The Good Enough Job: What We Gain When We Don’t Put Work First

Throughout history, wealth has been inversely correlated with how many hours people work. The more wealth you have, the less you work because, well, you can afford not to. But in the last half century,8 the highest earners are responsible for some of the greatest increases in work time. That is to say, the same Americans who can afford to work the

“When work was dirty, less was more; now that it’s meaningful, more is better.”

Keynes believed one of the most pressing questions of the twenty-first century would be how we’d occupy our leisure.

The modern ideology of workism asks two distinct pursuits—money and inner fulfillment—to coalesce. These pursuits are not always aligned,7 and yet we increasingly look to our jobs to satisfy both.

Value self-determination is simply figuring out what you care about for yourself. Figuring out your values allows you to tailor your definition of success to your unique personality and life circumstances.

Khe’s life was a picture of résumé virtues. He hustled his way from a lower-middle-class upbringing to the 1 percent. Khe’s status, education, and finances represent the pinnacle of what our society deems successful. And yet he was miserable.

two prerequisites for creating a healthier relationship to work: (1) the structural protections to ensure employees can have a life outside of work; and (2) the cultural will to do so.

To detach our sense of self-worth from our work, though, we must first develop a self that no boss or job title or market has the

power to change. In Morrison’s words, “You are not the work26 you do; you are the person you are.”