Dr. Oz: Success Habits for Overcoming Challenges

Renowned surgeon, best-selling author and close confidant of Oprah Winfrey, Dr. Mehmet Oz is a pro at juggling high-stress priorities with maintaining a focus on a healthy life balance. Here are five of his top tips for stress-proofing your own life.

1. Build teams. “It’s very hard for anyone to be able to understand all facets of a problem, especially when you’re dealing with complex problems with the real opportunity to make the world better. You need to have a lot of perspectives. It doesn’t mean you can’t be the executive and make the decisions about what needs to be done for the best interest of your project, but you have to have a team of people you trust around you to provide support and perspective.”

2. Forgive people. “You’ve got to forgive people. You come in contact with a lot of people, and they will disappoint you at times. Give them a chance to surprise you again.”

3. Put your ideas into action. “Success is 1 percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration. I don’t care how good you are, how many good ideas you have—a great idea on the back of a napkin is worth the price of the napkin. A thought has zero value without execution behind it. You’ve got to start putting the pieces together. It’s the middle of the sandwich that makes the sandwich what it’s worth. The bread is the ideas, the concepts, how it looks from the outside. The inner workings differentiate true winners.”

4. View adversity as a learning opportunity. “The great surgeons are not the ones who never make a mistake—they’re the ones who can get out of any crisis. That’s what great success is to me.”

5. Take care of your body. “The body is the temple of the soul. If your body is not tuned up, if it’s not healthy, it’s not going to be a good place for your mind to live. And so all the greatness you had in front of you starts to slip away as you get pulled away by inabilities of the mind to maintain its high levels of function. Maintaining body health is critical.”

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Listen to an excerpt from Dr. Mehmet Oz's interview with Darren Hardy on the October 2011 SUCCESS CD.