Hi beautiful LM humans,
I usually do an end of year report for my life (still working on it). I decided to do one for Lifestyle Medicine as well.
It’s a tad long so feel free to skim and scroll until something greets to attention!
Here’s what to expect:
1) How we got here
2) Where we are heading
3) Things I am considering
How we got here
I recently completed a significant project – my first book.
Do Happy – A way to be happy all the time is almost 2 decades of pain, suffering, and learnings condensed into a book that you can read in hours. When I was getting bullied at school or stressed through my eyeballs in medical school, this is the book I wish I had. It’s my life’s work.
I thought it would be cool to launch the ideas in my book with the ASLM community. I reached out to Eve Olsson (Director of Membership and Engagement at ASLM) and asked for an opportunity.
I was in luck. There was a gap in the webinar schedule.
Eve and I spoke on the phone. We were both excited about all things Do Happy.
After I hung up the phone, I meditated for 30 minutes.
By the end of this meditation session, I had completely changed what I wanted to talk about.
I called Eve again.
“Hey,
I know I said I wanted to talk about the book.
I actually have something else that’s more important.
I reckon Lifestyle Medicine is the future.
I reckon ASLM members are going to drive one of the most important shifts in healthcare in the next 10 years.
There’s one thing that most LM practitioners are missing though – business skills.
Business acumen would be like rocket fuel to their LM expertise.
I am not a business guru but there is plenty that I have learnt that I can share.
What do you think?”
Monday 25th March – I ran the first ‘Turn your passion for Lifestyle Medicine into a living” webinar.
Check out the sweet flyer that Eve organised. Thanks Eve!
I ran the session and at the end, I gave people my email address (drg@drgihan.com).
“Reach out if you think I can help”.
Heaps of people reached out. Long emails with people detailing their situation, their challenges, and what they wanted help with.
As I progressed with my book, I had already started to wonder what my next project could be.
I went and told my wife,
“I may have found my next project.”
I love LM. I love business more.
I always expected to teach the art of business at some point, but in the future, not now.
I couldn’t help but wonder,
Am I ready?
Can I help?
Imposter syndrome – my old friend. I’m not sure if you can be immune to this sense of ‘who am I to [insert dream]?’. As an antidote, I have gotten good at letting people decide whether I can help them or not.
If people are asking me to help them with their business, who am I to argue with that?
If it’s crickets, who am I to argue with that?
For the rest of the year, I focussed on my primary project – the book. But, I couldn’t resist dipping my toes into the LM world so I made a few more contributions.
–> 3 part webinar series on “Turning your passion for Lifestyle Medicine into a living”
Once again, this was well received. It was free for ASLM members. We charged non-members and discounted the same amount from registration if they joined. A few people ended up becoming ASLM members which is sensational!
If you are an ASLM member, you can access the recordings. It’s under ‘Webinars’. 
3 hours of business fun! 
–> Victorian End of Year celebrations
I was lucky enough to be asked to facilitate a session where the LM community could reflect on 2024, and dream about 2025 and beyond.
It was EPIC. I wrote about it here.
This year I spent a lot of time on not only what projects to focus on, but who to focus on.
Who am I well positioned to help in the most meaningful way?
If you haven’t guessed already, I chose you – the LM practitioner 🙂
Where we are heading
2 things
1) LM 100
2) Business of Lifestyle Medicine newsletter
1) LM 100
It would be cool to help 100 LM practitioners start, grow, and monetise their business.
This is a useful endeavour at 3 levels – for me, for you, and for us.
For me:
Any project I work on, business or life, has to meet these 3 rules.
I first heard these rules from Dickie Bush 🚢 (Online Writer – Entrepreneur – Clear thinker).
Thanks Dickie – you put words to something I have been doing for years.
RULE 1 – There can be no downside.
RULE 2 – There needs to be potential for limitless upside.
RULE 3 – I can work on it for a long time.
Let’s take LM 100.
-> Rule 1 : There can be no downside
Worst case, it’s all a pipe dream.
I end up helping ZERO LM humans create income and impact through Lifestyle Medicine.
LM 100 becomes LM 0.
If this is the case, I still win.
For me to help 100 LM practitioners start, grow, and monetise their LM work, I would need to level up my skills.
What skills would this project encourage me to work on?
Marketing.
Sales.
Public speaking (virtual and in person).
Writing.
Copywriting.
Community building.
Coaching and mentoring.
Utilising AI and other technologies.
Building relationships with cool humans.
Facing my self limiting beliefs i.e. the voice in my head that tells me I can’t.
Facing my negative beliefs i.e. the voice in my head that tells me that if I do, there will be negative consequences.
So even if we miss the final outcome, I still learn heaps of high value skills. No downside.
P.S I am already working with 3 LM practitioners. #LM3
–> Rule 2: There needs to be potential for limitless upside
Things could get wild.
I could make a bunch of money, doing what I love.
You make a bunch of money, doing what you love.
Maybe I help someone land their first TED talk, or get on the Project.
I reckon a lot of LM practitioners have a book in them. Perhaps I encourage them to get it out into the world.
LM 100 actually happens! That’s 100 LM practitioners making money, doing what they love. Let’s say they all make at least $100k each. That’s $10 million of value into the market place, with Lifestyle Medicine.
Limitless upside.
–> Rule 3: I can work on it for a long time.
The longer the time horizon, the greater the probability of 2 things
1) The final outcome becomes almost inevitable.
2) Setbacks become trivial. A setback on day 12 means nothing if you have decided to play the game for at least 1000 days.
My plan is to work on this for the next 1000 days. Let’s see what happens.
For you:
On an individual LM practitioner level, I want you to reach your financial target and reach your 1000 true fans through LM. Whatever your goal, I want to play a small part in helping you get there.
If you are like most LM practitioners,
–> You want to create something special but you don’t know where to start.
–> You’re scared to get started.
–> You have a mad case of imposter syndrome.
–> You’re worried about putting yourself out there.
–> You feel lonely because there are not many LM practitioners doing what you want to do.
–> You have never been taught anything about business (e.g. marketing, sales).
I can help.
I wanted to find a project that lands me at the intersection of what I am good at, what I want to be good at, and what is valuable to someone else.
LM 100 is it.
For us:
We can create some magic together.
What does magic look like?
–> When a patient gets diagnosed with diabetes, their doctor talks to them about reversing it.
–> If someone can’t sleep, instead of sleeping tablets, they learn about sunlight.
–> A person who is depressed, gets recommended a copy of my book Do Happy (shameless plug!).
–> People type “Lifestyle Medicine practitioner near me” into Google.
I want to see Lifestyle Medicine mainstream.
I want every single Australian to know about Lifestyle Medicine and it’s benefits.
With a focussed effort, this could be the case in 5-10 years.
One day we will wake up and Lifestyle Medicine will be mainstream.
If we retrace the steps, it will be because of you.
2) Business of Lifestyle Medicine (BOLM) Newsletter
You are reading the 5th edition right now!
This newsletter will become the foundation for my next book, “The Business of Lifestyle Medicine”.
When I wrote Do Happy, I distilled nearly 2 decades of learnings and dedicated it to the person I was.
This project is different. This will be a dedication to the person I want to become. I grew up in a family full of professionals. I wasn’t exposed to entrepreneurship. As I grew older, I became convinced that business can be a force for good in our own lives, and the lives of others.
This newsletter is my way of sharing everything I have learnt, and continue to learn. I hope it helps you fast track your business journey. For bonus points, I hope you fall in love with business too.
Things I am considering
3 things
1) LM starter
2) Shared Business Appointments (SBAs)
3) Group coaching program
1) LM starter
This is for the LM practitioners who are at the start of their journey.
The biggest headache in my business journey has been setting up the boring stuff. Because it’s boring, I procrastinated. Because I procrastinated, it took me months to set up.
I want to help y’all get set up in a few weeks (max). If you are serious, it can take only a few hours.
It doesn’t take long to set up the boring stuff (e.g. set up social media, websites, newsletters, figure out who you help and what you do).
I wrote about it here – ‘Everything you need to get started in 2025’.
If you would like me to run a series of talks in 2025 to help you get started, CONTACT me BELOW with the subject line ‘LM STARTER’
2) Shared Business Appointments
You have probably heard of SMAs (Shared Medical Appointments). But have you heard of SBAs?
Shared BUSINESS Appointments.
Imagine coming together with other LM humans to troubleshoot your business related challenges.
These are some of the questions we could explore:
–> Where do I start?
–> How do I launch my newsletter? What platform should I use?
–> How do I market myself?
–> How do I market myself…without social media?
–> What if I fail?
–> How can I set up an online telehealth business?
–> I can’t come up with ideas for marketing content – help!
–> I need help with marketing and sales. I don’t even know what question to ask.
–> What should I charge?
If you would love to attend a Shared BUSINESS Appointment in 2025, CONTACT me BELOW with the subject line ‘SBA’.
3) Group coaching program (LM 100)
This would be like a Shared Business Appointment, every week, for 6-12 months.
My vision for this is LM 100 – 100 LM humans who are you ambitious, kind, and committed to making money, doing meaningful work, that they love.
This would be a true community. Everyone will know everyone.
We can share ideas.
Keep each other accountable.
Motivate and inspire each other to keep going, especially when we are feeling deflated.
When one of us wins, it will feel like we all win.
While interest builds, I will do private 1 on 1 coaching. I already have 3 LM practitioners that I am working with. I could accommodate around 5-8 total I reckon. Once I reach capacity, the next step is to switch to a group format. This will allow me to keep my sanity, with zero compromise to impact 🙂 In fact, group will be better.
If you would love Individual or Group Coaching in 2025, CONTACT me BELOW with the subject line ‘COACH’.
That’s it.
If you got this far, I hope it was worth it!
Much love to you and of course, myself.
Dr G
*****
P.S If you want a copy of my new book, let me know. It is so close to being available for sale that I can taste it (yep – that makes no sense!).
