Defining Work Just about anybody can rattle off a bunch of descriptions about work. Work is this. Work is that. Work is important.
Work is boring.
But while work frequently gets described, it rarely gets defined. One way to define work would be human efforts to alter the natural world in order to meet people s needs. In many respects, work distinguishes us from other species. Unlike other animals, we have the ability to deliberately and consciously act upon the existing world and re-work it into something new. Some people argue that, where work and life are concerned, one ends when the other begins.