Beating Burnout : Helping the All-or-nothing Personality to Find Balance

A comprehensive guide to the reasons behind burnout, with effective, practical ways to manage and prevent burnout to create a more balanced future. 

Burnout is a phenomenon that can happen to anyone, yet it is most often found in high-pressured workplaces, especially those where promotions and target achievement are valued. In this timely book, clinical psychologist Mike McKinney takes an informed look at the features of burnout, why and how burnout happens, and the signs it might be about to strike. 

After noticing an increase in patients struggling with burnout in their work roles, McKinney used his extensive experience to gain a better understanding behind the reasons for this growth. What he found was that there are common underlying personality traits in an individual that can result in an increased vulnerability towards the development of burnout.

While workplace changes are often touted as the answer to burnout, the author draws on his clinical experience over more than 25 years to show the reader what is within their power to change about themselves, so they can create greater resilience to burnout and a better balance in life. He deftly demonstrates how particular personality traits can contribute towards burnout, such as:

• the quest for perfection
• fear of failure
• beliefs around personal performance
• having an ‘all-or-nothing’ approach
• holding impossibly high personal expectations.

The author then provides options and answers, along with suggestions for positive changes that can be sustained, and offers ways to help the reader consider a wider (and possibly new) purpose in life that is underpinned by ways to enhance resilience. Beating Burnout is an insightful, practical book for professionals and anyone experiencing burnout, as well as those who would like to help someone in burnout.

Mike McKinney is a registered clinical psychologist with over 25 years of experience. He has worked in both public (hospital-based) and private practice settings, with a wide range of clients presenting with issues including: depression, anxiety, stress management, problem solving, and challenges within their work setting.

Over the years, Mike has become increasingly intrigued by the potential for an individual’s personality style to enhance or undermine decisions and behaviours in relation to achievement. He believes there is a role for psychology to help people maximise their potential to achieve a more meaningful and rewarding life, be it in the corporate world, sporting arena, or personal understanding and awareness. Mike approaches psychological therapy in a collaborative manner, employing a range or evidence-based therapeutic options that are built around his training and skillset within CBT, ACT and Schema-based approaches.

Mike is married to a psychologist and together they have two teenage boys. His interests include martial arts and classic Japanese motorcycles. He lives with his family in Christchurch, New Zealand.