The Heart of Fear: Rewriting Your Mindset with Dr. Alexandra Kharazi
What if fear wasn’t something to avoid but rather a force to harness?
In this powerful episode of Secrets in Medical Device Sales, Dr. Alexandra Kharazi, a cardiothoracic surgeon and author of The Heart of Fear, shares her journey of overcoming obstacles in one of the most demanding medical fields.
From thriving in a male-dominated profession to tackling fear head-on—whether in surgery or skydiving—Dr. Kharazi reveals how mindset plays the biggest role in success.
She also shares invaluable lessons applicable to sales professionals: the power of presence, the ability to adapt under pressure, and the importance of running toward challenges instead of away from them.
Whether you’re in the OR or the sales field, this episode will leave you inspired to embrace fear, trust yourself, and take action toward your biggest goals.
Episode Chapter Markers
00:00 - Introduction
03:21 - Dr. Kharazi’s Journey: From Ukraine to Cardiothoracic Surgery
07:06 - Why Mindset Determines Success More Than Talent
11:51 - How Fear Shapes Decision-Making in Medicine and Sales
16:26 - Overcoming Fear-Based Thinking
21:36 - Flipping Fear into Fuel: Using Obstacles as Growth Opportunities
26:16 - Lessons from Skydiving: The Power of Presence
31:11 - How Sales Professionals Can Apply These Lessons
Must-Hear Insights and Key Moments
Mindset is Everything – Dr. Kharazi explains why success isn’t about talent but about how you view challenges and setbacks.
The Power of Presence – Whether in the OR or a high-stakes sales call, staying focused in the moment is key to making the best decisions.
Flipping Fear into Fuel – Learn how to use fear as a tool for growth rather than letting it dictate your actions.
Embracing High-Stakes Environments – Dr. Kharazi shares how training in difficult situations prepared her for both surgery and life.
Lessons from Skydiving – A fascinating parallel between free-falling and performing under pressure in medicine and sales.
Words of Wisdom: Standout Quotes from This Episode
“Mindset is what separates those who succeed from those who give up.” – Dr. Kharazi
“Fear can either paralyze you or propel you forward—it’s your choice.” – Dr. Kharazi
“Your customers won’t trust you if you don’t trust yourself.” – Cynthia Ficara
“In sales and surgery, confidence isn’t arrogance—it’s knowing your value.” – Anneliese Rhodes
“You don’t have to be the loudest in the room, but make sure your voice is heard.” – Dr. Kharazi
“High performers don’t let fear make their decisions for them.” – Anneliese Rhodes
“When you act from a place of confidence, you bring clarity to every decision.” – Cynthia Ficara
“No matter the obstacle, your mindset will determine whether you rise or retreat.” – Dr. Kharazi
“Your presence in the room changes everything—own it.” – Cynthia Ficara
“Every challenge is an opportunity in disguise.” – Dr. Kharazi
About Dr. Alexandra Kharazi
Dr. Alexandra Kharazi is a cardiothoracic surgeon, author of The Heart of Fear, and motivational speaker whose inspiring journey from the operating room to inspiring others worldwide has touched countless lives. Drawing from her experiences in high-stakes medicine, she shares powerful lessons on resilience, courage, and embracing change.
Through dynamic storytelling and expert insights, Dr. Kharazi motivates audiences to face life's challenges with fearless authenticity. Her talks blend cutting-edge leadership principles with personal development strategies, offering practical tools for growth and success.
Passionate about empowering others, Dr. Kharazi advocates for women's leadership, personal reinvention, and living with intention. Her mission is to inspire individuals to rewrite their stories with purpose, confidence, and unwavering determination.
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A Team Dklutr production
Blog Transcript:
Note: We use AI transcription so there may be some inaccuracies
Anneliese Rhodes: Welcome everyone to another episode of secrets and medical device sales brought to you by the girls of grit. And today we have another awesome spotlight series for you guys. And I think this one's going to be a real big hit. What do you think, Cindy?
Cynthia Ficara: Absolutely. And hold on a second, Lisa, but if we're not going to buy it, we need to make sure that we say,
Anneliese Rhodes: all right, got it.
Thank you so much, Dr. Karazi for joining us today. We are so happy for you to come on. The Girls of Grit podcast, the secrets of medical device sales. We are just so thrilled that you are here with us today. Thank you for having me.
Cynthia Ficara: Well, I would love for our audience to get to know a little bit about you.
If you could just tell us a little bit of your background and what made you decide to go into medicine, especially CT surgery, and also a little bit about your amazing hobby that is very fearful when I think about it.
Dr. Kharazi: Well, I, um, I originally was born in the Ukraine. I came to the U S with my family in the early nineties, um, grew up in Los Angeles and I moved to San Diego, uh, for, for college actually. So I'd been down there for some time. Uh, at that time, I wasn't really sure what I wanted to do. Um, And I, I thought maybe I wanted to be a, be a scientist and I was pretty miserable in the lab.
I was in the lab for about two years. Uh, and it was just not the work for me. I did some volunteering, uh, at a hospital, uh, in, in town and really the patient care is what, uh, resonated with me a lot. And that's what started, what it started. made me apply to medical school and start my path into medicine.
And then from there, it was just trial and error. Really. Um, I wanted to do different things, but it wasn't until I really did the different rotations that, um, I was able to find something that fit me very well. And initially I did a general surgery residency that was for five years, uh, in. Westchester Medical Center in New York.
And, uh, following that, I matched into a Cardiothoracic Surgery Fellowship, and that was, uh, in North Carolina.
Anneliese Rhodes: Good grief. That's a lot of, like, big jumps, leaps of faith there. I mean, Dr. Karazi, from the Ukraine to going into medical school, which, by the way, is still male dominated, to then traveling across the entire U.
S., to then going into one of the hardest Practices and fields of specialty possible, which is cardiothoracic surgery. I am, I'm really impressed. I mean, that is super amazing for you. And by the way, guys, if you're not listening in on YouTube, she's beautiful as well. Um, along with her brains, she has the beauty.
She's, she's it all in one package. But I mean, this is pretty awesome. Have you always been kind of that strong willed female? Is that something that has just always been in you? I mean, tell us a little bit about like taking those leaps of faith.
The Power of Mindset in Overcoming Challenges
Dr. Kharazi: And I think that's exactly what it is. Like you nailed it. I think a lot of it has to do with mindset.
I think mindset is really what differentiates, um, people who are successful in any career field. And that is regardless of what it is, because there is. There's the circumstances are going to include obstacles and failures and I could go go into it But there I was not it was not a smooth road by any means.
Um, There were different obstacles and challenges along the way Um, but it's really looking at that and figuring out like how do I want to take this? How do I want to look at it? and what do I want to use this as like do I want to use this as fuel to propel myself forward or Is this something that's gonna make me give up?
And take a step back. So when you look at something like that skill based like surgery, um, those skills are going to be learned. And most surgeons are within some standard deviation on like a bell curve in terms of surgical skills, right? Um, and the more like anything else, it's practice space. Like the more you do, um, the better you get, the more you learn.
Uh, but really what keeps you. In that, in that arena and what keeps you going and not giving up and not leaving medicine or surgery or keep, you know, even deciding like, Hey, maybe I want to do something. I thought I wanted to do surgery, but it's not for me because it's too, um, it's too rough or it's too grueling, but it's really that mindset that makes the difference.
It's not any level of skill. I don't think it's any level of talent. Um, it's mindset more than anything else. How you look at things
Cynthia Ficara: that keeps you going. That is so well said, and you know, when, when you mentioned about, um, surgery and training, and the discipline of it, and, I mean, I think that's applied to many things that we do, whether you're playing a sport, whether you're in medical device sales, you train and you learn your skill.
And then, there's going to be obstacles, there's going to be many different instances that may push you back from trying to get to where you're going. And so you're right. Mindset plays a big part in that. So how do you incorporate mindset? Like, okay, let's just make, you know, come for an example, like, you know, if it's, if it is something in CT surgery.
And it's going to be something tough. Like, how do you tell yourself to walk through and keep going forward and not give up?
Dr. Kharazi: Uh, I'll give you one example here. And there's a few things, um, I use and that I came up with to keep me going. But one is extracting the benefit from air or what I call extract the benefit from air, but it can really be extracting the benefit from any unfavorable situation.
So to give you an example, when I was training, there was a surgeon that like no one liked to work with and everyone avoided him. And, um, it was like they were having trouble finding people to even go into his cases. And I remember thinking that, okay, This is the guy I'm gonna go learn from, and the reason nobody wanted to work with him is because he was, he was really mean, right?
He was just like a mean, like, guy and, um, unpleasant, like the staff didn't like him, um, the reps stayed out of his rooms, like, the residents avoided him like the plague, like, No one liked this guy, but he was a very good technical surgeon. Right. And so I always and his cases were always free. So I kind of, I made this commitment.
I said, Well, he's a really good technical surgeon. So I'm going to go learn from him. And I'm going to be in his room. And I put myself I assign myself to his cases, like I put myself in his room for like, And a month of that entire rotation and, um, I, I did learn a lot. So it was like, yeah, I kind of had to accept the fact that it was going to be an unpleasant room.
Nobody wanted to be there. Um, he always, just as an aside, he always made the temperature in the room like 50 degrees. It was like everyone was freaking like it was, it was just, it was, it was awful. But like any, anyhow, but I really learned a lot. But I mean, and I feel like I would be sitting in, in the surgeon's lounge with like the other residents, and we'd be talking, and they'd be like, just complaining about him.
And we'd, we'd scrub the same cases with him, right? And they would just complain about him. They'd say, oh, he did this, and he did that, and he was so mean, and, you know. And, and bring up examples and I said, okay, the same things would happen when I went, went there, but the way I chose to take it was like, okay, well, I learned this and I learned that and I noticed this and I noticed that.
And I still use a lot of that stuff today. Um, so it's just an example, right? It's the same circumstances, but it's different people and how they choose to react to those same situations. circumstances. So it's like any unpleasant situation I faced, I would go into it like that. Like, what can I get from this?
Like, how can this serve me? Like, what can I extract from this? And that's a big. part of staying, staying present and staying excited and motivated, even when it's not fun. You know what I mean?
Anneliese Rhodes: Boy, I love that mindset. I mean, I'm thinking taking the bull by the horns, just, you know, throwing caution to the wind.
But the thing is, is that you are so smart. Even in those early years of recognizing, Hey, I can either make this a really bad situation, or I can make it a really positive situation for myself. And you know, you, you were probably looking at like, I'm already in it. I might as well take it and spin it positively.
And that is so important. And that's all mindset, like you just said. And I think for our listeners, you know, there are those positions or customers or just days when we are just absolutely like, Oh, and you can get defeated by them and you can complain about them. Or you can make a change and say, you know what, I'm going to use this and I'm going to learn from it and I'm going to get better at it.
And I love the fact that you've done that in your career as a female in this male dominated space and have really done exceptionally well. And I just, I think, you know, I mean, I want to talk about her book, Cindy. I want to talk about all this other stuff that Dr. Garazzi is. So, um, so I'm just gonna segue into it.
So, you guys, she wrote a book, and both Cindy and I have read it multiple times. It's amazing. It's called The Heart of Fear. And the biggest takeaway that I got from it is how you can, you decide. If fear is going to determine your future, or if you are going to take it, if you're going to take it, and you're going to decide how to, you know, move forward with your life.
And Dr. Karazi gives multiple stories in this book, you guys, about physicians, friends of hers, you know, facing different obstacles, experiences, and fear that aligns in all of these different people's lives. And it talks about how they dealt with it differently. And then, the second part of the book is super cool, but let's talk about the first part first.
So, Dr. Karazi, real quickly, how did you get the idea to just interview a bunch of these surgeons? And, and, and how are you able to do that and get these first hand experiences of what they face? And what made, like, what made you come up with the idea? Because I love it. We love it. Yeah. Thanks.
Dr. Kharazi: Um, so I was going through a particularly challenging time in my own life.
Like I was a brand new surgeon in practice. I had just gotten, um, basically, I mean, just gotten out. Um, and I was facing my own challenges and I thought to myself, okay, but I've kept going up until this point. And, but what is it that's kept me going? And like many other things, um, what our environment and what we choose to surround ourselves with intentionally and who we choose to surround with.
Ourselves with intentionally, um, is really what determines that. So it was, it's in a way it's a series of interviews with other people, but in a way it's a memoir, right? Because it's these little bits of mindset that I have gotten and incorporated into myself that have kept me going. So I'm like, let, let me go to the source.
Like, these are the people that have helped me. Um, so let me go to them and see if they'll share. Their experiences with with an audience, right? Because it can't it's not just me that's going through these struggles and challenges like and at that point, there was already a space for this that was being created.
There was already a space where we were trying to help each other as as early career surgeons as female surgeons, um, and trying to it. Overcome these things. And I said, let me add to that space because I have I had a very interesting combination of not only surgeons, but people in other career fields, like one of my friends is a stunt drivers, for example, that I interviewed this book.
So my goal, what has made them succeed? Um, and that's really what that book goes into is the successes and failures of these different people and what I got from them.
Cynthia Ficara: Well, the purpose of your book as in your tagline, A Surgeon's Collection of Stories on Adversity, Passion, and Perseverance, is almost exactly what you just told us about during your residency or fellowship, how you went into the residency.
The the surgeon's room that was the hardest and you decided before you did that. I'm here to learn I'm here to get something out of this i'm going to face this and go forward So I think that that is something like for our audience in medical device sales Even though it may be a conversation that they're afraid of with a doctor And it may be a case that they're going into that may be a difficult case and Maybe they're at that point where the doctor is going to be really focused and maybe they don't like it.
The doctor yells and it's, it's like finding a way that we can help everybody work together and get over that fear. Cause it's not always about the person they're saying something to, but you know, if we're talking surgery, there is a patient on the table in that room and everybody has to pull together to make the best outcome for that patient.
So back to about fear in, in your book. I think that there were three areas that, that you identified when we talked about fear that I think applies to our audience. And those three are fear based thinking, destination thinking, and risk aversion. So will you talk to us a little bit about fear based thinking?
This is when you were referring to, um, the person in your book of Laura. And could you just talk to a little bit about how our thoughts shape our reality?
Fear-Based Thinking and How It Affects Decision-Making
Dr. Kharazi: Absolutely. So this is interesting. And this comes back to something I always tell people, like my friends, when I'm talking to them, I say, it's really hard for me to give people advice and for me to take the advice of anyone else.
Um, because at the end of the day, even when I give my own advice. It's not me that's taking it. So this comes back to fear based thinking because our fears are shaped by all of our biases and our worldview. And that goes back to a very early age. So my fears come for me personally, the stem from like a scarcity mindset because of how I grew up.
Right. Um, and so that's just me, but different people grew up under different circumstances and they have different deep seated. And so it's really coming down to like identifying what those are. Um, and then that's the first step is figuring out. So it's what I call mindset coordinates. It's figuring out where you are to, to see where you need to go next.
So first of all, figure out like, what am I afraid of? Right. Um, and it's going to be something for everybody. And, and fear actually is, is so deep seated and it really drives our decision making. And that becomes really dangerous in medicine, right? Because for example, And I see this a lot in medicine. So somebody gets a lawsuit, right.
And I was just talking to a doctor in the doctor's lounge earlier about this. Right. So, um, he had just gotten a lawsuit and he was telling me, Oh, now I'm, you know, before I wasn't ordering all these tests. So now I'm going to order them and I'm not going to specify which test they were. But he basically said, I'm going to order these tests on everybody now.
So what does that do? It's a, it's unnecessary testing for patients. Um, it's more, you know, unnecessary doctor's visits. Um, tests aren't benign either. There's incidental findings that are then investigated. So this is what fear based thinking does. It's like we get a, we become afraid because we've received some kind of punitive outcome and we plug that into the evidence we already have.
from this, these deep seated fears right from potentially growing up and experiences we've had in training that are gonna be different for everybody. So people's fears are gonna manifest in different ways. Um, and this is just one of the ways that it hurts our patients and healthcare is that we take that fear then and we turn it outward.
Um, and I don't think anyone is immune to this. Like I think There's a saying in surgery that that says, you know, we practice based on our last complication. I'm not saying anyone actually does this, but that saying exists for a reason. Um, and that is a perfect example of fear based thinking is it's it's a reaction, it's reactive thinking based on something that happened that's coming from not a place of what the, of the right thing or not a place of, um, of abundance, I guess, but, but of, of scarcity and of fear.
Anneliese Rhodes: So a question, how do you change that? How do you change that way of thinking? I, you know, I've, I've actually never heard that, but I can totally see that with a lot of my physicians. They're operating from the last complication that they just had, and now they're, their whole treatment. Algorithm is different.
How do you combat that? Because that's very much the same that we face in in medical device sales, right? If you, whether you're fearful of making a mistake or maybe you didn't do something that you should have done and you lost that surgeon, how do you then come back from that and change your mindset?
Talking about mindset. How do you change your mindset so that you're not operating from a place of fear?
Flipping Your Feelings: Changing Your Mindset from Fear to Growth
Dr. Kharazi: So coming back to our mindset coordinates, right? So you need to figure out where you are and you need to first recognize that there is fear and that fear is driving your decision making. So that's an admission that, you know, we as.
As surgeons and probably anybody that that's listening or anyone in any career field needs to identify like, okay, I am, these decisions are coming from a place of fear. And once you identify where you are, you can figure out you can make a map to where to go next. And so like, I call it flipping your feelings.
But I like to go back and I look, I like to look at all the circumstances right removed from the, the, um, The fear, the situation that invoked the fear because as humans, um, we have a negativity bias, right? And we're very, very focused. And this is evolutionary, but we're very focused on the negative outcomes and negative things that happen.
We tend to highlight those in our own minds. So, um, I like to just go back and look at, okay, uh, in the last year, here are all the cases I've done. Here's what the numbers show. Here's the ones that have gone well. Um, and From that, I can see that, okay, it's just, it's one event, right, it's, it's, there's a negativity bias that I have, and then I think to myself, maybe you have to think outside the box a little bit, um, and maybe if it's a particular, um, if it's a particular situation, I'm sorry, I keep getting Zoom calls, um, I can't, try that, okay, uh, where was I, sorry, uh, there's a particular situation, right, and you have to, okay.
You have to figure out how to look at it differently. So, um, flipping your feelings, like, what does that exactly mean? That means, like, turning, like, a positive, like, a negative situation into a positive one. So, similar to extracting a benefit from error. So, for me, um, like, when I flip my feeling, I'm so sorry.
That's okay. We can stop the thing. We can edit. This will all be edited. Don't you worry. Yeah. We're good. All right, let me let me figure. Let me get back on my train of thought. Um, I had an example in my mind and then I lost it because I got that it was on flipping your field. Yeah, it was on. But I had a specific example I'm trying to think what was it.
It was, um, because we were, we're talking about fear based. How do you, how do you. Yeah, like if you
Anneliese Rhodes: had a bad complication,
Dr. Kharazi: like if you had a bad complication right. Um, So
I think, okay, so, for example, um, when I think about flipping your feelings, and when I have had a complication, like, what I tend to do is I tend to see, like, okay, like, I talk to, I talk to a lot of people about it, like, I talk to other surgeons about it, um, and I learn a lot about that specific situation, um, and then I tend to, I tend to, like, use that information.
I think another, I think another, Another thing that where you can flip your feelings, for example, in in this space that could be more relevant. And this is the example I wanted to bring up originally. But, um, so, for example, like when I was a second year fellow, I had my daughter. And I was back at work like two weeks after having my daughter, and I was pumping at work at the, and I would pump during case.
So I would pump, I would put in, I had the willow pump, right? Yeah. So I would put the pump into my bra, um, and I would pump while I was taking the Lima. Then, um, while they were ing in the vein, I would run, I would scrub out. I would run to the locker room. I had my, my coolers in the locker room.
Cynthia Ficara: Unbelievable. Take
Dr. Kharazi: out these milk bags, right? And I would put the milk bags into the cooler. Um, and then I would, and then I would put the pump back in. And then I would like put the new milk bags in there, right? So then do the case. And then I would, for the sternal closure, which is about roughly three hours later, right, which is exactly when you want to breastfeed or pump every three hours, right?
So then I would turn them back on through my scrubs and scrubbing, I would be pumping again through the sternal closure. So I did this. This is what, how I, how I, I
Cynthia Ficara: love it. Super, super power women.
Dr. Kharazi: So I remember thinking at the time, right? It was pretty awful. And like, people would say that to me, they'd be like, Oh, like, I don't know how this seems like, you know, really rough. And I'd say, Okay, yes. But at the same time, like, what can I do? At the time, there weren't a lot of women in CT surgery that were also pumping and back to work, at least that I knew.
So, I'm like, okay, it took a little while, but I'm like, how am I gonna flip my feelings, right, like, and, and how am I gonna make this useful to other people? So then I started speaking out about it on social media, I started giving talks about it, and it's interesting, it It brought in so many people that, you know, needed the help and that, um, it brought in all sorts of feedback, but it brought in negative and positive, but it did bring in a lot of people that needed that advice and needed that information and also felt seen and felt heard.
And to, to your point, um, I did a, um, and like another video with a neurosurgeon where we were just highlighting the disparities. Um, it was like, like gender disparities in healthcare. Right. And so we did this video together and it got millions of views and it was covered by a media outlet. And, um, a lot of the feedback was very, very negative, right?
Just very similar to like, when I was pumping. Not surprised. A lot of the feedback was very negative, and it was like I would log into my Instagram every day and it was like a hundred comments, right? It's like, you know, of like, you're, you're fat, you're, you've got a role, you've got like, you know, like, oh my gosh, horrible, horrible, like, mean things, right?
Um, on top of. Just criticizing the fact that we're doctors and we shouldn't be doing a dance on social media, but just very personal mean things. Um, and then I thought, so I was like, okay, this is really discouraging as far as social media goes, because I was using that as a platform to talk to other women.
in medical career fields and other career fields that were that were back to work and trying to manage being a mom as well. And I was like, Okay, well, this is a lot. This is a lot of negative feedback. But also with that negative feedback, because the reach was so wide, um, It brought in so many women that were like, Hey, I'm so glad you're out here doing this.
Because, um, this showed me that it's possible to also have fun and to also go to these events and to wear what you want. Um, and just you being there. And, you know, like, thank you very much. And then they found my content, which is a lot of the stuff on breastfeeding and and pumping and and also just My advice on being a woman in medicine and just even out there I learned sometimes even when I post me just living my life, then it's not everyone knows that that's possible and that that can encourage someone else to not necessarily live the way I live because everyone's very different but to live the way That they, they want to live, so I think flipping your feelings to me is more about lean, really leaning hard, like you can look at all the negative stuff, it's there, I promise you, like there will always be the negative stuff, but it's, it's more about really leaning hard into the people who need you on one hand, and the people who support you on the other hand, so it's leaning hard into the positive.
Anneliese Rhodes: Yeah, you know, and what you're talking about too is knowing your own work, right? Knowing what you're bringing to the table. And that just was validated by the women reaching out to you saying, Hey, thank you so much for talking about this. I'm so glad I'm not the only one out there, you know, pumping while I'm doing surgery or just showing my femininity.
And that's something that Cindy and I talk a lot about on this podcast is don't be afraid of who you are as a female. You know, really use that as a powerful force versus something negative. And I just think you've done such a tremendous job of that. And this book speaks volumes and. Honestly, like, talking about superpowers, I want to just quickly talk about, before we let you go, about the end of the book, which, by the way, you guys, is all about the fact that Dr.
Karazi does a lot of skydiving. Yes, skydiving, as in, aka, let's just risk our lives every day. Um, I did it one time, by the way. Never again. I did it once, and they say you either fall in love with it or you never do it again, and I was the one that never does it again. But, I just, I love that you wrote about that, and you talked about a couple of really freaky episodes that happened to you, and here you are sitting here talking to us right now.
And I'm assuming in the moment was probably like, Oh, holy crap. We can't curse on the show because I would say other things. Um, but I would just love for you to tell our listeners a little bit about that and like, why skydiving and how did you tie the two of surgeons and adrenaline rushes together?
Because I thought that that was actually the initial reason why I. Found you on linkedin is when I saw your book and what you said about that because my father does crazy things as well And he's a surgeon and I immediately was like I gotta pick up that book and I thought this was really cool So for all of you guys listening, I think it's really important because here we have a ct surgeon customer of everybody You know that's listening in to some degree physician and she's tying adrenaline rushes and this Whole like other life to surgery.
So I think this is really cool
The Power of Being Present
Dr. Kharazi: Yeah, it's interesting. I think a lot of people associate skydiving with an adrenaline rush, and there's definitely moments where that happens. But I think, um, for me, it's this sort of Um, chase that I've always got in my own life, um, for being present and in the present moment.
And it's something I'm perpetually working on because there's so many things pulling me in so many different directions. I think that's true. That's increasingly true for most people in the age of social media. Um, so I think, uh, skydiving is is one of those things that really grounds me in the present moment.
And that's because you, you train on the ground and you get that ground training. And once you have your license, you you've had the skydives, um, et cetera, but every single skydive, even after the first hundred, the second hundred, um, every single, and they. They're, they're different types, right? And then some of them, some of its formation, skydiving, etc.
But when, when I'm up there, when I it's like my mind switches gears, and it's only on exactly what's happening in the present moment, because there's, it's not lost on me, even after hundreds of skydives, like it was never lost on me, that You know, you're, you're, it's just you and 13, 000 feet above the ground, and at any, like, it's, you can feel life and death, you can feel, feel how thin that veil is, and of course, it's an illusion, right, because, I mean, that it's not there, it's always there, like, it's there for all of us, when you get into your car, and you drive on the freeway, That veil is just as thin.
It's just we're used to it. Our brain is a powerful thing. Our mind is a powerful thing. And our mind has convinced us that the freeway is okay, right? But being 13, 000 feet above the ground is very dangerous. And so, like, I'm, I'm also Um, not immune to this, right? So to me, I really feel how thin that veil is, and it re resets everything for me.
It recalibrates everything, and there's never a time that I'm not completely in the present moment, like I am when I'm about to leave the airplane, when I'm deploying my parachute, when I'm landing. And then I feel like it really helps me. Practice that, like practice being in the present moment and appreciate what I have.
And then it's very similar, it's very similar to surgery in a lot of ways because It's one of those things that when when something bad happens, right, like in the air, you execute emergency procedures. And there's not really that time and space for negative self talk for, you know, criticizing yourself for any of that you just have to act based on what you know, Um, and that's very similar to surgery, like, especially with high stakes real estate, like, in heart surgery, bad things can happen, um, and when those bad things happen, right, um, you, you can't, you can't sit there and be like, oh, no, and I see this sometimes when I walk into the cath lab, and I, sometimes the cardiologist is, like, criticizing themselves because there's a complication happening.
Obviously, if there's a cardiac surgeon walking into the cath lab, you know, usually something has gone wrong and I face this a lot of the time, right? And I'm like, they're like, Oh, I should have done this and not that. And I'm like, it doesn't matter. Like there will be time for that later. Like right now we just got to, we got to just act.
And same with me. Like, I mean, that, that happens sometimes, you know, the patients we operate on are really sick. Um, and bad things can happen and, and they don't happen often. But when, just like in skydiving, the rate of, you know, these really like catastrophic things happening is low, but when they happen, it's the difference is whether it's your own life and skydiving or your patient's life and operating room is, is being able to separate yourself and just react based on your training, um, and execute the emergency procedures in both situations.
Wow. Well, I think you bring such
Cynthia Ficara: a clarity to not letting fear get in your way of the present moment, because your ability to be able to make a decision that quick to save a patient's life is, you know, at the very beginning of our conversation when we talked about, um, the other people that you were in your, was it residency or fellowship?
Residency, I think, when you didn't want to go into the room with a surgeon. So, all of those other people you worked with, let the atmosphere get to them. They let how he may react. Make their decision to not even go in there, where you are able to go in and learn to block the outside noise out and focus exactly on what you need to at the time you're doing it.
And I think that right there is an unbelievable mindset and something that anybody listening to this, whether they apply it to medical device, maybe you've had a bad day, maybe your previous interaction. With that surgeon, maybe wasn't the way you wanted the conversation to go, kind of like you talked about some surgeons that operate on their last complication, but you got to walk into the room and be in the present moment right then and there, because when you are present.
And you are in a situation to execute as you should and make things really great. You're not going to add on to another reason to be afraid of something because at that point when you give it your best, when you give everything your best, you can only hope for the best outcome, but you're not letting fear get in the way of going through.
As you said, like an emergency protocol in your head, pulling back on your training. When you allow fear in, you don't think as clear. And you gave us a really good example to push all that aside. And the fact that, um, okay, I don't skydive. I never have, and I don't think I ever want to, but, um, I don't know when you were describing it, I really see how you're going that fast and you're, and you're, I mean, I guess you see the ground, but like everything's happening so fast that you just have to focus on what you need to do.
And I think that right there is a lesson that we all can take for the day is to focus on. One thing at what time what we need to do.
Fear Can Be Your Greatest Fuel
Dr. Kharazi: Absolutely. Yeah, that's a great. Um, a great summary and that's I think To add to that, you know, um I think it's like anything else, like that mindset that you just summarized so well, uh, can be learned, right?
And so it's about practicing that, and it's about exposing yourself, and it's not gonna be skydiving for everybody, it's not for everybody, but it's about exposing yourself, A, to those things that really ground you in the present moment, um, and allow, give you that gratitude, right? From, and once you tap into that.
place of gratitude, then you should act from that space. Because when you act from that space, that's going to be good for everybody. That's going to be good for your patients, your community, etc. And then on the other hand, it's like, like, running towards the fear a little bit. And that's not going to be the same thing for everybody.
Again, that depends on your worldview and how you were raised, but to embrace that, to identify with it a little bit, ask yourself, like, where's that fear coming from again, like figure out where you are, like, where's that fear coming from and can you tap into it? Can you use it? Can you flip it from fear into the fuel to accomplish what it is that you need to do, because once you're able to tap into that fear and, um, that's really You know, you can, it's a powerful thing.
Like you can use it like tapping into that fear allows you to like harness the power of that fear. And it's not, it's easier said than done. And I think we're all still working on it, but I think that's really going to be the key. And then you can, once, once you can do that, you can apply it anywhere. Like apply it anywhere in your life.
And even if one opportunity doesn't work out for you, like others will, because your mindset has elevated to that point.
Anneliese Rhodes: I love this. I love this interview. This has been so amazing. I mean, Cindy, I think you wrapped it up perfectly well with the skydiving analogy and You know, Dr. Karazi, I mean, we could sit here and talk to you all day long.
And I love how forward thinking you are. You know, you guys, I mean, if anybody has her as a, as one of your customers, you are super lucky because she's an awesome female. Um, thank you so much. Um, real quick, if anyone wants to buy your book. We both know it's on Amazon. It is called The Heart of Fear, but is there any other place that they can get the book or just get in touch with you, or if anybody wants to connect with you, tell us the best ways to do that.
Dr. Kharazi: Yeah, uh, it's on Barnes Noble too, but I think I also am active on, uh, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, um, so are you guys gonna put it up or do you want me to say the Well, you can say it, say it, say it, we'll put it up, but yeah. So, on Instagram, it's alexandrakharazi, all one word, md at the end. Um, TikTok, it's heartoffear, which is the name of my book.
And LinkedIn, it's alexandrakharazi, just my name. Um, so, connect me, connect with me on any of those. Um, and then, yeah, I've got people. You can send me a message. Um, feel free to send me a message or, um, otherwise just share, share your thoughts with me.
Anneliese Rhodes: Well, we thank you so much. This was awesome.
Cynthia Ficara: You have been such an inspiration and hopefully you've inspired many out there to just push the fear away today and, and go, go tackle the day in a great way.
so, so much, Dr. Karazi for joining us today. We really appreciate it. Thank you very much for having me. Thanks guys.
