Manuel Astruc M.D.

05/11/2026

Running a family business is unlike anything else.
The pressure doesn't clock out at 5pm. The stakes are personal. And more often than not, your identity gets completely wrapped up in it.

Jason Packer lived this firsthand — as CEO of his family's business, he pushed hard, burned out, and eventually had to rediscover who he was outside of work after the business was sold.

Now he helps other family businesses avoid the same pitfalls through Stride, a community built for multigenerational family enterprises.

Our conversation on Happiness Rules is out now.

What happens when the family business becomes your whole identity — and then it's gone?Jason Packer grew up surrounded by family businesses. He eventually be...

05/04/2026

How much of what we’re experiencing right now is actually just an old pattern wearing a new face?

Karen Carey and I get into this and a lot more in this week’s episode of Happiness Rules. Now live on YouTube. Link in bio.

05/01/2026

You are not behind in your own life.

Read that again.

Karen Carey dropped two rules she lives by, and honestly, we needed to hear both of them.

Practice, not perfection.
You can't be behind in your own life.

It's your life. You haven't missed a deadline. You haven't fallen short of someone else's timeline. You have lived every single moment that brought you here.

Stop. Take a breath. You're exactly where you need to be.

New episode of Happiness Rules drops Monday.

04/20/2026

A lot of people stall out waiting to feel ready.

They research, prep, talk it through. Try to build up enough confidence to actually start. But Dan Sullivan’s framework flips that. Confidence is the fourth stage, not the first.

Commitment, then courage, then capability. Courage never feels good. That’s not a bug.

Full episode is live.

04/17/2026

For most people, work moves slowly. A rough quarter, a good one. Things ebb and flow over years.
Entrepreneurship doesn't work like that.
The same range of highs and lows gets squeezed into weeks. Sometimes days. Noa Simons described it as nervous system compression, and once she said it, it's hard to unsee.
Full episode drops Monday.

04/10/2026

We’re taught to be certain.
Have the answer.�Move fast.�Be right.
But what if that’s part of the problem?
“Be a little less certain. Be a little more curious.”
Full episode Monday.

04/06/2026

You can hit every goal you set…
and still feel like something’s missing.

In this episode, Jeff Oskin shares what changed his definition of success after years of building and scaling companies.

Why burnout happens even when things are “working”

What leaders overlook while chasing growth

And how stepping back changes everything

Full episode is live: https://youtu.be/J7bPlLU7HMA

04/03/2026

We measure success in numbers.
Revenue. Profit. Growth.
But almost no one asks this:
At what cost?
Most people don’t realize they’re in the trap until they’ve already hit the goal…
and still don’t feel successful.
New episode with Jeff Oskin drops Monday.

03/30/2026

By the time most people ask for help, they are already past burnout.

Exhaustion.
Cynicism.
Resentment.
Losing effectiveness.

It does not happen all at once.
It builds, and eventually it starts to feel normal.

In this conversation with Paul Sullivan, founder of Company of Dads, we break down what burnout actually looks like and why it is often missed.

Full episode is now live on my YouTube channel.

03/27/2026

We do not talk enough about what it means to show up at home. For a long time, the definition was simple:

Go out. Earn. Provide.
But that definition is changing.

In this conversation with Paul Sullivan, founder of The Company of Dads, we get into what fatherhood really looks like today and why being present matters just as much as providing.

This episode touches on something bigger than parenting. It is about identity, expectations, and what it means to show up for the people in your life.

Full episode drops Monday on my YouTube channel.

03/23/2026

Before you open your phone
Before you check your email
Before the day starts pulling at you
Ask yourself one question:
What actually matters today?
Because if you don’t decide, everything else will.
Full episode with Ally Meyers is live on YouTube.