Today, I went to the doctor for my annual checkup. I must admit it’s not very easy to confront. As we grow older perhaps the worry of our health starts to increase. I have been feeling fine although at times I get a bit tired, it is nothing abnormal. I also went to see the physician here in London because I want to start a new work out routine. I have a birthday in April and I really want to make it a target to drop some weight and look better. I have always believed in holistic health care. All of my health needs have been handled with vitamins or proper eating and rest. Emotions and physical health really go hand in hand. I mean if one is tired all the time and not really able to be productive how could they be happy? I would eat breakfast and want to go to bed or feel so cranky. And at first, I was going along with this feeling. But then I started to see a pattern that after every bowl of oatmeal I wanted to sleep. I could wake up with so much energy and so ready to go but one piece of wheat toast and that was it. I needed a nap. I later found out that I was suffering allergies to wheat and oats. Wow. Cutting those things from my diet really made a difference in my energy level. I also received some vitamin IV drips and got hydrated. My mental state and my production increased and it helped my morale and confidence go up. I have lived my life very clean with regards to drugs and alcohol. So, fortunately, I did not have to deal with too many issues today at the doctor. Living clean and staying off of drugs is definitely another way to happiness.
As I have been doing this series for the past month on how to be a Genius. I wanted to address health and wellness in alignment with Genius. What it takes to be one, reaching inside and tapping into your innate abilities takes work. It takes energy and it definitely takes being alive healthy and ready to move to create a life you deserve.
This week for the purpose of us continuing the How to be a genius course , I would like to feature the Genius Dr. Eric Berg. I have followed him on Youtube for the past year. And anytime I have a cold or sore throat, hormone troubles and need health care advice I research Dr. Berg to hear what he has to say. And he never fails to give me some fascinating information about the body that I did not know before.
From hormones, weight loss to the common cold to more serious illnesses Dr. Berg is a genius in his field. Make no mistake about it mental health and physical health go hand in hand. Take a listen to Dr. Berg and follow him daily for more advice on living your best life.
Question 1: You seem to stand out in your field. People really love to watch your videos on YouTube and have become accustomed to coming to you for natural healthcare solutions. Why have you decided to apply genius trait #22 Individualism, which means do things the way you think they should be done without fearing somebody’s approval?
Dr. Berg: Yeah. Well, I think it’s an important question because especially on YouTube, there are people that don’t like you. There are haters, there are trolls, and you have to not just have a tough skin, you have to just be yourself. You can’t be focused on trying to get every single person’s approval because it’s never going to happen. There are too many viewpoints out there. So, my goal is not to get approval. It’s to educate people in the truth of health.
Question 2: Of the 24 traits of genius, which one do you recognize to have used most in your career?
Dr. Berg: Well, there’s a lot of them. I think the one I use the most is #14, the ability to communicate. Communication, true communication is one of the most important things in social interaction, in teaching. And so I’m a teacher, so I have to be over there. I have to be in the other person’s head to make sure what I’m communicating is being received and understood. When I do a video, for example, I’m talking into a camera just like I’m doing right now. I’m not just talking. I’m also, at the same time, trying to be over there to make sure what I’m saying is getting across.
Question 3: How have you been able to apply genius trait #20 Adaptability, especially when it comes to being such a successful YouTuber? Many people in your field stay traditional, but you have decided to use YouTube very successfully to help the world.
Dr. Berg: Yeah. Well, I think that you’re using different platforms, different spaces to communicate. You have Facebook, Instagram, you have Pinterest, you have YouTube. I’ve always gravitated to YouTube because it’s visual, and people like seeing the person and getting to know the person. And so it’s a great teaching tool. However, the internet, YouTube is changing so fast on a daily basis. You have to keep up. Take a look at Borders bookstore and Barnes and Noble and what happened to them after, you know, Amazon Kindle came out. I mean, they’re pretty much a dinosaur right now.
Question 4: From your point of view, what is the actual state of the general public in your field regarding the truth of medicine, and what are the actions you are taking to change the mindset of people when it comes to healthcare, applying genius trait #4 knowledge.
Dr. Berg: Yeah. Well, I think I’ve always been a seeker of knowledge. I always wanted to know the truth about something. If there’s some mystery out there, I need to know about it. I’ll give you an example. Magic tricks, okay? So, every day I get these advertisements from this company called Hocus Pocus, and they promote these magic tricks, so, of course, I have to watch them. There’s someone usually doing this trick, and they don’t tell you how they did it. You have to buy the magic trick to learn how they do it, right?
Dr. Berg: If you look in my closet right now, I have several large boxes filled with expensive magic tricks just so I can figure out how they do them. Do I learn how to do them? No, I just want to know the mystery behind it. I definitely am a truth-seeker, and I have to figure things out. Now, when it comes down to the body, there are many mysteries and confusions about how the body works, so I studied medical physiology for fun. I really think there’s no other area or subject that has more confusion, more unknowns, more things that are false.
Question 5: How would you advise people to use genius trait #7 Ability to Judge when it comes to their personal healthcare, and how do you get people to really take responsibility for their health with this idea in mind?
Dr. Berg: A lot of my videos on YouTube are counterintuitive. They’re the exact opposite of mainstream. I’m kind of a myth-buster. So, when I communicate to people, I’m flying in the face of the exact opposite concept that they already have in their mind, okay, with cholesterol, with losing weight, with how they treat a particular symptom. So, I’m telling them the opposite a lot of times. My goal is to try to deliver it in a way that people don’t jump to a conclusion, but first to really understand the background of why something is the way it is.
Dr. Berg: The more they understand about the subject and have the correct data, then they can have judgment. You can’t actually be successful if you’re operating off of the wrong data or the wrong information. Basically, what I do in my videos is I’m constantly getting rid of the false information that people have in their minds and replacing it with the true information. I usually end up with the people that have a lot of medical failures or failures in the area of nutrition, and they’re very open to learning something new. Again, my goal is to give the person the truth about health so they can create a healthy body.
Question 6: How are you able to make people change and apply genius trait #9 Willingness to Take Chances?
Dr. Berg: I do a lot of pilots which are small little tests, so if I have a theory about something, I’ll test it out first before I present it to someone. So, I’m constantly experimenting on things that are potentially true with nutrition, with different foods. A lot of times, these little pilots or little experiments that I do end up to be a failure, so you can learn from them. You learn from your mistakes.
Dr. Berg: And even myself, for example, the big reason why I am so driven to get myself healthy and help others is because I was personally so, so sick. If I did not hit bottom … Sometimes in life, it’s the failures, it’s the pain that gives you a new purpose that drives you to such a high level, where now you’re able to help so many people. Even right now, I have over 500,000 people that watch my videos every single day. And when you’re helping so many people and you’re on purpose, it’s very, very satisfying.
Dr. Berg: So, at the end of the day, I think it boils down into two different buckets. You have people that are constructive and they’re helping, and you have people that are destructive, and they’re not helping. And these characteristics of being a genius all align with help.