Passion, Truthfulness and Dr. Sanjay Gupta

Dr. Sanjay Gupta was on the Anderson show yesterday. I absolutely love Dr. Gupta.  Why?  Because he is passionate about what he does! 

Passionate people are usually top in their field.  They are the best at their game because they love it so. 

True passion is contagious, too. Have you ever noticed when you speak to someone who is passionate, its almost a guarantee you will away walk enthused–regardless of what you talk about?  It’s true!

But more than that — passionate people are usually very honest people when comes to their topic of passion.

Most people think that Dr. Gutpa is a TV doctor who doesn’t practice much medicine anymore, but nothing could be further from the truth.  Andersen said that his staff often calls him to be a guest on the show, but Dr. Gupta declines because he has to do surgery–brain surgery.

Andersen joked at how important he was to Dr. Gupta and Dr. Gupta even said if he had to choose between being on TV or doing surgeries — surgeries and medical care wins hands down. 

It’s not that he doesn’t like TV, he just loves his job that much. He went on to say that his mother gave him the best advice. She told him “if you do what you love, you never have to work another day in your life.”

How true is that?

Dr. Gupta tweeted that statement today and appended to it–“the best advice ever!”

So true.

When you are looking for an expert in anything — the one that is most likely to be honest with you is the one who is passionate. The more passionate — the more likely they are to to get the truth–hands down.

It’s one of the things I look for when I want an expert.  I look for passion!

And that applied to the specialist/surgeon I met on Tuesday. I wanted a man who was passionate.  While his paper resume spoke to the likelihood he was passionate because he was highly regarded by his peers and his patients and won many awards for both, and for his research, I still could have run into a burnt out man. But thankfully, I didn’t.

I found exactly what I set out to find —  a passionate person!!

My doctor on Tuesday has been practicing medicine for 36 years, and when we sat down to talk to me about the most boring things in the world–tumors–he was full of energy, enthusiasm and excitement.

Yes, excitement!

I was actually blown away because I certainly don’t get excited about tumors, anatomy and how to treat them.  No siree, but by the time I left, he had me invigorated!  I had a jump in my step. I was confident. I was assured because he was both of those as well.

Isn’t passion great?

My doctor enjoyed talking to me for a full two hours because he loves what he does. He loves the body, how it works and how it all interrelates.He told me how he loves surgery, to which I replied he was one strange duck — but a duck I was glad to know!

How our bodies worked and how he could fix them was the most fascinating thing in the world to him –and if a surgeon who loves to do surgeries more than anything in this world told me I don’t need surgery — I have a 10 fold belief in him he knows what he’s doing because his favorite time is in the OR.

He is so good, I am sure he is booked solid with surgeries and sees no reason to add another case that isn’t necessary.  See why passion and honesty go hand-in-hand?

In our discussions, I almost had to fight to get a word in edgewise because he loved talking about it all so much.  He loved educating me–though he did make 100% sure that he went back to answer every one of my questions.

It’s people like this who are on top of their game, who are dedicated to being the best they can be, who love what they do — who will be the most truthful to you, without question.  Because they love what they do, people flock to them like bees to honey, and they don’t have to seek out what they love to do–it comes to them in droves.  So they’ll tell you the truth, every time, without question!

I hope this helps you one day.