And somewhere in the middle of all that, I arrived at a surprisingly comfortable conclusion, best expressed by that great sailor and underrated philosopher, a man whose entire health plan consisted of canned spinach: "I yam what I yam."

But I’ve always been an optimist. Not because I believe everything will turn out wonderfully. It might not. Humanity has demonstrated a remarkable ability to make a mess of things, often with considerable enthusiasm. Still, I remain optimistic. Why? Well, I’ve been thinking about that.

There are real problems in the world. There always have been. There will be new ones. Some will be manageable. Some will be exaggerated. Some will disappear because technology changes. Some will require collective action. Some will be considerably worse than we initially thought. And occasionally, we will simply be wrong.

Work is one of the oldest ideas we carry with us. It sits at the center of how we understand ourselves. It follows us from childhood when we first take on small tasks and chores to the long miles of adulthood where the idea of work becomes tied to survival, reputation, identity and a place in society. We often talk about work as employment. We talk about jobs, careers, paychecks, promotions and all the moving parts that keep a household afloat. But that narrow view misses som