Mel Robbins: How to Get Ahead in 2026 When Everything Feels Uncertain

23:52Mel Robbins:You use these things, these tools that I'm giving you to remove the biggest obstacle that you have, which is you're the biggest no when it comes to the things that you want. Your job is not to say no to yourself. Your job is to be the loudest yes, I can figure that out. So when you start to notice, okay, jealousy gives you a beacon. It's like something out in the future that helps you pivot a couple degrees and start prioritizing something that helps you move in a different direction. You will then pull it back to yourself and you have to then go, okay, well, what do I value? I have two young kids.

24:28Mel Robbins:I do not want to be on a plane. And so I can move toward that, but I've got to do it in a way that's me. I got to do it in a way that works for my timeline. Because one of my core values is I'm not a single dude that is just like gunning and ambitious and just wanting to work, work, work, work, work. I want to make room for being a mom. And so that's how you make it personal. Because one of the other things that really got in my way for a long time, and I know gets in the way of so many people, I don't want to copy anybody. It's already been done. You cannot copy anybody else. Because first of all, everybody is copying everybody else because we are drawing inspiration from other people.

25:07Mel Robbins:Absolutely. And you won't ever copy them because it's impossible to do exactly what somebody else is doing. You will always put your own spin on it. You will always do it on your own timeline. You will always, always, always do it in a way that is unique to you because you have different values. You have a different singular purpose here. And other people are not blocking you from doing it. Other people are helping you lead yourself in a particular direction. And that's what jealousy helps you identify. It helps you flip jealousy into inspiration. It helps you see other people as not competitors, but people that can lead you toward things, that can teach you things.

25:50Mel Robbins:And also, you have to be awake enough and clear enough that if you want kids, if you want a family life, if there are things that are more important to you or as important to you as your ambition and as making money and launching something that's your own, then you will have to figure out a way to have all of it be part of one big pie that you call life. That's why you're never going to copy anybody else because you can't. You get inspiration. You can even hire somebody's exact team and it will never be the same. Absolutely. That's what somebody else is doing. But then the timeline is super helpful because if you're comparing yourself to Steve, like, oh, how old is he?

26:32Oh, I'm already. But then you're like, I have a different timeline.

26:36Mel Robbins:You have a different timeline. I am so grateful that everything happened to me late in life. And in my 30s and my 40s, I was like, when is it going to happen? Why can't I be successful? I'm happy for my girlfriends and my male friends that are getting career advances and buying bigger houses. And woe is me. When is it going to be my turn? And I have come to believe, I really believe this. If you are a good person, if you have character, if you're clear about what you want, and if you can throw your timeline out the window, I refuse to believe you will not be successful. I refuse. I am convinced that success is about not quitting and that there is something meant for you in the future, and if you just keep putting your head down and you keep defining what you want and you keep inching yourself forward and you really work on being a good person too, that it will work out for you.

27:41Mel Robbins:It will. It's a matter of not quitting, not saying no to yourself and understanding that there is a moment for you in the future when all of this hard work pays off and you will never be able to predict how magical, how different it's going to be than you thought it was when you got started or when you're in the trenches or when your first business fails or when the 17th investment person says, no, I'm not going to invest in your thing or when kids come and now you have to slow down and the timeline has to expand because there's more important priorities. 100%. And that's the cool thing about life.

28:23Mel Robbins:Yeah. That's awesome. So when you realize, okay, I want this. This is like, I'm not going to push myself. How do you deal with FOMO? Because when you look at someone you admire or you're jealous of, they're doing this, this, and that. And you're like, oh, did I have to be there too? How many things should I fit in my calendar? How do you deal with this? How do I deal with this? With FOMO. Yeah. Well, I don't, I don't experience it that much. How? What do you mean how? I don't know because with social media like we're flooded by all the opportunities and like seeing people do this and that. Yeah but here's what I want you to understand.

28:59Mel Robbins:See social media is for you. Social media you are either using it as a tool or you become the tool and I'm not saying that in a positive way. Social media is the most extraordinary tool in the world to do research, to market yourself, to get your message out, to connect with like-minded people. And if you are maniacal about using it as a tool to achieve something, you will be wildly successful and you will manage your time and your attention. If you don't do it that way, because think about your social media accounts. They're for you. They're not for your high school and college friends. They're not for your family.

29:41Mel Robbins:They're for you and your self-expression and your business. So there is the output on social media. But then the thing that most of us don't pay attention to is the value of your attention and what are you allowing as input. And the more time you spend on that, the more money everybody else makes. And you have to be really, really careful because what you allow in is what programs your mind, is what changes your energy. And if you are currently experiencing FOMO, it's because you don't use social media correctly, in my opinion. It's very normal to feel FOMO, but the second you start feeling like you're going down that tunnel, you have to develop habits to be able to go, this is not helping me right now.

30:30How do you decide when it's not something for you? How do you say no? What do you mean? Give me an example. Do you have like criteria? For example, okay, I've heard, I think Tim Ferriss mentioned it, how he makes decisions these days. Is the person that's suggesting this, is he going to uplift me? Like, does he have skills that I want to learn? Second, is this project like taking me towards the goal? Do you have like a list of questions you ask yourself to determine whether the opportunity is for you or not?

30:57Mel Robbins:Well, it's a great question. I think that every opportunity that you get, you have to ask yourself, is this advancing something that's important to me? How will I measure that this opportunity was a successful use of my time? See, I'm the kind of person that reverse engineers everything. So let's say that you get a invitation to attend some sort of business thing, right? Ask yourself, what would have to happen in order for this to have been a good use of my time? Because if you don't know the answer to that, then you don't value your time. You're just like a fish swimming around hoping somebody catches you.

31:41Mel Robbins:See, if everything's important, nothing is. And the single most important commodity that you have is your time, and the second one is your attention, and the third is your energy. And so what is the value of your time? And there are going to be plenty of events or meetings or whatever where it is important and worth your time to go to the meeting simply so that a person that you are going to meet with will talk about you in rooms you won't be in in a very positive way. There are certain moments where it's important to go to an event that you have no desire to go to. Simply so, you can get a photo at the event that then you can use on your website that helps build the perception that you're doing something.

32:33Mel Robbins:So do you see how you know going in what you want to get out of it? Yeah. That's how you actually value your time. You anchor it to an outcome that's worthy of your time. Yeah, that's important for you right now. Because too many people show up at things going, oh, I'm just supposed to be at this thing. Yeah, what if I meet this person? And you might. But what if you were to go to the next networking event and say, I'm going and I'm not allowed to leave until I get seven people's contact information? Do you see how different that is? Yeah. And so now you're going with a purpose. Now you're going in because you value your time.

33:11Mel Robbins:you could do a little research and go, oh, I think so-and-so is going to be there. I'm not allowed to leave until I walk up and introduce myself and I ask this question. That's the purpose of going. One ask, right? Yes. One purpose. Love it. Yeah, because that focuses you. Let's talk about money and anxiety. Okay. And this is a personal question. For me, like, I don't know where it's coming from. I feel like the immigrant mindset, but basically my self-worth is really dependent on my productivity and how much money I'm making. What is wrong with this and how do you work with this? Well, I don't know that there's anything wrong with it.

33:49Mel Robbins:See, for me, I can't climb up into your brain and tell you what's right or wrong for you. I can just tell you based on the research and based on things that I've tried for myself what's been helpful to me. Have you ever had this problem? The problem of... Like the views define your worth or like the achievements define your worth, money. Of course. So here's the thing to ask yourself because, you know, I am really focused on what's in my control and what's not in my control. And you are never in control of the views on your videos or the downloads on your podcast or how many people. You kind of are.

34:29Mel Robbins:No, I'm not. No, I'm not. Absolutely not. Why not? Why not? Yeah. Yeah, a higher strategist who is understanding this better. I'll tell you why not, because I don't control whether or not another human being is going to wake up tomorrow and make time to hit play on something that I do. Don't ever take that for granted. I have to wake up every day and say, how do I make the next episode worthy of someone's time? So you can't guarantee the result. The only thing you can control is the process, the mission, and the intention, and the systems that create the desired result. And too many people focus on the result instead of focusing on the systems that create the result.

35:23Mel Robbins:So, you know, James Clear, who wrote The Atomic Habits, has this great thing where he does, I think, the four things that people make wrong about goals. People who win and people who lose have the exact same goals. The best team in the NBA and the worst team all have the goal to win the championship. Think about the difference between a person who is in business who says, I want to build a business that has a whatever. I want to build a business that does a million dollars in revenues this year. That's a goal. Yeah. Do you focus on the million dollars or do you focus day to day on the systems and the process and the habits and the things that create that outcome?

36:06Yeah.

36:06Mel Robbins:Too many people are actually focused on the outcome, the likes, the money, the car, the purse, the friend group. Instead of thinking about what's in your control, which is who is the kind of person that has great friendships? Who is the kind of person that has an incredible, vibrant energy and takes great care of themselves? What are the systems? What are the habits? What are the process that creates that over time? I am obsessive not about – I don't even have the back end to our metrics on the podcast because I become a nutcase obsessed with the data because I'm a very data-driven person. And my team does that intentionally so that I don't take my eye off the ball of what's actually important, which is, is the work that we're putting out today worthy of somebody's time?

36:58Mel Robbins:And if it's not, then we shouldn't be putting it out. So it's basically your own filter. Because for me, views, they're like a reflection of the systems that I've built, right? Correct. Because if the views are up, then the system is good. The views are down, I'm like, okay, I need to change something again. Maybe, maybe not. Maybe they're a function of the algorithm changing. Maybe they're a function of, like, to me, everybody has become so vanity obsessed with data and with views. You can have a massive business. You can make a global impact with 10 ,000 followers. That's true. If you are yourself, if you are providing value to people, and this is a very important thing about what's in your control and what's not.

37:41Mel Robbins:One reason why I think people get so anxious and depressed and, oh my God, and concerned about other people's opinions is you think your value is in the number of followers, the amount of money that you make, what people are saying about you. All of that stuff is out of your control. You could never, ever, ever control what another person does. You can't control whether or not they like or dislike your content. You cannot control whether or not they buy your stuff. You can't. You got to let them. And you've got to pull all the energy that you're wasting trying to micromanage everything so that other people like it and pull it back and go, wait a minute.

38:21Mel Robbins:I got to focus on do I like what I'm doing? Am I proud of what I'm putting out there? Because if you like what you're doing and you're proud of what you're putting out there, that's what you can control. And over time, if you keep doing it, there's 8 billion people on this planet. You will find the people that really resonate with what you're doing. you will start to listen to the people that are showing up and that'll help you change whatever service or product or thing that you're doing. I think people that are trying to engineer for virality and success because they want the success actually are engineering for failure.

38:57So when you stumble upon a negative comment about yourself, what goes on in your brain? I don't.

39:03Mel Robbins:And I'll tell you why. Why would I take advice or why would I give a shit about what some stranger on the internet is doing. Because for me, like as an entrepreneur, I see them as consumers of my product. And they're like... They're not consuming your product if they're spending time saying negative things about you. I only take criticism from people that are doing what I'm doing or people who I respect. And somebody who's wasting time spreading negativity online is not somebody I respect. So I do not give it a single ounce of thought, period. And by the way, a quarter of the interactions you have online are with bots.

39:36Mel Robbins:And so do not discount the unbelievable barrage of negative bullshit that is coming from bots aimed at anybody that is putting themselves out there in a way that attracts attention. And so value your time and ask yourself, like, why would you care? Like there's a difference between negative constructive criticism that has the intention of providing feedback that is meant to have you do better. Do you see that? Yeah. Versus the mindless stupidity and I think violence that we've allowed to happen online. Yeah. Do not even let them let these idiots say whatever the hell they want. Who cares? I love this theory of yours.

40:29Mel Robbins:Well, I'm serious. Like, let me remind myself. I know what my goals are. I know the kind of person I am. I know my intention in putting this out. So let them, let them, let them, let them misunderstand. Let them take out their anxiety and their, you know, desire to blame the world for the way their life is. Let them, let them, let them. Pool days call for cookouts and lots of laundry. This Memorial Day at Lowe's. Save$80 on a Charbroil Performance Series 4 Burner Gas Grill. Now just$199. Plus, get up to 45 % off select major appliances to keep dishes, clothes, and food fresh. Having fun in the sun is easy with us in your corner.

41:09Our best lineup is here at Lowe's. Valid through 527. While supplies last, selection varies by location. See associate or lowes.com for details. How do you apply this theory when someone is very close to you and saying negative things about things you want to start doing or you are doing?

41:28Mel Robbins:Stop looking at your family and your friends for the support you need when it comes to business and change. Your family and your friends have not done the thing you want to do. It is a normal reaction for people who know you as you are to question and misunderstand your dreams and goals because your dreams and goals are not meant for them. That's why they don't understand them. And they will always and forever be concerned about whether or not you're going to be okay and whether or not it's going to work because they love you. There's this famous saying that David Kessler, this incredible expert on grief says, which is stop looking for milk in a hardware store.

42:08Mel Robbins:If you want support in some change you're making, do not waste time hoping and wishing people who have not made that change are going to be able to support you. People can only meet you as deeply as they've met themselves. And your goals and dreams are meant for you. There are people in this world who have done what you want to do. They have made the changes that you want to make. Find them online. Find them in groups in the city you live in. read books about these people, follow videos. Those are the people who are going to support you because they know what you're going to be going through. They know how difficult it is.

42:46Mel Robbins:And so I want you to see like people like, I'll give you an example from my life where I was the bad guy. So my daughter, Sawyer, who I wrote the Let Them Theory book with, she had worked in cybersecurity at a massive international cybersecurity firm in marketing for three years. She had worked there during college as well. And she'd saved a bunch of money. And she came to me and my husband and said, you know, guys, I'm going to quit my job and I've decided I'm going to fulfill a lifelong dream and I am going to go to Asia and solo backpack as a 25 year old woman for the next five months. This is her dream.

43:22Mel Robbins:Do you know what that sounded like to me? That's a mother's worst nightmare, right? So I'm like, no, you're not. What do you mean? How's this going to work? Oh my God. So I was not supportive because I'm scared. And I'm scared not because I want to like derail her dreams, but because, you know, her decision is now triggering this fear in me. And I don't mean to block her dreams. I just love her and I want her to be okay. That's a beautiful thing, but I'm not being helpful and supportive. And so that's an example of how somebody who loves you and who wants the best for you can say things that feel very defeatist or unsupportive.

44:01Mel Robbins:And that's why you've got to let them. Her dream is not meant for me. That's why I don't understand it. I have no desire to do that. That's why I question it. And it's not your job to question your dreams. Your job is to follow them. I love it. And do not look at your mom and dad as the people who should support you in being sober if they drink. Do not look at your partner to support you in running a marathon if they have not been off the couch or seen the inside of a gym in two years because they don't understand it. It's not meant for them. Let them. Wow. You mentioned your daughter several times.

44:35Have you ever experienced mom guilt? Especially when you were building your career, right? You have to be away from the kids.

44:42Mel Robbins:Yes, it's the worst. You know, the way that I wrestled it, because when I started building my career, it was around 2014 where I started to travel. And the truth is desperation is an incredible motivator. And I had liens on my house. We were$800 ,000 in debt. My husband had left the restaurant business. that was going under. And I was the sole breadwinner. And so I said yes to everything because my highest value was safety. I was going to do everything I could to pay off our debt, to put groceries on the table, to get my kids into town soccer, to be able to provide them what I wanted to provide them as a parent, to make the ends meet.

45:36Mel Robbins:I said, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. And I was lucky enough to work so hard and to be so talented as a speaker, giving keynotes at corporate conferences. This would have been 2014 to about 2019, that I was on the road 150 days a year. How old were your kids? My kids were, oh God, you're going to ask me to do math right now. My kids were probably 13 and under, 13, 11, and it was painful. It was so painful to miss so much. Do you regret it now? No. No. Absolutely not. Because it was a necessity. I wasn't doing it to make millions of dollars. I was doing it to pay my bills. Like, it's a joke that people think you can't work or that it's like something you should regret.

46:31Mel Robbins:Like, if you want to take responsibility for your life, there are things you're going to have to do that you don't want to do. That's what it means to be an adult. And it was a fantasy to think that I could be home because we were so in debt and my husband was so beaten down and a shell of himself, it was on me. If I wanted to keep the house, if I wanted to pay the bills, if I wanted my kids to be able to do the things at school that cost extra money, then it was on me. And so I had this experience where I desperately missed them. I missed most of what happened in middle school and high school with my daughters because I was on the road all the time.

47:17Mel Robbins:And the way that I started to wrestle with the guilt, because there's two forms of guilt, there's productive guilt, which is the kind of guilt that comes up that's like, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, the reason you feel guilty for not making an effort to see your aging parents or to spend more time with families because family matters to you. And so that kind of guilt's really good because it organizes your sense of character and your values to get you to pay attention to the things you're neglecting. But then there's the second form of guilt, which is very destructive, which is you're like, I'm a bad mom.

47:52Mel Robbins:I'm a bad person. I can't do anything right. See, I'm failing everywhere. I feel so guilty. You aim it here versus aiming it out there at what I need to change. And it helped to know that I was doing this because as a mom, safety and security were my number one priority. And I also focused on the fact that while I didn't have quantity of time in person, I had quality on the weekends when I was home. And the truth is traveling for work, like lots of people do that. I mean, it's not like I was deployed and I didn't see my family for a year, which is a completely different type of sacrifice that people make.

48:37Mel Robbins:It's not like there are lots of other things that happen. And so I also did a little perspective checking. The other thing that helped me a lot, and this is a small tweak, is that your guilt as a mom serves no one. In fact, when you feel guilty for having ambition, you're actually blaming your family. Like when I say to my kid, I feel so guilty. It's like it's their fault. So here's what switched it for me. I started saying, thank you. Thank you for being so supportive of my career. Thank you for always cheering me on. I miss you when I'm gone, but I so appreciate the level of support you guys give me.

49:26Mel Robbins:And I said the same thing to my husband. I could not do this without you being a stay-at-home dad. Thank you guys. And here's what I want you to know. When you grow up and you go out in the world and you go chase down some dream of yours, I'm going to be the loudest cheerleader. I'm going to be there to support you because you supported me. Thank you. I love that. And so that brings them into what you're doing versus you separating yourself. I feel so bad. I'm sorry. I'm guilt. I'm terrible, mother. That makes your kids feel bad. Do you feel like you've slowed down from that time? No. No? Okay.

50:02No. So you're still like 180 days on the road.

50:06Mel Robbins:I'm not on the road that much. I run a very big business. It's a very complicated business. I have 55 employees. Wow. We reach between 9 and 11 million listeners a week with the Mel Robbins podcast. We are the third largest podcast in the world. And you were just nominated for Golden Globe. Yes. Amazing. Congratulations. It's amazing. And what a lot of people don't know is that we put more than 100 hours into every episode. We do different episodes on YouTube than we do for audio because the audiences are different. I have invested heavily in tech. And so I'm not a podcast host. I'm a tech entrepreneur.

50:49Mel Robbins:I'm a businesswoman. And I feel like a lot of things that people do when it comes to building something is you think being good at something is what makes you successful. That's not what makes you successful. Being good at something is the price of entry. If you're not good at something, then get good. Because that's the baseline. You have no business doing something and charging people for something if you're not good at it. And there are ways to focus on the skills of being better at something by doing it. But the way you become excellent is you become obsessive about the details that nobody else is thinking about.

51:27Mel Robbins:The way that you become obsessive and excellent is you think about who is it for, what's it for. That comes from Seth Godin, the godfather of marketing. And you think about how is what you're doing valuable to another human being. What are the levers and the nuances of the ecosystem of the business that I'm in that I need to understand? And in my business of podcasting, Apple is very different than Spotify. Spotify is very different than YouTube. Yeah. And not understanding the difference between the actual tech platforms and the way that they're monetized means you're just good and you're talented, but you're not actually in the business because you don't understand the larger ecosystem, which makes you a sitting duck.

52:11But doesn't that make you feel that you're doing too much and do you ever want to slow down or you're in your rhythm and you're okay with it?

52:18Mel Robbins:No, I had a big conversation with my buddy Jay Shetty two years ago and we were just talking about time. And one of the things that I think is very important is to really think about in the next 12 months, what is the highest priority that you have? What do you value? And for me, I don't want to do more. I want to figure out how to continue to be excellent, how to deliver something that really moves and empowers and inspires people, and how to do that in less time and with more fun. Like for me, it's about kind of optimizing what we're already doing so we can be more effective and more efficient.

53:08Mel Robbins:And seeing around the corners, like we were investing heavily in AI tools two years ago. Because my podcast is evergreen, and that means that unlike most shows where things have a week-long cycle because you're interviewing a celebrity or you're talking about breaking news or smack-talking something that's going down, our entire catalog will be relevant for the next 100 years. Amazing. Because we talk about life. The question is, like, do you ever allow yourself to slow down? Yes. Or you feel like you can't. I have incredibly great boundaries with work. Can you give me some rules? Yes, I have very big rules.

53:48Mel Robbins:And also understand that I'm in a phase in my career where I understand the seat on the bus I'm supposed to be in. One of the hardest things about being an entrepreneur is as you start to grow, you will start hoarding all the things when you need to start to hire people that are better than you in those roles. Here are some really big goals. I never have my phone on my person. So if I'm at work, it's on my desk. Everyone that works for me will tell you. I'm constantly like, does anyone know where my phone is? When I am at home, it goes either at my desk at home or goes in this particular corner in the kitchen where it's plugged in, but it's not on my person.

54:26Mel Robbins:And the reason why is the further away it is for me, the less distracted I am by it. And that's a huge thing. I set out rules. I never accept a speech on a Monday or a Friday because it requires me to travel. I never, I block out my weekends. I do not do work on the weekends, period. We are scheduled all the way through next year so that I know what five days every month I am in our studios in Boston. That's where we do 10 expert interviews in five days. And then the other ones I do wherever. I obsessively block my time so that I'm only traveling during certain window of a month and I get two or three weeks at my home in Southern Vermont, I live in a tiny town.

55:11Mel Robbins:When did you introduce those rules? What was the period of time when you're like, okay, I'm successful enough to be able to do this? 2018, I started saying, I don't want to travel like I am. I've paid off the lien on the house. I've restored our savings. I don't need to keep saying yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, because I've achieved the goal. You will become more successful the more you say no. Because when you say no, something interesting happens. People are like, wait a minute. Well, what's it going to take? Because when you say no, you've initiated this really weird thing that happens. So people want you more.

55:50Yeah. I've noticed that.

55:51Mel Robbins:Suddenly budgets come up. Suddenly things start shifting. And you also want to understand if everything's important, nothing is important. I'm going to say that again. If everything's important, nothing's important. And I think one of the biggest problems a lot of people have right now, I had this for sure, is you don't even know what's important. Do you know the number one priority that you need to achieve this week related to either your personal goal or related to your business? And if the answer is no, you're fucked. If you don't know the number one strategic objective that you need to make progress on this week, you do not have a business plan.

56:25I love it.

56:26Mel Robbins:You have a reaction plan because you are going to allow everybody else's emergencies to become your priority. Do you know how easy it is for your partners or other people to email you or text you or Slack you or do whatever? And now you think that has to go to the top of your list. You think you got to respond to every email right away. When you do that, you teach people that you're not actually busy. It starts with you. You have to learn to respect your own time. You have to get back to being strategic and identifying every week, what's the single most important thing that I am doing this week that I need to make meaningful progress on?

57:05Mel Robbins:If you have a team, what is the single most important thing for every person on the team to achieve this week in their lane? If they don't know it, you're not running your company, you're running in circles. Wow, you're a genius. I love that. Today we helped a latte for Sam coffee shop get an insurance quote simply and easily and made sure a floral delivery van was able to make someone's day. We're the Hartford, with decades of experience insuring millions of unique small businesses. When it comes to your small business insurance, Thank you. one size absolutely does not fit all. Get a quote or find an agent today at thehartford.com slash smallbusiness.

57:49Mel Robbins:I'm 57. I screwed things up for a long time. There were periods of my career that were driven by desperation and need. And once I handled the bills, then I could go into, okay, well, what's the dream? What's the strategy? How do you turn this into a business? I've made so many mistakes. I have been the victim of wire fraud. I have had a person that I trusted steal a database of 700 ,000 email names and destroy and present fake data during a book launch. And then as we started to catch them, they re-uploaded things into the email database and started spamming people. So our URL got tagged by Gmail.

58:36Mel Robbins:I have had people steal from me. I have been an idiot about things and that will happen to you as you build a business. It just happens and you will learn from it and you will be okay and you know when I say let them you're not allowing people to do anything you're forcing yourself to recognize who people are what the situation is and to understand that the one thing in life you can never control is what other people think, what they do, what they believe, how they act. So do not give your time and energy to it. Let them. And then say the second part, let me remind myself what's in my control is my attitude.

59:18Mel Robbins:What's in my control is what I choose to do and what I choose not to do. And what's in my control is how I respond to emotions. Do I let them run me over, which I used to? I used to be probably the worst person to work for because my energy was so all over the place. I was constantly stressed out and I was constantly barking at myself and other people and negative attitude. Like manage your energy. I believe that leaders bring the weather. What does that mean? You get to choose every day whether you're the sun and you're warm and you're capable and it shifts everything if you believe that you're going to figure it out and you're kind and you manage that energy or you can be the storm.

1:00:03Mel Robbins:And we've all worked for a storm and we hate those people. And that's a really valuable currency that you have that I want you to take seriously. Figure out what you want. Really be the kind of bluebird, sunny sky that doesn't mean you're nice or pushover. It means you're kind and clear and firm. Know what you want. Reverse engineer it. Put your head down. Throw out your timeline because you have no idea what extraordinary path you're about to walk down. You can figure it out. You're going to surprise yourself by what you're capable of creating. And the cool thing about having kids is how are they going to learn to pursue their dreams?

1:00:49How do they learn to build something that's their own?

1:00:52Mel Robbins:How do they learn? You show them. Yeah. You show them. And you learn how to trust yourself. Yeah. Whatever happens. Love it. Let's wrap up this with trying your new drink. Oh, my God. Okay. Can we try it? Yes. So I am so excited because, thank you for this, everything that I do is, I'm so intellectually curious. I'm constantly interested in what are some things I can use based on science that are simple that help me create a better life. I just love finding innovative new ways to think about things, to do things. And two years ago, Dr. Amy Shaw, episode 77, came on the podcast and just dropped like unbelievable wisdom.

1:01:35Mel Robbins:One after the other, she was the first person on the podcast to come on and talk about the importance of protein, not just for muscles, but also for dopamine and serotonin and focus. And she was the first person that made me realize, wait a minute, protein isn't just something you need for the gym. Protein is critical for your life. Yeah. And once she told me that you need to get a certain amount of protein for energy, for vitality, for focus, for your hormone balance, I started focusing on protein. And it's really hard to get the amount of protein that the medical experts recommend. And I was eating the chicken and the salmon and the beef and the bars and the smoothies and all.

1:02:19Mel Robbins:And I was always coming up short. And about a year ago, somebody sent me this product, and it was a protein shot where there were 23 grams of protein in a TSA-approved three-ounce bottle. Nice. And I, you know, drank the product, and I was like, well, this is incredible, but I hate the taste, and I don't like the ingredients, and I reached out to the founders. And I said, I think you are marketing something for people that care about macros in the gym, and you're not recognizing that everybody needs protein. Like kids that are in school that are neurodivergent need protein because they can't focus.

1:02:56And being fed pizza in a plastic. Yes.

1:02:58Mel Robbins:And people recovering from surgery and cancer can't get enough protein. I can't get enough protein. High school students can't get enough protein. You know, on the days that you can meal prep and do it all, maybe you can get enough protein. But it's very hard to get enough protein in the right calorie count with all the amino acids. And I said, I think that I should get involved and I should build the scientific advisory board of world-renowned medical experts. And I should go to the factory and I should meet the scientists and I should drive the flavor. And we should work with renowned doctors to create the single best complete protein on the go that's clinical grade that anybody can use that's a high-impact protein.

1:03:37Mel Robbins:And here's a quick trick for everybody. The way that you know high-impact protein is if you look at the protein count, which is 23 grams. At a zero. So what is that? 200 at 30? Yep. Now compare that to calories. Oh. To 100. Yeah. So if it's a lot bigger than the calorie count, that's a high-impact protein. So all of the things right now that have protein, the chips, the this, the that, you'll notice it's 5 grams to like 200 calories. So if you add a zero, 50 to two, so now you know. Okay. 92 % of the calories, it's 100 calories, gluten-free, zero sugar. It's got stevia, monk fruit. 92 % of the calories are coming from a complete protein in that.

1:04:21Okay, let's try it. Okay, so here's a little taste.

1:04:23Mel Robbins:You don't have to refrigerate it. It's better at refrigerate. Just like this? Yes, that's it. Do you mix it with water? You don't have to. Go ahead. You can taste it plain, and then I'll pour a little in your water.

1:04:34Oh, wow. It tastes like candy. It doesn't taste like a protein shake or something. Wow.

1:04:40Mel Robbins:And look, you can mix it with water or iced tea or a margarita or... There's candy that I used to eat as a kid. Hi-choo? Yeah. Everyone's like, this tastes like hi-choo. Hi-choo. Yes. And we worked with all these medical doctors. A lot of protein products have sucralose in it, which counteracts chemotherapy. therapy. And so this has no artificial colors, no artificial. So good. Right? We figured it out. There is no other protein shot in the market. Please send it to me when you launch it because this is going to be in my kids' bottles when they go to school. And let me show you something. Wow.

1:05:17Mel Robbins:The name Pure Genius. I drove all the branding. I recruited a world-class medical board. I am a full co-founder. I refuse to put my name on something I will not. I did not drive and I don't trust. And that's why I changed the formulation. That's why I went to the labs. That's why I've met all the researchers and scientists. That's why I've drove every decision. And check this out. The brand was very important to me because I want you to feel like a genius for using this. And the universal symbol for a great idea. is a yeah it's a light bulb love it and so i want you to feel it's all inspired by vintage light bulbs and i want you to feel like a genius for choosing to prioritize your health and for choosing something that's simple and that's backed by science and that's pure genius i love the message you're sending with this because as an immigrant uh a lot of my followers know food is was a big problem for me in the u.s and i'm still trying to figure it out especially with my kids at school.

1:06:19And I'm glad that creators are now paying attention to this and yeah, that you're building something that's healthy. Thank you so much. You're welcome. You're welcome. And thank you for this conversation. I'm taking so much. I'm taking so much with me. I'm going to listen to learning.

1:06:34Mel Robbins:We had a little bit of time, so I'm normally not this like, boom, boom, boom, but it's important for you to understand you have so much more power than you're giving yourself credit for, that you can figure it out, that the tools are out there, that you're capable of it. And the first step is just giving yourself permission to admit that there are certain aspects of your life that don't feel the way you want them to feel. And you can change it when you do that. The most important thing is trusting myself as well. Well, you gain trust by watching yourself do what you want to do. You trust yourself by proving it to yourself one action at a time.

1:07:15Mel Robbins:If you align your life with your values and if you make decisions based on the things that will make you proud of yourself based on who you are right now and what your values are, that's how you build trust with yourself. You build it one decision at a time. Love it. Thank you so much. You're welcome. This was amazing. Did you know if your windows are bare, indoor temperatures can go up 20 degrees? Get ahead of summer with custom window treatments like solar roller shades from Blinds.com and save up to 45 % off during the Memorial Day Early Access Sale. Whether you want to DIY it or have a pro handle everything, we've got you.

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