Reviews and Comments

D.W. Winnicott's ideology of "good enough parent," which I discovered through The School of Life, is a refreshing take on parenting. My impression of this concept of a "good enough parent" is not to over-index on being perfect, but being present with one's imperfections and vulnerabilities, holding space for the kid, and letting them self soothe. More importantly, a parent doesn’t lose themselves in kids’ emotions/tantrums but still love them. When I learned about this book that looks at work through the lens of "good enough", I was naturally curious.

Maybe it's my middle-class upbringing or my financially not well-off environment with deep-seated patriarchy; I have never questioned "work or career." In all my school and college days, the highest priority has been for "career" and getting settled in a good enough job, making good money, and getting "settled" in life. But now that I have spent a couple of decades in the job market I tend to believe this - “If your identity was defined by your job, you never really had a real identity.”

So the approach of looking at the job as something good enough to do is pretty compelling. One of Esther Perel's quotes hit a nerve with me - "Too many people bring the best of themselves to work and bring the leftovers home." This is a good summary of how and where we need to stack rank work in our life. This book is a good enough exploration of this concept through various lenses - passion, purpose, perks, and general wealth.

It resonated well with me; give it a try.

Kevin Kelly is a legend, if you are into the rabbit hole of tech journalism. He is the founder of the legendary WIRED magazine, worked with Stewart Brand on Whole earth catalog and so on. He and his blog are quite old and very interesting, as he digs deep into weird and curious areas - tools, photos, odd documentaries. He literally wrote the manifesto for the creator economy in the “1000 true fans” blog.

Kevin’s writing style is not great but the curiosity and the breadth of interests are always amazing. I like his works because he tries to connect with the ever evolving audience and grow his audience judiciously. Audience building is something everyone is curious about. So, his books, YouTube videos, podcasts appearances or blogs are great examples of writing a content, distributing it well to the right audience.

The content of this book is a rehash of blogs that he has written over a long time. It’s very quick read, I could get this done in less than an hour. What I specifically like in this book is this advice: “Advice like these are not laws. They are like hats. If one doesn’t fit, try another.”

Try this out and this might be a good entry point into the books/works of Kevin.