Start To Finish: A Life Well-Lived: The Choices and Forces That Shape It

Start to Finish: A Psychologist’s Guide to Living Well, Aging Wisely, and Dying with Dignity In Start to Finish, health psychologist Robert Lutz explores the universal forces and everyday choices that shape a life well-lived. Drawing on decades of experience as a psychologist, educator, and behavioral medicine specialist, Dr. Lutz shows how our fundamental needs, rooted in our evolution as social beings, still guide the path to meaning, happiness, and fulfillment in the modern world. With honesty and compassion, he explains how people naturally gravitate toward the places where their interests, abilities, and opportunities align, crafting a life that is “good and full” when effort meets opportunity. Yet he also acknowledges the powerful role of chance, circumstance, and inequality in shaping those paths, reminding us that the playing field is never entirely level and that understanding this truth makes our choices all the more vital. Combining science and wisdom in clear, accessible language, Start to Finish offers practical steps to manage stress, regulate emotions, think positively, communicate effectively, and maintain mental and physical health. Dr. Lutz also explores how our everyday habits influence longevity, showing how lifestyle and genetics interact to determine our health outcomes. As he writes, “Nature may load the gun, but lifestyle pulls or refuses to pull the trigger.” The book closes with a powerful reflection on aging and end-of-life care. Drawing from his own family’s experience with Alzheimer’s disease, Dr. Lutz makes a moving case for expanding advance medical directives and rethinking how we approach dying with dignity, honesty, and choice. Start to Finish is more than a guidebook, it’s an invitation to live intentionally, love deeply, and face every stage of life with courage and grace. Robert Lutz worked nights on the waterfront as a longshoreman for twenty years while completing college, internship, fellowships, and even during his first year on faculty at UCSF Medical Center. He sometimes joked that he was “Dr. Lutz” in the daytime and “Hey You” at night. Lutz’s career in psychology focused on Behavioral Medicine and Cognitive-Behavioral interventions. While on faculty in the Departments of Medicine and Anesthesia at UCSF Medical Center, he developed and directed the Behavioral Program for their Multidisciplinary Pain Management Center. He then transitioned his career to a combination of teaching and private practice. He retired as a tenured professor in 2017. Now, he spends many of his days hiking the hills North of San Francisco, where he lives. He has long been an avid reader of anything to do with evolution and human evolution in particular. His life experience and deep appreciation for our shared human characteristics and challenges are reflected in this book. View Less