Book Reviews: Work Balance
Updated Jan 7, 2026. Newly posted reviews are at the top.
Reclaim Your Mind: Seven Strategies to Enjoy Tech Mindfully
Jay Vidyarthi. Kingston, Ontario, Canada: Still Ape Press. 2025. 186 pages.
Index Terms — design, mindfulness, social media, technology, well-being
Reviewed by Josh Anderson, Information Architect, Paligo (josh@precisioncontent.com).
I have long felt that I spend too much time and mental energy on technology, particularly social media. Even after closing my accounts on most of the social media platforms in my life, I have ample room for improvement. There are many books that reinforce the social damage of skyrocketing screen time, but instead of wallowing in alarming data about rising depression diagnoses or societal fragmentation, Reclaim Your Mind: Seven Strategies to Enjoy Tech Mindfully scales back its focus to the ways that technology can affect one’s personal wellbeing, and meditates on what a healthy relationship with technology might look like.
Most of the advice comes not from studies or data but rather Jay Vidyarthi’s own anecdotes. The book offers many opportunities to assess his wisdom, as each chapter concludes with an exercise for the reader to try themselves. One exercise is “mindful reading,” which asks the reader to slow down their reading pace to become more aware of each word and syllable. Another has the reader identifying a technology that they feel they use too often and experimenting with putting friction between it and themselves, such as changing where a device is kept in the home. None of these challenges are particularly involved or difficult and they strike me as worth trying.
I like that the book does not take a hardline, Luddite stance against technology. In Chapter 8, “Nurture Authenticity, Online and Off,” a distinction is drawn not between online and offline relationships but instead between two-way and parasocial relationships. There is a correlation between parasocial relationships and relationships formed online, such as between content creators and their fans. However, the book does not throw the baby out with the bathwater and resort to a simplistic insistence that the reader simply switch off their devices and “touch grass.” Vidyarthi acknowledges that online relationships, such as those formed in niche communities, can be authentic, and sometimes much more easily attained online than in the real world.
While reading this book, I realized that my own social media use spikes during times of stress; I use it as a way to delay unpleasant but necessary activities in my day. Reclaim Your Mind is careful to advise against shaming oneself for the times that one overindulges in technology. The main focus is on reaching an awareness of how one uses technology, making the practice more thoughtful and intentional, with the idea that by simply being more intentional with technology, one will naturally choose to spend less time with it. That has been my experience with the advice in this readable, thoughtful book.
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When We’re in Charge: The Next Generation’s Guide to Leadership
Amanda Litman. New York, NY: Crooked Media Reads. 2025. 272 pages.
Reviewed by Siobhan Patterson (skgehrs@gmail.com)
Index Terms : Gen Z, leadership, management, millennials
Amanda Litman has lived and learned what it takes to be a successful leader and is sharing her lessons through When We’re in Charge: The Next Generation’s Guide to Leadership. This motivating playbook rethinks what it means to lead a team and how sometimes a simple “no” is what’s best in the decision-making process. Litman does not hide from her own missteps and interviews about 130 leaders to help define workplace possibilities for millennials and Gen Z, who she refers to as “next-gen” throughout her writing.
Litman does an excellent job bookending her writing with audience awareness. She uses her introduction chapter to outline different reader personas, such as those who are not yet leaders, those outside the next-generation (next-gen) demographic, and those currently in leadership roles. In identifying these personas, she then addresses how they can each use this book moving forward, whether as a field guide, awareness of shifting norms, or a safe space. She revisits these reader personas toward the end to address what she hopes they each took from her writing and how they can use the information to reimagine what could be possible.
When We’re in Charge is outlined in three parts: yourself, your team and culture, and your relationships and identity. Each chapter is a blend of applicable practices, relevant interview testimonials, and Litman’s firsthand experiences.
Part 1 focuses on the self and how we must practice responsible authenticity and strategic communication. For next-gen leaders, social media usage is an expectation as professionalism is shifting to meet the technology of today’s world. We need to be consistent in who we are in Zoom calls, on social media, and in meetings. She said, “Your presence in every possible space needs to reinforce the narrative you want to tell” (p. 49). We can share our personality, but in a way that isn’t taking a toll on our mental health or surpassing boundaries of what is appropriate to share. Plus, Litman encourages that there’s always the option to log off.
Part 2 is focused on creating clarity on who you are as an organization, what behavior you want to encourage, and what behavior you want to model. This was a fascinating read as it’s becoming more prevalent and encouraged to bring our “whole selves” to work. Litman cautions against this and shares how there is value in showing our human side, but we need to be strategic and smart in what all we are sharing with our teams. Through a conversation with Danielle Curtis, a senior manager of employee experience, they reframe the question of asking people to bring their whole selves to work instead of asking employees whether they feel comfortable and safe in the working environment.
In this same section of her writing, Litman walks through what it means to be transparent and how the decision-making process runs parallel to that definition. “Transparency is insight, not necessarily input” (p. 148). In this section, she highlights how timely communication can help employees and stakeholders have relevant and accurate details before there is time for misinformation to spread and create unnecessary chaos in the organization. Transparency also provides the opportunity for accountability, because if individuals understand the context and what role they play, they can lead and own the experience in a meaningful way.
Part 3 returns to a focus on ourselves, especially when it comes to relationships and identity. A theme throughout this section was learning to delegate or not be a one-person team. One topic that deeply resonated was the idea that the age-old guidance of finding a mentor feels “divorced from reality” (p. 182).
New career opportunities are popping up or being created at the same rate as the speed of technological innovation. There isn’t the same one-size-fits-all mentality in the workplace as there once was. That mentality being one of starting entry level at a company and staying there for the entirety of our professional lives with vertical moves throughout the organization. Instead, more next-gen individuals are turning toward careers in social media, self-employment, or trying different companies or career paths wherever the job market may take them.
It’s more difficult to find a mentor who has experienced this new model so instead, Litman encourages leaders to find thought partners, get advice outside the current company, or reach out to others in similar industries for a quick conversation. By seeking this guidance, individuals can get a head start and learn from those resources to build upon what they want success to look like. It also provides leaders with the opportunity to focus on their strengths and move closer to the goals they’ve set before them. By collaborating in this way and expanding our networks, we can better identify how best to strategize and what we can delegate. “There are few if any arenas in life where you get a trophy for doing something the hard way” (p. 176).
There are two last things to note for potential readers. Throughout her writing, Litman does use profanity, but she addresses this early on in her writing and how its intentional use is designed for her target audience. This book also references recent political events and preferences but does not have a political-driven agenda. The focus is providing a guidebook for next-gen leaders and how they can better serve their teams, their mission, and themselves.
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Design Your Life: Your Career, Your Way
Erifili Gounari. New York, NY: Kogan Page. 2024. 224 pages.
Index Terms—career design, digital literacy, entrepreneurship, Gen-Z professionals, mental health
Reviewed by Rosee Thompson, Student, University of Alabama–Huntsville.
Design Your Life: Your career, your way is an energetic, inspiring read aimed at young, aspiring professionals. It focuses on how upcoming Gen-Z professionals can use their native digital literacy to take control of their lives and build fulfilling careers. Speaking to Gen-Z, Erifili Gounari says, “Our careers on the whole have been determined by this digital native advantage—so how can we use it to break out of the mould and create value for ourselves, reach our goals, and unlock new ways of working and living?” (p. 24). The author shares key personal and professional takeaways taken from her own experience of creating a business in her early twenties.
Gounari talks about Gen-Z being the first generation to grow up truly immersed in a digital ecosystem. While she recognizes some of the cons of this phenomenon, she highlights just how many pros come along with native digital literacy in today’s world. The digital world has revolutionized how people interact with products, companies, and even each other. An online presence through social media is now crucial to things like networking, marketing, and even dating. They say play to your strengths, and Gounari underlines the potential Gen-Z has to create the career they want by using native digital literacy to their advantage.
Gounari doesn’t just talk about careers in her discussion on designing a life. Her outlook is quite holistic, and accounts for personal and professional aspects. She emphasizes good mental health and discusses strategies for creating a digital ecosystem that promotes personal and professional wellness. She speaks on defining success according to individual values and even provides self-assessments to determine what those values are. She discusses several types of work (such as remote, hybrid, gig, and independent) and provides questions so the reader can determine what lifestyle most aligns with their strengths and preferences.
Overall, young professionals will find Design Your Life to be a positive, inspiring read. While Gounari mainly focuses on entrepreneurship and unconventional career paths—which may not be desired by all readers—there are many helpful, applicable nuggets of wisdom for anyone looking to take control of their career and make a positive change.
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The Everyday Stoic: Simple Rules for A Good Life
William Mulligan. New York, NY: Hachette Book Group. 2024. 192 pages.
Index Terms—stoicism, virtues, wisdom
Reviewed by Donald R. Riccomini, Emeritus Senior Lecturer, Santa Clara University.
Life today is frenetic, “exhausting” (p. 8), “made up of moments” (p. 9), and wearing us down. Superficial solutions abound, guaranteeing quick results but failing to resolve the underlying sources of stress. William Mulligan discusses Stoicism, one of the oldest, yet most effective approaches. For two millennia, Stoicism has offered a practical way of coping with life’s unpredictability and challenges, and it remains the most relevant, practical way of coping with life’s vicissitudes.
Stoicism begins with the recognition that life is defined by two irrefutable facts, as illustrated in this diagram (p. 170):
The “large dot is where we are now, right now, and the dotted line is nothingness, where we had existed and where we might continue to exist” (p. 170). By accepting these two fundamental aspects of our existence—that we will die and that all we can control is our response to the present—we can construct a philosophy that imbues our lives with purpose and meaning.
A first step is to consider how we “shape the world around us” (p. 156). Given the inevitability of death, one temptation is to live as indulgently and pleasurably as possible in the now, banning past and present from our minds. Hedonism eventually proves unsatisfactory, because it too offers only temporary relief; there is always the next day and the eventual reality of death.
So, what can we do? We can “focus on the small control we really have” (p. 51), namely how and why we make decisions, and base them on the Four Virtues: Wisdom, “what is and isn’t within our power” (p. 21); Moderation, “self-control and good discipline” (p. 24); Courage, “maintaining moral principles” (p. 25); and “the most important” virtue, Justice, or “fairness and help to all” (p. 27).
Taking responsibility for what we can control by making virtuous decisions contributes to eudaimonia, or “‘human flourishing’” (p. 32); generates sympatheia, the sense that “our natures and existence” form “a larger, single whole” (p. 50); diffuses Justice into human affairs; and fosters a manageable “middle path” (p. 43) that optimizes a sustainable moral balance regardless of life’s unpredictability.
Mulligan’s many specific examples of how Stoicism helped him work through intractable problems offer ample evidence that a simple, direct, realistic philosophy can enable as practical and virtuous a life as reality allows. The existential and moral premises of Stoicism are sound, the practice manageable and sustainable by anyone, and the results, especially when practiced over time, are the best we can expect in this life. And that is more than trendy nostrums can provide.
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Smart Careers: How to Turn a Mid-career Crisis Into a Rewarding Work Life
Jess Annison. London, UK: Bloomsbury Business. 2025. 162 pages, plus index.
Index Terms — business, career, self-help, work balance
Reviewed by Siobhan Patterson, Communications Consultant and Career Services Specialist (skgehrs@gmail.com).
With the accompanying workbook, Smart Careers: How to turn a mid-career crisis into a rewarding work life, is an organized and intentional guide to support those looking to add more meaning in their day. Jess Annison balances practical steps and application with real-world testimony and potential pitfalls to help readers move from thinking “Is this it?” to “This is it!” with confidence and feasibility. Smart Careers is a short read that invites reflective activities and return chapter visits that align to any stage in an individual’s career trajectory. Annison positions this for those who want to feel excited about going to work and end each day knowing they did something worthwhile with their time and effort.
The overall flow and accessibility in writing proved a thoughtful experience. A part of Annison’s writing style that showed her intentionality in the way she threaded the workbook throughout the book while also recalling topics discussed and providing the related page numbers for ease of access. The workbook was available through a QR code in the introduction and required a form submission for email access. Each chapter from Part 2 served as a step in crafting a smart career. Annison defines career crafting as “the practice of intentionally shaping your work…to create and enjoy meaningfulness that lasts” (p. 40). Annison structured these chapters to include a step overview, real-world testimony, potential obstacles, potential risks, practical application through targeted workbook exercises, and the narrative of a character who finds a way to implement the step.
Annison refers to the character, Jenny, in which each chapter follows Jenny’s story. She’s introduced in Part 1 and provides an update at the end of each chapter in Part 2, with a final update shared in Part 3. She wrote those paragraphs in a conversational tone as Jenny navigates how to add meaning to her current role and build a smart career in partnership with her career coach. Annison designed Jenny’s existence to help readers imagine themselves thinking through the potential obstacles, or gremlins, as Annison refers to them, while exhibiting the dynamic experience of building a smart career.
Not only is the experience dynamic, but it is also highly customizable. Annison provides exercises that encourage an individual to apply the steps to where they are at the exact moment of their career. The reader can use these steps when needed without having to follow a specific order. They include heed the wake-up call, shape your purpose, tweak your current role, explore and experiment with bigger shifts, savor and share meaningfulness, and navigate the dark sides. Annison uses a holistic approach built on reality and not a dream world where one can find fulfillment by flipping a switch. Instead, it’s a continuous process that can lead to an improved work balance when intentional and driven to keep moving forward.
Patience and honesty with oneself are required to maximize the experience of reading this book and accompanying workbook. One way readers can use this information is in prioritizing reflection and accepting that change is uncomfortable. For some, it might also provide the confirmation they’ve been seeking in achieving the feeling of “This is it!” and wanting more from their workday.
Career crafting is a customized experience where one can develop attainable goals while not being expected to do it alone. Annison encourages those in this journey to seek a supportive crew, whether it’s friends, family members, or former coworkers. She also encourages celebrating two to three moments at the end of each week, training our brains to constantly be looking for the positives in our lives instead of only looking for errors.
Annison also shares how organizations can help create meaningfulness for their team members at five levels: task, job, team, relationships, and organizations. A study conducted across 40 countries in 2022 reflected that 84% of professionals felt it was essential that they found their work meaningful. This was a 10% increase compared to the 2016 study. These numbers reinforce that organizations should be involved in the crafting process. She emphasizes that the focus should be on involvement in facilitating and enabling meaningfulness. “It’s not for organizations or leaders to push meaning on their people” (p. 131). This concept ties back to the customized experience while also providing team members the safe space to explore how this looks for them. Annison reminds readers that this practice can lead to increased productivity, so it only makes sense for organizations to join the conversation.
Two suggestions for the next publication of Smart Careers are to remove or better place the pull quotes and update the opening chapter quotes to tie better to the theme. Quotes are present on most pages in the margins, cutting into the body text. There were instances where the quote was a paragraph or section before it appeared in the body text. This felt a little disjointed given how intentional the rest of Annison’s writing style is. As for the opening chapter quotes, they were all attributed to musicians. Since this book uses a treasure map metaphor as the central theme, there could’ve been quotes from known explorers or leaders instead.
Aside from those two surface-level notes, Smart Careers is a book that encourages readers to return to these pages over time. Annison provides a clear outline in Part 3 on which chapter a reader should revisit based on potential scenarios or where they are in their journey. For anyone looking to make a career change, this book is an excellent starting place.
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Reinvent Yourself: Psychological Insights That Will Transform Your Work Life
Susan Kahn. New York, NY: Kogan Page Ltd. 2024. 258 pages, including index.
Index Terms—change management, personal reinvention, psychological insights, work life transformation
Reviewed by Charlotte Weddington, Technical Writer, Hunter Douglas.
From the author of “Bounce Back: How to Fail Fast and Be Resilient at Work” comes a new book, Reinvent Yourself: Psychological insights that will transform your work life. Susan Kahn begins by discussing the moments we experience in our working lives: our first job, returning to work after parental leave, promotions, gaining expertise in our field, and sometimes layoffs or voluntary retirement. On top of that, we may experience returning to work after an illness or injury, relationship break-ups, or mourning the loss of someone important. We all have depth and breadth to what is going on in our internal and external working lives. She broaches issues like, “Why am I working?,” “Work or Career?,” and “Can we really change?”
In Chapter 2, “Begin with the Endings,” Kahn focuses on our moments of uncertainty, moments of failure, and moments when we may need to push ourselves into unfamiliar territory. She talks about recognizing our mortality, the pain of regret, and liminality. Chapter 3, “Planning your Future Self”, covers a wide range of topics, including self-doubt, procrastination, making lists, identity foreclosure, and the difference between uncertainty and safety. Kahn devotes Chapter 4, “Inside your Mind,” to the neuroscience of getting where you want to be with topics including the language of the brain, myths and assumptions, optimism versus pessimism, and the illusion of control.
Kahn also discusses the role that age plays in a person’s ability to embrace change in Chapter 5, “The Age of Reinvention.” Age can be limiting when a person feels too young or too old, or when a person has decided that there is a “right time” for something to occur (p. 113). Other topics include ageism and a summary of work-related generational stereotypes. In Chapter 6, “Leader or Follower?”, Kahn focuses on thought leadership, the reluctant leader, and the question “Leader or follower: do we have to choose?”.
In Chapter 7, Kahn discusses moving from stuck to unstuck (the chapter title). Her focus here is on recovering and overcoming. Topics include: “Are you embedded at work?,” fear of failure, fear of success, procrastination, perfectionism, and toxic productivity. Lastly, in Chapter 8, she details how to “Build your Support Network”. Her list includes working with a coach, mentor, or thinking partner, online communities, and networking.
One exercise, “Mental Time Travel,” where Kahn asks you to envision potential futures for yourself tomorrow, one year from today, and ten years from today, and to write them down. Questions include: “What will I be wearing? Who will be with me? Where will I be? What tasks will I tackle? What challenges will I face? What am I looking forward to? What am I dreading?” (p. 47).
Reinvent Yourself is a wonderful mixture of practical issues, anecdotal and inspirational stories of reinvention, and exercises that will challenge your thought processes and encourage compassion for yourself. If you are considering a change at work—whether you stay or leave—this is a great place to start.
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52 Weeks of Wellbeing: A No-nonsense Guide to a Fulfilling Work Life
Ryan Hopkins. New York, NY: Kogan Page Limited. 2024. 264 pages.
Index Terms—health, practical tips, self-prioritization, work-life balance
Reviewed by Mickella Rast, Proposal Lead/Writer, Alaska Native Village Corp.
“Wellbeing” often evokes images of polished influencers who provide curated glimpses of balanced lifestyles on social media. But Ryan Hopkins quickly offers a brief, but blunt, investigate what led him to write 52 Weeks of Wellbeing: A no-nonsense guide to a fulfilling work life. He confronts the exact stereotype mentioned in the first sentences of this review and acknowledges that “wellbeing” has become a buzzword that can hinder more than help, depending on the context.
Hopkins quickly clarifies that the wellbeing solutions he presents are pragmatic tips that are intended as stopgaps that you can use to achieve life-work balance—he argues that you should always place life before work—until more comprehensive measures are legislated, such as a four-day work week, unlimited paid leave, and flexible hybrid policies. “You can’t meditate your way out of a 14-hour [work] day,” which is apt in today’s “hustle” culture (p. 10).
52 Weeks of Wellbeing contains 52 chapters that are less than five pages each and that follow a simple pattern: introduce one problem related to wellbeing, provide an achievable solution, and list practical tips for implementing the solution. Some chapters include short exercises to increase self-awareness or gain a better understanding of how realistic the solution may be for you. Hopkins presents tips in a buffet-style format: take what works for you and leave the rest. These tips are varied to fit within a range of lifestyles and capabilities. Hopkins is cognizant that not everyone is the same in terms of physical mobility or psychological bandwidth. Many chapters openly address which solutions or tips may not be possible for individuals with disabilities, for example, although all chapters encourage readers to adapt the tips as needed.
Hopkins encourages us to prioritize ourselves and be “health-ish,” meaning “selfish with your health” (p. 89). This is fitting advice, albeit hard to take: between professional demands and personal obligations, it is radical to prioritize our own well-being. He summarizes this throughout the book: “You are your priority and it is time for a new attitude to reflect that—a flexibly non-negotiable attitude” (p. 55).
The practicality of the tips is disarmingly simple. When reading the book, you’ll say more than once, “Of course” or “I already knew that.” Hopkins adds: “This is hardly revolutionary stuff, but eating, sleeping, resting, moving and hydrating well will make you a more productive, happy and healthy individual. I could quote endless studies, but you know this already” (p. 89). His frank honesty, coupled with the familiar tips, the simplicity of each chapter, and his straightforward writing, creates a convincing and insightful narrative. 52 Weeks of Wellbeing may not be groundbreaking, but it could be life-changing for those seeking ways to make a difference in their life-work balance.
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Oh, Bother: Winnie the Pooh is Befuddled, Too (A Smackerel Sized Parody of Modern Life)
Jennie Egerdie. Philadelphia, PA: Running Press. 2024. 84 pages.
Index Terms—comedic real-life scenarios, life lessons, modern life
Reviewed by Lauren Rigby, Student, University of Alabama–Huntsville.
Jennie Egerdie’s book Oh, Bother: Winnie the Pooh is Befuddled, Too (A Smackerel Sized Parody of Modern Life) is a comedic take on the everyday of modern life. Far from the idyllic scenes of the Hundred Acre Wood painted by A. A. Milne, this take on life in the forest is full of real-life scenarios. For example, the reader walks with Eeyore through his journey in therapy where he works on finding solutions for depression, follows Kanga along to her first ever Mother’s Night Out in the deep forest, and supports Pooh through his anxiety about bees. In contrast, these scenarios are coupled with the more mundane, such as Owl becoming chronically online, Pooh sorting his recycling, and Piglet organizing his closet. While these scenarios all contain the realness of daily life, Egerdie inserts quips and commentary that engage the reader and, quite honestly, would leave anyone laughing out loud.
Although this book is truly a comedic take on real life, it leaves the reader with short life lessons. For example, when Pooh faces anxiety about bees and laments his worries to Christopher Robin, Robin responds “I suppose instead of thinking about what I’m scared of, I try to think about things that are good. Like you” (p. 8). Further, after Kanga goes to her first Mother’s Night Out without Roo, her child, she remarks “After all…Roo-with or Roo-less, I am excellent company,” displaying her newfound confidence (p. 59). All stories presented in this book, though comedic, contain one of these life lessons, leaving the reader with a strong takeaway and a reminder to not take life too seriously.
Although Oh, Bother: Winnie the Pooh is Befuddled, Too does not address technical writing in a direct capacity, this is a book technical communications professionals should take the time to read. Even though it is 82 pages long, it took less than an hour to read and contains great illustrations by Ellie Hajdu. Additionally, because of the life lessons it brings up in a lighthearted way based on real-life situations, professionals may be more apt to remember them and apply them in daily life, both inside and outside of the office.