The Athleticism of Surgery and Life

By Robert James Cerfolio, MD, MBA

River Grove Books

Are you a star performer but want to be a super performer? Cerfolio states that paying attention to the tiny details separates the average performer from the super performer. And he knows—he has been a well-respected cardiothoracic surgeon for 25 years.

In his motivational book he describes how while growing up as a competitive athlete, and later as a coach, father and physician, he has had to make life changing choices. He recommends readers prepare for every contingency as best they can.

One of the tools he uses to relax is visualization. He provides a list of strategies that can help one survive or reduce pressure and relax. He suggests that readers find the technique that works for them and practice it.

He provides short insightful stories of how perseverance in sports led him to be able to achieve success as a surgeon. His family culture, as a child and later as a parent, was to be physically and mentally tough. In one of his stories, he describes the day he was in the surgery suite performing surgery while his wife was in the same hospital having surgery related to a breast cancer diagnosis. He is clinical in his description of those events; he describes to the reader how he developed the ability to detach and achieve his goals, no matter what the distraction. He is candid in his thoughts, acknowledging that there is no news they could not handle together as a family. Despite the detachment in his narrative, there is warmth and compassion in his storytelling, characteristics of a super performer.

Book reviews by Barb Kummer. If you have written or read a book you’d like to share with our readers, write to Barbara.kummerreviews@gmail.com

Last Updated on February 6, 2020