The Good Enough Job: Reclaiming Life from Work by Simone Stolzoff

The Good Enough Job by Simone Stolzoff is a powerful critique of America’s obsession with work and the dream job myth.

Stolzoff shows how deeply we tie our identities to our professions, often at the expense of happiness, relationships, and well-being. Through interviews with people across industries—from elite chefs and Wall Street bankers to exhausted teachers—he illustrates the costs of expecting work to fulfill every need for meaning and purpose.

Instead of glorifying careers as callings, Stolzoff argues for a healthier perspective: treating work as just one part of life, not its defining center. By questioning the cultural myths around labor and success, he makes the case for embracing the “good enough job” as a way to reclaim time, balance, and fulfillment beyond the workplace.

The book is both a critique of work-centric culture and a call to reimagine how we live, reminding us that jobs should serve our lives—not the other way around.