BURN-IN

A blueprint for doctors to find greater joy and peace of mind.

Dermatologic surgeon Tran conceived his book for medical professionals as a hunt for the greatest treasure of all: happiness and freedom from burnout, which arises, he says, when one feels a loss of control over one’s life: “The grind of the non-productive administrative burden of clicking boxes to produce long, useless blocks of text, smart phrases, and ‘vital’ information on electronic medical records is soul-sucking,” he writes. Tran assures readers that they can carve the life they want out of the “raw block of marble” they’ve been given, and his book outlines the process of how that happens; he specifically attributes his own ability to “find grace through every challenge” to the personal awakening he experienced when his son was diagnosed with a rare cancer and underwent treatment. His self-help process centers on three words: intention, attention, and retention—in short, he notes that readers need to set a goal, bear down and focus on it, and make sure to stick to it despite any distractions. Tran mixes these bits of advice with copious references to his own life experiences, from his grueling time in medical school to his troubles and triumphs as a husband and father. His primary focus, however, is advising his fellow doctors on how to create a second stream of income through real estate investment, and he’s engagingly earnest on that subject. However, a few asides that seem to venerate the rich are off-putting, as when he extols the virtues of renting to companies like UPS by complaining about other, less wealthy renters: “I don’t worry about them making rent or paying on time, and I don’t worry about them calling me in the middle of the night about a broken toilet.” At another point, he asserts that his own financial life improved when he started playing with “high-level people,” whom he defines as “people who are real hustlers worth 10 or even 100 times what I’m worth.”

A forthright personal finance work, hampered by occasionally unappealing moments.