Think about the last time you tried to work on yourself. Chances are you started with a list of everything that’s wrong with you — what you don’t like, what you should be doing, and what you want to “fix.”

But what if thinking about yourself as “broken” is the thing that’s keeping you stuck? My guest today is Dr. Paul Conti, a Harvard- and Stanford-trained psychiatrist who runs the group practice Pacific Premier Group. He started out in the business world, but after losing his brother to suicide, he turned to Mental Health full-time. He’s the author of Trauma: The Invisible Epidemic and his new book, What’s Going Right.

Some of the things we discuss are:

• Why leading with “what’s wrong with me” might make you avoid looking at your mental Health altogether
• How losing his brother to suicide changed how Dr. Conti sees high-functioning people who are silently struggling
• The three drives that shape your mental health — and the one that determines whether you actually feel happy with your life
• Why high-functioning, hard-working people often have a low generative drive without realizing it
• Why doing more isn’t always the answer — and when doing less is a better choice
• The two completely opposite stories you can tell about your own life (and why you get to choose which one is true)
• The question to ask yourself every morning that shifts you out of dread

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Amy Morin Therapist, Bestselling Author, Host of the Mentally Stronger Podcast

Amy Morin is a psychotherapist, international bestselling author and the host of the Mentally Stronger podcast. Her books on mental strength, including 13 Things Mentally Strong People Don’t Do, have sold more than 1 million copies and been translated into more than 40 languages.

She’s practiced therapy for over 20 years and she’s a sought after speaker whose TEDx talk, The Secret of Becoming Mentally Strong, has become one of the most popular talks of all time with more than 22 million views.

Amy lives on a sailboat in the Florida Keys.