The value of craft is in the struggle
Many years ago I went to a talk by a philosopher about the meaning of work.
After much research she had concluded, she said, that work was a task you wouldn’t do unless you were paid.
If you wanted to know what you want out of work, she argued, you first had to know what you wanted out of money.
I’m not sure that view translates to knowledge work.
Learning how to do something. Figuring it out. Finding a way. Struggling with the problem.
It’s closer to being a craft.
One that involves technology. We used to reach for Google to find information. Now we reach for an AI to give us the answer.
We’ve outsourced our memories. And now it’s very tempting to outsource our thinking.
But what we’re really doing is outsourcing the struggle.
The question isn’t whether AI can do the work.
It’s whether you want to.
It’s about the way in which you spend your days.
In 2026, if you want to know what you want out of work, you first need to know what you want out of time.
Handcrafted insight 