where's the motivation?

So my officemate and I just had a long chat (which is a normal occurrance throughout the day since we are both bored out of our minds...) about how our jobs can be so unmotivating. For example, our boss was out of the office on vacation for the past two weeks and upon returning to the office yesterday she immediately asked me to gather stats and data for her "ASAP". Once she asked me to compile this data I instantly felt guilty because I should have thought to complile this data without her having to ask me. The data she was asking for is helpful for my daily job and will help to formulate a smooth process for what I do...I won't bore you with further details. Anyway...I sent her the data she was looking for right away and continued to have these pangs of guilt, with fear that she would hold my unmotivation to instigate that project myself against me when it came time for my review over the next month or so. However, the more and more I thought about this over the course of the day the more and more I became frustrated. I suddenly realized that I have presented new ideas of ways to improve my job and to better the processes and procedures within our department. I spent hours of effort and time putting these ideas together for her in big, fancy presentations...only to go unnoticed or unrecognized. And I mean to the point where I don't know if she even read them. So where is the motivation to continue to put forth extra effort?

This concept can be applied to many different situations but I've found it most prevalent in corporate/office environments. Where is the motivation to work any harder than just hard enough to keep our jobs? What's in it for us, the little pions of the office? Are we just monkeys tappin' away at our computers only waiting for our bananas to be "paid" to us every two weeks? The only time I seem get recognition or attention is when I screw up...there is no positive reinforcement when I bust my ass on a huge project I innovate myself. I'm not stupid...I now know that I just need to not screw up...fly below the radar...do the job I'm supposed to do...work just hard enough to keep my job....right? Well that profile doesn't suit me. I am a busy body and have a history of being a hard worker no matter what the job is. So am I the sucker in this situation? Am I just acting as the work horse so my boss can take the credit? Well, I don't think that is the case. My boss is great and I totally admire and respect her as a person and manager. However, it's hard not to think this is the case.

Where does all my hard work really go?