[keiferski]

This is probably traceable to the amorphous nature of modern work. In the past, working all day meant you had a physical result, whether that’s a clean garden or a pile of widgets to sell. These days in the information economy, working all day mostly just gets you more words on a screen. Humans are physical creatures but our contemporary work style treats them as pure spirit.

Reminds me of this scene in Margin Call, about the 2009 financial crash:

"You're one of the luckiest guys in the world, Sam. You could have been digging ditches all these years."

"That's true, and if I had, at least there'd be some holes in the ground to show for it."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LtFyP0qy9XU

[renewiltord]

This is another traditional view but I find it hard to believe the truth of it because of the strong bias (and personal experience): happy people do not generally know they are happy, unhappy people think that doing a different thing is sufficient for happiness.

Personally, I have found fulfillment from menial labour only when I have found no fulfillment from knowledge work. Achievement at the latter beats out the former by a large multiple, and doing the former when I have access to the latter feels me leaving like I've wasted time.