The Good Enough Job: Reclaiming Life from Work

by Simone Stolzoff

Here, capitalism is not just an economic system; it’s also a social philosophy—a philosophy that says a person is as valuable as their output. In the United States, productivity is more than a measurement; it’s a moral good.

Psychological research shows that when we invest, as Divya did, in different sides of ourselves, we’re better at dealing with setbacks. In contrast, the more we let one part of who we are define us, the less resilient we are to change.

Josh decided to give himself a three-month sabbatical. For the first two weeks of not working, he knew what to expect. This was “vacation Josh.” But after those first two weeks, he started to feel uncomfortable. “For the last seven years, I had interpreted that all the time in my day had to translate to economic value,” he told me. “And so when I couldn’t look back at my days and see an economic output, I started to feel like my days weren’t valuable.”

When our self-worth is tied solely to external rewards, we can spend our whole lives chasing carrots without ever feeling full.