Reclaiming the Fire: How Successful People Overcome Burnout

As a counsellor, I cannot begin to count the number of individuals who come to me suffering from burnout, and the number is on the rise. As this book will point out, there appears to be more baby boomers experiencing burnout than any other group of individuals, but burnout is by no means restricted to baby boomers. Our fast-paced lifestyle, the accumulated demands that are put upon us, some by others and some self-imposed, and the combination of fulfilling demands and responsibilities both in the workplace and at home, can quickly lead to burnout. There are also those who are chronic workaholics, and sooner or later people in that classification will undoubtedly experience burnout.

While many of the solutions provided in this book may appear to be common sense, the common sense is obviously not kicking in for many people or burnout would not be the tremendous problem it is today. Long-term effects can include physical and emotional health problems, addictions, and personal relationship problems, including divorce. The longer the effects of burnout go untreated, the more devastating the outcome can be.

Dr. Steven Berglas is a well-recognized clinical psychologist and has authored an extremely well-written book. Many individuals may be suffering from burnout and not readily recognize the problem; self-diagnosis can be difficult. Through the pages of this book, readers will learn more about burnout and perhaps recognize some of the symptoms within themselves. This is a highly recommended book by an author who is well-qualified in his field.

I'm very glad that I bought this book because it has been very helpful to me and I look back at my copy often. I have not solved all of my particular burnout problems yet (no fault of the book's) but it helped me to identify my misery and malaise, how I got so deep into it (trying to please, trying to prove to my parents and myself that I'm worthy of living) and identifying the problems alone helped a great deal. Don't be put off by any claims that an academic or scientific tone is present or that any part of the book is difficult - this is a very helpful resource.

You know you need this book when your most common feeling at work has become 1) wanting to throw everything out of a window, 2) wanting to throw a file at a coworker's head, or 3) answering all questions, comments or greetings with "F^%$ you" or "drop dead." Or when you start praying to be fired to just get the hell over with. When one or more of these is present, look to the burnout book for help....

Dr. Steven Berglas, a clinical psychologist, has written a truly engaging book examining the reasons that very successful people get burned out. Berglas combines psychological theory, social trend analysis and case stories from his own practice to illustrate the causes and symptoms of burnout, as well as some potential remedies. He does this is a fresh, clear style that almost belies the depth of his research. Of interest to many professionals will be the special attention the book pays to the problems of baby boomers, who are especially prone to burnout because they tend toward self-centeredness (or so says the good doctor.) We [...] recommend this book as a surprisingly refreshing, practical and informative book well worthy of its best-seller status.

Reading Dr Berglas is akin to sitting through a great sermon. You intuitively know what your being told, but it somehow clarifies things to hear it from an expert. I found the book to be both readable and rich in content. In my experience most successful people are unable to give themselves the necessary distance to appreciate what is going on in their apparently unhappy lives. As obvious with hindsight as many of Dr Berglas'remedies may seem, I'm certain they will result in life changeing epiphanies for many hardcharging but unhappy individuals. We all hear that "it ain't the money" when we talk about happiness-- Dr Berglas lays out why that's so with inescapable logic, science, and humor. Reclaiming the Fire is about more than simply getting business types back to the grindstone. Dr Berglas' solutions are relevant to everyone who's come to realize that there's probably more to life than what they're experiencing. "Who Moved My Cheese" will tell you why its stupid to be unhappy (three word summary: "get over it")- Dr Berglas tells you what the heck you can do about it. Great book-highly recommend it.

This book deals with the phenomenon of people who have or have had extraordinary succesful careers and nevertheless found themselves to be extremely unhappy - partially up to the point of self-destruction. This also defines the audience for this book: the people described above or those who take a keen interest in such people.

The book has been written by an adjunct faculty member at Harvard Medical school. The academic level is - as far as I can judge - impeccable. The author quotes on many occasions from actual patient-cases which are common enough that many a reader will recognize some of his or her own headaches. One notices that an effort has been made to write a book that is accessible to the general public. However, the book does maintain a certain academic tone that will be off-putting to some people. There are no exercises, questionaires, or the like that would involve the reader a bit more with the subject matter.

Whoever thinks that reading this book and applying a few quick-fix exercises here and mental readjustments there is going to enable them to continue like before, just happier, is extremely mistaken. Dr. Berglas points out that a lot of the misery discussed is a direct result of some deeply engrained characteristics of our culture. For most people, following up on Dr. Berglas' suggestions will imply a drastic (but doable) change in lifestyle.

Being somewhat of an academic myself with a keen interest in psychological issues, I found the book extremely valuable. The value to you depends on how you personally feel about the above. However, my advice: if in doubt, buy it!