With experience as a clinical psychologist, Dr Bill Mitchell brings an up-to-date perspective and helpful advice on how to navigate life in a world where work and our non-work lives are more integrated and how to maintain a balanced system (eat well, sleep well, exercise, spend time in nature). The book is filled with informative facts yet written in an easy readable style, and the use of case studies are relatable and engaging to illustrate how we can, for example, feel burnt out from not setting boundaries with increasing work demands and hours. Each chapter also includes helpful tips and techniques, and questions to reflect on to assess mental and physical well being, as well as ways in which to regain work-life balance. I recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn how to rebalance their lives to reduce stress and anxiety, and reinvigorate energy and happiness. A book to keep and reread if and when things get too much.

No Time To Breathe is a practical book, designed for our busy lives. Through numerous case studies, Mitchell presents the reason as to why so many of us finding ourselves with little energy and so often feel dissatisfied with our lives.
The author is succinct in his writing and offers his own clinical experience to explain the concepts to us in a way that any non-scientist can begin to understand. It has clearly been well-researched with numerous references to studies, case studies, and his own experiences in working in this field.
Our lives, as explained in this book, have become increasingly over complicated and demands now weigh much greater. In turn this leads to more and more of us developing poor mental health as our lives are now designed for burn-out and overwhelming exhaustion on top of the physical impact it has upon our bodies.
I would not hesitate to recommend this book to anyone who ever experiences self-doubt, anxiety or any unbalance of an emotional state. This book holds no judgement on how a person has got themselves to this state but offers advice on how to change it around or at the very least, through Mitchell’s experiences as a clinical psychologist, we learn that we are not alone. To feel this way is quite common. This in itself may provide great comfort to those who are struggling. No Time To Breathe offers us the grounding that so many of us will need in our hectic and chaotic lives.
Thank you to NetGalley and Green Tree for the Advanced Reader Copy.

A timely reminder of taking back space in the world, using such simple things as diet, exercise and relationships to do so. This is an amazing book, that outlines just how powerful such interventions are. I would recommend the book to all people, particularly ones that experience the effects of stress, such as burnout, anxiety and depression, and to others who want to avoid going there. Definitely a five star book.

Time to Breathe is highly informative and easy to read. It focuses on maintaining balance in your life - for example diet, exercise, mindful activity, sleep, time for work and time for family and personal interests. There is also focus on ‘red flags’ - things to look out for that may indicate that balance is slipping and how it could lead to mental and physical discomfort and even serious illness. The narrative from Dr Mitchell's experience as a clinical psychologist is backed up with numerous case studies that are likely to be relatable to many people, as well as scientific and other academic research. As well as chapters on self care and awareness, there is also a section on leadership and successful teams, and how our behaviour can impact the health and wellbeing of others..

Although this book is pitched on the world of work, I think there is something in this for every area of our lives. There are practical tips on how to make changes for the better, including managing distractions that are common in the modern workplace such as continuous emails and the blurred boundaries between home and work time. It’s also highly relevant to the world in 2020 with a section written during lockdown, and some of the strategies to bring balance into our lives during that time continue to be relevant.

Highly recommended and potentially a life-changer.

This book was a rather absorbing read. I definitely didn’t think I’d be gripped in the way I was, and I became really interested in applying this to my life as a nurse.

This book covers pretty much every aspect of your professional life and how to balance that and make time for yourself and your priorities in your personal life. Discussing how important diet, sleep and exercise are to help prevent burnout. I also really appreciated the discussion on self compassion and how this is an up and coming approach. Most of these though, feel like common sense, however Dr Mitchell explains then in such a contemporary way, it becomes very easy to feel that these approaches are simple to adopt in your own life, making it feel very doable. It helps you appreciate your own self neglect, in a manner that doesn’t feel intrusive.

The part of the book I particularly enjoyed was the pragmatism vs perfectionism. I’ve always fell into the latter category, but reading this has helped me break it down, and find manageable ways to be more of a pragmatist. This was helped by the case studies woven throughout the book which provide real life examples, broken down in a way that helps you relate the approach to your own life. Ultimately, the advice is very matter of fact, and presented in a realistic manner that doesn’t feel judgemental or preachy.

Whilst this book mostly focuses on working people with contracted jobs, each approach can easily be related to anyone, for any situation. The evidence provided throughout the book helps create a sense of community with all the issues, helping you to feel less alone if something can apply to you. It’s a fascinating read, and there’s something in here for everyone.

At the very end of this book Dr Bill Mitchell touches on the fact that he is finishing off writing while in lockdown for Covid-19. This book is for those of us that struggle to make our work life have boundaries, indeed there are many case studies of people who suffer health wise due to increased pressure at work which impacts on their physical health, mental health and family life. Covid has turned the world upside down. Some of us may never go back to working how we did before the pandemic hit. Some of us have worked longer and harder but potentially from a home setting, where the life work boundaries are even more muddied. Personally, my contracts disappeared in the space of a week and that is how I got into reviewing books in my sudden, un-ending free time. With this natural full stop, this book provides interesting insight into how to bring about change in your life.

Despite all that Covid has brought, I believe this book is still very relevant to how we live our life in the 21st century. Why not take this event and return to work with new habits, new healthier balances? This book will show you how. Dr Mitchell works as a clinical psychologist in London and helps people who are struggling with their work lives to get back on track. He covers running on empty, mindset at work and navigating life amongst other things. But the chapter I found the most interesting was 'Seventy Million Prescriptions'. This deals with people being offered antidepressants when they aren't actually clinically depressed. And the number refers to the number of prescriptions handed out in England in 2018, according to UK NHS Digital data.

My only criticism is that being a freelancer this book is less relevant to me, as most of the case histories deal with people in long term contracts. It is about negotiating with your bosses,, and adapting your hours and productivity so you can include time with your loved ones, exercise, eat a good diet and enjoy downtime. Having said that - we all need to work out how to live life with that mantra.

I highly recommend this book and believe that it will benefit many people; the style is engaging and it was very well researched. The subject matter is very contemporary and addresses issues that will be familiar to most of us. Dr Mitchell suggests lots of practical strategies for managing busy and complex lives and he presents them in a way that makes the reader realise they do have the power to change course in their life for the better. Some approaches are common sense or I was already aware of them from training courses but it was good to revisit them as it made me realise that I have been neglecting some of the 'red flags' that indicate a person is veering away from euquilibrium.

I particularly liked how Dr Mitchell prioritises self-care. He made me regard the concept of 'perfectionism' differently and also recognise that there is such a thing as being too consciencious at work. He makes the reader realise that we have the power to change our own life and the ability to set personal boundaries. He does this by means of example through various case studies in which he cites the issues that led to each client seeking help and then explains how they managed their situations successfully. He promotes a series of 'building blocks' that combine to help a person achieve stability but he doesn't preach and his advice is realistic and I feel that aiming to achieve just a few of the building blocks is better than none at all.

When reading this book, I recognised similar traits in people I know and believe it will also be useful in helping me to offer support to friends and family who may be struggling themselves but who are unlikely to ask for help. It also made me more aware of how I choose to relax. Previously I have considered browsing the internet as 'me-time' but now I'm mindful that it's not really a good quality relaxation technique and my time would probably be better spent on a more rewarding activity. Indeed, Dr Mitchell reiterates the importance of maintaining and investing time in friendships, social lives and time spent with partners as well as exercise as these are the areas that tend to be dropped as soon as daily life becomes all consuming but these are exactly the sort of activities that will help us get back on track.

The book focuses significantly on working people but the strategies could be used in all aspects of life so you don't need to be employed to benefit. There is also an excellent chapter at the end about how to raise resilient children and I wish I'd read it before my own children reached adulthood. This particular section would be good as a stand-alone piece.

Thank-you to Netgalley and Bloomsbury Publishing Plc for my advanced copy.