© 2025 Simone Stolzoff. All rights reserved.
The #1 bestselling work-life balance book of the year
The #1 bestselling work-life balance book of the year
The #1 bestselling work-life balance book of the year
The #1 bestselling work-life balance book of the year
3,000+ 5-star reviews
and counting
3,000+ 5-star reviews
and counting
3,000+ 5-star reviews
and counting
3,000+ 5-star reviews and counting
“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 to change the way you think about work.”
— Anne Helen Petersen
Author of Can’t Even and coauthor of Out of Office
“Superb. A fascinating and deeply reported challenge to the idea that our work should—or ever could—be the only center of meaning, self-worth, or community in our lives. The real-life stories 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
“A timely, compelling case for designing work around our lives instead of squeezing our lives into the space around work. It’s a wakeup call for people who feel overworked and leaders who have lost sight of their humanity.”
“A timely, compelling case for designing work around our lives instead of squeezing our lives into the space around work. It’s a wakeup call for people who feel overworked and leaders who have lost sight of their humanity.”
— Adam Grant
— Adam Grant
#1 New York Times bestselling author of Think Again and host of the TED podcast WorkLife
#1 New York Times bestselling author of Think Again and host of the TED podcast WorkLife
“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 to change the way you think about work.”
— Anne Helen Petersen
Author of Can’t Even and coauthor of Out of Office
“Superb. A fascinating and deeply reported challenge to the idea that our work should—or ever could—be the only center of meaning, self-worth, or community in our lives. The real-life stories 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 to change the way you think about work.”
— Anne Helen Petersen
Author of Can’t Even and coauthor of Out of Office
“Superb. A fascinating and deeply reported challenge to the idea that our work should—or ever could—be the only center of meaning, self-worth, or community in our lives. The real-life stories 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
Join the club.
A digital “book club” for people who care about deepening their relationship with work, culture, and themselves.
The Article Book Club
About the book
About the book
About the book
A challenge to the tyranny of work and a call to reclaim our lives from its clutches.
A challenge to the tyranny of work and a call to reclaim our lives from its clutches.
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 life rather than the entirety of our lives. What does it mean for a job to be good enough?
Simone's second book, How To Not Know, is about getting better at dealing with uncertainty.
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 life rather than the entirety of our lives. What does it mean for a job to be good enough?
Simone's second book, How To Not Know, is about getting better at dealing with uncertainty.
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 life rather than the entirety of our lives. What does it mean for a job to be good enough?
Simone's second book, How To Not Know, is about getting better at dealing with uncertainty.
About the author
About the author
About the author
About the author
Simone Stolzoff is an author, journalist, TED speaker, and workplace expert based in San Francisco. A former design lead at the global innovation firm IDEO, he regularly works with leaders—from the Surgeon General of the United States to the Chief Talent Officer at Google—on creating more human-centered workplaces.
His journalism has appeared in The New York Times, The Atlantic, The Wall Street Journal, and other publications. His debut book, The Good Enough Job, has been translated into more than a dozen languages, and his sophomore release, How to Not Know, will be published in May 2026.
Simone Stolzoff is an author, journalist, TED speaker, and workplace expert based in San Francisco. A former design lead at the global innovation firm IDEO, he regularly works with leaders—from the Surgeon General of the United States to the Chief Talent Officer at Google—on creating more human-centered workplaces.
His journalism has appeared in The New York Times, The Atlantic, The Wall Street Journal, and other publications. His debut book, The Good Enough Job, has been translated into more than a dozen languages, and his sophomore release, How to Not Know, will be published in May 2026.
Simone Stolzoff is an author, journalist, TED speaker, and workplace expert based in San Francisco. A former design lead at the global innovation firm IDEO, he regularly works with leaders—from the Surgeon General of the United States to the Chief Talent Officer at Google—on creating more human-centered workplaces.
His journalism has appeared in The New York Times, The Atlantic, The Wall Street Journal, and other publications. His debut book, The Good Enough Job, has been translated into more than a dozen languages, and his sophomore release, How to Not Know, will be published in May 2026.
The Article Book Club
The Article Book Club
Join the club.
Join the club.
A digital “book club” for people who care about deepening their relationship with work, culture, and themselves.
A digital “book club” for people who care about deepening their relationship with work, culture, and themselves.
About the book
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 life rather than the entirety of our lives. What does it mean for a job to be good enough?
Simone's second book, How To Not Know, is about getting better at dealing with uncertainty.
“A timely, compelling case for designing work around our lives instead of squeezing our lives into the space around work. It’s a wakeup call for people who feel overworked and leaders who have lost sight of their humanity.”
— Adam Grant
#1 New York Times bestselling author of Think Again and host of the TED podcast WorkLife
“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 to change the way you think about work.”
— Anne Helen Petersen
Author of Can’t Even and coauthor of Out of Office
“Superb. A fascinating and deeply reported challenge to the idea that our work should—or ever could—be the only center of meaning, self-worth, or community in our lives. The real-life stories 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