I should...

The bottom line of all life is free will.

Wherefore, the Lord God gave unto man that he should act for himself. Wherefore, man could not act for himself save it should be that he was enticed by the one or the other.  

    2 Nephi 2:16

Without the ability to choose, there is no life. The machine cannot choose to do or be something other than what its creator has made it to do, or be. Life is choice, the ability to change.

There are two ways most people live, by choosing what they want to do, or what they have to do. Both are a choice. We choose to do what we want to do, but we also choose to do what we have to do rather than suffer the consequences.

I want to...

The default of everything is what we want. We do what we want to do, that’s the bottom line of every action we make as long as we’re alive on the Earth, from infancy to the end of our lives. Everyone does what they want to do. We eat what we want to eat. We sleep when we want to sleep. We exercise our will from the time we wake up every morning, until the time we go to sleep at night.

When things are presented to us as options, we choose the one we want. We choose to work, or not. We choose.

“I want to...” causes all the problems of the world. People who want money steal it. People who want sex abuse others. People who want to eat for taste get fat and unhealthy. People who want to avoid consequences lie. All evil in the world comes from choosing what we want at the expense of others.

Those who are wealthy have the power to do what they want to do. They can buy toys, eat what they want, travel, and generally have the freedom to do as they please. They often destroy themselves because the things they want cause damage. They eat too much rich foods. They indulge themselves in substances such as alcohol, tobacco, marijuana, and drugs.

“When the gods wish to punish us they answer our prayers.” - Oscar Wilde

Getting what we want is a curse because it leads down the road of painful consequences. All the diseases of indulgence happen after a lifetime of abusing our bodies. Arthritis, diabetes, gout, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, weakness, neuropathy, and all he painful parts of aging are the consequence of doing what we want to do.

I have to...

The other most common area is what is forced on us against our will. We have to pay taxes. We have to work to earn money so we can pay for the things we want to do.

The complaint about employers is that they are the taskmasters of our slavery. We are forced to work against our wills, and the employer is the slave driver. We complain about our work because it’s not what we want to do.

We obey rules against our will because of consequences. We want to kill someone, but don’t do it because of consequences, so we continue to live with that person in the world against our will.

We make promises so that when we want to do something, we won’t because of our promise. Marriage is a promise to be faithful and keep all the laws of marriage, to support, protect, provide and care for each other. We continue to do what we have to do throughout our lives because of the promise we made.

Those who are poor are primarily living in doing what they have to do. They are not free to do anything, because doing things in the world costs money. Communists recognize that the proletariat is bound, they are slaves, shackled to their work, doing what they have to do to survive. The answer, they say, is to spread the wealth by stealing money from those who have more so the proles can do as they please, so everyone can do what they want to do.

The realm of doing what we have to do is still a choice, it’s just that the consequences are more immediate and severe so we choose to do those things against our will. If we don’t work we won’t have money to eat and live. If we don’t pay taxes the government will fine us or put us in jail. If we kill that person who hurts us we will have to deal with the law. We chose to do what we “have to” because we want to avoid the consequences. However, it still isn’t what we want to do.

I Should

The third choice that is mostly ignored is to choose to do what we should do. The happy life is not found in doing what we want, nor what we have to do, but rather in doing what we should do. Should is in the realm of free will.  The way to change and be happy is to completely reject what we want, and what we have to do, and only choose to do the things we should do. Always doing those things we should be doing takes us down a way different road from “have to” or “want to.”

The commandments of God are the things we should do.

And I commanded you at that time all the things which ye should do.
Deuteronomy 1:18

The “golden rule” is not what we want, nor what we have to do, but rather what we should do.

Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.
Matthew 7:12

The Holy Ghost tells us what we should do, not what we have to do, nor what we want to do.

...The Holy Ghost... will show unto you all things what ye should do.
2 Nephi 32:5

We get the words of the Holy Ghost from angels, or prophets, who write scripture to tell us the will of God, to know what we should do.

Angels speak by the power of the Holy Ghost; wherefore, they speak the words of Christ. Wherefore, I said unto you, feast upon the words of Christ; for behold, the words of Christ will tell you all things what ye should do.
2 Nephi 32:3

“Should” Is free will. It is decision. It is love. It is sacrifice. It is growth and improvement. It is worlds apart from want to or have to. It is the straight gait.

And it came to pass that when Jesus had ended these sayings he said unto his disciples: Enter ye in at the strait gate; for strait is the gate, and narrow is the way that leads to life, and few there be that find it; but wide is the gate, and broad the way which leads to death, and many there be that travel therein, until the night cometh, wherein no man can work.
3 Nephi 27:33

The default of life is to live in doing what we want to do, or what we have to do, but the few choose what they should do. This is the straight and narrow path that leads to Eternal Life.