The most recommended books on burnout

I’ve worked in a variety of settings over the years and have seen firsthand the difference that workplace culture makes for wellbeing. Karla McLaren is a workplace culture expert, and this book is about how inhumane workplaces can be when workers aren’t allowed to express the full range of their emotional experience.

McLaren offers concrete strategies for ways workplaces can improve the quality of life for workers, an absolutely essential element of burnout prevention. Thanks to this book, I have a better understanding of what makes a healthy and humane work environment. 

Our well-being is largely within our influence. But that doesn’t mean context doesn’t matter. Too often the burden of burnout is placed on the shoulders of educators; the reality is that burnout is made worse by unhealthy working conditions. This book will reassure you that burnout is not your fault, while giving you ideas on what schools need to make conditions better.

Moss does a great job breaking down decades of burnout research to help any reader realize the specifics of their burnout and what the biggest culprits are. Read this to feel affirmed. Then ninja-sneak it onto your principal’s desk as required reading.

Stephanie Conn had “cred.” She is a cop turned psychologist, and the daughter and wife of law enforcement officers.

Her book is both well researched and easy to read. What sets it apart from other books is that in every chapter she has separate sections specifically addressing the concerns and options for family members, civilian employees, and police administrators.

Written in the first person, I felt as though I was having a leisurely conversation with a wise, experienced woman who knows the police culture and is more than generous with her suggestions about navigating the ups and downs of a law enforcement career.

“One of the most common mistakes that people make in relation to managing their emotional and mental health is waiting until there is a crisis before they act,” says Watson, a nutrition-trained chartered psychologist, in the introduction of her book and she’s absolutely right. Being observant and informed about what can impact our mental health can help us avoid a crisis like burnout. This really comprehensive and accessible book is also excellent at explaining how the brain works and what it needs, from nutrition to exercise and sleep, and how we can make the improvements necessary to take better care of ourselves and avoid or manage a crisis like burnout that, in turn, can contribute to other problems.

Originally published in 2002, the author took a revolutionary approach to burnout, suggesting that burnout could be an opportunity for making overdue changes rather than a reason to panic. Ignoring the warning signs of burnout, feeling exhausted, frustrated, empty, disconnected, spent, or cynical will ultimately lead to a state of collapse, but listening to the message of burnout and exploring life alternatives will enable you to make beneficial changes. One of the founders of Skyros Holistic Holidays in Greece, psychotherapist and imagework practitioner Glouberman promotes alternative ways of living and being that actively promote psychological health.

I like this book because it’s very complementary to Peter Thiel’s book.

It emphasizes how to make yourself the focus of your “zero to one” effort.

Too many entrepreneurs burn out before they go the distance, usually because they’re exhausted and frustrated trying to manage their employees and all the tasks associated with the business.

Brantley, a successful entrepreneur, proposes a new approach that gets entrepreneurs out of micromanaging (which they tend to do) by leveraging the time and talent of their best people.

I tend to get myself into the weeds on things that are important to me (like a business), and this book helped me see what I was doing before I did any real damage.

I think you’ll feel like he wrote the book for you. No fluff, just great advice and tools you can actually use.

If there is a “silver lining” to burnout, it’s that sometimes it can inspire growth and change. Four Thousand Weeks inspired me to do some soul-searching on what I care most about in my life, and to rethink how I spend my time.

I always thought I struggled to manage time because I wasn’t efficient and focused enough - until I realized that wasn’t the problem! The problem was that I had too much on my plate, and I wasn’t making hard decisions about what needed to go, in order to have room for the more important things. Burkeman’s wise and inspiring book completely changed my point of view about how to spend my time, and it has made a big difference in my life.

An oldie but goodie!

I love Covey’s book because it has helped me teach personal effectiveness to so many clients over the years. I find his approach to be very adaptable to different styles and preferences, and that helps my clients to manage their time and boundaries more easily, which is a critical skill to help avoid burnout.

I resisted the enneagram, thinking that it wasn’t scientific enough, but now that I understand it, I haven’t looked back.

Knowing how understanding yourself is an essential part of avoiding burnout, I was looking for a personality typology that didn’t just put me in a box but gave me a path to growth and development. This book does just that for me, with tailored development areas for each personality type.

I LOVE the author’s voice in this memoir: she is eloquent, funny, and blisteringly honest about the dehumanization that has plagued medical training from its inception to this day.

I found it enlightening to see that a woman who is a concert pianist and turned down a full scholarship to Oxford to go to medical school suffered the same level of self-doubt as a medical student and resident that I did! I found her descriptions of sleep deprivation, the anxiety of being on call, and the pager as “the box of pain” highly relatable, even as I laughed out loud—or sometimes shed a tear.

I was inspired by her redemption through what she called “Doctor Rehab,” a Zen mindfulness retreat which gave her a whole new take on her calling.