Salar Khan Reveals A Pragmatic Approach to Workplace Burnout

A highly illuminating and engrossing book that vividly describes Salar Khan’s narrative, observations, and experiences growing up and as a physician. Am I Burned Out at Work?: A Self-Care Solution is a profound and in-depth book that tackles various topics relating to burnout that would surely touch the readers’ lives. This is the ultimate key to productivity and efficiency in the workplace.

Salar Khan proves his greatness in literary skills through his many written works which are practical and useful for the contemporary issues people face nowadays. His other works are Shaping the Future of Global Leadership: Finding a Peaceful Solution and Unlocking the Natural-Born Leader’s Abilities: An Autobiographical Exposé. All of his works are extremely enthralling and remarkable.

Why did you start writing a book?

After reading articles regarding burnout among physicians and the general workplace population, I was inspired to write a book to see whether I could determine the mindset of a burnout victim. Burnout progresses slowly and goes through different phases as it becomes chronic. Prevention should focus on halting the progression and treating the various signs and symptoms of burnout. My goal is to maintain your health and well-being, but it will require your willingness and active participation—to control unrealistic desires and lofty expectations; become burnout-free when you follow the self-care solution guidelines in this book.

Why do you think your books are must-haves?

During the last thirty-eight years, I have held various positions as an attending physician, pulmonologist, psychiatrist, chief of medicine, interim director of medical services, interim hospital director, associate professor of medicine, and research compliance director in different organizations from Pakistan to Saudi Arabia to the United States. I have seen and managed many of these cases in my career, and this book will provide you with the tools to recognize and self-manage the symptoms of burnout. Whether you are just starting to feel burned out or have felt this way for years, I hope this book will provide you with some form of a solution. Although if symptoms significantly worsen, it is important to immediately seek help from a psychiatrist or primary care physic

Which particular moment has had a profound effect on your life?

I wrote this book to discuss the workplace burnout that occurs in various professions and provide my insight on this matter through my personal and professional experiences as a physician and through my superior management role in Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and the United States.  Although this book is not meant to be based on research, I hope that you can learn from my experiences in order to deal with any phase of burnout you may be experiencing or to prevent such occurrences.

What may readers anticipate from your works?

Are you tired of the daily grind of work? Do you feel like calling in sick daily? Do you feel overwhelmed and unable to complete projects? You may be suffering from workplace burnout. It’s a dysfunctional state not diagnosed by labs or x-rays, but it has a real effect on people’s lives. Surprisingly, it is associated with highly experienced workers with increased workloads. It appears slowly and is only recognized when it is severe. It appears when workers cannot match the expectations of their jobs and are unable to handle pressure well, which often leads to burnout. Some workers have far greater stressors but effectively deal with them and avoid burnout.

How did you feel when you were writing this book?

In Am I Burned Out at Work?, I examine the topic of workplace burnout against the backdrop of my personal experience and my professional work and observations as a physician. I discuss the role of the primary physician in screening burnout, address the phases of burnout, and give advice for prevention. With a self-assessment tool included, this guide presents lessons and a step-by-step self-care solution to give you ultimate control of your health and well-being. Burnout permeates all cultures and pervades almost all institutions and organizations. It occurs when expectations outstrip reality or when work-related conflict erupts between employees and employers. But there is good news; your body gives you warning signs, and it’s a treatable condition. This self-improvement book offers an informed opinion on the causes of burnout and presents solutions people can implement in their lives with some practice and attention.

Which of your books do you consider to be the best? Give a brief overview of such a book.

TITLE

Shaping the Future of Global Leadership

SUBTITLE

Finding a Peaceful Solution

AUTHOR

Salar A. Khan, MD, MBA

KEYNOTE

This political science book explores how to find and train global leaders who will help create a more peaceful and just world.

KEYWORDS

Political Science, Leaders, Best Practices, Nations, Elections, Peace, Leadership System

DUST JACKET COPY

Each day, the world appears to be approaching World War III, especially since our current conflicts continue unabated. Superpowers are divided, and various groups are vying for economic superiority. We have only a few good and honest leaders around the globe, but the overwhelming majority are either cruel or incompetent. They have failed to resolve conflicts, have made the conflicts worse, and have failed to achieve world peace. We need to stop these leaders to prevent wars and encourage better governance. The impasse at the United Nations often results from the use of the veto, which leads to stagnation of the implementation of justice around the world because each country focuses on its own agenda.

New guidelines could make global leaders more efficient. Accountability is paramount. Accountability must occur through an understanding of God or an awareness of a universal organizing principle that exists in the world. Leaders should be ashamed for causing chaos since we are a product of nature. When everything is so ordered, why should we be different?

These leaders must have a strong belief that we will be held accountable in this world or beyond. Many do not believe in life after death, but no one has died and then come back to describe the experience. When these leaders are on their deathbeds, their souls should be able to cast judgment that they acted with justice. In my experience as a Muslim, I have seen how God helps people in the pursuit of happiness and good deeds.

BACK COVER COPY/ABOUT THE BOOK

Leaders have come and gone, but few can be considered exemplary. War, destruction, and political corruption run rampant in the world. A wake-up call is needed to tackle the increasing polarization among nations from various unresolved conflicts. Leaders with sound morals and character must rise. In Shaping the Future of Global Leadership, I explore how to develop the mindset of a leader and train and select these people to create a more peaceful and just world.

I review the failures of the current leadership system and present ideas for creating a new, independent global leadership organization (IGLO) that will generate standards for best practices and accountability for any wrongdoing among leaders. I demonstrate how this organization creates a system by which global leaders must undergo a thorough mental evaluation, personality and values development, and basic knowledge before engaging in the election process. In addition, I propose a screening tool identifying global leaders with the highest chance of functioning well in making high-level decisions that impact the course of nations.

Why did you choose the certain topic of burnout for this book?

As a physician, associate professor of medicine, and someone who holds various leadership positions nationally and internationally, I deal with several hundreds hospital staff and patient care management teams under tremendous stress without severe burnout. It tells the audience that one person can manage if he is self-confident, self-motivated, and determined to get positive outcomes no matter what circumstances are around the corner.  

The Following Characters are important in the story:

The author as a physician, patient care and hospital staff, and patients presented as early or late onset of burnout in a real hospital or workplace setting, to see physician evaluation and diagnosis of burnout victims in their journey to a normal  life.

My name is Salar A. Khan, MD, MBA and I’ve written a book entitled “Unlocking the Natural- Born Leader’s Abilities: An Autobiographical Expose” that I’d like to send your way.

The book is about my journey since childhood, believing that the vision of self-confident natural-born leaders (NBLs) is necessary for the betterment of the world. I began the process in childhood to embrace responsibility and its rewards to get internal happiness

NBLs possess a unique ability to deal with stressful situations confidently. They are creative, knowledgeable, and self-directed, and often establish norms. Another significant thing about them is their charisma, they have the ability to inspire and motivate others to accomplish their goals with positive outcomes. They are problem solvers, positive and out of the box thinkers, generous, and ready to sacrifice their personal time, money, and sleep. They are ready to accept impossible tasks as a challenge to convert into success. They are perfect in managing their time. They have curiosity to discover new norms.

Many leaders choose to follow instead of leading due to fear of failure and being unable to take risks. A lot also play safe and keep quiet when things get worse. These Leaders do not have trust in their own abilities. When leaders become followers, they make excuses and blame others for poor performance.

I went through many hardships and challenges in life. This is a story of my experiences. Throughout my career, I found myself working under time-sensitive, high-risk, and high-pressure situations, which allowed me to unlock and develop my NBL abilities. There were many lessons that I learned that have allowed me to become successful. It is my hope that perhaps some of the things I have learned can be useful to the audience of this film.

This film can help leaders gain more confidence while performing a leadership role in any organization or institution. It will be a good film for all audience including kids to learn about leadership. It will be a pure educational film to teach how to cultivate to become a strong positive thinker leader, the best for humanity and nations.

The central idea of the book is how to find potential hidden talents and skillsets to be the NBL. I, myself, identify and practice ten NBL abilities to become a strong positive thinker, decision maker leader with positive outcome as a doctor and as a leader in various institutions. I develop and implement clinical and leadership intuition as Associate Professor in medical college university. Parents can play an important role daily to spend time with their kids to provide them with the foundation to build the self-confidence necessary to make a difference on this planet through positively correcting errors and reassuring kids that they can do whatever they want to do in their career. Nothing is impossible. You have abilities to make it possible. I began the process in childhood to embrace responsibility and its rewards to get internal happiness.

I am sorry I am providing little detail for decision makers to have clarity of mind why I want this book to be transformed into film. It will teach and inspire the audience that if they can work on the following ten abilities, they can become NBL. These abilities are added in a screenplay with my real-life events to show the audience how they can also achieve these abilities to become a quality leader for the betterment of the world.

Ten Abilities:

Insightfulness and Self-confidence, Intrinsic Motivation, Integrity- unlocking Trust, Communication, Sacrifice, Patience and Composure, Open-Mindedness, Courage, Compassion, and Optimism.

This book won four awards, several five-star reviews, and amazon best sellers rank # 1

I am elated to share this story with you. It is a family-drama inspired story. It was suggested to have this filmed.

Please let me know if I can send you the script and book trailer. Thanks for your time and consideration. It will be a good classic film to inspire the audience to become Natural-Born Leaders

Please visit my webpage http://www.doctorsalarkhan.com

This is my second book: Am I Burned Out? A Self-Care Solution

Best regards,

SALAR A. KHAN

You mentioned that you experienced being in a war as a child, how did it affect your childhood and the person that you are today?

Who am I, and where did I come from? My parents migrated from India to Pakistan in 1947, immediately after India obtained independence from the United Kingdom (Great Britain) as two separate nations: India and Pakistan. My parents lived in Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh, India. The frequent Hindu-Muslim communal riots forced my parents and thousands of others to migrate from India to the newly created country of Pakistan. I was born on July 1, 1954, in Karachi, Pakistan, and was raised therein. I had a total of eleven brothers and sisters, and I was the eighth born. Unfortunately, six of my siblings passed away by the age of four due to global health issues at the time. Things did not get easier.

In 1965 and 1971, an Indian airplane came to attack and bombed Karachi. Several bombs were dropped within 150 feet radius. Luckily, none of these bombs exploded. All of our family and neighbors hid in the trench in the open area behind our house. These were incredibly frightening moments in my life. At a young age, facing terrible situations like these causes too much stress and psychological trauma. These events created some fear and uncertainty in life. But I remember my parents were very sensible and very positive that soon things could be better and tried to encourage all my brothers and sisters to relax and be calm, to focus on other things instead and not about the war. It was good that there were no radios or TVs or telephones available during those days for the majority of people. The only form of media was newspapers, used to get and spread information about the war. Therefore, we all as family members were able to manage war stress. Later in life, I realized that after 1971, there were so many wars around the globe and too much destruction but we could not do much because it was the duty of world leaders to make significant actions. But since 2016, my focus has shifted about the leadership of the world. They are not doing as well as they are supposed to. As a physician, I believe that prevention is better than cure. Therefore, I wish to improve global leaders — the best people to try to prevent wars among nations. War should never be the first option, to prevent the death and disabilities of millions. In war, no one ever really wins except those ready to kill, disable, ruin homes, and destroy businesses.

What are the goals you want your readers to achieve?

Workplace burnout is a maladaptive and dysfunctional state not diagnosed by labs and imaging. However, it has a very real effect on people’s lives. We should not turn a blind eye to this. It permeates across all cultures and pervades across almost all institutions and organizations. It occurs when expectations outstrip reality or when work-related conflict erupts between an employee and employer. Much time and money have been spent to find better solutions to prevent burnout but without success. Remember, no job is ideal. Our minds and bodies give us warning signs. It is a treatable condition, but it requires the victim’s full participation.

With lessons embedded throughout the book, it culminates with a screening tool for use by physicians and a burnout self-assessment tool. Never underestimate the power of self-care, you have ultimate control over your health and well-being. Often the greatest satisfaction in life comes from the greatest toil. 

This book is based on my personal experience as a physician and plays a crucial role in leadership in various organizations. Workplace burnout is typically found in human services professions due to their high-stress work environments and the emotional demands of the jobs. High levels of burnout are found among CEOs, the health care sector, social workers, nurses, teachers, lawyers, engineers, customer service representatives, and police officers. Workplace burnout results from unresolved, continuous emotional and interpersonal chronic stress. You must be able to view this stress through various new angles to gain a deeper understanding of workplace burnout. This is accompanied by feelings of exhaustion, cynicism, and inefficiency. Burnout can damage your work environment as well as your home and social life.  

Burnout is common among professional groups of people, including physicians, medical students and residents, nurses, social workers, human resources professionals, CEOs, teachers, lawyers, engineers, customer service representatives, and police officers. Other groups of people also experience burnout, such as parents, spouses, and caregivers.

Are you considering writing another book? Can you tell us what it is about?

I am currently writing my 4th book, Cultivation of Global Leadership Mind-skillsets: A Unique Training Manuals. This book will serve as a lucid inspiring guide to cultivate a global leadership mindset—a skillset training program to manage peace on earth by making the world a better place for everyone.

This book is available on Amazon.

Grab your own copy now!

  
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