Ask HN: What motivates you to do what you do?

I'm motivated by Freedom. I have a goal to make myself and those around me free from the burden of financial responsibility, and geographical and time constraints. I don't want to have to do a job I don't want for money because I have a mortgage or bills to pay. I don't want to be dictated where I need to be in the world at any given time or how I should manage my time. I want this freedom and I will get it, because I can. My aim is not to be filthy rich (though I won't cry if by freak accident that happens). I just want to remove 3rd parties from having control over those particular freedoms.

Edit: At the same time, I am doing something I love to achieve this goal, so even if it takes me longer than I expected, in the meanwhile I'm enjoying myself and being compensated nicely for this.

It's probably true in your corner of the world, but holding on to this jaded view will do nothing but help you to stay in there. There's another world out there.

That's how I feel when things come together: http://imgur.com/0uUIa06

I disagree. Once a certain skill level is achieved, money can be taken off the table. When you have a six figure salary, more money is not as significant as it once was. After this threshold is crossed, you gain the luxury of mostly choosing where to work.

I definitely notice a huge difference in desire to get up in the morning depending on the importance of what I'm working on. If it's menial or ultimately unimportant work, I can feel burned out working 30-40 hour weeks. If it's world changing stuff that's never been done before and will save thousands or millions of lives, I feel engaged working 60-80 hours a week.

When an employer is trying to recruit me, they don't need to offer more money than everyone else. They need to sell me on the importance of what I will be working on. For example, autonomous vehicles present continuous research and engineering challenges for which you often must provide the first solution anyone has ever devised. This addresses the problem of menial work. Accelerating the overall global development, production, and adoption of autonomous vehicles by a single day could save over a thousand lives. This addresses the problem of importance of work.

At the end of the day, money is secondary. I need enough that I don't need to worry about struggling financially; but, the primary reason I will accept an offer has nothing to do with money. We spend a large portion of our lives working. So, we better enjoy whatever it is that we do.

"There is another world out there"

Yeah, it's called a personal life. Work is basically that thing I do to make the stuff I do in my personal life possible or more comfortable. Or simply not starve. Would I rather have some sort of enjoyment in the work I do? Yeah, but the truth is I can be happy enough doing janitorial work or working retail so long as the work environment and pay is good enough. It is just a job, after all, even when the pay is good or it takes studying. While a few folks might hit the work/job lottery and get something they actually enjoy, I think work is just a job for most folks. It isn't cynical or jaded. It simply is.

Would I work if I won a lottery or if I didn't need money? Nope. Definitely not. I might have a few projects that look kinda like work if lottery-rich, but the truth is I'd just hire folks to do most of it for me. I'd mostly want to travel and make artwork and try out different sorts of hobbies. I'd work on getting weird and eccentric.