Sociologist Dr. Anna Akbari joins The Doctors to discuss her new book, “Startup Your Life.” Can running your life like a startup business increase your health and happiness?
“Something startups do really well is they plan less, and they experiment more. And that’s something we can use a lot more of in our lives,” Anna explains. “Too often we think about these big milestones, and we underestimate the fact that it’s all these small micro decisions that we’re making that have a cumulative effect to getting us where we want to be.”
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She recommends observing your life more closely – see how what you eat for lunch makes you feel after, or how your afternoon routine affects your sleep.
One of Anna’s tips is to create a mantra, to stay focused on your bigger goals in life. Breast Surgeon Dr. Kristi Funk says she already has one: “You’re doing one thing right now. Do it right.” ER Physician Dr. Travis Stork says, “I wish that worked in the ER!”
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Anna says one of the biggest mistakes that holds people back is fear of failure. “Henry Ford said that failure is an opportunity to begin again more intelligently,” she notes. “Failure is the number-one way that we learn and grow.”
