The Good Enough Job: Why Work Should Be a Chapter, Not the Whole Story

Hello!

It’s Thursday, 15^th May 2025. Welcome back to Bold Efforts. Each Thursday we meet in your inbox to examine how work shapes life and how life can shape work in return. This week’s letter is inspired by Simone Stolzoff’s book "The Good Enough Job" which I read recently and could not stop underlining. Many people argue that modern careers demand an almost religious devotion. I want to test that claim.

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Key Idea: The Good Enough Job

For more than a century the stopwatch of Frederick Winslow Taylor has set the rhythm of our days. We still count keystrokes, calls, tickets closed, lines of code. The metrics evolved, the logic stayed the same. Maximise output. Monetise hours. Measure everything. In that worldview a person becomes a productivity vector and identity collapses into a job title.

The consequences are visible everywhere. Ask a stranger "What do you do?" Their answer arrives rehearsed. Ask instead "What do you like to do?" and watch them search for language they have not practised in years.

When the vocabulary of self is limited to job keywords, the other sentences grow thin.

A healthy relationship with work starts by acknowledging its limits. A job can pay bills, hone skills, even offer purpose, but it will never carry the full weight of meaning. Meaning is a multi‑asset portfolio. Family, friendship, curiosity, craft, neighbourhood, faith, play: each one hedges against the volatility of a single employer. Lose the job and the other assets steady the balance sheet of identity.

That diversification matters because high performers tend to pour premium fuel into their roles. They show up early, over‑prepare, hit stretch goals. The return looks impressive on a spreadsheet, yet the remaining energy for personal life arrives half‑spent. Spouses receive a tired shrug. Children meet a silhouette distracted by notifications. Social circles shrink to colleagues who talk shop after hours.

When your best self shows up for work, then the self that shows up at home is often the residue of a professional highlight reel.

The antidote is the good enough job. Good enough is not a retreat into mediocrity. It is a conscious ceiling on how much of your soul you are willing to mortgage for a salary. It pays fairly, demands competence, and then politely steps aside so the rest of your life can breathe. Good enough rejects the fantasy that work must always be maximised. It insists that being whole beats being legendary in a single domain.

Adopting this stance requires deliberate practice. Mental health matters and increasingly so. If you are close to burnout especially, I can help you get started on the Good Enough path,

• First, map the invisible contracts you hold with work. Which expectations are explicit, which are self‑imposed, which are inherited from cultures that reward overextension?

• Second, install boundaries that protect non‑work identities. Timeboxing, device‑free evenings, and enforced vacations are not perks; they are risk‑management tools.

• Third, cultivate communities that recognise you without your badge. Identity compounds fastest when it is invested in more than one market.

None of this is easy. Employers benefit from your total availability, and society applauds the hustle. But every organisation will some day restructure, and every market will eventually turn. When that moment arrives, the diversified human walks away shaken but intact. The single‑asset professional watches purpose evaporate with the next meeting cancellation.

Stolzoff closes his book with a simple provocation: imagine writing your own obituary. If every paragraph is about quarterly targets, something is off. The exercise is morbid, yes, but it forces clarity. What do you want the paragraphs to say? How much of that story is visible in your calendar this week?

The most important takeaway is blunt. You need multiple sources of meaning and identity. Work can be one, maybe even the largest, but never the only one. When you bring your absolute best self to the office every day, verify that the self left for your partner, your friends, your inner life, is not the version labeled "good enough." You and your family deserves the highlight reel too.

To hone this skill and not let it remain in this email, choose one non‑work identity to strengthen. Schedule it. Defend it. Wealth measured in meaning is the only balance sheet that never crashes.

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See you next week.

Best,
Kartik

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Who am I?
I’m Kartik, founder of Polynomial Studio, a holding company and product studio building AI-driven businesses for the future of work. The way we work and live is being rewritten. AI, remote work, and shifting economic forces are reshaping careers, businesses, and entire industries. The big question is where it’s all heading.

For the past eight years, I’ve been at the forefront of these shifts, working across real estate, technology, startups, and corporate strategy. I’ve helped businesses navigate change and stay ahead of what’s next, always focused on understanding the forces shaping our future and how we can use them to build something better. Click here to know more about me.

Why Bold Efforts?
I started Bold Efforts because I believe work should fit into life, not the other way around. Too many people are stuck in outdated systems that don’t serve them. This newsletter is about challenging the status quo and making the effort to design work around life. It brings together bold ideas and actionable insights to help you build a healthier, more balanced relationship with work, leading to greater purpose and fulfillment. If you’re looking for fresh perspectives on how to work and live better, you’re in the right place.

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