Here's an equation for calculating work:
Work = Mass * Gravity * Height and is measured in Joules
W = 50 x 9.8 x 20 = 9800 Joules
If you lift 50 kg of bricks to a height of 20 m, you will have done 9800 joules of work.
As explained by Boston University - Physics, whenever a force is applied to an object, causing the object to move, work is done by the force. If a force is applied but the object doesn't move, no work is done; if a force is applied and the object moves a distance d in a direction other than the direction of the force, less work is done than if the object moves a distance in the direction of the applied force.
Work can be either positive or negative: if the force has a component in the same direction as the displacement of the object, the force is doing positive work. If the force has a component in the direction opposite to the displacement, the force does negative work.
Energy is defined as the ability to do work. If you can measure how much work an object does, or how much heat is exchanged, you can determine the amount of energy that is in a system.
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