The Risks of Treating Your Job as the Sole Source of Identity and Meaning

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I want to be clear that I think for many people, work is a fundamental source of identity and meaning. The problem with a work-centric existence is often for many people their job is the only place where they're getting the validation they crave. People with greater what researchers call self-complexity or different self-aspects are not only more well-rounded but also better workers.

One of the first things we learn about people is what they do for a living. But the link between work and identify has moved far beyond that, especially in certain industries, geographies, and cultures. Many of us put everything we have into our jobs, expecting our careers to fulfill us. Author Simone Stolzoff argues for a different approach. He wants us to find work that keeps us engaged and gives us the security we need, while still allowing us to define ourselves in other ways. Drawing on research and real-life stories, he explains what it means to have a "good enough" job, and why this shift in thinking could be good not just for individuals but also for teams and organizations. Stolzoff is the author of The Good Enough Job: Reclaiming Life from Work.