Dr Ayan Panja shares the experience of his own illness, how he developed a novel framework, and ways to elegantly incorporate a systems medicine approach into NHS GP consultations. The framework helps patients understand the impact of their own timeline and lifestyle on their health. By helping them lay out their story, Ayan’s method allows primary care teams to empower patients to generate a targeted “lifestyle prescription”, which, with the help of behaviour change and cognitive techniques, allows the patient to create and stick to their personalised plans successfully.