The Detachment Paradox

by Anthony Zolezzi

FEELING LIKE A PERPETUAL PRISONER OF WORK? Here are seven keys to set yourself free -- without having to quit your job. Your job is supposed to be what you do for a living. Yet, increasingly these days, our employers act as if our primary purpose in living. As a result, it all too often tends to crowd out all other essential aspects of our existence -- not only family relationships, but a sense of personal identity. So, rather than take that job and shove it, you can instead take that job and rise above it -- and all by taking a more objective approach to your work.

Genres: Nonfiction

150 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

Reviews

[Eric · Rating 3 out of 5]

Anthony Zolezzi is a successful consultant and entrepreneur and his book, The Detachment Paradox, is about how to build and maintain an appropriate balance between your work life and your home life in order to achieve lasting success in each. Zolezzi's take, and it rang true to me, is that the tendency in many workplaces today is toward ever increasing demands, pressure, and work hours and that this actually diminishes rather than improves performance and productivity, let alone personal happiness.

If the diagnosis is that we're all trying to do too much, then the cure prescribed by The Detachment Paradox, unsurprisingly, is detachment. Build an emotional distance between yourself and your work, the idea goes, while investing time into the people and activities that you find personally rewarding, and both your happiness and your professional performance will improve. The strategies recommended in the book to accomplish this are specific, straightforward, and achievable, yet often overlooked in our busy, hectic lives. The Detachment Paradox is a good, if brief, manifesto on the importance of balance in life.