What a fantastic motivating read, have actually read it twice as I wanted to test myself with some of the exercises. Written from the place of experience and explained in an easy way, you cannot fail to be motivated. Would definintly recommend this book for anyone facing a crossroads in work or feeling doubtful. Wake up to the endless possibilities. and solutions. Workbook included and feels like you have your own life coach. Thank you #NetGalley for the e-book to review.

A supportive book which assists the work/ life balance and productivity outcomes. Overall, plenty of useful tips and tricks. Thanks to NetGalley for a copy of this book.

Useful read to encourage yourself!
I think this would be lovely to read alongside having therapy and working on yourself.

'Inner Brilliance, Outer Shine' promises ten antidotes to workaholism, stress and Imposter Syndrome. As a Type A person who works in a fast-paced technology job, all of these three things are acutely familiar to me!

The antidotes go through the journey of managing workaholism and stress - from understanding where you currently are, choosing where you want to get to, what holds you back and making a plan to get there, alongside personal anecdotes from the author's life as well as her clients.

Antidote #1 immediately helped me recognise things in myself that I'd never put a name to, it was almost uncomfortable at time to feel called out for unhealthy habits but the book really encourages you to look deeper into yourself about why you do certain things.

That being said, there is a A LOT the book asks you to – this isn't a 'Just do this and your imposter syndrome will be gone!' instruction guide. Each chapter has several actions for you to take away and think about. At the time of reviewing, the workbook that the author refers to throughout the book wasn't available for download, but I imagine it would be a useful guide to break down the actions.

My main criticism of this book are the persistent but initially vague mentions of 'Havening', which isn't explained fully until Chapter 6 (50% through the book). Described as a 'magic eraser for trauma', it felt like a major oversimplification and, in my opinion, undermined the rest of the content of the book. I appreciate it was an important part of the author's toolkit but it really took away from the overall message of the book for me.

Ultimately, I took a lot away from the first half of 'Inner Brilliance, Outer Shine', but my interest definitely waned towards the end of the book as it went over the same ideas again and again.

Thanks to NetGalley for a copy of the book to review!

I wasn’t sure what to think when I selected this book. I was disappointed though with the layout and word choices in this book. The author mentions at the beginning to join the Facebook group and get the accompanying journal, but it’s all just a lot of work to manage all of that. Content wasn’t varied or diverse enough for me.

Inner Brilliance Outer Shine by Estelle Read is a book about overcoming stress, imposter syndrome, and workaholic tendencies. Read provides data to back up everything in the book, which is always refreshing to see. I failed to connect with the content, though. I think this is because I actually feel like I have a healthy relationship with my work and very supportive colleagues. Much of the book is spent talking about how traumas from earlier in life impact us at work and how to move past those traumas. To me (who admittedly knows nothing about psychology and trauma response), this seems like a much deeper issue than just a professional one. I would approach rather cautiously any book claiming to be able to help someone overcome life-altering traumas without licensed professionals as a part of the healing process. That being said, I did take a few nuggets of wisdom away from several of the antidotes, so there’s certainly good thoughts spread throughout Inner Brilliance Outer Shine.