Michael Roizen, MD: You are listening to you The Owner's Manual Radio podcast on Podcast Health where you should get all your information, radio md, iHeart, or wherever you download us. Thank you for doing it. I'm your. Host Dr. Mike Rozen. The B'S are always great guests, the a's the latest medical news of the week, our guest today is Carla Rasik, She's been inspiring audiences from business leaders to students with her no Try philosophy for several decades.

she has been the former Vice president of Creative Writer Development for Emmy Music. Emmy not only as the largest music publisher in the world, it was also the founder of the MRI machine, so I didn't know if she knew that and did any of the creative writing for the, sales and development of the MRI.

Emmy was one of the most technology. Advanced firms in the world. and during her 20 year career, she placed his songs with Legends, including Barbara Streisand, Johnny Mathis, Cher Huey, Lewis, Martina McBride, earth, wind and Fire, Maria Carey in Sync, and Christine Aguilar. she lives in Southern California with her husband, is an avid swimmer, but, I wanna know what's the difference between, stop trying and just do it.

In other words, just do it was the, is, I guess the, uh, still Nike. Moniker. And before we get to that answer, I should say Her website is stop trying.com. the, book is that same name. Stop trying. We are sponsored by Life's first naturals.com, makers of true biotics, bovine colostrum, and die rescue, as well as by four youngevity.com.

Carla, tell us about, what's the difference between, stop trying and just do it.

Carla Ondrasik: first of all, thank you for having me on your show. I'm always so excited to talk about. About my book and my philosophy. you mentioned the Nike slogan, which has been around for, you know, many decades, and it's still very powerful. It's very motivating and inspiring because it says, just do it.

In fact, a guy named Dan Wheen created that slogan, and it still has the power to move people. I think about it. Imagine if the slogan said, just try to do it. Doesn't it really take a lot of power out of that inspiration and motivation? Just do it is like boom.

That's the thing that hits us in the pit of our stomach. I'm going to do this. Just try to do it it just takes that power away. Trying is a half-hearted attempt or an effort. Trying means. I'll maybe kind of sort of do it. Later if ish. I feel like doing it, doing is strong, determined action, and there's so much that I can share about this.

Our brain literally reacts differently when we say try to, when we say do, there's a huge difference between doing and trying.

Michael Roizen, MD: when I read it, it seemed to me that part of the philosophy was exactly that, that you want people to commit to something. And to go and quote, just do it or stop trying to do it, but actually go and do it. And I can tell you that when I work with patient's on coaching them, on, wellness and longevity.

that's essentially what we do. we get them to start doing something And then it becomes much easier to do it. So meaning it is that philosophy of stop trying is exactly what works.

Carla Ondrasik: Yeah. it almost sounds counterintuitive because we're taught to try. Our parents are like, just try it. Give it a try. You'll never know unless you try. Right? But the truth is. When they didn't mean to mislead us, and that's why I've written the book is to kind of relearn what we've thought about this word.

Try why go into something. With a half-hearted effort. So when you say, I'm gonna try to do this, that means it's optional. I don't have to, I want to, I'm thinking about it, but I'm gonna try it, it actually builds in the intention And the potential for failure. The minute you say try, well, I'm gonna try, but it might not happen.

So there's your, like that failure kind of sneaking in and. When you change your mindset and say, I'm gonna do something, well now you're accountable in trying. There's zero accountability. I only said I would try. I don't have to. So there's not gonna be any consequence if it doesn't happen.

And in trying. You allow for excuses or blame? Well, I tried to get here on time, but the dog, wouldn't come in from the backyard or, I tried to get here on time, but I forgot that it was nine 30 and I thought it was 10. So this trying thing allows for a lot of us to just fall in the cracks and not get to the point that we wanna get to.

Michael Roizen, MD: And so you have a couple of, what I would call fill in the. Blanks, but one of them is, set a deadline That is actually set a time and make it a quantifiable effort. explain a little bit on that.

Carla Ondrasik: Okay. So that's in the part of the book of, so, you know, the book goes into what does it mean to try, why do we do it And what does it really mean and how does it hurt us and how to move forward. I'll just back up a tiny bit And then get to that answer because it will make more sense.

So, what does it mean to try, why do we do it? How does it hurt us? Well, one thing, the reasons that we try is we're taught to try. We wanna lean on excuses and blame. We fear failure. We fear success. We are procrastinators. It's hard for us to say no.

So we'll offer to try instead knowing that we're probably not gonna do it. But it just sounds kinder to that person. But it's not kinder to say you'll try and not show up and. When you talk about, you know, setting a time limit and a timeline, that's the part of the book that talks about how do we stop trying, how do we do this?

Well, number one is become very familiar with what it means to try. Doesn't mean we're doing it, doesn't mean we're gonna get anywhere and. You know, obviously read the book 'cause it's all in there. But make sure that you have a very strong motivation to do something And that it's realistic and you start small.

So. Once you start small with a realistic goal, that includes setting a timeline, a time limit. So if I say to myself, I'm gonna drink more water, that's definitely doable. It's a really big thing on people's, new Year's resolution list, because it seems to be a big thing right now.

People wanna drink more water. We're not big, H2O takers And so. Just saying, I wanna drink more water is not enough. It's, I'm going to drink one glass of water as soon as I brush my teeth in the morning, and I'm gonna drink one glass of water before I go to bed at night.

Now that makes the goal go from a. I'm gonna try to drink more water, which is very general to, I will drink one glass in the morning and one glass at night. There's a time limit. There's a very strong statement of what you're going to do, not try to do, and it really changes the game.

Michael Roizen, MD: And so the quantitation is the one glass of water at this time. And, if you will, it is setting a time limit. You're gonna do it before breakfast, I guess.

Carla Ondrasik: Exactly, or right after you brush your teeth. Mm-hmm.

Michael Roizen, MD: Now there's something called a five second rule. What's the five second rule?

Carla Ondrasik: Well, that's Mel Robs. That's not me. Mel Robbins is the biggest. Self-help Guru out there right now, she has the Mel Robbins podcast. She's the author of the Let Them Theory. She's amazing. One of her first books was called The Five Second Rule, and she endorsed my book. She did my front cover endorsement, which is so meaningful to me, because she is so successful and helps so many people.

So that five second rule is hers.

Michael Roizen, MD: I always thought of a five Second rule is you only have five seconds to pick the food up from the floor.

Carla Ondrasik: No, I, think she means it a little differently. in her book, it's, if there's something you wanna do, you go 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, and you just start doing it. after five seconds, you're gonna talk yourself out of it.

Michael Roizen, MD: And do you find that's right in what I heard you say, is you set goals and set time limits And the time limit doesn't have to be. if you will. So I, I set time limits in my writing and I say I'm going to do 10 pages of writing before I do anything else.

but I don't give myself five seconds to, to start.

Carla Ondrasik: I think what she means is if you want a raise, say you're in your office and you've been so nervous about going into your boss and saying, look, I wanna talk to you about my position or my raise. You just sit there and go, okay, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, and you get up outta your chair and you march yourself into their office.

I definitely believe that that's helpful because it kind of gets you up and going. My message with Stop trying is. trying is kind of dipping your toe in the water. Okay. I'll give it a try. I'm gonna put very minimal effort here. I'm gonna see how it feels. If it's too cold or if it's uncomfortable, I'm not gonna do it.

Okay? But. Doing is jumping right into the middle of the ocean and saying, I'm gonna sink or swim. I am gonna do this. I'm gonna figure out if I can be successful or not. Because not trying and only doing it doesn't guarantee you any success. But when you have a doing mindset and you throw yourself into the middle of something.

You are guaranteed a better chance at success because you won't give up so easily. So I think with her book, it kind of, has a lot to do with just getting up and doing it.

Michael Roizen, MD: one of the other parts of your book I enjoyed was pivoting as part of the process

Carla Ondrasik: you know, I was just highlighting how, you know, if you're doing something and you fail, you are going to pivot. You're gonna change directions, but you're going to keep going. That's the key thing here.

Michael Roizen, MD: You stress persistence in here.

Carla Ondrasik: Yeah, when you try, we tend to give up. Ah, I tried, it's a half-hearted effort. It's a half-hearted attempt. I'm just gonna try it. I'm not gonna commit to doing it. And if it doesn't work out, if it's not easy or if it doesn't happen quickly. I'm gonna try it And then I'm just gonna give up.

But when you do, you will pivot. That's what caused Milton Hershey. Oprah Winfrey was fired from one of her first reporting jobs, and she. she did it. She said, I'm not gonna try this. I'm doing this. So she pivoted and went on to become who she is now. So pivoting is definitely part of the process.

Not being afraid of failure is extremely important. In fact, That is one of the reasons that we choose to try. I'm only gonna try because I'm afraid that I might fail. Well, failure is the. Best thing that can happen to you because that teaches you what doesn't work. And if you are all in, you're gonna take that lesson and learn what is the correct thing to do.

I've never written a book before. I've never promoted a book before. And trust me, there have been failures and I'm still learning. But every failure is a lesson that helps me to grow and to learn and to become the best I can be.

Michael Roizen, MD: Well, I appreciate that. You know, the interesting you, you talk about JK Rowling got, 12 rejections of her manuscript, on the first Harry Potter book. I can tell you that, I resonate very well with your theory 'cause, uh. what it did to me when I was, with the first real age book I wrote, which, became a number one New York Times bestseller.

before, I got six rejections, including I had written a medical textbook bestseller, And the company that I had done that with had a lay audience. If you will, trade publication, division. And I still have framed in my office the letter I got from the president, which said, Mike, don't bother with this.

Even if you got an Oprah, Winfrey, it would only sell 10,000 copies. keep working on medicine. So, uh, the point is when you wanna do, when you found something that you think can change the world, go for it. And, I think that's one of the things you have done so well here is.

Teach us in a very fun way, going for it. So thank you for doing that. the book is called Stop Trying the website Stop trying.com. the author, Carla Rasik, she, is responsible for a lot of Emmy's early success, as well as for writing the book. Stop trying. Thank you again.

And we should say we are sponsored by Life's First Naturals. They make bovine colostrum. True biotics and die rescue. Die rescue is useful for people who are on the GLP ones. that's semaglutide and tirzepatide or known as Ozempic, wegovy, uh, Mounjaro and Zep. When you're changing doses, if you have symptoms, as you increase the dose or even at the first-time, try die, rescue two days before And the day of, and two days after, at least 60% of people.

Get relief from it. It is a pediatric diarrhea treatment, but it has this side effect of helping people on the GLP ones and of course for Youngevity while UN G-E-V-I-T-Y for youngevity.com. send 'em for the free newsletter on longevity, as well as the coaching. Program to help you stay younger, longer.

Cara, thank you very much. Stop trying. I'm going to, uh, keep, remembering that, stop trying and just do it, are the same things and keep, doing, stop trying. Thanks very much. I'm going to, uh. Use this in our coaching programs more at the Cleveland Clinic. So thank you

Carla Ondrasik: Thank you.

Michael Roizen, MD: and thank the 50,000 of you who download us or so every week. You can't all be wrong. Thanks again and we'll be back next week. Hope you are too.