Prisoners of Our Thoughts

Viktor Frankl's Principles at Work

By: Alex Pattakos

Narrated by: Alex Pattakos

World-renowned psychiatrist Viktor Frankl's Man's Search for Meaning is one of the most important books of modern times. Frankl's personal story of finding a reason to live in the most horrendous of circumstances, Nazi concentration camps, has inspired millions. Now, Prisoners of Our Thoughts applies Frankl's philosophy to the workplace, detailing seven principles for increasing your capacity to deal with work challenges, finding meaning in your daily work life, and achieving your highest potential.

Alex Pattakos, Ph.D., a dedicated student of Frankl's thought, was urged by Frankl himself to write this important audiobook. In it, Pattakos draws on the entire body of Frankl's work, illustrating his philosophy through seven easy-to-understand principles:

1. Exercise the freedom to choose your attitude
2. Realize your will to meaning
3. Detect the meaning of life's moments
4. Don't work against yourself
5. Look at yourself from a distance
6. Shift your focus of attention
7. Extend beyond yourself

Through stories, examples, and thought-provoking exercises, Pattakos illustrates how you can apply each of these principles to various work situations and everyday life. As Dr. Frankl would say, only we, as individuals, can answer for our own life by detecting the meaning at any given moment and assuming the responsibility for weaving our own unique tapestry of existence. The search for meaning at work offers us both formidable challenges and ample opportunities. Prisoners of Our Thoughts makes Frankl's seminal work accessible and relevant, opening up new opportunities for finding personal meaning through work and living an authentic life.©2007 Alex Pattakos, Ph.D.; (P)2008 Gildan Media Corp

Critic reviews

"Pattakos's is a humane approach that allows for purpose in even the most purposeless-seeming environments, which is surely palliative care - if not a cure - for work ruts." ( Publishers Weekly)

Good Book, Bad Reader

The book is useful and mildly inspirational. However, throughout the reading the reader's mouth was too close to the microphone. His mouth noises were almost too much for my sensitive ears to stand. I had to listen using speakers and not earphones. This is the one factor that took away from my enjoyment. But the book is good literature and worthwhile.

shaked me

Great! With Viktor E. Frankl "Man's search for meaning", those two books opened my eyes on limiting constraints I placed on myself and made me understand what the word meaningful really is, from soul to heart to guts.

Inspiring, this book just made me feel "right" during the whole listen. I listened to it twice in fact, just to get inspired again.

Wisdom for finding happiness at work

This audio is creative, powerful and full of wisdom. A must for anyone in the workplace who feels like they are stuck in a rut. It has made a big difference in my attitude and has helped me find connection and happiness at work.

A clear and sensible approach to meaning, useful

I am sure that applying these ideas from Dr. Frankl and Alex Pattakos will be useful in my work and life

A Strange Tribute to Viktor Frankl

Viktor Frankl is a psychiatrist of some renounce (perhaps one of the top 50 names in the field). He is well known for his book, "Man's Search for Meaning"; which argues that meaning is found in service and that meaning is the seminal thing in life. Perhaps that meaning is the meaning of life.

The author was a student of Viktor Frankl's who appears to have developed short course for business types (sort of a motivational speaker series talk) on applying the works of Viktor Frankl to life or to business. This book appears to be a repackaging of the short course. As is typical of genre the result is more affective then insightful.

However, I tried several of the proposed excursuses and was surprised at how valuable I found them. So although what the book actually says is somewhat disappointing, the exercises (e.g., make a list of people who have most influences you and answer the following questions about them) seemed unexpectedly good.