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Burn-out By Richard Darin Rooney From the intake I had learned the client lacks the zeal and excitement he once had. This has been building over the last 3 years. The client has described that the business he was involved in became boring after 20+ years, and seemed like he was trapped. There was always a fire to be put out, employees seemed to demand more for less out put. This, compiled with mounting frustration, led to marital problems and overall lack of interest in daily activities. The client, who didn't drink socially and was a borderline workaholic before this, turned to alcohol and cocaine. This, he said, seemed to bring him back to life temporarily. He said this didn't seem to affect anything immediately in his life, however, after I year this became a ritual 2-4 times a week. Late nights and early mornings compounded his lack of interest, boredom, and burnout, unless he was high. At this time of the clients' life, he felt he needed guidance. The client made the decision on his own to change this behavior before everything was lost: real estate, business, and family. What I suggested was the New Behavior Generator. I had the client think of a person he idolized. This was Donald Trump. The client said he had read two books, maybe three, of Trump’s rise and fall. The client said he could recall quite a bit of Trumps life. I had him close his eyes and relax. I instructed him to imagine his idol in a movie, watching him in his daily routine, doing things that would make him proud. I had him take his time, and enjoy the movie noticing all the details of what makes this man his idol. He described the movie using all senses. At this point I instructed him to remove his idol, leaving all the things the idol stood for, and replacing the idols image with his own. As he did this, he watched how successful he was, living life with excitement, proud again, and really enjoying what he was doing. His cue to start this movie, would be the minute he started to feel bored or lazy. The movie would help him realize that in order to stay on top of his life and to reap the rewards of his hard work, he needed to know where to go and how to get there, and by watching his movie he was able to bring to the forefront the success he longed for. At the same time, the behavior that the client wanted to change took a back seat becoming less that clear, dark, small, and of little importance. I instructed the client to use this exercise every morning upon waking and every evening before falling asleep. We booked a follow up one month after to see how things were going.
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