Book Review : The Good Enough Job by Simone Stolzoff

This is a book review on The Good Enough Job: What We Gain When We Don’t Put Work First by Simone Stolzoff.

This book starts on a solid note with a question to you that goes something like “Who are you?”. I don’t know how you will answer that question but often, as the author notes, we usually define ourselves with our current job/role.

This question is one that I have struggled to answer myself and most importantly, battled for a long time now to disconnect my identity vis-a-vis my work life.

Simone takes a refreshing approach to this topic in keeping the content real and away from a preachy and theoretical treatise by covering each chapter to bust a work myth via real people and their life stories. I particularly liked this style since it kept me engaged and identify at times with what each of the folks in the story were going through.

The work myths that are addressed effectively are:

• We are what we do
• Your job can be your God
• Dream jobs
• Your work is your worth
• Workplace can be your family
• Working more hours always leads to better work
• Cushy office perks
• Status equals success
• Personal boundaries

I have never believed in some of the points above and it was good to see similar experiences with folks in the stories covered.

I believe this book is a timely reminder to all of us to figure out our identity , that is not intervened with our work. Easier said than done but something that is an important topic to me of late.