The Penguin Podcast is back! Listen Now
The Good Enough Job

The Good Enough Job

What We Gain When We Don’t Put Work First

Summary

Brought to you by Penguin.

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.

'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

©2023 Simone Stolzoff (P)2023 Penguin Audio

Reviews

  • 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

About the author

Simone Stolzoff

Simone Stolzoff is a writer, designer and work expert from San Francisco. A former design lead at the global innovation firm IDEO, his work has been featured in The New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic, and many other publications. He is a graduate of Stanford and The University of Pennsylvania.
Learn More

Sign up to the Penguin Newsletter

For the latest books, recommendations, author interviews and more