Reef Karim Dr. Reef Karim, a double board-certified psychiatrist and an expert in human behavior, joins Neva Lee Recla to discuss successful entrepreneurs. He dedicated his life to educating, entertaining and helping people understand themselves better. Dr. Reef is all about self-expression. He believes that laughter really is the best medicine and as such, has studied improv for years and performs stand up at comedy clubs all over Los Angeles. With improve and performance training, he’s had the opportunity to act in both Bollywood and Hollywood movies playing lead and supporting characters and he’s worked as the medical consultant on big movies and television shows. Listen in as he shares his deep knowledge about the life design for successful entrepreneurs.

Hi, kids. This your Super Power Kid, Neva Lee Recla and, today, we have on our show a celebrity guest, Reef Karim, and I’m super excited. Today, we’ll be talking with Reef about life design for successful entrepreneurs.

Reef is a neuroscientist and he’s a human behavior expert. His power statement is, “Don’t be afraid to show who you really are,” and he’s been on Oprah, Dr. Oz, CNN and many, many more TV shows and, most importantly, he’s a storyteller, and he’s a life designer and he helps people design their lives, so, without further ado, will you help me welcome our very cool guest, Reef Karim?

Hi, Reef.

Hi. How are you doing? Thank you for having me.

Thank you so much for coming on my show. I’m super excited.

Yeah. Me, too.

What are your superpowers?

I’m like an emotional detective.

I’ve been fortunate enough to have a bunch of experiences and training that, all combined, gives me one special superpower, so my super power is I’m like an emotional detective, and I can-

Oh.

Yes, it’s cool, right? I can figure out what’s stopping somebody from achieving the life that they want. What are those obstacles and how do you transform yourself past those obstacles?

Yeah.

My background is I’m a medical doctor and I’m a psychiatrist, and I have specialty training in relationships and addiction and personal development, and I’m also Indian, which I think gives me a little instant spiritual street cred, and I can like see into people. Yeah, right? Thumbs up on that.

Thumbs up.

The combination just helps me really understand and read people well.

That’s cool. I really like that. Yeah, I think it’s important, especially what you’re doing is figuring out what’s stopping people from being who they are because, with me, it’s like how are you living life if you’re not who you are? That’s why I talk a lot on my show about if people are criticizing me because I’ve been criticized many times, how I don’t think of it as much as an offense as I do as it’s teaching me. Like it’s teaching me to love myself even more.

What does life designer mean?

Yeah, it’s a good question, so life designer essentially means someone that can be your guide, and that guide could be in person. It could online. It could be speaking at live events.

I’ve had the opportunity to blend neuroscience, psychology, philosophy, spirituality, and creativity into a platform, so I have this platform on how to design your life utilizing those methods with the six-step platform and it’s … That’s really helped a lot of people, and I want people to be able to find their authentic selves and also be able to express it because so many people are afraid to express themselves. I mean, you’re-

They are.

You’re very fortunate. You’re eight years old, and you’re sitting here in the heart of your expression, dressed the way you’re dressed, doing what you’re doing. You’re ahead of your time, and I wish more adults could express themselves the way that you’re expressing yourself now.

Thank you. There’s a lot of people out there who are scared to be themselves because they don’t know what other people think about them.

I look back about who I used to be, and I used to be really shy. I didn’t like to talk and stuff because I used to be really afraid, like, “What the heck? What if people judge me?” Now, I think, ‘So what?” If I’m being me, I love me, I’m okay with who I am, who cares about what the world thinks?

Yeah, it takes a lot of courage to do that …

Yes, and-

… a lot of courage and …

… it’s really hard.

… and especially when you get … I think when … For kids, it’s a little easier to stop the patterns. We develop these patterns, what … in the psychology world, the conditioning, fear conditioning that you develop over time, and I think, for kids, if they have good role models, good parenting and they’re courageous, they can stop those patterns, but, for an adult, there are so many adults that have just beat up and beaten up over their fears of getting what they want and being scared and having all these pressures that they become like zombies. They’re just like they’re mummies. They’re just walking like zombies.

Like a TV show.

Yeah.

Like you have to be told what to say.

Yeah, and they’re on autopilot, and I just want to shake them and wake them up, so I feel like it’s possible, and that’s what I dedicated my life to is transforming people to move past where they are now and to achieve what they’re looking for.

That’s awesome. What is it like to be on TV? Because I still have a dream that I’m getting on TV, so I’m very curious.

Being on TV is really cool.

I think you’re far along your way. Being on TV is really cool. I’ve had the opportunity to do it as a doctor, like being on Oprah and Larry King and the Today show, things like that, and I’ve had the opportunity to be on TV as an actor and as a comic, so where I’m playing other people like in characters or I’m playing myself, but I’m making people laugh.

They’re all completely different experiences. Like when you’re on TV being an expert, you have an opportunity in a big, big picture perspective to change people’s opinions, to inform people, to guide people in whatever it is that they’re suffering and their confidence and their self-worth, their relationships, their family life, whatever it is, but when you’re playing a character, it’s really cool because you can … I always say you can never have enough experiences in one lifetime, so when you’re playing somebody else like you’re playing the king of a country or you’re playing like a peasant or you’re playing a Mafia person or you’re playing … You get in the mind of that kind of person and you kind of become that person while you’re on camera, and that’s really fun.

That’s really cool. Something I tell people, especially my parents, is I say I want to go on a TV show or a movie just so I can beat someone else.

You want to be in an action movie.

Yeah, I want to be in like a cool stunt movie because you can do drastic things, but you actually don’t hurt yourself or anybody else.

Do you need the cape when you do it?

Yes.

Yeah, and you’re going to be in this cool costume?

Yes.

You know what? Girl power is working very well in movies right now. Like action heroes that are women are really taking off, so I think that’s happening.

Yeah, I notice, with myself, if … like that were … like I say, that … so, sometimes, what I tell people is … I say, if I’m ever like in a situation where I actually need to be tough and powerful and beat someone up, I will do that because I trust my body, but then I also know that if I’m not in that situation, I don’t have to do that.

Yeah, it’s like you have the superpower, but you don’t need to share it with the world unless you really need to share it. It’s like-

Exactly.

It gives you that inner confidence. I think that’s a really good point.

Yeah.

When people develop whatever their superpower is, it’s like this internal confidence that they walk around life with, and they don’t need to put out there unless they need to put it out there, but it gives you a lot of self-esteem, self-worth, and confidence.

I agree, so we actually need to take a quick break. Find out more about Dr. Reef Karim at reefkarim.com.

Okay.

We’ve been talking with Dr. Reef Karim about life design and successful entrepreneurs. We’ll be right back.