Why do you wake up in the morning?

What are our reasons for going to work? Are we workaholics, driven by ambition or do we just have something to prove?

Umair Kazi December 17, 2010
In the 70s, there lived in a make shift two bedroom apartment in Mumbai, a lower-middle class family who did small-time trading with Arab merchants for a living.

Today, that family owns not one, but two of the biggest private sector conglomerates in the world.

Today, two brothers from that family control the biggest fortunes in the world. The elder of the Ambanis, a fiercely competitive Indian called Mukesh, is worth an astonishing $29 billion.

Here’s my question: why does the 53-year-old magnate still go to work?

According to the regional averages, he has about 10 years to live. Even if he stopped working today and spent his fortune like a madman, it would surely outlast his years. Why doesn’t Mukesh Ambani just take a lifelong vacation?

I think there can be two reasons for this.

  1. Our "wants" are infinite and ultimately irrational. We can never be content because there’s always a higher rung on the ladder, and we want to be able to afford the next big thing. We start building tolerance to contentment. Nothing is sacred, it’s a never ending race to the highest bank balance even whilst the Grim Reaper clutches at our feet.

  2. We don’t do it for the money. Sure, it’s a perk, but ultimately there are greater games to be played and money ceases to be enough of a high for us to quit our pursuits. Maybe we’re workaholics, or we’ve got something to prove to the world, or maybe we’re just conditioned to perennially run the rat race.


In either case, I strongly suspect that your reason for getting up in the morning (and mine, to be honest) is not in line with the most successful people in the world.

We don’t do it for the paycheck, and if we think we do, we’re just fooling ourselves.

This post was originally published here.
WRITTEN BY:
Umair Kazi A strategist who blogs at http://www.theideaartist.com
The views expressed by the writer and the reader comments do not necassarily reflect the views and policies of the Express Tribune.

COMMENTS (15)

I am a responsible and civilized citizen of Pakistan | 13 years ago | Reply @Umair: Nice work. I believe we get up early for different reasons and money is the reason for many, the degree of which varies from person to person. It depends on which place we stand on Moslow hierarchy of needs. Some may get up early for basic needs to earn their lives and some may do it to prove themselves or sustain their way of living, like Mukesh does. Still we need to get up early in the morning. The best thing is that we get up for Fajar prayers(which many of us don't do, even I).
Taha | 13 years ago | Reply Have we run out of topics so badly?
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