People dedicate themselves to being “good workers,” and being successful means keeping clients, customers, and managers happy while fitting into a company’s cultural norms. Unfortunately, success for the company does not always align with what is best for the person, and over time, a disconnect can emerge. This is what happened to me.

Aspire is the key word here. It’s not that she rejects all labor — she rejects how central it is to our sense of self and worth. Katherout’s idea is frequently misunderstood and dismissed as laziness, entitlement, and/or lack of ambition. That’s wrong. And I think we dismiss it at our own peril.