Library

How people steady themselves, recover, and keep going without hardening.

• BookOption BSheryl Sandberg & Adam Grant · 2017Grief and setback told honestly, with the research on what actually helps recovery.
• BookThe Resilience FactorKaren Reivich & Andrew Shatté · 2002The clearest practical guide to catching and testing your own thinking under pressure.
• BookSelf-CompassionKristin Neff · 2011Shows why being kinder to yourself makes you steadier, not softer.
• BookThe Body Keeps the ScoreBessel van der Kolk · 2014Essential background on how stress and trauma live in the body, and what settles them.
• BookMan's Search for MeaningViktor Frankl · 1946The oldest book on this shelf and still the most direct on meaning as a source of endurance.
• Article · 10 min readBuilding your resilienceAmerican Psychological Association · 2020A calm, evidence-based primer. Good first read if the word 'resilience' still feels vague.
• Article · 6 min readResilience Is About How You Recharge, Not How You EndureHarvard Business Review · 2016The article that reframes resilience as recovery. Pairs directly with our Recovery courses.
• Article · 8 min readSo stressed out: managing stress in daily lifeNational Institute of Mental Health · 2024Plain clinical guidance, including when it is time to speak to a professional.
• Watch · 14 min watchHow to make stress your friendKelly McGonigal · TED · 2013How you interpret stress changes what it does to your body. A genuinely useful reframe.
• Watch · 17 min watchWhy we all need to practise emotional first aidGuy Winch · TED · 2014We tend to the body and ignore the mind. Practical, warm, and quietly convincing.
• Watch · 20 min watchThe power of vulnerabilityBrené Brown · TED · 2010On connection and shame — the relationship side of holding up under pressure.

What burnout really is, where it comes from, and how the cycle completes.

• BookBurnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress CycleEmily & Amelia Nagoski · 2019The best explanation of why rest alone doesn't work — you have to finish the stress cycle.
• BookThe Burnout ChallengeChristina Maslach & Michael Leiter · 2022From the researchers behind the Maslach Burnout Inventory: burnout is about the job, not the person.
• BookWhy Zebras Don't Get UlcersRobert Sapolsky · 2004The physiology of chronic stress, explained with unusual warmth and wit.
• BookCan't Even: How Millennials Became the Burnout GenerationAnne Helen Petersen · 2020Useful if your exhaustion feels less like a personal failing and more like the water you swim in.
• Article · 4 min readBurn-out an 'occupational phenomenon': ICD-11World Health Organization · 2019The official definition. Burnout is classified as an occupational phenomenon, not a medical condition.
• Article · 9 min readBurnout Is About Your Workplace, Not Your PeopleHarvard Business Review · 2019Maslach and Leiter on why yoga vouchers don't fix a broken workload.
• Article · 12 min readBeyond Burned OutHarvard Business Review · 2021Written for managers carrying teams through a long stretch of sustained demand.
• Article · Local supportWorkplace mental health resourcesSADAG (South Africa) · OngoingSouth African support lines and workplace material, including free telephone counselling.
• Watch · 16 min watchThe cure for burnout (hint: it isn't self-care)Emily & Amelia Nagoski · TED · 2020The stress-cycle idea from the book, condensed into one sitting.
• Watch · DocumentaryStress, portrait of a killerRobert Sapolsky · Stanford · 2008What sustained stress does to a body over years. Sobering, and worth knowing.

Doing good work over decades — attention, rhythm, recovery and habit.

• BookPeak PerformanceBrad Stulberg & Steve Magness · 2017Stress plus rest equals growth — the simplest useful formula for sustainable output.
• BookDeep WorkCal Newport · 2016A practical case for protecting long, uninterrupted attention in a distracted job.
• BookWhy We SleepMatthew Walker · 2017If you change one thing for performance and mood, this is the argument for it being sleep.
• BookAtomic HabitsJames Clear · 2018The mechanics of small, repeatable change — the layer under most coaching goals.
• BookMindsetCarol Dweck · 2006Where the growth-mindset idea comes from, in the author's own careful words.
• Article · 9 min readSleep hygiene: the habits behind good nightsSleep Foundation · 2024The practical basics that protect judgement and mood better than any hack.
• Article · 14 min readManage Your Energy, Not Your TimeHarvard Business Review · 2007Still the best short argument for building your day around recovery rhythms.
• Article · Essays & episodesProtocols for focus and restHuberman Lab · OngoingNeuroscience-led practical protocols. Take the tone with a pinch of salt; the basics are sound.
• Watch · 19 min watchSleep is your superpowerMatt Walker · TED · 2019The single highest-leverage talk on this list if your sleep has slipped.
• Watch · 19 min watchFlow, the secret to happinessMihaly Csikszentmihalyi · TED · 2004Where the idea of flow comes from, and what conditions actually produce it.
• Watch · 6 min watchGrit: the power of passion and perseveranceAngela Duckworth · TED · 2013Short, and a good counterweight to the idea that talent decides outcomes.

The two-way link between persistent pain and mood: why pain is produced by the nervous system as well as the tissue, why low mood, fear and poor sleep turn the volume up, and what genuinely helps. None of this means pain is imagined, and none of it replaces seeing a doctor.

• BookExplain PainDavid Butler & Lorimer Moseley (NOI Group) · 2013The standard plain-language explanation of how the nervous system produces pain. Understanding it reliably lowers fear, and often the pain with it.
• BookPainful YarnsLorimer Moseley · 2007Short stories that make the science of persistent pain stick. Good for someone who won't read a textbook.
• BookThe Way OutAlan Gordon & Alon Ziv · 2021Pain reprocessing therapy, the approach tested in the 2021 Boulder back pain trial. Practical, and honest about what it can't do.
• BookWhy Zebras Don't Get Ulcers (chapter on pain)Robert Sapolsky · 2004Already on the burnout shelf, but the pain chapter is the clearest account of how chronic stress changes what hurts.
• Article · 8 min readLow back pain fact sheetWorld Health Organization · 2023The official position: back pain is best treated with a biopsychosocial approach, not scans and opioids.
• Article · 6 min readChronic pain and mental health often interconnectedAmerican Psychiatric Association · 2020A short summary of the two-way relationship: pain raises the risk of depression and anxiety, and each worsens the other.
• Article · 5 min readThe revised definition of painInternational Association for the Study of Pain · 2020Pain is defined as a sensory and emotional experience, and does not require tissue damage. Worth reading if you've been told it's 'all in your head'.
• Article · Research paperPain reprocessing therapy for chronic back pain (randomised trial)JAMA Psychiatry · 2021Two thirds of participants were pain-free or nearly so after four weeks of psychological treatment. The strongest evidence on this shelf.
• Article · 7 min readTen tips to help with long-term painNHS (United Kingdom) · 2023Ordinary, doable advice on pacing, movement, sleep and mood — the daily layer under any treatment.
• Article · Local supportChronic illness, pain and depressionSADAG (South Africa) · OngoingSouth African guidance and free telephone counselling for people living with pain and low mood.
• Watch · 15 min watchWhy things hurtLorimer Moseley · TEDx · 2011The best single introduction to pain as a protective output of the brain. Funny, and it changes how you feel about your own aches.
• Watch · 5 min watchUnderstanding pain in less than five minutesHunter Integrated Pain Service · 2011A short animation to share with family who don't understand why you still hurt when the scan is clear.
• Watch · 5 min watchTame the BeastLorimer Moseley & Tame the Beast · 2017How a sensitive pain system can be retrained through gradual, confident movement.

What ADHD actually is, how it shows up in adults at work, and the adjustments and habits that help. Clinical guidelines, peer-reviewed journals and practical guides. Reading is not a diagnosis — an assessment needs a qualified clinician.

• BookTaking Charge of Adult ADHDRussell A. Barkley · Guilford Press · 2022 (2nd ed.)The most trusted practical book on adult ADHD, from the researcher who shaped how we understand it. Assessment, treatment and day-to-day strategies without hype.
• BookDriven to DistractionEdward Hallowell & John Ratey · 2011 (rev.)The book that made adult ADHD visible. Warm, story-led, and good for handing to someone who is only starting to wonder about themselves.
• BookScattered MindsGabor Maté · 1999A compassionate developmental view of attention. Read it alongside the clinical texts rather than instead of them — the causal claims go beyond the evidence.
• Article · Clinical guidelineADHD: diagnosis and management (NG87)NICE (UK) · Updated 2019The reference standard for what good assessment and treatment looks like, including support at work and school. Useful for checking what a clinician should be offering you.
• Article · Evidence reviewThe World Federation of ADHD International Consensus StatementFaraone et al. · Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews · 2021208 evidence-based conclusions from over 200 researchers. The single best answer to 'is ADHD real, and what do we actually know?'
• Article · Journal articleAdult ADHD: a review of diagnosis and treatmentKooij et al. · European Consensus Statement (BMC Psychiatry) · 2019The European consensus on diagnosing and treating ADHD in adults, including how it hides behind anxiety, depression and substance use.
• Article · Journal articleADHD and work performance: role impairment and lost productivityde Graaf et al. · Occupational and Environmental Medicine (WHO surveys) · 2008The large cross-national study behind the workplace numbers: absence, lost days and role impairment. Good evidence to take into a conversation about adjustments.
• Article · Systematic reviewWorkplace interventions and accommodations for adults with ADHDLauder, McCabe & Adamis · Systematic review, Journal of Attention Disorders · 2022What has actually been tested at work — coaching, structure, flexible hours, environment changes — and how thin the evidence still is in places.
• Article · Randomised trialCognitive behavioural therapy for ADHD in medication-treated adultsSafren et al. · JAMA · 2010Evidence that skills-based therapy adds real benefit on top of medication — the basis of most adult ADHD coaching that works.
• Article · Practical guideAccommodation ideas for ADHD at workJob Accommodation Network (JAN) · OngoingA concrete menu of workplace adjustments by difficulty — concentration, time management, meetings, noise. The most useful page to bring to a manager.
• Article · Practical guideADHD in the workplace: employer and employee guidanceCIPD / ADHD UK · 2023Plain-language guidance on disclosure, reasonable adjustments and manager conversations, written for organisations rather than clinics.
• Article · Local supportADHD support and referrals in South AfricaSADAG · OngoingLocal helplines, support groups and referral routes for adults and parents seeking assessment in South Africa.
• Watch · Lecture series30 Essential Ideas Every Parent Needs to KnowRussell Barkley · University of Nebraska lecture series · 2012Barkley explaining ADHD as a problem of self-regulation rather than knowing what to do. The clearest free teaching on the condition anywhere.
• Watch · 20 min watchADHD is a developmental impairment of executive functionThomas E. Brown · lecture · 2017Why effort with ADHD is inconsistent rather than absent — the point most managers and partners miss.
• Watch · Short episodesHow to ADHDJessica McCabe · OngoingPractical, evidence-checked strategies for time, memory and starting tasks, from someone who lives with it. Good for the week after a diagnosis.