talk about this, and are even made fun of.

2. It will lead to more success, which will boost your ego, make your parents proud, your friends jealous, and all that.

3. Every morning when you wake up, you will be able to build upon the accomplishments of the previous day. “Play” activities are ultimately repetitive, because the enjoyment is only in the present. This is assuming you aren’t a professional athlete.

4. Philosophically speaking, you can’t prove you “should” do anything, but some lifestyles are less boring than others. I’ve thought about this a lot. Why not just lie in bed all day, every day? The reason is it’s incredibly boring. Einstein supposedly worked even in his deathbed. What makes something “boring” is just an opinion though, and it differs for every person. There are supposedly monks who meditate all day long and stare blankly at walls. Children usually find play to be more interesting than work, but for many adults, it’s the opposite.

5. The more you work, the more you will ultimately enjoy work. This is because you can start a cycle where you become so good at what you do that it becomes your passion. I’m not sure this applies to all fields though, such as being a janitor.

6. You could become more influential and affect the world around you. This can scale quite a lot, from owning a piece of code in a project to managing lots of people and directing projects. As you become more productive, people feel better about giving you more responsibility. Of course, additional responsibility could also be stressful, so maybe that’s not only a positive thing.

That’s all I can think of right now.