WHy do you bother to try? Is it to pay the bills? WHy not do nothing or work at a fast food place or become homeless? What are your reason(s) for trying at all with anything?
Somebody’s getting philosophical… 
Because its better than sitting around with your thumb up your butt, sponging off your family and neighbors. I prefer having pride and self esteem and luxuries rather than be considered a lowlife pitiful mooch.
Ambition!
Well Kris, that’s what cats do and they seem to never be short of pride. Maybe lowlifes are just sly felines.
Social obligation then?
I do it to be happy. Happiness is a direct result of progression towards a goal that one deems worthy. Idleness is the lack of progress, to be idle is to throw away happiness.
Excellent question. I ask myself this all the time. I don’t have any answers so out of fear I err on the side of ‘hording up’. I guess it is fear of pain and ultimately of death.
Hmm, seeing Rouzbeh’s post I should clarify that you seemed to me to be referring to blatant materialism - better job, more comfortable house, etc.
Well i guess it could be broken down into 2 questions then:
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Why do you bother to try at all as opposed to be homeless or near homeless or live off of mac and cheese in a studio apartment.
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Why do you bother to try to go all out, make your dreams come true, get that house by the beach, marry a nice woman(or man), have 2.5 kids, and then one day retire in a country house in New England?
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The need to thrive in one’s own space.
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Nesting instincts, natural selection, procreation, replication = pride in one’s achievements.
Well, in a way you are right, but, tell me which stomach you would prefer to feed a human stomach or a feline stomach and which one will still be loyal even if you can’t provide a nice comfy environment? And which one does not lose the channel changer or use all the TP and not tell you or take your last beer or eat your last icecream, or run the electricity up so high you have to take out a second mortgage? Give me Moochy the cat anyday 
With homelessness you eventually get tired of getting forced awake at 6 am every single day of the week and not being able to sleep until about 10pm. That’s how they push you to get a job, because in their regiment there’s no wonder the homeless look like shut out zombies . . . and kooks.
A strong sense of Responsibly
Satisfaction
Because it’s fun to out-do others who try for the same things.
I personally just want to get married to a supermodel and have lots of sex followed by public scandals with the paparazzi.
If it wasn’t for that I probally wouldn’t be working right now.
( That and because it is so much easier throwing money at women in seducing them versus forcibly abducting them in isolation. :-" )
If it wasn’t for the women folk I would of gave up on civilization and society altogether being that much closer to a mountain man.
You obviously haven’t lived in the joys of being a street hermit. 
( It is quite fun actually especially when you have nothing to lose.)
Right there is one of the most mis-used words ever devised historically. :-"
Because most people are seduced by the hopes and dreams that whole governments put fourth which ironically later on becomes the utility that whole governments or markets come to prey on simultaneously for their own benefit.
It is a vicious cycle really and studying such things from observance is enough to make a person go mad.
( Which is a entirely different subject altogether.)
I am sure it has its upside, but, since I have spent my entire adult life as a parent, sadly I never could experience it. Responsibilities just take fun away, you know?
Why so?
Boredom breeds many things within a person, and I have found one of them to be ambition, for me - I don’t persue sex and drugs, so I gotta do something worthwhile, Joker!
Being ambitious makes me compete against myelf, and keeps me inspired in a world that dulls my senses if I rely on it for anything: so that is why I bother…
Because I want to make a whole lot of money doing something I love.