Mel Robbins: How To Change Your Life With Two Simple Words

Get my new book Make Money Easy here! On this episode of the School of Greatness, I sit down with the incredible Mel Robbins to discuss her groundbreaking new book, "The Let Them Theory." Mel reveals how she discovered this life-changing concept through a simple moment at her son's prom, and how it has transformed not only her relationships but her entire approach to life. She shares deep insights about the four key ways we unknowingly give our power to others and explains how two simple words - "let them" - can help us reclaim our time, energy, and happiness. Through personal stories and practical examples, Mel illuminates why trying to control others creates resistance and how we can influence positive change by modeling behavior instead of forcing it. Mel’s new book The Let Them TheoryIn this episode you will learn:Why the biggest obstacle in everyone's life is the power we unknowingly give to other peopleThe four main ways we turn other people into problems and how to stop doing itHow to use the "Let Them Theory" to create healthier boundaries and relationshipsWhy trying to control or change others creates resistance and what to do insteadThe ABC method for influencing positive change in others without pressureHow to balance letting people be themselves while maintaining healthy boundariesWhy being present and modeling behavior is more powerful than trying to fix othersFor more information go to https://www.lewishowes.com/1710For more Greatness text PODCAST to +1 (614) 350-3960More SOG episodes we think you’ll love:Andrew Huberman – greatness.lnk.to/1455SCPeter Diamandis – greatness.lnk.to/1704SCMark Manson – greatness.lnk.to/1485SC Get more from Lewis! Get my New York Times Bestselling book, Make Money Easy! Get The Greatness Mindset audiobook on SpotifyText Lewis AIYouTubeInstagramWebsiteTiktokFacebookX

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:01Lewis Howes?

  What could you do with some extra cash this holiday season? You have been so generous for me all year round that I want to give back to you. Join my 12 Days of Greatness giveaway from now until December 23rd, where I'm giving away $250 gift cards to 48 lucky winners. That's right, this is your chance to win money directly from me. It's my way of giving back to you this giving season. To enter, go to lewishouse.com/Win. Give yourself an even better chance to win by pre-ordering my new book, Make Money Easy. Just save your receipt and you'll get 50 bonus entries. Let's make money easy together. Enter right now at lewishouse.com/Win. My friend, welcome back to this episode. If you're feeling stuck in any way in your life,

• 0:45Lewis Howes?

  if you like there's people holding you back, or there's people you have resentment with, or there are family members, friends, intimate relationships you're in where you just feel like I'm not getting what I want. There are two words that can transform your life right now if you're willing to receive, accept, and follow through on them. Those two words are let them. Let them. So many of us struggle with trying to please others, with trying to over-deliver for other people, and we let others do things to us that frustrate us. And when we allow these things to happen,

• 1:30Lewis Howes?

  and we hold on to it, and we're frustrated, and we're attached to it needing to look a certain way, we suffer. They don't suffer, we suffer. We struggle, we stress, and it causes us to weaken our energy every single moment of every day in our lives. And it makes it harder to get through life. Let them will set you free if you can learn to detach from what you cannot control. In this episode with Mel Robbins, she has brought forth a philosophy that has been around for a long time, but modernized it in a way for so many people

• 2:11Lewis Howes?

  to be able to actualize it, to be able to utilize it, to be able to understand and start applying it in their lives. And it is starting to build a massive movement all around the world. Let them. Most people are attached on trying to control the situation with so many people in their lives. And they don't let people be themselves. And Mel is here today. She's on a mission to change lives around the world in letting people finally be free from the things that have held them back for so long. I know I've suffered with trying to please people in the past. I know I've struggled with this. I've held resentments against people. I've judged people, all these different things. And Mel talked about her in this episode, how she has struggled

• 2:56Lewis Howes?

  for almost 50 years of her life in trying to control every relationship. And in the last few years, she transformed this. It has set her free and she's going to break down the exact keys that have been holding you back and how to set yourself free from this entire process and philosophy. I cannot wait for you to dive in. I want you to take your notes. I want you to make sure you share this on social media. Follow the show on Apple or Spotify, wherever you're listening to. And please send this to a friend or two and ask them what they think about this episode as well and their biggest takeaway. Please connect with one person in your life to serve them as well with this episode because it is a powerful one. And I cannot wait for us to dive in with the one and only Mel Robbins.

• 3:42Lewis Howes?

  Welcome back everyone to the School of Greatness. Very excited about our guest. We have the inspiring, the incredible Mel Robbins in the house. So good to see you Mel.

• 3:50Mel Robbins?

  Lois.

• 3:50Lewis Howes?

  Thanks for being here.

• 3:51Mel Robbins?

  I love you.

• 3:52Lewis Howes?

  Love you too.

• 3:52Mel Robbins?

  Let's just start with that.

• 3:53Lewis Howes?

  Appreciate you.

• 3:53Mel Robbins?

  I appreciate you.

• 3:54Lewis Howes?

  This is going to be a big moment for everyone watching and listening because you've got a new book out called Love Let Them Theory. That has taken the world by storm. A video you posted, I think it was a couple of years ago, that that changed people's lives and continues to. And there's one thing that I wanted to ask you to start that I think you have a unique perspective on that most people don't. You've spoken all over the world. You're one of the biggest speakers in the world. You've got one of the biggest podcasts in the world. Your social media has exponentially grown to a whole new heights in the last few years. And you get to hear everyday people's perspective on what holds them back the most. When you're speaking on stage in different cities, in different countries,

• 4:39Lewis Howes?

  people of different classes, different demographics, different financial statuses. And you're hearing young people, old people, moms, dads, kids. You're hearing people of all walks of life. And what I want to know is what is everyone's biggest problem today? What is the biggest thing that holds everyone back? Is it a physical thing? Is it an emotional thing? Is it relationships? Is it money? Is it something in their mind? What is the number one thing you hear from everyone in the world that only you have a unique perspective on?

• 5:12Mel Robbins?

  That is one hell of a question. And I can't wait to hear your response when I tell you what it is.

• 5:19Lewis Howes?

  Okay.

• 5:20Mel Robbins?

  No, I'm serious.

• 5:21Lewis Howes?

  Okay.

• 5:22Mel Robbins?

  Because I didn't see this until two years ago.

• 5:27Mel Robbins?

  And what's interesting is that we all think we know what is holding us back.

• 5:35Mel Robbins?

  And we describe it, whether it's money, or time, or I'm exhausted, or I'm stuck, or it's my past, or it's my mindset. And it's not that at all.

• 5:46Mel Robbins?

  If you're not happy, if you don't have what you want in life, if you're exhausted, tired, stuck, or overwhelmed,

• 5:55Mel Robbins?

  the problem isn't what you think it is. In fact, the problem isn't you. The problem is the power you are unknowingly giving to other people.

• 6:06Mel Robbins?

  And I didn't see it. I didn't see this until about two years ago, when there was this just kind of random thing that happened to me. And I was, I'll tell you the quick story, and then we can get into the let them theory, and how you've made other people a problem. And there are eight key ways that you have turned other people into the biggest obstacle in your life. And other people should be one of the greatest sources of inspiration and connection and joy and love. And instead, they're a constant source of stress and frustration and energy drain, and they do not have to be.

• 6:50Mel Robbins?

  And it is this invisible obstacle that is in everybody's way, that is stealing your time, is stealing your energy, and you don't even realize it. And there's a totally different way to go through life. And so first, I'm going to tell you the story about how I had this life-changing insight. So I have three kids, 25-year-old, 23-year-old, both girls, and a 19-year-old son. And our two daughters had gone through the prom, right, twice? And let's talk about a nightmare, okay? If you ever want to experience high stress, do a high school prom with a daughter, and you'll experience five months of drama around dresses and spray tans and makeup and nails and restaurants and limos

• 7:35Mel Robbins?

  and who they're going to go and the proposals. And I mean, it's literally, what the, unbelievable. You basically need a colonic and a spa day after the whole thing is over in therapy for three months because of the buildup. So I just figured, we've gone through this thing four times already with our daughters. When Oakley rolls around, gonna be a breeze. Completely wrong. It was almost worse.

• 7:56Lewis Howes?

  Really?

• 7:57Mel Robbins?

  Yes, because he was so noncommittal. And you know, everybody that's got a brother or a son or, you know, is a dude is like, yeah, uh huh. He wasn't sure he was going to go.

• 8:08Lewis Howes?

  I'm sorry, right, right.

• 8:09Mel Robbins?

  Right.

• 8:09Lewis Howes?

  Who do I ask about that earlier?

• 8:10Mel Robbins?

  I don't know. Like, don't you want to go? And I'm starting to kind of needle him about it. I don't know. And then all of a sudden, Louis, two days before the thing, he's like, all right, I'm going. And now we have to find a tux and we live in the middle of nowhere in Vermont. And he wants a certain kind of Adidas shoes that we got to find online and get shipped. And then he's going to all of a sudden ask some chick he doesn't know. And what corsages, this, that, the other. And so we get to the night of prom. And by the way, in the middle of these 48 hours, Chris and I have been talked into now hosting the post-prom at our house. And so it was just this crazy whirlwind. And so we go to this party that happens before prom where everybody's taking the photos. And we walk in and we meet his date. And we're milling about and talking to other parents.

• 8:54Mel Robbins?

  And then all of a sudden, out of nowhere, it starts to rain. And by rain, I mean pouring rain. We live in the mountains, so it just kind of comes in and out, but it was not in the forecast. So you've got 20 kids in black tie and heels now in the middle of the woods in pouring rain. And the parents are starting to get on edge. And I turned to Oakley and I'm like, dude, like, where are you guys going for dinner? He's like, dinner? What do you mean? I'm like, you don't have plans for dinner? Prom doesn't serve for two hours? What do you do? I don't know. And so I turned to Chris, I'm like, they don't have plans for dinner? He's like, I guess not. It didn't bother Chris, but for some reason, I'm now starting to get stressed.

• 9:34Lewis Howes?

  Why?

• 9:34Mel Robbins?

  I don't know.

• 9:35Lewis Howes?

  It's not your life.

• 9:37Mel Robbins?

  Correct. But I'll explain why I was getting stressed. So I start to go, okay, well, let me help. And so I start looking for reservations. Some other moms and dads start trying to figure things out. And I'm like, I can't find anything and the rain's getting worse and worse. And I turned to Oak and I'm like, I can't find anything. Well, we're just going to go to the taco stand. And I'm like, the tacos? Dude, it's outside. You're going to get so... And I start to just feel the stress coming up. And my daughter Kendall, who lives here in Los Angeles, was home from college. And she reached out and grabbed my arm, and just kind of pulled me toward her. And she was like, Mom, you're being so annoying. And I was like, but, but, but...

• 10:20Mel Robbins?

  And she's like, Mom, let him do what he wants. And I'm like, but he's gonna get soaked. Let him go to the tacos. But there's no room. But, and, and she kept saying, let him, let him, let him. And every objection was like, his shoes are gonna get soaked, her heels are gonna get ruined, her dress, the this, the that. And finally, she just was like, let them do what they want. It's their prom, not yours. And there was something, Louis, about that moment of the cascading, let them, let them, let them, let them. But it was almost like the final one was a sledgehammer that hit me, and I just felt

• 11:00Mel Robbins?

  my whole body release. And I kind of thought, well, why do I care about this? Why am I not worried about where I'm eating? And so I felt myself just detach. I felt a sense of peace take over. And I walked up to Oakley, and he turned, he's like, now what? And I'm like, nothing, dude. Here's forty bucks. Go have fun. And you then saw him drop his shoulders and smile and, thanks, mom. And he and his date ran out the door, and sure enough, mud all over the back of her dress, and his shoes were ruined, and they were soaking wet by the time they got to Chris's truck. It was super cute.

• 11:42Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 11:44Mel Robbins?

  And so I went home, I went to bed, and then the next morning, I was at like a garden center, you know, if you ever go to like a big store and there's a garden center?

• 11:52Lewis Howes?

  Sure.

• 11:52Mel Robbins?

  And so you're standing there in line, there's like five people in front of us, and there's one cashier. Beep, beep, beep. Pause for small talk.

• 12:03Lewis Howes?

  Small town for a while, yeah.

• 12:06Mel Robbins?

  And if you've ever been in line at a grocery store, and the lines are backing up, and there's no one else coming to the front, and there's no announcement getting made, what happens? You start to feel the stress rise. And then you start to rock, and you feel agitated and impatient. And suddenly, you think you can run a grocery store better than anybody else. And, you know, and you started, you turn to the person behind you, and you're like rolling your eyes, and can you believe this? And I felt it coming, and I said, let them. Let them run the store however they want. And I get home, and I open up the door, and the dog has puked right in that entryway. Let them.

• 12:48Mel Robbins?

  But I'm dead serious. And so, all day long, whether it was traffic backing up, or I send a text to somebody and they send like something sort of passive, "Let them." And I started to feel this instant lever of peace. And I started to feel this sense of protection from all this stupid stuff that I was allowing to drain my energy and to waste my time. And if you stop and think about it, your single most valuable resources are time and energy. Because where you spend your time and what you pour your energy into determines the quality of your life. And what I started to notice very, very, very quickly, like within 24 hours, is that the reason why I didn't have a lot of time

• 13:32Mel Robbins?

  is because I was spending it getting worked up about stupid things. The reason why my energy was so drained is because I was allowing other people's behavior or things that were happening around me to actually drain my energy. And saying "let them" became this lever I could pull any moment where I felt my time and attention

• 13:53Mel Robbins?

  getting sucked towards something that truly wasn't worth my time and energy or didn't matter, or more importantly, beyond my control. Because the dog's already thrown up. So, I can't control what just happened. And as you talk about all the time, and as lots of people talk about, it's not about what's happening, it's about how you respond to it. And the problem that I've always had with Stoicism, or letting it go, or principles that are about being more peaceful and boundaries, is that I never knew how to apply it. Like, let's take the concept of "let it go." I don't want to let it go. Why not you? Well, I'll tell you why. It feels like I'm losing.

• 14:36Mel Robbins?

  You know, when somebody says to you, "Louis, you've just got to let it go." They're basically saying, "You lose. So stop worrying about it." That person won, you gotta let it go.

• 14:47Lewis Howes?

  What if there's an example of like, "Okay, someone in your company steals 100 grand from you." Or takes something from you, or does something that you're like, "Do I just let it go?"

• 14:56Mel Robbins?

  Well, it's a great question.

• 14:57Lewis Howes?

  Do I just let them take whatever they want? Do I just let them crap all over me all day long?

• 15:01Mel Robbins?

  Because that actually happened to me. So I had two things happen in my company. One, where we had a contractor that literally stole our database and lied about a campaign that we thought we were paying for that was going on, and it never actually happened, and they presented fake data. Now, I have to let them because it happened, and I didn't know until I discovered it too late. But there's a second part to this theory. Because, of course, I'm gonna get upset and I'm gonna be pissed off. But allowing myself to stay in that state of rage, what I know is it doesn't allow me to leverage this part of my brain

• 15:46Mel Robbins?

  to then respond. And that's the second part of this theory that I discovered, which is, once you say "let them", you detach from the thing you can't control. Because the other thing that happened to me, Louis, and I think I've shared this story with you before, is that I was also the victim of a big wire fraud scam. $350,000. A scam that's very common in the real estate business, where somebody breaks into a server and just intercepts emails and then changes banking information.

• 16:14Lewis Howes?

  $350,000 is a lot.

• 16:15Mel Robbins?

  No kidding. But by the time I figured it out, the money was gone.

• 16:19Lewis Howes?

  Gone.

• 16:19Mel Robbins?

  Gone. And the more upset that you get about something, the less you... The more upset that you get about something, the faster you lose your ability to think critically.

• 16:30Lewis Howes?

  Mm-hmm, it's true.

• 16:31Mel Robbins?

  And so when you say "let them", it's like allowing something without allowing it. It's recognizing that there is something that happened, or there is a person in your life that's doing something that's pissing you off, or annoying you, or stressing you out, or worrying you. But you have no control over that. And so, yes, react, but at some point, you gotta go "let them", because it helps you recognize and accept the reality, and detach from something...

• 16:56Lewis Howes?

  It's already happened.

• 16:57Mel Robbins?

  And detach, most importantly, from what you can't control.

• 17:00Lewis Howes?

  So what's the second part, then?

• 17:01Mel Robbins?

  Let me. "Let me choose what I'm going to do." "And when you say 'let me,' you do something crazy powerful." "First of all, you take responsibility for how you're going to address this." "And let's look at the word responsibility, it's the ability to respond." "And when you say 'let me,'" "you are reminding yourself that in life, "there are only three things, Louis, you can control, only three things." "Number one, you can control what you think next."

• 17:40Mel Robbins?

  "Number two, you can control what you do or you don't do next." "And oftentimes, doing nothing is way more powerful than doing something." "And number three, you can control "what you're going to do with the emotions that you feel." "And when you say 'let me,'" "in any situation, "you detach from the things you cannot control "and you remind yourself that no matter what is happening around me "or to me, I always have power." "Because through my thoughts and through my actions

• 18:22Mel Robbins?

  "and through the processing of my emotion, "I can positively impact or change what's happening for the better." "And if you allow yourself to constantly get stressed out "or waste your time "by managing what you will never be able to control, "you will never see the power that you have." "And so this gets back to the question that you asked, "which is what is the single biggest thing "that is in everybody's way? "And the single biggest thing that is in everybody's way "is the power you unknowingly give to other people." "And there are four main ways that you're doing it."

• 19:01Mel Robbins?

  And it is blocking your ability to be happy. It is blocking your ability to make decisions that are aligned with what you want. It is blocking your ability to leverage your time for the things that you care about. It is keeping you from pursuing the things that you're capable of doing in your life. And it is also draining your time. And the four big ways that you've turned other people into a problem. Number one, you allow them to stress you out. Number two, you're so concerned about what everybody else thinks. It is a massive obstacle in your way because you consider it before you do anything.

• 19:42Mel Robbins?

  Number three, you navigate your entire life based on other people's emotional reactions. And you allow emotional immaturity in other people and in yourself to dominate how you move through your day. And number four, your habit of chronically looking over there and comparing yourself makes you feel like life is unfair and that other people are against you or competing with you. And all four of those things are simply not true. And you can use the let them theory to remove all four of those obstacles. And when you no longer allow people to stress you out, you have more energy.

• 20:26Mel Robbins?

  When you allow people, you let them think negative thoughts about you because you recognize you can't control what they think anyway. It frees you up to focus on what's within your control, which is what you think about yourself. And when you operate in a way, Louis, that makes you proud of yourself, you authentically don't really care if people have a negative opinion. When it comes to emotional immaturity, so many of us are driven by guilt or we're scared to disappoint people, or we don't want to let people down, or we think it's our job to make other people happy. And when you organize your life around managing another adult's feelings, you become the parent to another human being.

• 21:10Mel Robbins?

  And there's a much easier way, let them. Let them be disappointed. Let them be upset. Let them be sad that you're doing something that they wanted you to do, but you're not gonna do it. Let them be an adult and let them deal with themselves. And the fourth one is when you spend tons of time comparing yourself to other people. And look, comparison is normal. Comparing yourself to other people isn't the problem. It's what you're doing with it that is. And so, using the let them theory, you gotta let other people be successful. Because, right now, what's happening is when you see somebody else succeeding, or happy, or they're pregnant,

• 21:55Mel Robbins?

  or they're engaged, or they're doing whatever, they're, you know, building some big brand. And you tell yourself, "Oh my God, you know, they've already done what I wanted to do. I'm too late, you know, because they've done it, now I can't do it." You actually are working against the laws of the world. Because success, and happiness, and joy, and friendship, and love, these are all things that are in limitless supply. And the truth about life is that you're not actually playing against other people. You're playing with them. And when you turn other people into a problem, and you look at other people's success, or happiness, or the things that they've achieved,

• 22:39Mel Robbins?

  or experiences in their lives, as evidence that you won't have it, you're working against the natural order of things. Other people can't actually block your way. Only you can do that. And if you let people show you the way, if you let them inspire you, if you let them reveal the formula to success, now you're learning from people, instead of turning people into a problem that is blocking you from doing what you're capable of. And those are the four ways that you have turned other people into a problem. And you have allowed other people and your desire to control them,

• 23:21Mel Robbins?

  or to manage them, or the sense that you have this responsibility to make everybody else happy, and you've forgotten about the one person whose job it is that you are supposed to be making happy, which is you. Kind of cool, huh?

• 23:35Lewis Howes?

  Very cool. So this was a kind of an awakening with your son and your daughter.

• 23:39Mel Robbins?

  Uh huh. Well, it starts at the prom, which is crazy.

• 23:42Lewis Howes?

  Was this two years ago?

• 23:44Lewis Howes?

  When you were able to have this kind of awakening.

• 23:47Mel Robbins?

  Yeah.

• 23:47Lewis Howes?

  A couple of years ago. How much of these things were you doing that were holding you back?

• 23:51Mel Robbins?

  Everything.

• 23:52Lewis Howes?

  Really?

• 23:52Mel Robbins?

  Everything. I didn't see this. See, it's sort of like you and I both have dyslexia. I didn't discover that I had dyslexia and ADHD till I was 47.

• 24:01Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 24:02Mel Robbins?

  Because my, and I found out the way most women do. My son was getting evaluated for school and I'm like.

• 24:07Lewis Howes?

  And you're like, oh, I think I have the same thing here. Yeah.

• 24:09Mel Robbins?

  Yeah.

• 24:09Lewis Howes?

  Interesting.

• 24:10Mel Robbins?

  And if you don't know the problem, then you have no access to solving it. And for years, Louis, I thought that the primary thing that I was struggling with was anxiety. Because when you have dyslexia or ADHD and it's not diagnosed or addressed, the thing that rises to the surface is anxiety. And anxiety wasn't my problem. Anxiety was a symptom.

• 24:40Lewis Howes?

  Why do you think you had anxiety then? Or why do you think anxiety was showing up for you in your life?

• 24:45Mel Robbins?

  Oh, well, it's, it's very simple. Like if you're sitting in a classroom and your brain can't do what everybody else, you know, can do? And you're falling behind.

• 24:53Lewis Howes?

  You'll feel anxious.

• 24:54Mel Robbins?

  Of course, because you're, you're uncertain. And anxiety in my mind is just a situation where you feel like there's an unknown. Right? And you add in this belief that you're not capable of figuring it out. And the problem is that when something feels overwhelming or you don't know, or things feel a little out of control, we focus on that and then we start worrying. Versus focusing on the fact that you're actually capable of figuring something out. That's all that anxiety is. It's a separation with the power inside you. And then, of course, your body has this alarm system.

• 25:34Mel Robbins?

  And when something is happening in the moment, or it's about to happen, and you get nervous because you're uncertain, or you're afraid of how things are going to turn out, or you're afraid that the teacher's going to call on you, right? The alarm system in your body goes off. And then you separate yourself from your power. Because you always have the ability to figure something out. And for somebody who starts to struggle chronically with anxiety, what ends up happening is that you start to, when you feel nervous in your body, which, by the way, it is a mentally healthy response, if you're a dyslexic kid in classroom, and you don't know what the hell's going on, to feel nervous. Yes.

• 26:18Mel Robbins?

  That's a sign that things are working well, because the alarm is trying to tell you something's not right. Mm-hmm. And then we feel the alarm, and we don't know what the issue is, so then we make a major mistake. Instead of dropping into the alarm, which is always in your body, we go upstairs to our heads, which is where self-doubt is. And then you start going, "Oh, my God, oh, my God, oh, my God," which only makes the alarm bigger. I didn't know any of this back then. So I, of course, went from a dyslexic and ADHD kid to somebody that develops anxiety because I'm sitting in a classroom thinking I'm an idiot. And you want to know the kid that works the hardest in school? The one who's struggling. Not the kids that are getting straight A's. It's easy for them. Yes. Yeah. Even if they're working hard.

• 27:03Mel Robbins?

  It's still easy to come by. Yes. It's the kid who isn't able to learn in that way, and is terrified of being found out. Like, you don't have to tell a kid that's struggling in school that, like, telling somebody to work harder is dumb. Because it's not an issue of willpower, it's an issue of, "I don't have the skills right now." And when you're in that situation where you can't... In fact, there's a doctor that was on our show two weeks ago that you've got to have on, his name is Dr. Stuart Avalon. And Louis, he said this sentence, he's been at Mass General Brigham for 30 years, incredible, child psychiatrist, he says, "People do well when they can."

• 27:46Mel Robbins?

  And if somebody's not doing well, and they're exhibiting challenging behavior, it's because they're missing one of a few skills.

• 27:55Lewis Howes?

  Hmm.

• 27:55Mel Robbins?

  And he's been able to identify it down into five skills. And one of the tragic things about his work with kids that he sees over and over is that it's not the kid's fault. And if you don't know what the skill is that you need, whether it's communicating, or impulse control, or it is the ability to learn in the way that your brain's being asked to learn, these are all things that can be addressed. If you don't know what the skill is that's missing, you will continue to struggle.

• 28:25Lewis Howes?

  Yes.

• 28:26Mel Robbins?

  And we live in a world where if you're struggling or you're presenting challenging behavior, we punish you.

• 28:33Lewis Howes?

  Or you tell you to work harder, or whatever it might be.

• 28:35Mel Robbins?

  Or you punish yourself.

• 28:36Lewis Howes?

  Oh, yeah. You feel shame and guilt and all those things, yeah.

• 28:39Mel Robbins?

  Correct. And so the Lathan theory is the exact same thing because it is a skill to be able to identify what's in your control and what's not in your control. And it's a skill anybody can learn. And you need to learn it because human beings, at our core, we have a fundamental, hardwired need for control. It makes us feel safe. So if you really think about this, like, you need to feel in control of your decisions. You need to feel in control of your environment. You need to feel in control of what's going to happen in the future or at work today. And we also try to make ourselves feel safe by what? Controlling the people around us. And this is in all of us.

• 29:23Mel Robbins?

  I have this need to be in control. You have this need to be in control. This is why the parent-child relationship is so irritating, right? Because you're the parent, or you're the adult child, and you have a need to be in control of yourself, but your parent only feels safe if they're in control of you. And that sets up a problem for every relationship that you're in. Because if I can't control you, it makes me feel unsafe. But if I try to control you, Louis, then you're going to feel... Annoyed, and what happens in the body, and I write about this in the book, because the first thing you're gonna learn when you learn this skill of identifying what's not in your control, and removing it as an obstacle in your life.

• 30:08Mel Robbins?

  Because when you stop giving power to things that aren't in your control, guess what you give back? Time, energy, power, confidence, peace, joy. You realize you do have agency, and that that power isn't over there, it's in here. And you have the exact same thing. And when you start to tap into that for yourself, it's just liberating. And then you start to see the second thing that I write about in the book, which is that there are four ways you're screwing up your relationships because you're trying to control people. And any psychologist will tell you that when you try to control something that you can't control, it just creates stress and frustration for you,

• 30:51Mel Robbins?

  and it creates tension, and misunderstanding, and distance in your relationships. Because if you have a need to control, and I have a need to control, right? And I try to pressure you to do something, Louis, your brain is wired not to feel motivated, but to actually resist the change I want you to make.

• 31:15Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, exactly.

• 31:16Mel Robbins?

  Yes.

• 31:16Lewis Howes?

  You don't want to do it.

• 31:17Mel Robbins?

  No.

• 31:17Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, yeah.

• 31:18Mel Robbins?

  No. And so, it was fascinating also to see that for 54 years, I was actually operating

• 31:28Mel Robbins?

  the opposite of human wiring when it came to relationships.

• 31:33Lewis Howes?

  On a scale of 1 to 10, in terms of a parent-child relationship that you had, or even marriage relationship, 10 being the ultimate level of control, wanting to control either your kids or your partner, where were you on that scale?

• 31:48Mel Robbins?

  I'd say that publicly, I was probably a 5.

• 31:51Lewis Howes?

  Privately?

• 31:52Mel Robbins?

  10.

• 31:52Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 31:53Mel Robbins?

  Well, we all are. We all are.

• 31:55Lewis Howes?

  So what does that look like then? Is it like not accepting your kids to be themselves? Or they want to do something and you say, "No, you can't do that." Or "Here's what you need to do."

• 32:03Mel Robbins?

  Well, there's a balance with it.

• 32:05Lewis Howes?

  Because you've got to discipline kids too. You can't just be, "Let them do whatever they want." "Eat whatever they want." "They can stay up all night." "Let them."

• 32:12Mel Robbins?

  No, because this is a book about adult relationships. And we make a huge distinction because when you're an adult, you are, and you have a child, or you're a caregiver or coach. No, you are a... Well, there are certain things you need to let them do.

• 32:28Lewis Howes?

  Yes.

• 32:29Mel Robbins?

  But there are certain guardrails that are your responsibility. For example, a child cannot regulate their own emotions.

• 32:36Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 32:37Mel Robbins?

  You have to, it's your responsibility, to teach a child how to regulate their own emotions. And the problem is that no adults know how to do this.

• 32:48Lewis Howes?

  They haven't been taught it either.

• 32:49Mel Robbins?

  Correct, which is why another philosophy and rule in the "Let Them Theory" book is that from this point forward, go through life and see every adult as an eight-year-old in a big body. And when you do that, something fascinating happens. Instead of being scared of people who are challenging, or narcissistic, or passive, or immature, you actually can let them be, and you feel compassion. And you also realize it's not your job to make excuses for somebody who is immature. It's not your job to change somebody who has a narcissistic personality style.

• 33:34Mel Robbins?

  It's not your job to take away somebody's disappointment or sadness. You need to let them. And when you do it, it's the ultimate boundary because then you separate your emotions and energy from someone else. And then you say the second part, which is "Let me." "Let me double down on my values." "And let me see this person very clearly."

• 33:58Mel Robbins?

  Because if I see this person's immature behavior, and I visualize the eight-year-old version of them, what I realize is that this is a person who was just never taught the skill of understanding and managing their emotions in a responsible and healthy way. And I can't teach them that.

• 34:17Lewis Howes?

  If someone is treating you poorly, or disrespecting you, or has a lack of manners and just decency in life. Not saying they're stealing a hundred grand from you, not saying they're cheating on you.

• 34:28Mel Robbins?

  Honestly, the same thing.

• 34:28Lewis Howes?

  But just

• 34:29Mel Robbins?

  It is.

• 34:30Lewis Howes?

  Other things that are like, huh, that doesn't feel good.

• 34:33Mel Robbins?

  Yeah.

• 34:33Lewis Howes?

  How do you let them, but then also create a boundary with them? Or communicate to them, hey, this doesn't work for me anymore. I'm gonna let you do this. But also, this doesn't work in this relationship for me.

• 34:45Mel Robbins?

  Correct.

• 34:46Lewis Howes?

  How can we do that?

• 34:47Mel Robbins?

  You just explained it.

• 34:48Lewis Howes?

  That is not angry and mean towards them, or reacting emotionally. You're just creating a healthy, conscious communication.

• 34:55Mel Robbins?

  Okay, great. Excellent question.

• 34:57Lewis Howes?

  Because that's, that's sounds like part two where you're letting me, you're taking your power back, and you're saying, now I want to communicate how you can treat me.

• 35:04Mel Robbins?

  Yes.

• 35:04Lewis Howes?

  Like, these behaviors don't work.

• 35:06Mel Robbins?

  Right.

• 35:06Lewis Howes?

  If you want to do that, I'm gonna let you do it. But not with me.

• 35:10Mel Robbins?

  Bingo.

• 35:10Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 35:11Mel Robbins?

  See, here's the thing. Who is the power in a narcissistic relationship?

• 35:16Lewis Howes?

  I guess the narcissist, if the other person's allowing it to happen.

• 35:20Mel Robbins?

  Correct, but you're only allowing it if you see it happening and you make excuses for it and you stay.

• 35:24Lewis Howes?

  Yes.

• 35:25Mel Robbins?

  So if you let them reveal who they are, and so this is a very important point. You are not allowing people to abuse you. In fact, what the let them theory does is it helps you wake up,

• 35:38Mel Robbins?

  perhaps for the first time, and actually see somebody very clearly as they are. And not make an excuse. Because people's behavior is the truth.

• 35:50Mel Robbins?

  People can say anything that they want, but if you watch their behavior, someone tells you exactly who they are and they tell you what their priorities are and where you fall in those priorities. So let them reveal who they are. And if you are in a situation with any human being, and you let them be who they are, and they reveal to you that they are emotionally abusive, or narcissistic, or they don't call back, or they keep saying that they're gonna stop drinking and they don't, or they promise that they're not gonna raise their voice, but they do. Let them. Because your power is not in trying to change them, because you can never change another human being. Human beings only change when they feel like it,

• 36:36Mel Robbins?

  and they are not gonna change for you. People only change when they feel like changing for themselves. And so, trying to make someone else change, or wishing that they would change, that's not where your power is. Don't put your time and energy there. Let someone reveal who they are, and then say the second part, which is "let me." Let me remind myself that I always have power because I can leave any conversation, I can leave any interview, I can leave any date, I can leave any relationship, I can leave any dining room table. Any job. Any time, any job, any time I choose. And so, you know, I also say this, knowing the research. I used to work at domestic violence hotline,

• 37:19Mel Robbins?

  and when I was a public defender, we had a tremendous amount of training in crisis intervention. And I know you've covered this topic a lot, and you understand trauma and have written about it extensively. And I say this in abusive relationships, this is a life-changing tool for you, to say "let them," and here's why. On average, at least the research I saw last, it took a woman seven times of leaving to leave for good in a domestic. Wow, why is that? I'll tell you why. The reason why is, if you look at brain circuitry, and you look at all that research that scientists have done on addiction,

• 38:01Mel Robbins?

  and there's this famous study, I'm gonna get completely wrong, it's part of my brand, to just like, kinda miss some of the details, get the gist of it. So, they put these poor rats in two different cages, and in one of the cages, they give the rats like, all the sugar that they want, or heroin, or I don't even know what they were giving these rats. Some addictive something. Right, and it's on tap. And of course, they're like tap, tap, tap, but then they kind of get a little like tired of it. In this cage, they put the rats in with the same sugar or heroin or whatever, but they gave it to them randomly. So you would tap it once and get your hit, and then you'd go back and it's water. And then you hit it again, and then maybe it comes again. And then you hit it a couple more times, it's water, and then you hit it again. It's called intermittent rewards.

• 38:44Mel Robbins?

  It is the exact same mechanism as pulling a slot machine. Like, sometimes you win, and then you gotta pull it 23, and then you win again. And it's that lack of predictability, which by the way, is the exact same mechanism with social media. Because when you're scrolling, you know, for those of us that have been caught doom scrolling, this is not your fault. The algorithm's designed this way. It's designed to feed you things that are like a dopamine hit, and then you get a bunch of boring crap. But have you ever noticed as you start to talk to yourself, "I gotta go to bed." Like, "I really need to go after soccer."

• 39:18Lewis Howes?

  Not 10 minutes, not 12 minutes.

• 39:19Mel Robbins?

  And then you hit one thing, you're like, "Okay," and then you're on for another. It's intermittent reward. And so in the cycle of an emotionally, or physically, or sexually abusive relationship, what happens is the relationship cycle is one where it's calm, and then the abuse, and then the apology, and then it's calm. And the fact that it's not always like it negatively the whole time makes you do what we all do when we're on social media. "I know that I need to do something, but..."

• 39:53Lewis Howes?

  And there's a moment of like some goodness or something happening that's good, yeah.

• 39:57Mel Robbins?

  And so you...

• 39:58Lewis Howes?

  You want that to happen all the time, but it's not.

• 40:00Mel Robbins?

  Correct. And the world's leading experts, you've had Dr. Ramani Divarsala on a number of times here, leading expert in the world on narcissism. She has said that the single biggest problem in a narcissistic relationship, whether it's your mother, or the person that you're dating, or a brother or sister or friend, is the hope that they will change.

• 40:23Lewis Howes?

  Oh, God, it's so hard. They won't change.

• 40:26Mel Robbins?

  Well...

• 40:26Lewis Howes?

  They might on their own.

• 40:28Mel Robbins?

  Likelihood is not.

• 40:29Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 40:30Mel Robbins?

  But... I think that you can hold out the belief that people can change. And at the same time, you can live in the reality of who they actually are right now.

• 40:42Lewis Howes?

  Yes.

• 40:43Mel Robbins?

  And that's the power of letting them. You're not letting them do anything to you. You're letting them reveal exactly who they are through their behavior. And for the first time, you are not explaining it away. And that is the biggest issue that people also face in dating. We're so terrified to be single. You know, and I get it, like I, I've been married a long time. I have two daughters that are, one is single, the other's in a relationship. And the obsession with not wanting to be the single friend.

• 41:18Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 41:19Mel Robbins?

  Like how awesome it is to have plans on the weekend. Like the fear that you have that you're not going to meet the one. And the problem is that we are so married to the fantasy that we chase the potential. And you don't see the reality of the person that you're actually with.

• 41:34Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 41:35Mel Robbins?

  And the explaining away of behavior is the single biggest reason why you'll waste years of your life or months of your life with the wrong person. Because you're up here going, well, if they'd only lose some more weight, or they'd be more motivated, or they didn't watch golf all weekend.

• 41:52Lewis Howes?

  They treated me nicer.

• 41:53Mel Robbins?

  Treated me nicer, then maybe, no. This is exactly who this person is.

• 41:59Lewis Howes?

  Well, I once heard someone say that if you're not changing it, you're choosing it. If you're not changing the situation, or changing your relationship within the situation, or changing your environment, you're choosing that environment.

• 42:10Mel Robbins?

  Yes.

• 42:10Lewis Howes?

  You're choosing that relationship.

• 42:11Mel Robbins?

  Yes.

• 42:11Lewis Howes?

  You're choosing that job, whatever it might be. And you can speak up and you can communicate, hey, this is something that I would like to create within this relationship, within this career, within this job. And I'm not happy with my current situation. Or this is what's working for me, but this isn't working for me.

• 42:26Mel Robbins?

  Right.

• 42:26Lewis Howes?

  How can we evolve this relationship?

• 42:28Mel Robbins?

  Yes.

• 42:29Lewis Howes?

  So I think you should have the conversation.

• 42:31Mel Robbins?

  You have to, that's the let me part.

• 42:32Lewis Howes?

  Don't just say, screw this person and I'm gone.

• 42:34Mel Robbins?

  No, no.

• 42:36Lewis Howes?

  Communicating with courage.

• 42:37Mel Robbins?

  Yes.

• 42:38Lewis Howes?

  With consciousness of like, here's what I do appreciate about you.

• 42:40Mel Robbins?

  Yes.

• 42:41Lewis Howes?

  Here's all the good that is happening.

• 42:42Mel Robbins?

  Absolutely.

• 42:43Lewis Howes?

  And here's some things that I would like to improve on.

• 42:45Mel Robbins?

  Yes.

• 42:45Lewis Howes?

  Can we improve in this situation, in my relationship, or my career, or whatever it might be, or our friendship? If not, okay, it's information. Maybe I'll stay as invested with you, maybe I won't.

• 42:56Mel Robbins?

  Correct.

• 42:57Lewis Howes?

  Maybe I'll stay in this job, maybe I'll look for a new job and try to find some other situation. But if you're not changing it, you're choosing it.

• 43:04Mel Robbins?

  Yes, yes.

• 43:05Lewis Howes?

  And when you're choosing it, you gotta accept it. If you don't accept it, you gotta start having a conscious conversation with change.

• 43:10Mel Robbins?

  Yes, that's exactly right, Louis, and here's the cool part. No human being's perfect.

• 43:15Lewis Howes?

  Of course not.

• 43:16Mel Robbins?

  And we can all learn skills.

• 43:18Lewis Howes?

  Yes.

• 43:18Mel Robbins?

  And so, whose responsibility is it to create the relationship that you deserve? See, I think it's your responsibility.

• 43:25Lewis Howes?

  Our responsibility.

• 43:26Mel Robbins?

  And the way that you do it is you allow someone, you let them be who they are. And then you come back to yourself and anything that's annoying you or frustrating you or that you're griping to your friends about, whether it's work, or it's a friendship, or your parents, or whatever, that's the let me part.

• 43:41Lewis Howes?

  Yes.

• 43:42Mel Robbins?

  Let me either stop bitching about this, because that's the only way that you know how you accept it.

• 43:47Lewis Howes?

  Accept them, yeah.

• 43:48Mel Robbins?

  Right?

• 43:49Lewis Howes?

  Stop complaining.

• 43:50Mel Robbins?

  Or let me sit down and be the emotionally mature one and make the request. So Chris has done this with me, so I'll play this out this way. So, you know, you're good friends with my husband, Chris, and you know Chris, he's like Mr. Men's Retreat, Deaf Dula, Zen, amazing man. And I, you know, if you go into our bathroom, Louis, Chris's counter...

• 44:11Lewis Howes?

  Clean, organized.

• 44:13Mel Robbins?

  So you knew, yeah.

• 44:13Lewis Howes?

  No, I know, because this is my bathroom, it's unclean, you're organized, and when Martha puts something on it, I'm like, you have a whole other separate counter. We're not sharing a counter. We have two sinks for a reason. And yours is three times the size of mine for a reason. You don't have to put your brush on my side.

• 44:29Mel Robbins?

  Yes.

• 44:30Lewis Howes?

  I like it clean.

• 44:31Mel Robbins?

  Yes.

• 44:31Lewis Howes?

  You know what I mean?

• 44:32Mel Robbins?

  Drives crazy, doesn't it?

• 44:33Lewis Howes?

  Crazy.

• 44:33Mel Robbins?

  Yeah, okay, it's just boring. Mine is just like Martha's. It looks like the CVS aisle, tipped over on top of it.

• 44:39Lewis Howes?

  And it's like, she can't even see what she has, because there's so much stuff.

• 44:42Mel Robbins?

  Yes. So, it drives Chris bananas. He has learned to let me. Now.

• 44:48Lewis Howes?

  Now, I let her on her side.

• 44:50Mel Robbins?

  Correct. Correct, but when the brush comes onto your side, which I do too, because I walk over and talking, and I put it down, and I walk back. So here's the thing, though. If it really starts to annoy you.

• 45:02Lewis Howes?

  It's not bad.

• 45:03Mel Robbins?

  Yeah, you're not gonna be able to control her, right? You are starting to get annoyed, so now you know it is actually draining some energy. The power's not in controlling her, it's in your response. So you go to market, Chris comes to me and says, Mel, I love you.

• 45:18Lewis Howes?

  Yes.

• 45:18Mel Robbins?

  The real trigger for Chris is cardboard boxes.

• 45:22Lewis Howes?

  Cardboard boxes?

• 45:22Mel Robbins?

  Oh, yeah, because what happens is they show up.

• 45:24Lewis Howes?

  You get boxes, yeah, yeah.

• 45:25Mel Robbins?

  And then Chris is Mr. Slice them down, flatten them, stack them.

• 45:29Lewis Howes?

  Organize them, cycle them, whatever, yeah.

• 45:30Mel Robbins?

  Yes, stack them in the garage in a certain way, they got all stacked up, he likes, put one in boxes, I don't know, like, I don't know. And he would ask me, when the boxes come and you enter, please slice them. And I would do it some of the time. But most of the time, what I do is I just stack them next to the door to the garage.

• 45:47Lewis Howes?

  And let him do it.

• 45:48Mel Robbins?

  Well, that's not what I would do.

• 45:51Lewis Howes?

  You're gonna do it.

• 45:53Mel Robbins?

  I mean to come down at the end of the day.

• 45:56Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, you know, you're tired of it, yeah.

• 45:58Mel Robbins?

  So Chris would come in, and he'd see them, and he has asked me multiple times. So, of course, it stresses him out and pisses him off and annoys him.

• 46:08Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 46:09Mel Robbins?

  But what he did is he sat me down, because there's a big difference between what you intend and the impact it has on another person.

• 46:15Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, if you scream at someone, or scold them, or shame them, you're not gonna get a good response.

• 46:19Mel Robbins?

  Correct.

• 46:20Lewis Howes?

  But if you sit down consciously, when things are calm.

• 46:22Mel Robbins?

  Correct.

• 46:23Lewis Howes?

  Not in that moment, and just say, hey, in a loving way, I love you, I appreciate you, I appreciate all the good that you do for us and our relationship. We have a beautiful home, we have three amazing children.

• 46:33Mel Robbins?

  And I'm like, now spit it out, Louis, you're wrong.

• 46:35Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, exactly. And there's this one thing that I would love to create an agreement with.

• 46:39Mel Robbins?

  Yes.

• 46:40Lewis Howes?

  Can we create disagreements together? And what support would you need in order for us to have this agreement work?

• 46:45Mel Robbins?

  I said an assistant. No, I.

• 46:47Lewis Howes?

  There you go.

• 46:48Mel Robbins?

  No, I.

• 46:48Lewis Howes?

  It's true, though.

• 46:49Mel Robbins?

  But what he said to me was this, he said, every time I see those cardboard boxes there, it's like a giant middle finger to me.

• 46:55Lewis Howes?

  Like, you don't love me, you don't respect me, you don't care about me, you don't appreciate me.

• 46:59Mel Robbins?

  Correct, you think I'm your maid. And I have asked about this. And when he explained it that way,

• 47:08Mel Robbins?

  what happened is it tapped into my intrinsic motivation.

• 47:13Mel Robbins?

  Because I value how he feels.

• 47:16Lewis Howes?

  Of course.

• 47:18Mel Robbins?

  And when he communicated that way and he let me know, now I am motivated to do it because I know why it matters. And this is really important. When you communicate something to someone, that it matters to you, and they don't do it, you have to let them. And here's why.

• 47:41Lewis Howes?

  Let them and then what?

• 47:43Mel Robbins?

  It depends on the issue.

• 47:45Lewis Howes?

  Because if he sits you down and says, "This really matters to me."

• 47:48Mel Robbins?

  And then I work-

• 47:48Lewis Howes?

  Cardboard boxes. But it's more about feeling disrespected or are you-

• 47:51Mel Robbins?

  But if I repeatedly then ignore it-

• 47:53Lewis Howes?

  Then what?

• 47:54Mel Robbins?

  Well, Chris has to choose.

• 47:55Lewis Howes?

  Choose what?

• 47:56Mel Robbins?

  To either talk to me again, or if it's a big enough issue, Louis, is this the right relationship?

• 48:02Lewis Howes?

  Interesting.

• 48:03Mel Robbins?

  Do I want to be with somebody who I sit down and repeatedly share my feelings and my needs with, and then they do not do anything?

• 48:15Lewis Howes?

  Or they say they will, but then they don't?

• 48:17Mel Robbins?

  And the behavior shows that I don't matter.

• 48:20Lewis Howes?

  Hmm. But also, people could say, "Well, he could also just look at and say, 'Don't take it personally and just, who cares? Accept that there's a you are. She's knocking through the boxes and... Just let it go. It doesn't matter."

• 48:33Mel Robbins?

  It's deeply personal.

• 48:35Lewis Howes?

  Uh huh.

• 48:36Mel Robbins?

  And this is why it's important to understand where your control is, because what's ultimately gonna happen is if you have an issue with somebody in your life, whether it's your parents, or your boss, or whatever, and you've addressed it in a very mature and loving way, and nothing has changed, it's likely not going to. And then it comes back to you. Let me choose.

• 49:02Lewis Howes?

  What to do next?

• 49:03Mel Robbins?

  Yes. What do I deserve? And if it's somebody who repeatedly, like, let's take it to the context of dating, because this was an example that's kind of funny and relatable.

• 49:12Lewis Howes?

  Sure.

• 49:13Mel Robbins?

  But if you're in a relationship with somebody, and you want to take it to the next level, and they don't want to put a label on it?

• 49:21Lewis Howes?

  No.

• 49:21Mel Robbins?

  Is... Like, are those the table scraps you're gonna take?

• 49:24Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 49:25Mel Robbins?

  If they're sneaking out early in the morning, like some stray cat, is that actually the... Seriously? Is that the love you deserve?

• 49:34Lewis Howes?

  I mean, I get up early, go to the gym. I'm not sneaking out there.

• 49:39Mel Robbins?

  But you know what I'm saying?

• 49:40Lewis Howes?

  Sure.

• 49:41Mel Robbins?

  Because what we then do is we go up into our minds and we start explaining away the behavior.

• 49:46Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, of course. And you get a little drip of dopamine every once in a while. You're like, oh, I wish I did that more frequently.

• 49:52Mel Robbins?

  Yes, and if only I can be closer to them. If only I can spend more time with them. Maybe if I learn how to play golf. Maybe if I, like, that now you're...

• 49:59Lewis Howes?

  And you're changing yourself for someone else.

• 50:00Mel Robbins?

  Changing yourself because you refuse to let the person reveal who they are.

• 50:05Lewis Howes?

  Oh, man.

• 50:06Mel Robbins?

  And there are no mixed signals. You're either a priority or you're not.

• 50:09Lewis Howes?

  100%.

• 50:11Mel Robbins?

  Period.

• 50:12Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 50:12Mel Robbins?

  And, you know, I think it's important that I recently heard some experts say, and I think it's a really important statistic to know, that 11% of people in long-term relationships have that sort of instant spark. 89% were the slow burn.

• 50:31Lewis Howes?

  Hmm.

• 50:32Mel Robbins?

  And that's also important to know.

• 50:34Lewis Howes?

  Interesting.

• 50:35Mel Robbins?

  Because over time, people reveal who they are too. And it's why people grow on you.

• 50:44Lewis Howes?

  Yes.

• 50:45Mel Robbins?

  And one of the other reasons why I love this theory so much, you know, you know, because we're all good friends, that Chris and I are about as opposite as they come in terms of energy and communication.

• 50:56Lewis Howes?

  He's calm.

• 50:57Mel Robbins?

  Calm, because he has a pulse. I mean, the guy's a death tool, we're crying out loud.

• 51:02Lewis Howes?

  Oh, man.

• 51:03Mel Robbins?

  He keeps my feet on the ground and I keep our life fun and exciting.

• 51:08Lewis Howes?

  Yes, the adventure.

• 51:09Mel Robbins?

  Yeah.

• 51:09Lewis Howes?

  The uncertainty adventure.

• 51:12Mel Robbins?

  Yeah, yeah, but he's the ground and the soul and the foundation.

• 51:16Lewis Howes?

  It's interesting because when I, you know, I've, I don't know how you guys stayed married. I don't know anyone in their twenties, getting married in their twenties, stays married in their 50s or beyond. Because if I got married in my twenties, I'd have been divorced easily, once or twice.

• 51:31Mel Robbins?

  Early twenties, for sure, I would have been.

• 51:32Lewis Howes?

  I just had no emotional skills. And I think I would have, it would have just been chaos, I feel like, you know? And so I had, I feel blessed and grateful, and I don't know how anyone who's been married 20-plus years in their twenties, starting in their twenties, makes it work. And it's a freaking applaud because...

• 51:54Lewis Howes?

  I feel like I needed those painful kind of five breakup experiences and like just challenging relationships to finally say, "Oh, I wasn't letting myself or letting them be who we need to be."

• 52:06Mel Robbins?

  Yeah.

• 52:06Lewis Howes?

  And I was trying to like make something work that I wasn't accepting and they weren't accepting. I'm not blaming these individuals, we both played parts in it, but when I chose to be with Martha and chose to be committed with Martha, I internally said to myself and out loud to her, said, "If I'm gonna be with you, committed, then I'm gonna choose to fully accept all the parts of you. And that means I wanna get to see all the parts of you to make sure I like them. So if I don't like them, I don't wanna be with you. I don't. I don't care how inspiring you are, or how famous you are, or if you make money, or you look beautiful, like that doesn't matter to me anymore.

• 52:41Mel Robbins?

  Right.

• 52:41Lewis Howes?

  I need to be willing to accept who you are and be okay with it.

• 52:46Mel Robbins?

  Yeah.

• 52:47Lewis Howes?

  Or I shouldn't be with you.

• 52:48Mel Robbins?

  Correct.

• 52:49Lewis Howes?

  And my only request is you accept who I am fully, knowing my lifestyle, knowing I interview lots of different people, and I go speaking, and women come on the show. You need to know all these things about me. And I've got dreams, and I'm gonna be committed to my vision, and I'm gonna be getting up early to go to the gym, like you've gotta accept these parts of me. Otherwise, it's not gonna work.

• 53:09Mel Robbins?

  Well, you know what that is? Love.

• 53:12Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 53:13Mel Robbins?

  Loving someone is letting them be themselves.

• 53:17Lewis Howes?

  Hundred percent.

• 53:18Mel Robbins?

  And when I started, when I stumbled onto this, Chris and I have been through hell and back, and he is my most favorite thing about life. And there is something about let them that is a profound act of love. Because in my mind, when I think about love, I think love is two things. I think it's consideration, so having someone else in mind. Like literally, if you make a cup of coffee for somebody and you put in the oat milk, because that's what they like, that's an act of love, because you have consideration.

• 53:59Mel Robbins?

  When I slice the cardboard box and flatten it, I have Chris in mind. And the second part of love for me is admiration, which is the ability to see something in someone else that you admire.

• 54:15Mel Robbins?

  And you asked, I don't like, how do you go the distance? I think a long-term successful relationship requires two things. It requires two people who want it to work.

• 54:27Lewis Howes?

  Mm-hmm.

• 54:29Mel Robbins?

  And that's an important thing. Because if you look at any relationship that breaks up, whether it's divorce or a breakup, there is a moment, looking back, where at least one of the people

• 54:41Lewis Howes?

  Didn't want it to work.

• 54:42Mel Robbins?

  Yeah. And the second component is that you're both willing to do the work, to make it work. It's almost like you're always gonna be on a seesaw with somebody in a long-term relationship. Ups, downs, balance. But neither one of you will get off the seesaw.

• 55:00Lewis Howes?

  Mm.

• 55:01Mel Robbins?

  That's what it takes. Because if one of you gets off, the whole thing breaks.

• 55:06Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 55:07Mel Robbins?

  And so, that's why it's really important to learn how to let someone be who they are, because I think it's a huge act of love. And one of the cool things about it, for me, and it's not so much with Chris, but it's with other family members that have had very challenging issues or challenging personality styles, is that I've always made it my job to, like, make people happy and make sure nobody's disappointed, and then I get upset. And so...

• 55:34Lewis Howes?

  I know that feeling.

• 55:35Mel Robbins?

  Right? And when you let them be who they are, you're actually holding space for two things to be true. Because somebody can be deeply disappointed in you or something that you've done, and they can still love you.

• 55:54Lewis Howes?

  Hundred percent, yeah.

• 55:56Mel Robbins?

  And a lot of us don't know that. But when you let someone be disappointed, and if, you just take that example, because so many of us are motivated by guilt or we don't wanna let people down. If, you have a business partnership, and they want you to come to some meeting or come give a speech, and it just doesn't work, and they're disappointed, isn't that a good thing?

• 56:13Lewis Howes?

  Mm.

• 56:14Mel Robbins?

  Doesn't that mean they want you there?

• 56:16Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 56:17Mel Robbins?

  And we think we've done something wrong. No, you've actually done something great. Because you have a relationship where somebody wants you there. So let them be disappointed.

• 56:26Lewis Howes?

  Sure.

• 56:27Mel Robbins?

  But then do the second part, let me remind myself of my values. And I don't bend over backwards just to make sure other people aren't disappointed. I just let them be disappointed and I remind myself that I need to act in a way and spend my time in a way that actually supports the things that are priorities for me. And if I value, for example, family, and this is another very important thing because so many people are motivated by guilt, I used to be deeply motivated by making sure that, oh my God, if I felt guilty because I'm working too much, or didn't see my parents, or whatever, and then I'd change everything, and then I'd still feel guilty because it wasn't quite enough. Don't ever do something because you feel guilty.

• 57:11Mel Robbins?

  When you change your plans and you go home to see your parents because you feel guilty, you just made your parents the villain.

• 57:16Lewis Howes?

  Hmm, because you'll resent it.

• 57:18Mel Robbins?

  Yes, and because you're making it a thing you have to do. If you let them be disappointed and then you come back to yourself and you say, okay, well, let me drop into my values. And for me, my dad's 80 this year, and I'm lucky, I got 10 more holidays with him. And so I don't make the time to see them because I want him to think I'm a good daughter. I make the time to see him because it makes me know I'm a good daughter. Because I value it. And the other thing that I love about let them, especially in challenging political times, is there are very good people in your life that have political opinions that you just cannot explain.

• 58:00Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 58:01Mel Robbins?

  And it's a deeply personal issue for everybody around what crosses a line. But there is space when you say let them.

• 58:14Mel Robbins?

  For someone else to have a belief that you don't understand, and for you to not be emotionally charged by it, and then for you to come back to your power and say, "Let me decide how much time and energy I pour into this relationship. Let me decide the role that family plays. Let me decide if I'm going to take the time to step in their shoes and try to understand how they have come to this belief." Because one of the other things that I've learned, and especially in researching this book, is that our brains are very interesting because when you... When somebody has a different opinion than you, or they tell you something you don't want to hear, they've scanned your brain. This is research from Dr. Tali Sharot.

• 59:00Mel Robbins?

  Your brain literally turns off the listening part

• 59:04Mel Robbins?

  when somebody is telling you something that you don't want to hear. And so by yelling at each other, or arguing about things, or "I don't understand how you could possibly..." That doesn't do anything but create this silent distance between people. When you let people have their beliefs, and then you remind yourself, "Let me decide what I value, and let me decide what energy I'm going to pour into what, and let me decide if I want to keep the space in this relationship open." Because the other thing that I was getting super wrong in relationships, Lewis, is... You know, I know that I have to push myself because I'm lazy and stubborn and doubtful and anxious like everybody else, right? I don't want to do the hard shit. So I'm like, "Five hundred yards, I'm pushing myself."

• 59:49Mel Robbins?

  So naturally, I push everybody else. And our brains are not only wired for control, but we move toward what's easy, which is why you sit on the couch instead of exercising, because it's easy.

• 1:00:03Mel Robbins?

  And we move away from what feels hard. And if you're a parent, you're stomping up the stairs because your kid's not motivated and you hear the Xbox going... Do you think studying is easy for that kid? No, that's why they're not doing it. And when you come stomping up the stairs to open up the door and be like, "Are you studying?"

• 1:00:22Lewis Howes?

  Yelling at them, yeah.

• 1:00:23Mel Robbins?

  Yeah, do you think that's motivating?

• 1:00:24Lewis Howes?

  No.

• 1:00:25Mel Robbins?

  You just create more resistance to the change that you want.

• 1:00:28Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 1:00:28Mel Robbins?

  Now, you can't make someone change, but I never said you couldn't influence them.

• 1:00:31Lewis Howes?

  Sure.

• 1:00:32Mel Robbins?

  So through letting somebody be who they are, and then coming back to let me, let me approach this in a different way. If I know I can't change this person, and I know that the hardest working person is the person who's struggling, I mean, people that are fat, they know they are. They know they are. People that are unhealthy, they know they are. And they're in tension with themselves. Of course, I see, I choose to believe that everybody wants to be thriving. I choose to believe that everybody wants to feel good about themselves. I choose to believe that, you know, if you're broke, I've been broke, I knew it. I knew I wanted to change my relationship with money.

• 1:01:13Mel Robbins?

  In fact, I needed your new book, Louis. You know, where were you 14 years ago? People know when they're not living up to their potential. They are already actively in tension with themselves. They don't need pressure from you, because it just creates more weight and shame around an issue they already wish they could change.

• 1:01:37Lewis Howes?

  So how do you influence someone who you know could use support in changing something that's really holding them back, whether it's their weight, or their mindset, or...

• 1:01:47Mel Robbins?

  Have you asked them how they feel about it? Or you just made an assumption that you know. Like, it's like, "Oh, thanks a lot. I should pay off my bills? Never thought of that." "Oh, I should eat healthier? Oh, thanks, you know, Einstein." "Didn't occur to me that I should exercise." Right? So you feel like, "Fuck you." So here's how you do it, and this comes from, you know, one of our favorite people, Dr. K, the Healthy Gamer.

• 1:02:15Lewis Howes?

  And I gotta get you out of here in five minutes.

• 1:02:16Mel Robbins?

  Okay, no problem. But this is important, this is a really good, good technique. So first things first, you just follow this A-B-C method, okay? A is you apologize. You apologize for pressuring and judging and assuming.

• 1:02:37Mel Robbins?

  And I like to have these conversations, by the way, in the car. Because there's no drinking. And there's something about, I guess the word is forward ambulation as the car is moving, that creates more open-mindedness, and plus you're not looking at each other.

• 1:02:52Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, or walking or moving or something.

• 1:02:54Mel Robbins?

  Yeah, and you're trapped.

• 1:02:55Lewis Howes?

  You can't get away in a car, that's true.

• 1:02:58Mel Robbins?

  And so you apologize for being judgy and assuming and a know-it-all, and then you're gonna ask some open-ended questions. I haven't even asked you how you feel about your health.

• 1:03:13Lewis Howes?

  Mm-hmm.

• 1:03:14Mel Robbins?

  And they might say, "Nothing, I'm fine." What makes you, like, fine about it? And here's the most important question. Is there anything that you want to do about it?

• 1:03:27Lewis Howes?

  Mm.

• 1:03:28Mel Robbins?

  And Dr. K says, "It doesn't even matter what their answers are." Because what you're doing is you're removing outside pressure.

• 1:03:36Lewis Howes?

  Something you want to do, yeah.

• 1:03:37Mel Robbins?

  Yes, and you're actually putting your arm around them. And when that tension rises up inside you, like, I've known in my life when I drink too much, I've known when I've been a walking red flag, I've known when I've been struggling, I've known when I'm in the wrong job, I've known when I'm not taking care of myself. And I'm in tension with myself. Like, nobody's actually stuck.

• 1:04:05Lewis Howes?

  In tension.

• 1:04:06Mel Robbins?

  Yeah, with myself, oh, I love it, in tension.

• 1:04:08Lewis Howes?

  Not in tension.

• 1:04:09Mel Robbins?

  Yeah, like, in frustration and friction.

• 1:04:11Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 1:04:12Mel Robbins?

  And nobody's actually stuck. People who are stuck have woken up a little bit, and they're like, "I'm not happy where I am." But you're not quite sure what to do about it, or worse, you don't have hope that it's gonna work.

• 1:04:25Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 1:04:26Mel Robbins?

  And so when you say, "What would you like to do about it?", you've now just exposed the gap between what they actually want and what they're doing.

• 1:04:37Lewis Howes?

  Yep.

• 1:04:38Mel Robbins?

  And you're awakening intrinsic motivation.

• 1:04:41Lewis Howes?

  Yes.

• 1:04:42Mel Robbins?

  So then you go to B, back off. That's it, back off.

• 1:04:47Lewis Howes?

  Don't try to coach them, don't tell them what to do, don't try to control them, don't try to... You should do this, and you should do that.

• 1:04:54Mel Robbins?

  No, and you better wait three to six months, just back off.

• 1:04:56Lewis Howes?

  Just listen and they say, "Okay."

• 1:04:58Mel Robbins?

  Yeah, great. And if you screw up again, apologize again, open-ended questions again. If you thought about what you might want to do about this, if anything at all.

• 1:05:08Mel Robbins?

  And then, the third part is C, which is you gotta celebrate any small thing you see, without being passive-aggressive, "Oh, see, it wasn't that bad."

• 1:05:18Lewis Howes?

  You didn't eat that pie today, good job, there you are.

• 1:05:22Mel Robbins?

  And here's the thing that none of us do, you gotta model the behavior change.

• 1:05:25Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 1:05:26Mel Robbins?

  And you cannot expect someone to stop drinking while you're pouring yourself a glass of wine.

• 1:05:30Lewis Howes?

  No.

• 1:05:31Mel Robbins?

  You can't expect someone else to motivate and go for a walk every morning when you're not. And you also have to make it look fun and easy. And I want you to give it three to six months, and here's why.

• 1:05:44Mel Robbins?

  We all have the need to feel in control. They have to have enough space from you for it to feel like their idea.

• 1:05:51Lewis Howes?

  Hmm, that's true.

• 1:05:52Mel Robbins?

  So, I love this example where, if you think about being at work, and you know, I'm like one of those people that used to eat the sandwich, work through work, like, you know, eat through my lunch break, like shoving the sandwich in my mouth.

• 1:06:04Mel Robbins?

  And you see somebody get up and go for a walk. Work, work, work, work, work. And then they come back and they're super refreshed. And the next day, work, work, work, work, work, and they go for a walk. After a couple of weeks, one of these days you're gonna look outside, and you're always gonna think, "You know, I should go for a walk."

• 1:06:20Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 1:06:21Mel Robbins?

  You don't credit them. You think it was your idea. But that was the influence of your colleague.

• 1:06:27Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 1:06:28Mel Robbins?

  Who made something look easy and fun.

• 1:06:30Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 1:06:30Mel Robbins?

  This is why we buy so much dumb stuff online, because people are making it look easy and fun.

• 1:06:34Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 1:06:35Mel Robbins?

  That's the power of your influence.

• 1:06:36Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 1:06:37Mel Robbins?

  And when you let them be who they are, and you let them change on their own timeline, and you learn to love them as they are.

• 1:06:42Lewis Howes?

  That's so hard.

• 1:06:44Mel Robbins?

  Then you've just created the space for positive change to happen. And what I also love about this is that when you do it this way, and you let them... You're also communicating, "I believe you can."

• 1:06:58Lewis Howes?

  Hmm.

• 1:06:58Mel Robbins?

  When you micromanage pressure and protect other people from the greatest teacher in the world, which is life, then you're actually saying, "I don't believe you're strong enough to face this."

• 1:07:09Lewis Howes?

  Hmm. Wow.

• 1:07:11Mel Robbins?

  Isn't that cool?

• 1:07:12Lewis Howes?

  Did you feel like you used to micromanage a lot of people?

• 1:07:14Mel Robbins?

  Everybody.

• 1:07:15Lewis Howes?

  Really?

• 1:07:16Mel Robbins?

  Well, of course, because I'm a control freak.

• 1:07:18Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 1:07:19Mel Robbins?

  And, you know, we couch it as worry and love and thinking we know best. And that's a, it's a wonderful thing, Louis, to want more for the people you love.

• 1:07:30Lewis Howes?

  Yes.

• 1:07:30Mel Robbins?

  It's a wonderful thing to see the potential of a friend of yours. It's a wonderful thing to see that if your brother would stop drinking, his life would get better. It's a wonderful thing to want your girlfriend to stop dating these losers. Wanting a better life for somebody else is a beautiful thing. But we've been going about it the wrong way. We've been pressuring, worrying, judging, fixing, controlling. And the truth is, the more you let people be who they are, the better your relationships get.

• 1:08:05Lewis Howes?

  Yes.

• 1:08:06Mel Robbins?

  And the more you let people live their lives, the better your life gets. And the more you learn to see who people are, the more you get to choose how much time and energy you pour into what relationships and which ones you don't. This doesn't make you closed off. It actually makes you more connected.

• 1:08:21Lewis Howes?

  Yes.

• 1:08:21Mel Robbins?

  And more compassionate, and more loving, and more supportive. And as, for me, as a mom, and even as a boss, it's made me realize the power in truly operating in a way where I'm clear, when I'm especially at work, about what I, the outcome is. But then I have to let people do the job. Because that gives them control over their creativity and expression.

• 1:08:49Lewis Howes?

  Yes.

• 1:08:49Mel Robbins?

  And with my kids, learning how to let them live their lives and let them make mistakes and let them face the consequences of their decisions. It is the single most powerful thing I could do because I'm saying to them, "I believe in you. And I believe in your ability to figure this out. And know that the second you need me, I'm there." Because I'm always standing on the side cheering for you. I'm not on the field playing. I'm standing on the side cheering for you because I believe you can win this game.

• 1:09:20Lewis Howes?

  Hmm.

• 1:09:22Lewis Howes?

  There's a problem every time you come on, Mel. I ask one question, it goes for an hour and I, you know, it feels like five minutes. Which is a good thing. Um, there's two things I want people to do right now. If you're listening on audio, I want you to share this with a friend and ask them the biggest takeaway they gained from this conversation. Cause there were so many, I've got pages of notes already. If you're watching on YouTube or anywhere online, I want you to leave a comment of the biggest takeaway so far. What's yours?

• 1:09:54Lewis Howes?

  Well, I was, I'm going through it in the last week with, uh, trying to control things with people. And so it's all coming at the perfect timing to remind me to, and I think this ABC is actually something that I can get a lot better at. Which is apologizing for either pressure or the judging and start asking questions and then kind of let people be. And it's all been kind of happening in the last week where I'm like, gosh, if they just did this thing that I've been wanting them to change for the last 10, 20 years. Life could be so much easier, so much better, so much this, so much, so much this. And it's all coming at the perfect timing because I'm just like, they're human beings, they're adults, they're going to figure out their life on their own. Yeah.

• 1:10:37Lewis Howes?

  And what you said is like, the best thing you can do is keep modeling the behavior that you feel proud of for your values. These are the values that I want to create for me. So I've got to live up to my values consistently. Not perfectly, but consistently, right? And I'm going to have off days or whatever. And keep encouraging and saying, hey, is there anything I can do to support you on your goals? What are your goals? Oh, that's interesting. And then not try to coach them. You know, and for me, I think I've tried to like, okay, well, let's do this, let's create a game plan and here's what we can do and I'll hold you accountable, which feels like loving and maybe you do need, if they say, I need accountability, cool, then do that. Correct. But I think what you said is like, okay, just.

• 1:11:18Lewis Howes?

  Put the question out there to them and say, "It's interesting. What would you want to do about that, if anything?"

• 1:11:22Mel Robbins?

  Yeah.

• 1:11:23Lewis Howes?

  Okay, cool. I'm cheering you on.

• 1:11:24Mel Robbins?

  Yeah.

• 1:11:24Lewis Howes?

  If you need anything from me in the future, let me know.

• 1:11:26Mel Robbins?

  Yeah, yeah. How might I support you?

• 1:11:27Lewis Howes?

  That's it.

• 1:11:28Mel Robbins?

  If that's what you want to do.

• 1:11:28Lewis Howes?

  That's it. And not try to, to force them to change, you know, so. I think that's a big, that's what's speaking to me now. I mean, I'll go back in my notes from the first part.

• 1:11:42Lewis Howes?

  I think the distinction between let them and let me, you know, because I think it is like, that's what I really wanted to ask you about. If you let people walk all over you, let's say,

• 1:11:51Mel Robbins?

  Mm-hmm.

• 1:11:52Lewis Howes?

  Or steal from you, or cheat on you, or treat you poorly.

• 1:11:55Mel Robbins?

  Right.

• 1:11:56Lewis Howes?

  Should we allow that to happen? But I think the second part is letting me, it's like, don't take it that personally. Or maybe take it personally for a moment.

• 1:12:03Mel Robbins?

  Don't take it very personally.

• 1:12:04Lewis Howes?

  Then choose, okay, how do you want this relationship to change?

• 1:12:07Mel Robbins?

  Yeah, like, what, what, what is the love you deserve? What is the friendship you deserve?

• 1:12:11Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, exactly.

• 1:12:11Mel Robbins?

  And like, because the thing is, is that if somebody's cheating on you, it's already happening.

• 1:12:16Lewis Howes?

  Yes.

• 1:12:17Mel Robbins?

  And if you're getting walked all over or taken advantage of, even at work, like you get the crappy shift, every weekend.

• 1:12:25Lewis Howes?

  Mm-hmm. If you're not communicating what you want consciously, not yelling and reacting and saying, "I never get what I want," and you're acting like a child.

• 1:12:32Mel Robbins?

  Yeah.

• 1:12:33Lewis Howes?

  But if you're not consciously stepping up and saying, "Hey, listen, I've been here for a while and I'm just like exhausted. I just need more space and more time. I need a different position," whatever it might be. So you've got to take responsibility and step into your power when you want to communicate a change.

• 1:12:46Mel Robbins?

  Yes, and the mistake we make is, we actually think we don't have power in that situation. You're wrong. And, you know, it's interesting because that is the single, kind of biggest pushback on the let them theory, which is, "Am I just letting people walk all over me?" No, you're doing that right now.

• 1:13:02Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 1:13:03Mel Robbins?

  Because you're making excuses for it.

• 1:13:05Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 1:13:06Mel Robbins?

  And you think that the way to get somebody to stop walking all over you is to try to change them? No. The way you get somebody to stop walking all over you is to walk out the door and not be present for it.

• 1:13:17Lewis Howes?

  Mm-hmm. Exactly. They're telling me you gotta leave here in a couple of minutes, so I'm gonna ask you one final question. The second part of this, hey Vance, if you wanna take photos while we ask this final question, just to get him going.

• 1:13:29Lewis Howes?

  I want you to leave a comment if you're watching on YouTube. I want you to share this with a friend if you're listening and share your biggest takeaway. And the second thing I want you to do is to go to letthem.com and buy a few copies of this book because I'm calling it now, this will be the biggest book of the year, 2025, and probably one of the biggest books of the decade. So if you don't have this book, if you haven't ordered it yet, get a copy for yourself, get a copy for someone else that you care about. Because there are two simple words that will change how you think about your entire life, and it is let them.

• 1:14:03Lewis Howes?

  Very excited about this. I want people to get as many copies as they can because this is gonna be everywhere.

• 1:14:09Mel Robbins?

  It's gonna be everywhere, and everyone's gonna be saying it about you. Like, my family uses this more than me than I use it with any of us. And it brings us closer.

• 1:14:17Lewis Howes?

  100%. I mean, again, we could go on another hours here. If you guys want more, if you want us to, if you wanna ask two questions next time, and you want Mel to come back on to expand on this, let me know in the comments as well. We'll have Mel come back on later this year. One final question. I asked you

• 1:14:36Lewis Howes?

  the first question, which was, you hear the pain of the world on the biggest thing that holds them back. I feel like we got to a part of the answer there, and there could be expanded even more.

• 1:14:45Mel Robbins?

  You're controlling the wrong things.

• 1:14:47Lewis Howes?

  You're controlling what?

• 1:14:48Mel Robbins?

  You're trying to control things that you can't control.

• 1:14:50Lewis Howes?

  Exactly. You're trying to control things you can't control. I'm curious, in your life, everything is taking off right now, and the biggest it's ever been, and you've had different moments of big moments. You've had massive books, you've had things go viral, you've seen growth in certain seasons of life. But this is a whole nother trajectory.

• 1:15:09Mel Robbins?

  Completely different.

• 1:15:11Lewis Howes?

  With everything going amazing and going bigger than you probably ever imagined right now, what is the biggest challenge holding you back?

• 1:15:19Mel Robbins?

  I feel more present than I ever have.

• 1:15:26Lewis Howes?

  You feel like it, yeah.

• 1:15:27Mel Robbins?

  Yeah, and I don't feel any challenge in my life right now. Because I do feel that what is happening, especially with the let them theory,

• 1:15:46Mel Robbins?

  I think this is my legacy.

• 1:15:49Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, it's beautiful.

• 1:15:50Mel Robbins?

  I do, and I just want to be present because I know that whatever it is that's happening in the world in this moment, I feel called to share this.

• 1:16:02Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 1:16:03Mel Robbins?

  And I spent so much of my life either feeling anxious or being a walking red flag because I just didn't know how to break out of the patterns that I was in, and I was controlling the wrong things, that I don't remember a lot, and I wasn't present for a lot of my life. And so I think the biggest challenge is being present in this moment.

• 1:16:30Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 1:16:31Mel Robbins?

  And really keeping my feet on the ground as the airplane that I'm on is moving 500 miles an hour.

• 1:16:39Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 1:16:39Mel Robbins?

  And, you know, one of my deepest values is family. And so I want to make sure that as I am present for what is happening right now and the interest in this tool, and one of the reasons why it works also, Louis, is because it's just a modern tool that has deep roots in Stoicism and Buddhism and detachment theory. So it is supported by ancient wisdom and the best research around psychology and human behavior, and it just applies it. And so I feel that I'm not alone, you know?

• 1:17:19Mel Robbins?

  And I'm grateful for your support.

• 1:17:23Lewis Howes?

  Of course.

• 1:17:24Mel Robbins?

  And I think it's just time.

• 1:17:27Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, it's beautiful. You deserve it.

• 1:17:28Mel Robbins?

  Thank you.

• 1:17:29Lewis Howes?

  You've worked very hard for a long time. And I know I've seen you at different stages and seasons of life and your personal relationships and business highs and lows and all these different things.

• 1:17:39Mel Robbins?

  Lots of lows.

• 1:17:40Lewis Howes?

  And so you really deserve to enjoy every second of this season, you know, whether it's months or years of this chapter of this book and this kind of message that you're sharing.

• 1:17:51Mel Robbins?

  Yeah.

• 1:17:52Lewis Howes?

  And so I hope, I'm gonna reach out and remind you to stay present because it's gonna be a wild ride.

• 1:17:57Mel Robbins?

  It already is.

• 1:17:59Lewis Howes?

  Enjoy the ride though. I'm excited. Make sure everyone gets the book, The Let Them Theory by Mel Robbins. Letthem.com, Mel Robbins on social media. Your podcast, we'll have it all linked up. Check it out. Appreciate you. Love you, Mal.

• 1:18:12Mel Robbins?

  I love you.

• 1:18:13Lewis Howes?

  Congrats and everything.

• 1:18:14Mel Robbins?

  So much.

• 1:18:14Lewis Howes?

  And we'll talk to you soon. Thank you.

• 1:18:16Mel Robbins?

  Absolutely.

• 1:18:17Lewis Howes?

  Appreciate it. Thank you so much for listening to this episode. If you enjoyed this and if you found value, make sure to share this with one friend. Just copy and paste the link and text a friend where you feel would be truly inspired by this episode as well. And also make sure to click the follow button on Apple or Spotify, wherever you're listening to this episode because we have a massive episode coming up next that I do not want you to miss. So make sure to follow this and be on the lookout for the next episode coming with some massive content and guests. Also, I have a brand new book called Make Money Easy. And if you are looking to create more financial freedom in your life,

• 1:19:00Lewis Howes?

  you want abundance in your life and you want to stop making money hard in your life, but you want to make it easier, you want to make it flow, you want to feel abundant, then make sure to go to makemoneyleasybook.com right now and get yourself a copy. I really think this is gonna help you transform your relationship with money this moment moving forward. We have some big guests and content coming up. Make sure you're following and stay tuned to the next episode on the School of Greatness.

• 1:19:34Lewis Howes?

  I hope you enjoyed today's episode and it inspired you on your journey towards greatness. Make sure to check out the show notes in the description for a full rundown of today's episode with all the important links. And if you want weekly exclusive bonus episodes with me personally, as well as ad-free listening, then make sure to subscribe to our Greatness Plus channel exclusively on Apple Podcasts. Share this with a friend on social media and leave us a review on Apple Podcasts as well. Let me know what you enjoyed about this episode in that review. I really love hearing feedback from you and it helps us figure out how we can support and serve you moving forward. And I want to remind you if no one has told you lately that you are loved, you are worthy, and you matter. And

• 1:20:18Lewis Howes?

  now it's time to go out there and do something great.