The Good Enough Job

What We Gain When We Don’t Put Work First

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'Superb.' Oliver Burkeman

'An incredibly propulsive read. It will absolutely challenge you, in the best way possible, to change the way you think about work.' Anne Helen Petersen

'A sharp analysis of modern work culture.' Vauhini Vara

The Good Enough Job reminds us that the biggest goal of all is to live a life we are happy with, and in which work is but one of the multitude of facets that make us who we are. An antidote to the toxic #hustle movement convincing us all we need to find fulfilment in the office, it denounces the dangers of burnout linked to those of us who cannot answer the question: beyond work, what's left?

Conversations of burnout have bubbled to the top of the cultural zeitgeist as the line between work and not-work continues to blur. Burnout and workaholism are symptoms of a deeper root cause: a lack of separation between who we are and what we do. This book is not a credo against looking to work for fulfilment, nor is it in favour of treating work as a necessary evil. It is a guide to developing a healthier relationship to work through the stories of people who have successfully done so. These are stories that invite us to re-evaluate what makes us happy, and how we can work to live, rather than the other way round.

Superb work. A fascinating and deeply reported challenge to the idea that our work should - or ever could - be the only centre of meaning, self-worth or community in our lives. The real-life stories recounted here fill the reader with the liberating sense that we absolutely could put work back in its place- and that the result would be both richer lives and more effective work.
Oliver Burkeman, New York Times bestselling author of FOUR THOUSAND WEEKS

The Good Enough Job is an incredibly propulsive read, filled with characters whose stories will be at once familiar and astonishing - and it will absolutely challenge you, in the best way possible, to change the way you think about work. This isn't a book about burnout, or addiction to a certain type of work - at least not precisely. It's a book about how so many people have come to root their entire sense of value in the work that they do for pay - and what happens when that strategy begins to sour.
Anne Helen Petersen, co-author of OUT OF OFFICE and author of CAN'T EVEN

I couldn't stop reading The Good Enough Job. It's packed with sharp analysis about modern work culture and vivid, surprising, page-turning stories of people who have sought - often clumsily, always bravely - to detach their sense of meaning and self-worth from their productivity as workers. In this timely dissection of what our overworked culture is doing to our psyches, I was startled to recognize myself. You will, too.
Vauhini Vara, former technology reporter for the Wall Street Journal, story editor at the New York Times and author of THE IMMORTAL KING RAO

The Good Enough Job is a thorough, insightful, and much-needed reminder that we are not what we do at work. Weaving his own experiences with surprising stories and research, Simone reveals why the modern world makes it so easy to fall under workism's spell-and how we can finally disentangle ourselves from its clutches.
Liz Fosslien, bestselling author and illustrator of BIG FEELINGS and NO HARD FEELINGS

About Simone Stolzoff

Simone Stolzoff is a journalist and author from San Francisco. His work has been featured in The New York Times, The Atlantic, and on the TED stage. His debut book, The Good Enough Job, was translated into over a dozen languages.

Details

Imprint: Ebury Edge
Published: 25/05/2023
ISBN: 9781529146301
Length: 272 pages
Dimensions: 232mm x 20mm x 150mm
Weight: 340g
Price: £16.99

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The Good Enough Job

What We Gain When We Don’t Put Work First

Format:

Buy the book from:

Simone Stolzoff provides an important corrective to the modern impulse to either villainize or lionize our jobs, arguing that it's okay for our work to be just one element among many that contribute to a life well-lived.

The Good Enough Job is a super helpful guide for anyone looking to renegotiate their relationship with work and to better fit their career goals into a happier, more fulfilling life.

About Simone Stolzoff

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