Jim Lovell’s line begins with an unexpected instruction: be thankful for problems. Rather than treating difficulty as a sign something has gone wrong, he implies that tough challenges are often the very reason your role exists. In this frame, a “problem” is evidence that the work matters and that it cannot be done on autopilot.
From there, the quote quietly shifts our focus from frustration to function. If the task were easy, it would be routine, standardized, or automated; difficulty becomes a marker of significance, not merely inconvenience. Gratitude, then, is less a feel-good posture than a clear-eyed recognition of why you’re needed. [...]
