Dr. Rangan Chatterjee

So yeah, could it be self-deception?

Well, possibly, but you know, you're also talking about some of the best golfers in the world who probably know that they're capable of putting really well, and it's more helpful for them to choose the belief, right?

You don't know how much I loved that section in the book, right?

Because one of the things that comes up in the health world is exactly what you just said, right?

Many doctors will say,

All of this personal agency stuff about what you can do for your health is pointless.

These are socioeconomic problems.

And I once gave a keynote a couple of years ago, I think at the British Society of Lifestyle Medicine.

And...

I said that whilst that viewpoint is true, it's also condescending.

And not very useful.

And not very useful.

And look, the truth is, it's both, right?

It's like nothing's black or white.

Should we be trying to improve the quality of living and lifestyles for everyone?

Yeah.

Of course we should.

But actually, no matter how bad your situation is, it always helps to have a better personal agency, a belief that actually I can do something to influence the outcome.

Right.

Yeah, just to sort of finish off that point, a really simple example is, okay, let's say an individual has got a stressful job and they don't like the way their colleagues and their boss speaks to them and they hate the job.