Zen Your Work: Create Your Ideal Work Experience Through Mindful Self-Mastery

by Karlyn Borysenko

Use mindfulness techniques to handle toxic stress in the workplace and to create your ideal professional experience from the inside out.While working in a particularly toxic environment, Karlyn Borysenko came to this liberating she couldn't control other people, but she could control herself, her perspective, and her actions. Now an organizational psychologist, consultant, and executive coach, Borysenko shows us how to bridge the gap between where we are now and what will bring us the most professional success and happiness. We must achieve self-mastery--by accepting responsibility for our actions, understanding our innate work style, and discerning when and how to push outside our comfort zone.    In Zen Your Work, Borysenko shows us how to set personal goals that allow us to focus our energy and create measures of success that aren't affected by the cynicism, competitiveness, or narcissism of others. Borysenko teaches us to apply mindfulness techniques in a highly practical way to achieve professional success, create game-changing relationships (even with the most negative people in the office), decrease stress, and enjoy a better work/life balance.

Genres: Nonfiction, Self Help, Spirituality, Business

239 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 25, 2018

Reviews

[Mikita Cherkasau · Rating 4 out of 5]

An important read for anyone who is not at peace in their workplace. There's a lot of great advice in this book, but here's the key one that helped me stop negative thinking spiraling into a full-blown work crisis:

"If you are in a professional situation that you’re not completely happy with, that’s your fault. It’s not your boss’s fault, or your partner’s fault, or your colleagues’ fault. The buck stops with the person you look at in the mirror every day. You took the job you have and its responsibilities; accepted the pay; are at least half responsible for creating the relationships you’ve got with your coworkers, subordinates, and boss; and are responsible for the attitude you go in with each morning and the quality of the work you produce."

[Nekosensei · Rating 1 out of 5]

Says that Jewish people chose to die in the Holocaust before they were born on Twitter. Also said that Hitler went to Heaven. Absolute Anti-Semitic trash. Thinks that getting cancelled by both the right and left is a good thing and doesn’t acknowledge that, in this polarized world, getting both sides to agree that your opinions are bigoted is both sad and pretty fucked up. Avoid this “author” and “YouTuber” at all costs.

tl;dr This person is super problematic for many reasons.

[Rich Boberg · Rating 5 out of 5]

I picked up this book at SHRM19 after a twitter exchange with the Author. I typically read 50 to 75 books a year and I have to say this is one of the better business/self-help books I’ve read in a very long time. It’s very well written and is chock full of valuable and actionable ideas and reminders.

As always, I took a ton of notes but here are a few of the highlights I particularly enjoyed:

I enjoyed the passage in Chapter 9 about the importance of listening and having a constructive debate and exploring diverse viewpoints instead of trying to win a “pissing contest”. Always a great reminder when discussing issues with those you disagree with.

I also gained a lot of value in Chapter 11’s discussion on confidence. Things I already know but I appreciated the way it was presented which gave me the motivation to recharge my own confidence at work.

On a personal level in Chapter 12, Dr. Borysenko discusses the difference of being a victim or a target of bullying. I never thought of it this way and I had a very personal “a-ha moment” having once allowed myself to be the victim of a workplace bully, instead of seeing me as being the target. What an excellent mindset shift and one where I will never allow myself to be a victim again. I should not have given them that power!

On a professional level, in responding to Dr. Borysenko‘s recommending of not reporting bullying to HR, HR can only do so much when a bully is reported to us. We do the investigation and make our recommendations but the bully’s direct supervisor is the one who will make the decision to deliver a corrective action or not. If the leadership and managers respect and value their HR leaders, they will listen and take the recommended actions but if they don’t respect and value HR, the bullying will continue and, yes, it would be best for the victim to move on.

Thanks for recommending your book to me, Dr. Borysenko!

[Syrena · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an audiobook pep talk to the complacent cubicle working self I’ve become. There is good advice on how to thrive in a role, amongst people you may or may not jive with, doing work you may or may not necessarily be passionate about and still create opportunities for yourself that challenge and support career growth. The basic message of this book was to call *bs* on your self already and get on with creating the life you wish to live.

[Frieda · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love how direct and down to earth the author is in this book. The main themes she promotes are perception and perspective. Perception in how others see you and perspective, how you see yourself and the situations that you find yourself in at work. Dr. Borysenko provides valuable advice and methods on how to navigate your career, deal with negativity at work and really teaches you how to change your mindset. Very relatable and an excellent read!

[L.B. Holding · Rating 2 out of 5]

I thought this would be about any work. But no. Only people who work in that mad, mad, world of business and cubicles would benefit, I think. Which means, for me, it's ten years too late. Which is a good thing. But not good enough for me to give a third star. You mad, mad, business folks? You already know all of this. Unless you're 22 and just starting out. Or 30 and already sick and tired.

[Marci · Rating 3 out of 5]

Highly recommend this book as the resource if learning about these concepts for the first time. She uses stories from her own work history well, knows her stuff, and connects with the reader.

[Beth Meyers · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good book, allows you to be very introspective about where you are with work and how to find the right place/job/career that makes you happy and therefore successful.

[Tina Panik · Rating 1 out of 5]

Too many personal stories, not enough guidelines. There are stronger guides in both mindfulness and interpersonal workplace communication out there.

[Valerie Heruska · Rating 5 out of 5]

For anyone struggling to find peace in a toxic work environment- I highly recommend this book!

[UndeadArtist · Rating 4 out of 5]

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[Damon Glassmoyer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good advice for taking responsibility for one's own work experience (and by extension, life in general). I read it through, and am going back to work through the journaling prompts.

[Justine Oh · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's a good book but I am not able to accept all the suggestions even though they made sense to me. Many pictures painted of the workplace are very familiar.

[Catalina Gilley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I always thought I was a submissive personality type. Turns out I'm actually a Dominant with anxiety.