The 7-Day Reset for More Time, Energy, _ Happiness (Backed by Science)

Mel Robbins

Order your copy of The Let Them Theory 👉 https://melrob.co/let-them-theory 👈 The #1 Best Selling Book of 2025 🔥 Discover how much power you truly have. It all begins with two simple words. Let Them. —  Today, you are getting a simple plan to take back control. In this episode, Mel is sharing the 7 research-backed habits that will make a huge difference in your day-to-day life and will help you to reclaim your time, your energy, and your focus.   These are weekly habits for productivity, wellness, health, and balance.   If you feel constantly overwhelmed, stressed, or like you’re running on empty, this episode is your reset button. Consider it your blueprint for taking back control.   After listening, you will have 7 habits, that if you do them each once per week, will make it an amazing one. You’ll go from feeling scattered and exhausted to calm, clear, and ready to face whatever life throws at you next.   This episode comes with a powerful companion checklist—designed using the latest research to help you beat overwhelm and take back your power with simple weekly habits. The best part? You can start using it in less than a minute.  For more resources related to today’s episode, click here for the podcast episode page:  https://www.melrobbins.com/podcasts/e...  Follow The Mel Robbins Podcast on Instagram:   / themelrobbinspodcast     I’m just your friend. I am not a licensed therapist, and this podcast is NOT intended as a substitute for the advice of a physician, professional coach, psychotherapist, or other qualified professional. Got it? Good. I’ll see you in the next episode.   In this episode: 00:00 Introduction 01:10 The Science-Backed Checklist for a Better Week 06:46 #1: Do a Brain Dump 16:36 #2: Free Yourself 21:56 #3: Set One Priority 35:07 #4: Plan One Meal 45:04 #5: Schedule One Workout 49:30 #6: Plan Time for Rest 56:40 #7: Connect with Someone. 01:03:42 You Can Take Control of Your Time and Energy   — Follow Mel: Instagram:   / melrobbins    TikTok:   / melrobbins    Facebook:   / melrobbins    LinkedIn:   / melrobbins    Website: http://melrobbins.com​  — Sign up for Mel’s newsletter: https://melrob.co/sign-up-newsletter A note from Mel to you, twice a week, sharing simple, practical ways to build the life you want. — Subscribe to Mel’s channel here: https://www.youtube.com/melrobbins​?s...  — Listen to The Mel Robbins Podcast 🎧 New episodes drop every Monday & Thursday! https://melrob.co/spotify https://melrob.co/applepodcasts https://melrob.co/amazonmusic  — Looking for Mel’s books on Amazon? Find them here:  The Let Them Theory: https://amzn.to/3IQ21Oe  The Let Them Theory Audiobook: https://amzn.to/413SObp The High 5 Habit: https://amzn.to/3fMvfPQ  The 5 Second Rule: https://amzn.to/4l54fah

Transcript

00:00:00You and I live in a moment in history where the world is now designed to steal your time,

00:00:07your energy, your joy, and your focus. You may have had this kind of feeling or you've been

00:00:12wondering, why am I exhausted all the time? Why do I never have time for myself? Why can't I focus?

00:00:17Why can't I make progress on something that's important to me? Well, I'll tell you why.

00:00:21It's because the world is designed to steal your time and energy. From social media to the crazy

00:00:28headlines that make you feel helpless to endless work to to-do lists that never end. I mean,

00:00:33I'm sure that there are so many weeks where you just crawl through your week and you get across

00:00:39the finish line and then you collapse over the weekend. And the next thing you know, my God,

00:00:42it's Sunday night and you have the Sunday scaries and you're just right back in it again. You're

00:00:46just trying to survive. I did something about it and I want you to do something about it. And I

00:00:51boiled it down into this super simple seven item checklist that will help you fight back against

00:00:58a world that's stealing your time, your energy and joy. Enough. The fact is, you can take control

00:01:05of this and you need to. And it begins by taking your week back. Hey, it's your friend Mel. I am so

00:01:15thrilled you're here. I am fired up. Can you tell I'm fired up for today's conversation?

00:01:19Welcome to the Mel Robbins podcast. I am so excited that you're here. And you know,

00:01:24it's always such an honor to spend time with you and to be together. But today's conversation,

00:01:30this feels urgent to me. And that's why if you're a new listener, I want to take a moment

00:01:35and intentionally, purposefully welcome you to the Mel Robbins podcast family. I am thrilled that

00:01:41you're here for this conversation. And because you made time to listen to this particular episode,

00:01:47I know that you're the type of person who values your time. You want to use it wisely. And here's what

00:01:53I'm going to tell you. This episode values your time too, because I'm going to teach you how to

00:01:59take your time back from a world who is stealing it. I'm going to teach you how to take your energy

00:02:03and your focus and your joy back from a world that is designed to rob you of it. That's right. You

00:02:09heard me right. I mean, have you stopped to think about how you are now living in a moment in history

00:02:16where everything about the world today, it is purposefully stealing your time. You've heard

00:02:23the phrase time is money. Well, so is your energy, your focus, your joy. I mean, the headlines make

00:02:29you feel helpless. Work is endless. Social media, oh my gosh, doom scrolling, stealing joy, stealing

00:02:35time, stealing energy. And your friend Mel Robbins, I'm going to tell you something. You have to wake up

00:02:42and take your power back. And if somebody forwarded this episode to you and recommended that you

00:02:47listen to it, I want to remind you of something. You have people in your life that care about you.

00:02:51You have people in your life that believe that your time and energy is valuable. That is a very cool

00:02:55thing. And you're now with your friend Mel, and I believe your time and energy is valuable. And so

00:03:02thank you for making the time to listen to this, because the seven things on the checklist that I'm about

00:03:07to share with you, these are the secret, the foundational building blocks to you taking your

00:03:15power back from a world that is trying to steal it and purposefully, purposefully putting in place

00:03:23the seven things that will help you create a great week. And when I go through the seven things on this

00:03:30checklist, I'm going to warn you, this is not like some super fancy, intellectual, crazy, complicated

00:03:37thing. On the surface, every one of the seven things is going to be like, oh, well, that's a low bar.

00:03:47But they're so deep and so profound. The research you're about to hear is going to not only make every

00:03:59one of the seven things feel urgent, it's going to make you know why they matter. And you're also

00:04:06going to go, oh, well, I'm not currently doing these things. No wonder I feel powerless. No wonder

00:04:12I have no time. No wonder my energy is drained. And I can't wait to share this with you, because you can

00:04:19do every single thing on this checklist. And the checklist is what makes this research that you're

00:04:27about to hear from Harvard Medical School, Harvard Business School, all of these incredible studies

00:04:33that have been done around the world. It makes all of this knowledge actionable and doable. And before

00:04:39I jump in, and I cannot wait to jump in, because I can't wait for you to take your power back and start

00:04:44having great weeks again. I know you're gonna be going, oh my gosh, slow down, Mel. Do I need to write

00:04:49these down? I want to make this so easy for you. I want you to have a great week every week. So I have

00:04:54a one-page download for you that you can print out. You can hang it on your fridge. You can put

00:05:00it on your desk. You can put it on your dresser. It's free. Just go to melrobins.com slash week.

00:05:05That's it. melrobins.com slash week. Put in your email. I'll email you download. Boom. Now you got the

00:05:11checklist for every week. And I want you to have the checklist, because when you see it, it will remind

00:05:17you, oh, these are the seven things I need to check off. And if I check off these things, then I can plan

00:05:23to have a great week. But here's what we're going to do. Regardless of the day of the week that you're

00:05:27listening, regardless of it's a good week, or it's a lame week, or it's a hell week, or it's an amazing

00:05:32week, I want you to listen to the entire conversation right now with me. I want you to learn and absorb

00:05:39everything. I want you to truly embrace the truth, the simplicity, and the brilliance of what I'm about

00:05:48to say to you, that having a great week isn't what you think it is. Having a great week is a

00:05:56combination of seven simple things. And I'm going to unpack all of them. But I want to make sure that

00:06:04you understand before you try to implement it, the whole process, the research, the step-by-step stuff,

00:06:10you're going to be nodding along, you're going to be thinking of a million people you need to send

00:06:13this to, so be generous with it. And listen, and then you can go to melrobins.com slash week

00:06:20and get the one-page download so that you're reminded of everything we talked about, and then

00:06:25you can implement it. I'm going to do all the heavy lifting. I want to set you up for success

00:06:29because you chose to hit play. You chose to make the time for this. And so, by God, I'm not only going

00:06:36to make this fun to listen to, you are going to feel so excited about the week ahead of you

00:06:42because you're going to have the seven-item checklist that's going to make it great.

00:06:46All right, you ready to jump in? Me too. Let's start with number one. And the very first thing

00:06:52on the checklist to creating a great week is you got to do a brain dump. Now, I know what you're

00:06:57thinking. What is a brain dump? It is as simple as it sounds. You're going to take everything that's

00:07:02up in your brain that's weighing you down, and you are going to get it out of your brain and dump it

00:07:07onto a piece of paper. It is the equivalent of mental vomiting. You're just going to put it all

00:07:14out on paper. I have done this for years. And for years, the way that I have used a brain dump is

00:07:20anytime I feel overwhelmed, or I start to feel like I'm starting to ruminate, or if you get a

00:07:25case of the Sunday scaries, and you're starting to dread the week ahead, or you feel like you've got

00:07:31a lot to do, and you didn't get it done over the weekend, you need a brain dump. And here's what you

00:07:36do. You take out a piece of paper, and you just start writing down everything that is in your

00:07:41head. And it's going to be random stuff. Like it is fascinating how much you actually carry upstairs

00:07:48in your mind, and you're probably not even aware of it. Because you're going to start writing things

00:07:52like I got to pick up the dry cleaning, I got to make lasagna, I got to call my mother, I've got to

00:07:57finish that presentation at work, I need to finish reading that chapter, I got to clean out the drawer

00:08:02in my bathroom. And it's then it's going to go ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba. You might have to put down,

00:08:07I got to stop crying, I've got like, it's going to be unbelievable. I got to buy the birthday present

00:08:12for that friend of mine, I got to call that friend back. It is incredible. Once you rip that seal open,

00:08:19how much is going to come pouring out of your mind and onto a piece of paper. And one of the reasons why

00:08:25a brain dump is so liberating is because first of all, every time you write something down,

00:08:33you feel a little space in your mind free up. It's really cool. The second thing that you're

00:08:39going to notice is, holy cow, I actually carry a lot around. And you're going to be kind of impressed

00:08:45with your mental capacity. And it's also going to show you no wonder I can't focus on anything

00:08:50because I've been walking around up here with clean out the back closet. Don't forget to call your

00:08:54sister and you got to pick up that thing. Oh, you know, one thing that's on my brain dump

00:08:58is we went on a family trip for my dad's 80th birthday. And one of the things that I've been

00:09:04carrying around ever since is I got to get the photo album done. I got to get that photo album

00:09:08done. You know how you do like one of those family photo albums with an online print photo thing. I got

00:09:14to get that done. Got to get that laid out. Got to get everybody to contribute their photos to the

00:09:18family album. I am carrying that around. And so you're just going to brain dump it out. In fact,

00:09:24I did one yesterday and I used an entirely new approach. So I want to show it to you. Normally

00:09:31what I do is I dump it on one piece of paper. That's step one. Just get it out, get it out,

00:09:36get it out, get it out. It might take you 15 minutes. And then what you'll notice is 30 minutes

00:09:42from now, you're going to see that thing and be like, oh, there's that thing that I forgot.

00:09:46I forgot that I needed to do that thing at work. And so let me put that down. Oh, I forgot that I

00:09:50needed to send that email. Let me put that down. Oh, I forgot that I need to pull my sweater out of

00:09:55the washing machine and hang it up so that my roommate doesn't throw it in the dryer and then

00:10:00shrink my sweater into a Barbie size thing. And so you've got all of this upstairs. Yesterday,

00:10:07I did one of these because a brain dump is always number one on the checklist for how I set myself up

00:10:12to have a great week because we don't want to carry that with us, right? We want to get all that

00:10:17out so we can have a clear head and we're also have a sense of what's actually important

00:10:22on paper. So yesterday, check this out. Yesterday, I was so overwhelmed because I'm about to go

00:10:29on a business trip to Los Angeles. So that means I got a pack, which always throws me into a complete

00:10:34frenzy. So yesterday I decided, here's what I'm going to do. Instead of putting it on one sheet,

00:10:40I got three big post-it notes out. I'm going to show you them. Actually, I'm going to show you one

00:10:44of them right now because normally what I do is I'll put the brain dump because I know you're going

00:10:48to ask. I'm holding up if you're listening. I'm holding up just a garden variety notebook and I keep

00:10:54this by my desk. I'm not going to show you this because I do not want you to actually zoom in on the

00:11:00insanity that is my mind that I write in here. But I'll often be at a meeting and work and I'll draw

00:11:06a line down the right-hand side of the paper and literally start a little brain dump there. It's not a

00:11:10to-do list. Very important. Not a to-do list. I have no intention of getting any of this stuff

00:11:16done. I'm just dumping it down on paper to get it out of my brain because I'm starting to notice

00:11:22that I'm swirling and I'm getting overwhelmed. So again, very important to understand that a brain

00:11:27dump, not a to-do list. Here's another notebook. This one's prettier. I know even has my name on it,

00:11:32Mel. This one is the notebook that I use for like my therapy notes and important things.

00:11:38But occasionally, there's a brain dump there. There's sketching of something that I want to

00:11:43redesign at my house. Oh, here's another brain dump right here. Wow. I got a lot of brain dumps

00:11:50in this fancy notebook. But again, it's not a to-do list. And that's what's so liberating about

00:11:55this. You're actually just creating space in your mind. But that brings me to how did I do it

00:11:59yesterday? This is a level up on the Mel Robbins brain dump. Let me tell you. What I did is I have

00:12:05these kind of big post-it notes. I literally put three post-it notes out on the island right here.

00:12:15Check this out. And I put work at the top of one and then I put personal and then I put home.

00:12:22So it was work, personal and home. And I put them on the counter in the kitchen. And all day long,

00:12:29it was the most liberating thing over the weekend. I would just walk past and be like, oh yeah,

00:12:34I got to get ready for the speech I'm giving for Microsoft. Oh yeah. I got to remember to pack three

00:12:38microphones for LA. Oh yeah. I got to make sure to do this thing that's not going to make any sense

00:12:44to you. But the code is map and the blueprint and map it to the marketing ops job, which means

00:12:50absolutely nothing, but it means something to me. And more importantly, now that it's on this little

00:12:54post-it note, it is not in my brain. And that's what you need. And so whether you start this checklist

00:13:03by just taking out a piece of paper that is from your printer paper or a spiral bound notebook or your

00:13:11journal, or you use this three post-it note system, work, home and personal, and you just keep it out,

00:13:20keep it out. And you just are dumping it out. That's what you're doing. And one of the things

00:13:27that you're going to notice, and this is where things get liberating, is especially the things

00:13:33that were on my list for home. 99% of the stuff on my list is not happening this week. And yet I'm

00:13:42carrying it around in my head. I'm not going to organize my bathroom drawers right now. That's not

00:13:48what I'm going to do. I am not going to go through the pantry and find everything that's expired and

00:13:52actually don't like get rid of it. That's not what I'm going to do. In fact, you want to know what's

00:13:57come up on my to-do list for home over and over and over and over again. I'm almost embarrassed to

00:14:04tell you this because I've talked about this on social media. I think I've talked about this on the

00:14:09podcast before. But what comes up every single time? I do a brain dump every weekend, literally.

00:14:17I have lived in this house in Southern Vermont for four years. We don't have a single photo of anyone

00:14:28in our family hanging on any wall. Not one. Not one. Four years I have lived here. Four years and not a

00:14:40single photo of our family hanging on any of the walls. And so every single time I do a brain dump,

00:14:49do you want to know the two words that ends up on that single piece of paper that were this weekend

00:14:54in my elevated home brain dump list? Picture wall. I know you have something like this. In fact, as we

00:15:04were talking as a team about this, our executive producer Tracy was like, oh my God, I can't believe

00:15:09you just said that. My husband and I have lived in this apartment for almost a year. I am sitting

00:15:16next to a shelf that still has baggies on it. It is on my to-do list to organize the shelf. I'm not

00:15:22going to get this done this week. And I'm like, exactly. And you still need to dump it on the brain

00:15:28dump list because this is not a to-do list. The whole purpose of this is to get you to get

00:15:34everything out of your mind so that you do not succumb to the Sunday scaries. Get everything

00:15:40out of your mind so you don't start the week in a state of overwhelm. Get everything out of your mind

00:15:46so you're not dragging all of this stuff that's knocking around in your brain like a pinball machine

00:15:51into this week. We're not doing that. So if you start with the checklist item number one,

00:15:57and you just do a brain dump and just write everything down and just keep coming back to

00:16:03the list. Here's for work. Here's for personal. Here's for home. Here's for work. Here's for

00:16:07personal. Here's for home. Here's for work. Here's for personal. Here's for home. Boom. You're done.

00:16:13And you're going to feel lighter. It's sort of like a mental spray tan. I got one of my first spray tans

00:16:18ever. You know, my 25-year-old daughter was like, mom, you got to have a spray tan. You're looking

00:16:22really zombie-like lately in the videos. And so I try to spray tan. I swear to God,

00:16:27I'm like, I need to own a spray tan machine. I feel like I'm 10 years younger and five pounds

00:16:32lighter. You are going to feel the same way after you do a brain dump. Okay. So that's checklist

00:16:39item number one. So now you're standing there. You got your brain dump, barfed out mental stuff,

00:16:44piece of paper, or you got your three post-it notes, right? Like I did this weekend, which I just

00:16:49loved because the other thing that I loved about the post-it note, I can then stick it into the journal

00:16:54that I carry around. So now I've got the reminder, you know, kind of right there, but you're going to

00:17:00be standing there feeling 10 years younger and five pounds lighter now that you did your brain dump.

00:17:05That brings me to item number two on the checklist for having a great week. You ready? You're going to

00:17:13free yourself. What does that mean? Oh, honey, you're going to free yourself of all the things

00:17:20on that little brain dump that you're carrying around mentally. Here's how you're going to do

00:17:26it. This is the most liberating thing in the world. You are going to cross things off.

00:17:32There is so much on that list that you have zero intention of doing this week. Just put a cross

00:17:41right there. Just take a Sharpie, wipe it right off the list. That's where you're going to, you're going

00:17:46to free yourself of the burden of carrying this around. My friend Tracy, our executive producer,

00:17:52she's not organizing her bookcase. Cross it off the list. I'm going to tell you about another thing

00:17:58that I crossed off the list. So I have this, this box right here. I'm going to show it to you if

00:18:03you're watching YouTube, but you can, you can hear it as you're listening to me. This is a FedEx box.

00:18:10This big priority mailbox. It is full of photos, full of photos. These are all photos. These are

00:18:18now photos in baggies that are photos that I sent to, I believe the Today Show like four or five years

00:18:30ago so that they could scan some photos and show some photos, you know, like when they're introducing

00:18:36somebody, they have been sitting in a box next to my desk. This is like a tractor trailer that I drag

00:18:46around mentally with me because they sit next to my desk and I look at it and I think I got to go

00:18:52through that. I got to get those back in the photo album things. I got to do something with it. You can

00:18:58hear this as you're listening to me. I pulled out, I pulled out some of them and I have, look at this

00:19:06right here. I have a photo right here of me getting dropped off freshman year of college. This is a

00:19:13photograph from 1986. Why is this in my brain right now? Here's another photograph from December 1981

00:19:22of me and Jody and my brother, an exchange student whose name I've now forgotten, ice skating on the

00:19:29lake by my, this is in my brain. I do not need to carry it into the week. I guarantee you whether it's

00:19:38a bookcase or it's photos that you need to organize or it's the junk drawer in the kitchen or it's the bag

00:19:45of clothes that you keep meaning to drop off and donate. There are things on that brain dump list

00:19:53that are staring you in the face and now that they are out of your mind, dear Lord, checklist item

00:20:00number two, set yourself free. You're not doing it this week. Cross it off. Zero guilt. You are just

00:20:08claiming space. You are saying you're not going into my brain. Not this week. No thank you.

00:20:16Nope. We're not doing it. Doesn't this feel good? Can't you already feel like, man, I'm going to have

00:20:21a great week. I am not doing the family photo album for Peru this week. Just not happening.

00:20:28Cross it off the list because without doing this, you know what I would have done? I would have been

00:20:32on the plane to Los Angeles going, you know, I should probably work on that Peru photo album. I should

00:20:36probably do this. And then I would spend a bunch of time sitting there thinking about the things I

00:20:41needed to do. No, no. And neither are you because you're going to start this week with checklist item

00:20:47number two. After you do your brain dump, you're going to set yourself free, free of all these things

00:20:51that you carry around. And you're going to cross it off and you are not going to have any guilt about

00:20:55it. You are going to claim your time. Because as I said to you at the beginning, we live in a world

00:21:00that is now programmed and designed to steal your joy, to steal your energy, to steal your time. You

00:21:08and I, we were taking it back. That's what you're doing. You are making room in your brain and in

00:21:16your body and with your energy to not carry this stuff around with you. You're setting yourself free.

00:21:23Isn't this freaking awesome? Don't you already feel like it's going to be a great week? Of course you

00:21:27do. That's why you're going to love this checklist that you're going to print out and you're going to

00:21:31have it right by your desk or sitting on your fridge to remind you, Saturday or Sunday, this is what

00:21:35I do. This is how I create a great week. I don't even care if it's a Monday or Tuesday or Wednesday.

00:21:40If you've had a terrible week, get the checklist out. Start right now. You can reclaim this. Step

00:21:46one, brain dump. Step two, set yourself free. Cross off absolutely everything that you're not doing this

00:21:52week. See that? You are in control. I love this. Now, the third thing on the checklist, you've done your

00:21:59brain dump. You have now set yourself free. Oh, baby. Now, now is where you take control.

00:22:09Now is where you set the priority. I am holding in my hand one of these, what they call chisel tip,

00:22:16Sharpie permanent marker. No, they're not a sponsor of the Mel Robbins podcast. This just happens to be

00:22:21my favorite marker on the planet. It is a big, fatty Sharpie. I love this thing. Big tip on this sucker.

00:22:29Don't get dirty in your mind. Come on. This is all art. I take this Sharpie. And the reason why I love

00:22:35this Sharpie is it's big. It is bold. If you're going to mark something up with this thing, it's

00:22:40because you mean it. And so you're going to take whatever is that version of it for you. It can be

00:22:46a pencil for all I care. You can write it with a thing, a lipstick. You can take, if you're a spray paint

00:22:51person, you can use spray paint. I don't care. Because the third thing on the list is you're going to

00:22:56choose one thing. You're going to circle that sucker of all the things that you've written down.

00:23:03I want you to stand in front of that brain dump. I want you to look at all the things that you've

00:23:11been like, nope, nope, not the bookcase, not the box of photographs, not the bathroom door,

00:23:16not the kitchen junk drawer. I'm not going to get to the donation pile. I'm not going to cut the lawn

00:23:20this week. Nope. I'm not cleaning out the garage. These projects are not getting done.

00:23:26You're going to see that there are things there that you're sort of like,

00:23:29can't quite cross it off. Can't quite set myself free. So as you stand in front of the things that

00:23:37are left, I want you to take a deep breath. And I want you to look at those things. And I want you

00:23:44to say to yourself, hmm, of all the things that are left on this list, what's the one thing on this

00:23:53list that if you were to fast forward to next weekend, and you look back on this week that

00:24:02you're about to live, you fast forward seven days from now, if you actually got a little progress

00:24:12done on that, if you actually moved the ball down the field, that you personally would feel better.

00:24:21What is that one thing? Is it picking up the guitar and playing for a half an hour? Is it cleaning

00:24:30out the junk drawer? Is it taking 30 minutes and spending that time sorting through some health

00:24:40insurance claims? Is it fixing lunch and driving it over to a friend of yours that isn't feeling well?

00:24:50Is it the bookcase? Like really look at that list because there's something on there that is

00:24:58meaningful to you. And if you were to just move the ball down the field, spend 15 lousy minutes on the

00:25:07thing, it would make you feel better because it matters to you. This is so important. That's why I've

00:25:15got the chisel tip marker out here. Because this is not about work. It's not about your family. It's not

00:25:22about what your friends want you to do. It's not about what your parents need. This is something

00:25:27that matters to you. And as I'm going to keep on reminding you, we live in a moment in history

00:25:35where the world is engineered and deliberately programmed to steal your joy, to steal your time,

00:25:42to steal your energy, and to steal your attention. And if you're not careful, and this is step three of

00:25:47this checklist, the world will steal meaning from you as well. And so whatever that thing is for you,

00:25:55this is where you get to be selfish. This is where you get to say, this is something that I really would

00:26:03like to find a little time on. Can you take a guess what it is that I circled this week after four years

00:26:10of putting it on the list? That's right, the damn picture wall. I circled the picture wall. Honest to God,

00:26:18that's what I've circled. I have been wanting to do this for four years.

00:26:22I have been carting around these photos that I keep next to my desk. Some of the photos in there

00:26:29are things that I would like on the wall. I literally said, I am going to move from talking

00:26:36and thinking about this, which I've been doing for four years, and it has continued to be on my brain

00:26:42dump for four years, and you're going to have things like that too. This was the week. This was the week

00:26:47that I'm like, I'm doing it. I'm doing it. And so I want you to do the same thing. I'm going to,

00:26:52I'm going to, I want you to circle it. When you circle this thing, you're not committing to getting

00:27:01it done. This is a really important nuance here. And there's a lot of research that explains why

00:27:08I'm telling you, I'm not expecting you to complete it. If you were to circle the bookcase,

00:27:17you don't have to get the bookcase organized. All you got to do in circling it is find 15 minutes.

00:27:23I call this your hot 15. This is 15 minutes where you are going to schedule time to just work on it

00:27:31and make progress. Because you and I both know, in 15 minutes, I can't even find half the photos I

00:27:39need. I mean, I can't get much done in 15 minutes, but here's what I can do. I can actually move the

00:27:46ball down the field. Now, here's the reason why it's critical for step three of the checklist for

00:27:53you to put it in the calendar. The reason why is it's not real until it's scheduled. If it's not in

00:28:02your calendar, it's not happening. This can't be an accident. Now is where you get serious. Now is

00:28:13where you move from having plans to planning. And there's this famous quote, maybe you've heard

00:28:20it. Plans are nothing. Planning is everything. And so what I am committing to doing, and I've now

00:28:28already done it, I did it this morning, is I did a Google search, picture wall services.

00:28:37Turns out there's a lot of them. There's a lot of places online that can help you organize a wall

00:28:44of photos on your wall. I had no idea this was a thing. I guess I'm not the only

00:28:49idiot that's struggling with this. I also found a retail store in Boston that provides a service.

00:28:57I'm not going to name them because they're not a sponsor of the show, but I found it. And in 15

00:29:04minutes flat, I also was able to look in my calendar and find a Sunday, which is normally the day that I

00:29:09travel down from our home in Vermont down to Boston ahead of the weeks where we tape our expert

00:29:15interviews for the show. So I found this Sunday and I figured out a Sunday where I could come in

00:29:21earlier than I normally drive in. And I made an appointment. Oh my God, I actually made an

00:29:28appointment. This is going down in three weeks from now. How freaking cool is it? I'm actually

00:29:34have an appointment. I've actually planned it in my calendar. I not only made the appointment,

00:29:40I was smart enough to realize I'm probably going to be there for four hours because I'm going to show

00:29:44up with this box that's been by my desk for four years and my folders that I've got of all my favorite

00:29:52photos online and I'm going to get started. Do you know how liberated I feel? You now get to decide

00:30:03what matters to you. This is like the theme of the week for you. And what's super cool is you don't

00:30:10have to do it right then. Just flip open your calendar and say, where's a 15 minute block that

00:30:15I could work on this. If you just get that block in, I'm going to pick up the guitar and I'm going

00:30:21to schedule it right here. And I'm going to schedule it for this period. My classes get out at three

00:30:26o'clock. I'm going to walk back to my dorm room. And by three 30, I'm going to be sitting there with my

00:30:31guitar in my hand and make sure to put it in your calendar and make sure to put an alarm on it.

00:30:37Because again, the world is designed and is trying to steal your joy, your time, your energy,

00:30:46and your focus. This checklist and these simple little tools help you take it back. When you get

00:30:54those things done, you do feel liberated. You do feel more in control. And there's a lot of research

00:30:58around this. And it taps into something called the progress principle. And if you and I have been

00:31:07hanging out for a while, or you've read either the five second rule or the high five habit, or you've

00:31:12been listening to the podcast, you've probably heard me talk about this. But I want to unpack this

00:31:17because the progress principle is one of the key principles that is foundational to my success.

00:31:24It's foundational to the way that I approach productivity, and this will change your life.

00:31:28And I want to tell you about how this comes from amazing research that has been done at Harvard

00:31:35Business School. There was a study at Harvard Business School where they found that one of the

00:31:40most important things that you can do every single week is to have this sense that you're moving

00:31:46forward on things that matter to you. Now, it's important to say they didn't say

00:31:52that one of the most important things you can do is to get a ton of things done on your checklist,

00:31:57did they? No, they didn't say that. They said, based on the research, the most important thing is

00:32:03simply to feel like you made progress. And this is a critical difference because you're probably so

00:32:11focused on getting things done that you're missing where the real juice is. So you don't know what to

00:32:17squeeze. See, the researchers at Harvard Business School, they looked at 12,000 accounts. What they

00:32:25did is they had people who were working across seven different companies in different industries.

00:32:32They had them keep these journals about what they were focusing on during the week.

00:32:37And when they crunched all the data on 12,000 people across seven different companies,

00:32:45do you want to know what they found? That the most common event that triggered someone saying,

00:32:51boy, I just had, quote, the best day, was that they made progress in some important work,

00:32:59either personally or with the team. Progress. The best day was not when they got the project done.

00:33:05The best day was feeling like, oh, I was actually able to make some progress on something that's

00:33:11important. This makes sense, doesn't it? I mean, just think about it. Have you ever had to paint a

00:33:15room? I mean, hasn't everybody? I feel like I've painted my entire house, every apartment I've ever

00:33:22lived in. My poor parents, every time Chris and I moved, I'd be like, come visit. And they'd show up

00:33:26and be like, okay, let's go to Home Depot and get some paintbrushes. We're going to paint.

00:33:30Doesn't it feel good to just cut out the edges? It almost feels better to make progress and get

00:33:37the edges cut than getting the whole thing done. See, here's the thing that they found based on the

00:33:44research. Simply moving the ball forward, simply spending 15 minutes, simply making a small amount

00:33:52of progress. I'm talking, you made the phone call, you made the appointment, you watched the video,

00:33:58you picked up the guitar, you actually sat on hold and had one more conversation that is going to help

00:34:05you eventually solve the healthcare claim. Progress creates more positive emotions in you.

00:34:13See, you're in a more upbeat mood in general, and you also feel this sense of joy and warmth and pride

00:34:20when you know you're actually moving things forward. You also kind of have this sense of

00:34:25motivation. You feel more naturally motivated and interested in what you're doing when you make

00:34:32progress. It's almost like a little bit of forward motion keeps you feeling like you want to keep it

00:34:39in motion. And that's what you're going to also find. I guarantee you, if you find 15 minutes to start

00:34:44working on that bookcase, you'll probably do it for 30 or 40 minutes. Because it's not the actual

00:34:52project that is difficult. It's carving out the time and getting yourself started and moving a little

00:35:02bit forward in a world that is constantly screaming at you for your attention. That brings me to number

00:35:09four on our checklist for having a great week. And this one has some awesome research around it too.

00:35:15You're going to love this. So while you're standing there with the calendar open, and you've done all

00:35:20these amazing things, and you got the hot 15 scheduled, I want you to scan the week ahead.

00:35:27And here's what you're going to do next. Because item number four is plan your meals. And I'm only

00:35:35going to ask you to plan one. Let me unpack this. I'm not trying to get you on a diet or have you lose

00:35:42weight. That's not what this is about. This is about having a great week. And one of the things

00:35:46that I've learned, and one of the things that the expert after expert after expert comes on to this

00:35:51podcast and says, is that food is medicine. And what you put in your body fuels your body and fuels

00:35:59your mindset. And one of the mistakes that I used to make is I used to let this happen by accident.

00:36:06You know, literally, I would not plan out the week, I would go to the grocery store with the rest of the

00:36:11planet every Saturday, I would be hungry, which basically means you're buying everything that

00:36:16looks good to eat right now. I do not have a plan. I'm just filling up the cart, half of the stuff that

00:36:22I buy is probably going to spoil because I don't know what I'm going to do with it. And if you if

00:36:28you're kind of nodding your head, or you're in that rut where you door dash every meal, you never cook,

00:36:34you don't have anything in your fridge, you get to work, you work till lunch, then you go, what am I

00:36:38eating? How about we stop that? Because one way to have a great week is to actually put on the checklist

00:36:47meal prep. And meal prep in the Mel Robbins world is not meal prep on Instagram. Okay, you do not have to

00:36:56make 75 meals, you do not have to prep high protein stuff. I'm talking about planning in one simple way

00:37:05so that you have a great week. And here's what this looks like. You're going to have your calendar out,

00:37:11just scan the week. And then say to yourself, what could I actually plan ahead? And there's so many

00:37:19ways that this could look. It's incredible. You might have the kind of week that is so nutso that

00:37:26the only thing that you can do is make a brunch reservation for Saturday after you army crawl your

00:37:33way through this week. You're good. If you've planned that meal, and it makes you happy, you're

00:37:39good. This could look like looking at the week. And if you have a roommate, or you live with a

00:37:48significant other, or you're married like I am, or you have kids that are living at home that can

00:37:52actually cook or at our adults that are living back at home, it might look like going, oh, check

00:37:57this out. On Monday, Wednesday and Thursday, we're all here. Why don't we figure out what we're going

00:38:04to have for dinner that night? And actually look and say, okay, I'm going to make spaghetti on Monday

00:38:10night. I'm going to roast a chicken on Wednesday. I'm going to try this new recipe on Thursday.

00:38:16And then write out the ingredients that you need. So that when you go to the grocery store, it's not

00:38:21like a traumatic experience. You're literally, you got a plan, you got your list, you know, Monday,

00:38:26Wednesday, Thursday. Another tip that I loved is that whenever I do cook, or whenever my husband and I

00:38:32get together, and we say, okay, you're going to take Monday, you're going to take Wednesday. What I love

00:38:37about it is we double the recipe. And then that means we got dinner or lunch covered for the next day.

00:38:41Right. And when you do this, you feel more in control of the week. I mean, this has been a big

00:38:48thing for me and my husband because we are now officially, what's the term? Empty nesters. I

00:38:53prefer bird launchers because they always fly back. But right now it's just Chris and I, the two dogs

00:38:58and the cat. And what has happened because I kind of slacked off on my checklist and I didn't think

00:39:05about the meal planning is night after night. Chris and I literally emerge in the kitchen at

00:39:11like 645 after a day of both sitting separately. I'm above the garage working on the podcast and the

00:39:17let them theory. He's down in his office working on his men's retreat soul degree. We're basically

00:39:22busy all day. And then we wander into the kitchen at 645. And because life has stolen our time, our

00:39:28energy, our joy, and our focus, we both look at each other and we're like, what are we having for

00:39:31dinner? I don't know. I don't know. You plan it? I don't know. And now it's 645 at night. We don't

00:39:36live in a part of the world where restaurants are open past 8 p.m. So that's out the window.

00:39:40Now we're opening up the pantry and I'm like, breakfast for dinner again? I guess it's breakfast

00:39:44for dinner again. And I'll be honest, I'm kind of annoyed because we don't have anything planned.

00:39:48And whose responsibility is it to plan? Both of ours. And if you want a great week, you don't want to walk

00:39:54into the kitchen and feel like when you open the fridge, the only thing that you see in there is a

00:39:59mirage in a desert because you haven't gone to the grocery store and you haven't planned this.

00:40:03So that's what you're going to do as part of the checklist. This is item number four. And it could

00:40:12also look like this. So last week I was in Boston all week and I don't know what it was that got me

00:40:19all excited. Oh, I know what it was. It was this checklist. I pulled out this checklist and I was

00:40:23going to be traveling to Boston. And as I looked at the calendar and I'm thinking, I am going to be

00:40:28living in a hotel five days a week. Every day we bring lunch into the studio and I know that the

00:40:35team's going to ask me, what do you want to eat? And I'm going to be like, hmm. And I thought, well,

00:40:38why don't I just make something? Why don't I make a soup that I love and just load it up into Tupperware

00:40:44and then eat it every day for lunch? Why not just meal prep for this big work week? I'll tell you what,

00:40:51I made my favorite thing to make. Our daughter, Kendall, found it online. It is fantastic. It's like

00:40:57chicken and spinach and jalapenos and scallions and ginger and garlic. And it's like health in a

00:41:03bowl. And you put rice in there and chicken broth and it's like so fantastic. And so I make this thing

00:41:09and then I put it in a huge Tupperware dish. And this is a funny thing. I literally put it on the

00:41:15floor of the passenger side of my car. Thank God I have rubber mats. I'm thinking, oh my gosh,

00:41:22I am so organized. I'm so productive. I'm going to be so healthy. I'm driving down to Boston for a

00:41:30big production week to interview all the experts. And as I'm driving down, talking to friends and

00:41:34catching up with people, I get to the parking lot at the studio and I parked the car and I walk around

00:41:42and open up the passenger side. The freaking thing had leaked all over the front of the car. Thank God I

00:41:50didn't put it on the seat. Thank God it was on the rubber mat. But literally an inch of the soup

00:41:55was now on the rubber mat, bright green. I'm like, oh my gosh. Anywho, that doesn't matter because I

00:42:02got it upstairs, washed it off because of course it was all sloppy and I didn't want to put it in the

00:42:07fridge. And I had it all week. And everybody, you would have thought that I had shown up at the

00:42:16studio having lost a hundred pounds and having six pack abs. Everyone was like, what did you do?

00:42:21Oh my gosh, that looks so good. You're eating that. That looks amazing. Everybody wanted the recipe.

00:42:27It truly changed my life. And, you know, I'm kind of making a joke of it, but here's the other thing

00:42:33that happened for me. Because I had taken the time to go through the checklist and I had decided that

00:42:39one way I was going to take care of meals this week and my food and food is medicine and food is fuel

00:42:45was to make this soup and just take care of my lunches is that it's a really healthy soup and

00:42:51it's a really filling thing. And not only did I feel less stressed and I felt more focused,

00:42:57but the team kind of noticed it. My executive producer, Tracy, the one who still needs to

00:43:00organize her bookshelf, literally was like, you need to make that soup every single week because

00:43:06your body clearly runs well on it. And you're just like dialed in. You would come out of one interview.

00:43:11Now you're eating your soup that you prepared. Now you're ready to do the next thing. It was like,

00:43:16boom, boom, boom, boom, because I'm taking away the decisions. And I've actually set myself up to

00:43:21be fueled by something that tastes great and it's going to help me perform. And so now that I've done

00:43:27it, I don't know that I'm ever going to go a week without trying to prep something that sets me up for

00:43:33success. And that's why I want you to do it too. Because based on the research and the research is

00:43:39really interesting around this, people who take the time to prep their meals. And again, the bar is

00:43:44low for you and me. If you just prep one meal this week, you're winning. People who plan their meals,

00:43:49the research says you have better nutrition, you maintain a healthier weight, you save money, and

00:43:54it's better for your mental health. No joke. The research has shown that people who take the time to prep

00:44:01meals for the week have lower stress. Why? Because they have it covered. It makes sense,

00:44:09doesn't it? And again, this is one of those things and every one of the things on the checklist is

00:44:14clear and obvious and sort of a duh. But because you have so much going on and because of the state of

00:44:22the world, I think we have forgotten the basics that actually made life good. And so do this. I mean,

00:44:29one pot of soup versus four takeout meals, way less money, better mental health because you got

00:44:37no decision fatigue and you know that in doing this, you're taking care of yourself. And check

00:44:43this out. People who prep their meals have lower stress because they've covered something that can

00:44:48be a source of stress. And don't you also notice that if you wander into the kitchen at seven o'clock

00:44:54at night and it's takeout yet again, it's kind of stressful. And if it's takeout, it's not going

00:44:59to be that healthy. Certainly not as healthy as what you can make in your own home. Now let's move

00:45:05on to checklist item number five. One workout. That's it. Because that's another thing that makes

00:45:13up a great week. Can you just get one great workout in? That's all I'm asking. Not five, not seven,

00:45:21not three, one. If you want to do more, yay for you. You're fantastic. And you might be going, Mel, why

00:45:29just one great workout? Well, first of all, if you're not working out because you don't have the

00:45:36time, because of course you wouldn't, you live in a moment in history when the world is designed to steal

00:45:41your time and your attention and your energy and your joy. So if you can't find the time to get that

00:45:47great workout in, then it's not actually a habit for you yet. And so it's never going to be realistic

00:45:54if you feel like you don't have any time to say, well, I'm going to work out every day. All I'm

00:45:58asking you to do, find one good workout. Okay. One, because you can do that. You might not even be

00:46:08able to do it during the week, but you could do it over the weekend. I mean, have you ever had one of

00:46:12those weekends where you go away with friends or you are planning to do something in the city that

00:46:19you live in? Like, let's say you live in New York city and you decide you're going to walk the loop

00:46:23at central park. That's six miles. And you do it with a friend. And that takes like a couple hours.

00:46:29You look back on that weekend as one of the best weekends of the year. Why? Well, because you were out

00:46:34doing something that's available to you now, and you can get it in if you plan. And if you say,

00:46:42all I'm asking of myself is one, one really good workout, one of my favorite yoga classes,

00:46:47just one, you know, I'm about to head to Los Angeles and there's a studio there that I love

00:46:51because it's dark and hot and sweaty. And I love the music. You better believe I'm checking the box on

00:46:57this checklist. And I am going to head to that yoga studio and be in that class. And I can't wait.

00:47:02And the other reason why I'm saying just one awesome workout, because there's research around

00:47:08the power of one workout, even if it's just 15 minutes. Remember how I talked about the hot 15?

00:47:14Yes. One 15 minute workout makes a big difference in your health. This research comes from the

00:47:20university of Sydney. And the research was done in collaboration with institutions around the world.

00:47:25And it was published in the European heart journal. Now this study enrolled, check this out,

00:47:3072,000 people. And it tracked their physical activity over five years. So we're talking big

00:47:36study. And in the published findings, even the people who only did 15 minutes per week of vigorous

00:47:43physical activity had a 17% lower risk of death from any cause and death from cancer compared with

00:47:51people who did nothing. And with about 50 minutes per week, death from any cause reduced by 36%.

00:47:59But if you can get just 15 minutes in, oh my gosh, that's amazing. And how are you going to get that

00:48:08in? You're not going to do it while you're standing there with your brain dump and your things you've

00:48:14crossed off and the thing that you've circled and your meal planning, you're going to plan for it.

00:48:20And here's why. Because when you look ahead at the week, I bet you can find an afternoon or a morning

00:48:27where you can find time to go for a walk. Or you can ping a friend and say, hey, I'm going to go to

00:48:33this yoga class or I'm going to go to this like CrossFit thing. Do you want to go with me? And one

00:48:39of my favorite hacks to make sure I get this in is if I'm going to stream a class ahead of time,

00:48:44I take the link to the class and I actually put it in my electronic calendar with an alarm.

00:48:51That way, when it comes time to exercise, I'm not searching for that thing that I thought I would

00:48:55do. In fact, I have exercised the last two mornings in a row because I selected a Matt Pilates class

00:49:03when I did this checklist last weekend. And two days ago and yesterday, I'm like, I can find the time.

00:49:10I can do it at 2.30 in the afternoon. And I scheduled it in my calendar and I put the link

00:49:15in there. And that way, when the alarm went off, I'm like, oh, and there's a class I'm going to take.

00:49:19Isn't that cool? That's so cool. Just one workout a week helps make it a great week. Love that.

00:49:29You know what else I love? The sixth thing that makes for a great week, plan time for rest.

00:49:36Just find one moment of quiet for you. That's all I'm asking. You've opened up the calendar and you've

00:49:49found time for that one thing that you're going to make progress on. And now you've layered in

00:49:55what you're going to plan for your meals to the extent you're going to do that.

00:49:59And you've found the one day that you're going to do exercise and what it is and what you're going

00:50:06to be doing and what time, all of that's taken care of. Now, what I want you to look for is I want

00:50:13you to find a moment of quiet. That's it. Can you pick a night after work where you can just

00:50:25do something for you? My only requirement is that you're not looking at your phone.

00:50:35That's it. You got to rest. Could you make a cup of tea? Do you have a book that you're reading that

00:50:43you would love to just sit down in your favorite chair and do that instead of turning on the TV or

00:50:49doom scrolling? What constitutes rest is not being on your device. And this is hard because it's very

00:50:58weird. One of the reasons why we doom scroll on social media and hours can go by is because it kind

00:51:04of lulls you into this trance and we mistake it for rest. That's not rest at all. It's actually keeping

00:51:12your brain really wigged out and active and keeping your nervous system on edge and screwing with your

00:51:17dopamine. That's what it's doing. So that's not rest. What I'm talking about is scan your calendar

00:51:25and I want you to find a time this week where you can give your brain and your body a little rest.

00:51:35And here's some ideas. Could you carve out a half an hour? Just take a bath or stand in a hot shower a

00:51:46little longer than you normally do. Could you have a cup of tea or make a mocktail and sit down in a chair

00:51:57and do nothing? Could you pack up a towel and walk over to a park and just lay it out and lay down on

00:52:09the grass and just look up at the sky and watch the clouds? Could you go for a walk in the woods with

00:52:17the dogs? That's what my husband does. I think those are his moments of walking meditation and

00:52:23solitude and a reset. But don't take your phone. Don't be listening to anything. If you have your phone,

00:52:31keep it in your pocket. Don't be looking at it. Just be outdoors. How about picking up the guitar

00:52:39and just strumming for the sake of playing music and resting or sitting down at the piano and just

00:52:48playing? Or if you're somebody that loves crafting, I mean, I'm a big knitter. When's the last time that

00:52:56you knitted anything or you picked up your needlepoint project or you picked up your paint

00:53:00brushes? I mean, if you're like me, you think that rest gets nothing done and therefore you don't want

00:53:07to do it. You think that you got to always be doing something. Well, I want to tell you a little bit

00:53:12about the research on this because the research says that if you are resting, you're just sitting

00:53:19there, feed her up, ah, reading the paper or just letting the cat sit on your lap. If you're doing

00:53:30that, you're getting something incredibly important done. First of all, you're reducing your stress

00:53:38levels. This comes from a study from the University of Konstanz in Germany. They found that a short period

00:53:44of rest, even just 10 minutes, can activate your body's parasympathetic nervous system.

00:53:51Now, why do you want to activate your parasympathetic nervous system? I know. I know that's a big word.

00:53:56Parasympathetic nervous system is basically your calm, resting, confident state. This is the opposite

00:54:04of fight, flight, or freeze. Your parasympathetic nervous system is just this rest and digest. That's

00:54:10what you'll hear the medical experts say. And it helps you counteract your stress response.

00:54:16And see, your stress response is on all day long. So the first thing that happens when you put your

00:54:22feet up and you just rest is that it reduces stress levels. You are intentionally flipping the switch

00:54:31between the world that is stealing your energy and stressing you out and your inner world where you

00:54:38have the capability of resting and putting yourself back into a de-stress state. Pretty cool, huh?

00:54:46What's the second thing that you're doing while you rest? You're increasing your mental clarity and

00:54:51focus. Now, this is research from Harvard Medical School that found that activities like mindful

00:54:56meditation gives you mental clarity and focus. I mean, the fact is you need to give your brain a boot.

00:55:04It's just like turning your phone off. How many times has your phone been like, this is not like,

00:55:07okay, turn the thing off, give it a reset, and then you power it back up. You're the exact same thing.

00:55:15So when you're resting, you're actually increasing your ability to process things,

00:55:23to face the rest of the day. And the third thing that rest does, well, it improves your physical

00:55:29and emotional health. A study from the National Institutes of Health and University of California

00:55:35found that allowing yourself time to relax can lead to better physical health and prevent

00:55:40stress-related illnesses. This is one that in today's world, we do not do. And if you do not

00:55:49prioritize it, the world will steal it from you. And so if you feel burnt out, if you feel constantly

00:55:56on edge, if you feel chronically overwhelmed, you're procrastinating so much, you're going to

00:56:01tell yourself, you don't have time to rest. I'm going to tell you, you can't afford to not rest.

00:56:07You got to take this part of your critical life and health back. And the only way it's going to happen

00:56:14is if every weekend you look at this checklist and you're like, oh yeah, yeah, yeah. I got to fight

00:56:19back. I got to do this act of defiance. I got to rest in a world that is telling me I need to be

00:56:27constantly doing something. That's not true. That's not true. And this checklist is what's going to help

00:56:33you start to make this a part of your week. And when you make this a part of your week, you're going

00:56:39to have a great week. And that brings me to the seventh thing that is going to be part of your

00:56:44great week. And it is the seventh item on the checklist. You got to connect with somebody.

00:56:49Okay. So while you're still standing there and you've got the calendar out, and again, you've

00:56:55already gone through and done your brain dump. You have set yourself free. You've circled the thing

00:57:01that's meaningful to you. You found your hot 15 and scheduled it in for when you know you're going to

00:57:06make progress on it. You have identified the one lousy meal you're going to make. And if you make

00:57:11more, fantastic. You have also identified the one workout you're going to do, and you've put it in the

00:57:17calendar. You have also identified why rest is important, and you've actually scheduled time to do

00:57:25nothing. Fantastic. Put your feet up. You earned it. And by the way, what you just learned is why you got

00:57:33your feet up. You're doing three important things that you really need. Go you. See, it's a great

00:57:39week. And finally, icing on the cake. You ready? Connect with someone. That's number seven. Look at

00:57:45that calendar. When can you connect with somebody? Do you have time to meet for coffee? I mean, are you

00:57:54even leaving the house these days? Do you know I went five days? I was sick, but I went five days last

00:58:01week, and I didn't even leave my house. So if that's you, I'm the same kind of person. I like my

00:58:09house, and I also can just get so stuck in here because I'm always working or busy doing something

00:58:15that then I'm like, oh my God, I haven't left the house. Can you take a walk with somebody?

00:58:20Because it's not just the people that you see on Zoom or at work that matter.

00:58:24What about the people in your life that bring you meaning? And so if you look at your calendar,

00:58:31now you can find a time to either invite somebody over for dinner or go out for dinner or go for a

00:58:40walk or make a date to go to a museum or go meet for coffee or go meet for like, go do something. Go

00:58:49walk your dogs together. And the reason why this is cool is because if you have the time, oh, I'm going to

00:58:54go to this yoga class. This is how you can get a twofer in. I'm going to go to this yoga class. You

00:58:58want to come? Now that you have the time in mind, now you can reach out to somebody and say, would you

00:59:05like to meet up for coffee? Would you like to get together and cook dinner? Would you like to go do

00:59:13this volunteer thing with me? And because you have this spot in your calendar, you can now make it

00:59:20happen. So I've mentioned that I often will go down to Boston. We tape all of our expert interviews

00:59:28one week a month. And so we do a huge production week and I'll drive down the night before the

00:59:33production week starts, which means I have hours and hours in the car. And you know what I love about

00:59:39that drive? The entire time I'm in cell range, I literally call old friends. And it's not the same

00:59:46people every week. I use the drive as a way to catch up with people. And it is so freaking cool

00:59:54to be able to catch up with people that way. I feel so connected to a lot of people because I use

01:00:00driving time as a way to just call somebody. And, you know, oftentimes you'll find that you're like,

01:00:05well, I don't have a lot of time. No problem. Call them. And when they pick up, be like, I was just

01:00:08thinking about you. I only have seven minutes and then I'm going to lose cell reception or seven minutes

01:00:13and I'm going to get to where I'm going. And you can catch up and cover a lot of ground in just

01:00:18seven minutes. Another tip that's helped me a lot is remember how I referred earlier to the fact that

01:00:24a good zone for me to find that hot 15 is to arrive at my desk about a half an hour before the workday

01:00:32is going to start and to use that time at my desk to make progress on something. It's also a time where I

01:00:38will send a text or an email to somebody I've been thinking about. And it really does help. Or it's

01:00:45a time where I'll send a quick text to somebody saying, hey, I'm going to be in LA and I'm going

01:00:49to this yoga class. Do you want to go? And this has helped me stay connected to people. And this really

01:00:58matters. It really matters. First of all, because I know you don't see your friends as much as you want

01:01:03to. And it matters because making friends and keeping friends tight as an adult is really

01:01:10challenging because everybody's super busy and everybody's drained and everybody's moving in a

01:01:14million directions. And so it's really hard to organize. But this matters. And if you don't

01:01:21go through this checklist at the beginning of every week and plan for it, the connection starts to fade

01:01:28and you start to feel like you don't see your friends and you don't have friends. And it's not

01:01:33true. They're there. But you have to in a world that's going to steal your time and energy and joy

01:01:38and focus. You have to steal it back. And the reason why this matters so much that you find a moment

01:01:45every week to either connect with somebody on the phone or connect with them in person. It relates to

01:01:52the most important study that's ever been done on human connection and happiness of all time.

01:01:59I'm sure you've heard of it. It is called the Harvard Study of Adult Development. This study

01:02:03started in 1938. It is still continuing to this day. It is one of the largest running studies on human

01:02:10happiness and health. It's been running for over 80 years. And it's given scientists and you and me

01:02:16profound insights into what actually are the factors that contribute to a fulfilling life.

01:02:22So what did they find about studying health and happiness in human beings for 80 years? Well,

01:02:27let me give you the findings in a nutshell. So Dr. Robert Waldinger is the fourth director of the

01:02:33study. He's been on this podcast. He's actually one of the favorite experts that has ever appeared on

01:02:37the show. And Dr. Waldinger said that the study is conclusive. You need relationships to make you happy

01:02:45and healthy. And the key findings are undisputed. Number one, close relationships, more than wealth,

01:02:52more than fame, more than anything, are crucial for you to have a happy and healthy life. So that's

01:02:59why we're going to put them on the checklist. And relationships protect you from life's challenges.

01:03:05They help delay mental and physical decline. Participants in this 80-year-long study that had

01:03:11strong social ties. They experienced longer, healthier lives compared to those who were less

01:03:16connected. People who were lonely and didn't make it a priority. They didn't have it on the checklist.

01:03:23They had it in the back of their mind. Oh, I need to call so-and-so. But again, remember,

01:03:27you have to get it out on paper. You have to plan for it. Otherwise, it's not happening.

01:03:35People who were lonely had earlier health decline and were less satisfied with their life. And as

01:03:43I'm saying this, aren't you kind of thinking to yourself, well, this is why the week gets away

01:03:49from me. It's true. Like it's kind of one of those conversations when you're like, Mel, you're just

01:03:55reminding me of what I know. You do know all of this. I know it too. But it's so easy

01:04:04to have your time and what's important robbed from your attention. And instead, you find your

01:04:13days just filled with this meaningless nonsense or other people's emergencies or your energy

01:04:19drained by stupid stuff. It's happened to me. And I love this checklist because you can come back to

01:04:25it over and over and over again. And this checklist summarizes into action the foundational research

01:04:34that creates the building blocks to not only a great week, but a much better life.

01:04:41You can find this checklist at melrobbins.com slash week, but I'm going to walk you through it real

01:04:46quick. Brain dump, free yourself by crossing it off. Choose one thing that's important and schedule

01:04:53the hot 15. Plan one meal that you're going to cook. Plan one workout. Plan one moment that is time for

01:05:01rest and intentionally plan the time when you're going to connect with someone. You do that.

01:05:10You put it in your calendar. You check that list. You are having not a great week, but a fantastic one.

01:05:19I promise you. And don't just take my word for it. You can count on it because of all the research that

01:05:27supports everything that I'm telling you and everything that I'm doing in my own life. And what's

01:05:32also interesting about this checklist is that the weeks that I have a terrible week, guess what? I can

01:05:37look back and see that I didn't do any of these or I only did one or two of them. This truly is the

01:05:43guarantee and the checklist to make the next week of your life a little bit better, a little bit

01:05:50brighter. And if you do all seven, I actually think your week is going to be way better than you think

01:05:55it's going to be. And you deserve that. And in case no one else tells you, I wanted to be sure to tell

01:06:00you that I love you and I believe in you and I believe in your ability to create a better life.

01:06:06And what's interesting about creating a better life is that you don't do that over the course of years.

01:06:11You do that with the decisions that you make every day. And everything that you learn today is

01:06:19something you're capable of doing. It's something that you know how to do. It's something that I

01:06:23think deep in your heart, you know, actually works. And that's why I'm so excited, not only to see what

01:06:29happens in your life, but I'm also excited to see what happens in the lives of everybody that you share

01:06:34this with when you use this episode as a way to connect with them. And you share this with them as well.

01:06:40I just think the ripple effect is going to be incredible. And so thank you for taking the time

01:06:44to listen. Thank you for spending this time together with me. Thank you for sharing this

01:06:48with people that you care about and want to connect with. And I'll talk to you in a few days. And in

01:06:53fact, I'm going to be waiting for you in the very next episode. I'll be there to welcome you in the

01:06:57moment you hit play. I'll see you there. And for you, thank you, thank you, thank you for being here with

01:07:03me on YouTube. I just love spending this time with you. I'm so excited that you're watching videos

01:07:08that are helping you have a brighter future, that are empowering you to improve your life.

01:07:13That's so cool. Thanks for being generous with this and sharing this with people that you care

01:07:17about. You know, I know that you love supporting people who support you. And one of my goals is that

01:07:2250% of the people that watch this channel are subscribers. It is free to subscribe. And the

01:07:28reason why it's important to subscribe is it's a way to support me and the team so that we can continue

01:07:33to bring you extraordinary videos at zero cost every single day. And so please hit subscribe.

01:07:40Thanks for doing that. I really appreciate it. And I know you're thinking, Mel, what do I watch next?

01:07:44I think you're going to love this video for real. Check this video out. I'll welcome you in the moment

01:07:49you hit play. I'll see you there.

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