Simone Stolzoff

A challenge to the tyranny of work and a call to reclaim our lives from its clutches. From the moment we ask children what they want to “be” when they grow up, we exalt the dream job as if it were life’s ultimate objective. Many entangle their identities with their jobs, with predictable damage to happiness, wellbeing, and even professional success. In The Good Enough Job, journalist Simone Stolzoff traces how work has come to dominate Americans’ lives—and why we find it so difficult to let go. Based on groundbreaking reporting and interviews with Michelin star chefs, Wall Street bankers, overwhelmed teachers and other workers across the American economy, Stolzoff exposes what we lose when we expect work to be more than a job. Rather than treat work as a calling or a dream, he asks what it would take to reframe work as a part of rather than the entirety of our lives. What does it mean for a job to be good enough? Through provocative critique and deep reporting, Stolzoff punctures the myths that keep us chained to our jobs. By exposing the lies we--and our employers--tell about the value of our labor, The Good Enough Job makes the urgent case for reclaiming our lives in a world centered around work.

Reclaiming Life from Work

The Good Enough Job

Kyler Phillips

The modern ideology of workism asks two distinct pursuits—money and inner fulfillment—to coalesce

Tethering your sense of self-worth to your career is a perilous game

Work will always be work. Some people work doing what they love. Other people work so that they can do what they love when they’re not working. Neither is more noble.

Much as an investor benefits from diversifying their investments, we, too, benefit from diversifying our sources of identity and meaning.

When you don’t take an active role in determining what you value, you inherit the values of the systems around you.

A job will always first and foremost be an economic relationship

We’re good at ascribing meaning to the narrative arc of our lives, but are often ill-equipped to react if the script changes.

She started to define herself by her evergreen characteristics rather than by what she was able to produce

“I don’t think you can be in full community with someone who has the ability to fire you.”

We treat weekends as if they were apart from our lives rather than a part of our lives. Even the language we commonly use for rest—unplug, recharge—presumes rest is simply a prerequisite for getting back to work.

The Good Enough Job quotes

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