🎉🎉🎉 Today’s the day! My debut book, The Good Enough Job: Reclaiming Life from Work, is available everywhere books are sold.
I believe in a world where we treat work as part—but not the entirety—of who we are.
If you agree, please help spread the word.
👋 I'm writing an article for the NYT about the value of creating personal rules!
Little rules like charging your phone outside of the bedroom, seasonal rules like sober January, work rules like not responding to emails after 5pm etc
Do you have any such rules? I'd love to chat
My colleagues asked me to put together a presentation on what makes good business writing.
Naturally, I plagiarized most of it from writers much better than me.
10 writing tips 🧵👇
10 years ago, I got my first (and only) tattoo from a 96-year-old tattoo artist in the rural Philippines.
This month, she became the oldest-ever Vogue cover model at age 106.
This is the story of the legendary Apo Whang-Od.
Something I’m realizing living in Barcelona: part of the reason the US is so money/work obsessed is that your quality of life is so dependent on how much money you make.
Here—with universal healthcare, quality public education—the baseline quality of life is just so much higher.
This is my favorite story I’ve written all year; it’s also the most important.
Tl;dr Hiring managers have the most power to reduce wealth inequality in this country. They just need to give folks with nontraditional backgrounds a chance.
Here’s why 👇.
When we frame jobs as passions or callings, it obscures the fact that jobs are, first and foremost, economic contracts.
My first (!!) for
@nytopinion
.
2. If you can, always use the shorter, simpler word.
- Help rather than facilitate
- Use rather than utilize
- Start rather than commence
Here's
@ScottAdamsSays
on the value of short sentences. The same applies to words.
1. Prune.
Don’t write “He was very happy” when you can write “He was happy.” You think the word “very” adds something. It doesn’t.
I love this
@glichfield
quote on the value of concision.
5. Write short declarative sentences.
When I was a budding journalist, I asked
@CaseyNewton
for the best piece of writing advice he had ever received. Without skipping a beat, this is what he said.
Every time you write "and," ask yourself whether you can put a period instead.
Wow, y'all certainly love rules. I've never had a tweet go viral like this before—how exciting/overwhelming!
While I don't have a Soundcloud, I did just write my first book :). It's about separating who we are from what we do. Pre-orders **really** help!
8. The key to great writing is shitty first drafts.
Good writing is 80% editing and 20% deciding what to say. Get the draft done.
Love this
@HarryGuinness
quote: "Writing offers us one of the rare chances in life at a do-over: to get it right and say what we meant this time."
6. The goal of the first sentence is to get people to read the second.
We've all heard the importance of a hook. But this logic extends to the entire piece.
I love the way Trey Parker and Matt Stone frame it here.
For
@Every
, I wrote a rather personal essay about the disappointment of falling short of your professional goals, the guilt of vocalizing your ambitions, and the process of defining and redefining success.
7. Create conflict.
The simplest definition of a story is a person with a problem. Without a problem, there is no story.
Behold the Pixar storytelling madlib.
🎉 I’m thrilled to announce that my first book, THE GOOD ENOUGH JOB, will be published by
@PortfolioBooks
from
@PenguinRandom
in the spring of 2023!!!
I think those are the most exciting words I’ve ever typed. Needless to say, I’m over the moon.
10. People don’t care about you; they care about themselves.
Cynical, sure. But the
#1
thing you can do before you start writing anything is ask yourself: Who are my readers and what do they care about? That's the million-dollar question.
More here:
I just got some new advanced reader copies of my book!!
Are you a writer/journalist/podcaster/YouTuber/group chat influencer who's interested in the relationship between work and identity?
Comment below or DM, and I can send you a free copy 🤗
Exciting day on the book journey: I get to finally start sharing it with people :).
Writers, journos, media-folks, if you’d like a free galley copy, drop a 👋 below, and I’ll send you one!
9. Know what your next sentence is going to be before you stop writing.
This is my favorite nugget in the set. Writing is about momentum. One of the best things you can do to keep your momentum going on a long-term project is to leave yourself on a cliffhanger.
This is officially the coolest thing ever.
Even though I haven’t received any physical copies yet, some journalists and advance readers have gotten theirs!
What a feeling 😍 😍😍
Update:
- Spent most the flight playing backgammon on his phone
- Ordered a sparkling water and a bag of lightly salted snap peas
- Wore all black Hokas
- He politely asked to use my cup holder
- I obliged
My book, The Good Enough Job, has been out for exactly a month!
Nearly 700 reviews, 10,000 sales and one New York Times book review later, there’s not much to say other than thank you.
When I started in 2019, I had no idea how it would go. Thanks for making my dreams come true.
Whang-Od is considered the last living mambabatok, or traditional Kalinga tattoo artist.
She began tattooing as a teenager, bestowing her art upon her tribe's Batbut warriors, who used to earn tattoos by protecting villages or killing enemies.
3. Use inclusive language.
This applies to gender and pronouns, but also idioms, acronyms, and jargon. Language should invite people in, not leave people out.
Here's
@courtneyseiter
:
We shouldn’t work less simply because it allows us to be better workers. We should work less because it allows us to be better humans.
An excerpt of my debut book in
@TheAtlantic
!!!
EXCITING UPDATE: I'm writing my first book!
It’s pretty intimidating to even type those words. But I’m sharing so I can hold myself accountable to this dream I’ve had for a long time. Also, I could use your help.
The perks of Silicon Valley offices are (understandably) lauded, but not enough people talk about the downside of work that seeps into every crevice of your life. What's the opportunity cost of that extra hour you spend at the office?
My latest ft.
@dhh
:
@meandorla
Great point! There’s actually a body of research about how goals where you are actively doing something you want tend to stick more than goals where you’re avoiding something you don’t.
Loved this
@annehelen
+
@cwarzel
interview w/
@seanilling
.
One point I particularly appreciated was how a life centered around work leaves little time for anything that does not benefit you, your family or your employer.
We need more collective values.
My book, The Good Enough Job, came out five months ago!
It has since sold nearly 18,000 copies, been reviewed over 3,000 times on Amazon and GoodReads, and is getting translated into 10+ languages.
I'm making this author thing work largely thanks to your support. Thank you!!
Just got my first-ever book review (from
@PublishersWkly
) ‼️
Stolzoff's "straight-shooting style makes for a blistering takedown of American corporate culture. Workaholics would do well to check this out." 👀
Whang-Od lives in Kalinga, a province in the Northern Phillippines, about a 10-hour drive from Manila.
I took a combination of bus, open-air jeep, and trek to get there.
Her village, Buscalan, is nestled between wedding-cake rice terraces and a clandestine marijuana plantation.
The data from the UK 4-day workweek trial came in today.
Companies reported:
- 35% average YoY revenue increase
- 57% reduction in churn
- 92% plan to stick with it
Employees reported:
- 43% improvement in mental health
- 37% improvement in physical health
- 71% reduced burnout
Stoked to share that I was a guest on one of my favorite podcasts today—Work Appropriate with
@annehelen
!!!
If you want to care less about your job, but aren’t exactly sure how, give it a listen 😊
One of the coolest things about the book is that all the illustrations were drawn by my partner.
Katy sketched the contour drawings from our kitchen table.
Sitting here, a week from pub day, I’m feeling very grateful for all the hands that made the book real—especially Katy’s.
Last night was one of the most special nights of my life.
Speaking with
@ZoeSchiffer
in my hometown, in front of my parents and a sold out crowd at
@welcometomannys
about my debut book.
There’s a lot of craziness during pub week, but I’m trying to ensure I savor these moments.
Can’t believe I’m typing this, but The Good Enough Job has only been out for 3 weeks and already has over 400 (!!) reviews between Amazon and Goodreads.
Thank you kind strangers of the internet! 🥰
@AdamMGrant
The underlying assumptions of family are unconditional love and loyalty. An at-will employment contract is conditional by definition.
Even so, I’m not sure companies should aspire to be families. Most families I know are pretty dysfunctional…
Thinking back on my experience (and Whang Od's art more broadly) two questions arise:
- What responsibility do we have to maintain "dying" art forms?
- What's the balance between honoring and exploiting Whang Od's tradition as more tourists flock to Buscalan?
What do you think?
🎉 I made my podcast debut today—and it wasn’t just on any podcast; it was on one of my favorites ☺️.
What a pleasure to chat with
@LaurieSantos
on The Happiness Lab about how our jobs and our identities have become entwined.
I’d love for you to listen!
Traditionally, getting a tattoo from Whang Od was an act of faith: The recipient would choose the location, and she would choose the design.
But now there's book from which recipients can choose their preferred design. I choose to leave it in her hands.
***Exciting news***
My publisher agreed to let me share the introduction of my book, The Good Enough Job: Reclaiming Life from Work, six weeks before it hits shelves.
✋ Comment below if you're interested, and I'll send it to you for FREE!
“Where are the most powerful AIs in the world right now? They are at Google and Facebook. And their AIs are essentially playing chess against our brains and trying to figure out what’s the best way to get you hooked.” -
@tristanharris
at
#knightcomm
cc
@CommonSense
The data from the 4-day workweek studies make it clear that we can work fewer hours and still be as—if not more—productive.
But we shouldn’t just work less because it makes us better workers. We should work less because it makes us better people.
@phillipadsmith
Ya! Just a way to separate sleeping space from screen space so you don’t default to using it right before bed or right before waking up. Doubles as a nice mechanism to get out of bed if you use it for an alarm!
To be mentioned in The New York Times—alongside some of my greatest literary idols—is beyond my wildest dreams.
Humbled by this gorgeous essay about rethinking time and the way we work by
@emmabgo
in
@nytbook
.
Read it:
I wanted to find out how LinkedIn became a place that people check every day.
My counterintuitive theory: LinkedIn has succeeded because it's boring. But on an internet with so much vitriol, maybe LinkedIn is the normcore social network we need.
Regarding romantic relationships
@EstherPerel
says “Today we turn to one person to provide what an entire village once did…Is it any wonder that so many relationships crumble under the weight of it all?”
The same phenomenon's true wrt our relationship to work. A thread on why👇
We live in a world that pushes people toward conformity. We stigmatize veers from the default path.
But taking a nontraditional route—especially in your career—will teach you about what matters more than following any script or track.
My latest
@Every
.
Today is the final day of my book's pub week!
As you might know, the first week of sales is of critical importance for first-timers like me. So, it would mean a lot if you picked up your copy today 😊.
Here's a 🧵with some nice things people have said about The Good Enough Job.
@caspertk
It’s one of my favorite things too! I recently recorded an episode of the happiness lab with Laurie Santos and we ended on conversation about how much I like that ritual of yours :).
I wrote an essay about the internet’s favorite Venn diagram.
Assuming one’s “reason for being” must be localized in a job is misguided. Although searching for meaningful work is noble, we’ve fetishized Ikigai to the point that we’ve lost the script.
✨Personal news DOUBLE WHAMMY✨
After over 2 years of reporting and writing, I finished the final draft of book this morning!!!
And... after nearly 4 years, I left my job at
@IDEO
to try my hand at **self-employment**
Crazy to think that 6 months ago The Good Enough Job was a Google Doc and now it’s one of the top work books on Amazon. Thank you all for so much support during pub week! 🙏
@BGWritesStuff
Amen! Reminds me of the "Do you want an ear or do you want advice?" question. It's a blessing to hold space in the way someone else needs.
🎉 I’m thrilled to announce The Good Enough Job was selected as a “must read” book by the
@nextbigideaclub
.
My nomination means that I’m in the running to be one of the two books selected to be sent out to the club’s thousands of members. Fingers crossed! 🤞
One idea I love from
@p_millerd
is that we all ought to cultivate a “rest ethic” in the same way we cultivate a “work ethic.”
When we carry offices in our pockets, learning how to be off the clock is a skill!
✨ Proud son moment ✨
My stepdad is retiring from
@SFJAZZ
, the organization he founded and has run for the past 40 years. And they’re naming a street after him!
**personal news**
I’ve been a little quiet on Twitter recently. That’s because I’ve been ramping up in a new job! I recently started working as a writer/designer at
@IDEO
in its design for learning studio. I’ll still be thinking about the future of work, but at the systems level!
Wow! Glad you all dug this :).
I don't have a SoundCloud, but I run an article "book club" where I send out an interesting article every other week.
Join if you'd like!
The shameless self-promotion side of being an author will always feel a little cringe, but it feels pretty good to already have 53 positive reviews of the book 🥰
Plus, with the book currently 20% off on Amazon, let me make you an offer you can't refuse🤌
Today in fucked-up facts: In the census, prisoners are counted in the district where they are locked up—not where they were convicted. So a senator from a rural area with a prison can count the inmates as his constituents w/o being accountable to them at all.
#smdh
@NPRCodeSwitch
Dan Savage has this great line about dating where he says there is no “the one.” There’s the .73 that we round up to the one.
This can be applied to so many facets of life. The quicker we dispel the myth of the one, the dream job, the perfect parent etc, the happier we’ll be.