Motivation Is Garbage

The biggest secret to getting the life you want is understanding 3 words I hope you never forget:

Motivation. Is. Garbage.

Right now, think about something you want to change or improve.

I bet you know WHAT you want to change – and what you need to do.

But the 100 million dollar question is: HOW?

How do you get started? And how do you keep going even when you don’t feel like it?

Look, if change was easy, we’d all have six-pack abs, a million dollars in the bank, and healed our trauma.

And that’s where this episode comes in: I teach you the HOW.

I cracked the code on motivation, and in the next hour, I’m sharing everything I know with you.

You’ll learn the secret to breaking old habits, creating new ones, and how to hack what neuroscientists call “activation energy.”

You’ll also learn one simple but incredible tool, that’s grounded in decades of research, and will change your life forever. This tool is a “cheat code” for motivation. It’s worked for millions of people and it will for you, too.

I wish that what I was about to tell you was something I had read in a book, but unfortunately, that's not how I tend to learn things.

I'm the kind of person who either has to fall into a hole that I didn't see to learn a lesson, or more likely, I screw up my life so badly, I dig the hole for myself.

This was me back in 2008. I was digging the biggest life hole ever. And that’s where this episode begins.

I was at the lowest point in my life. My husband’s business was failing, I was unemployed, on the brink of bankruptcy and divorce, I was drinking way too much, and to top it all off, I couldn’t even get up in the morning. Not the Mel Robbins you know today.

This is the exact moment I discovered the secret to hacking motivation – because I had to if I wanted to fix my own life.

And if I can do it, you can too.

If you're a new listener, you'll learn more about how I got to where I am today.

And if you've been a fan for a while, this episode will be a reminder of the power within you to make any change you can imagine.

At the end of the episode, I’ll also give you a free 5-day challenge – The Wake Up Challenge – to walk you through getting started with these tools.

You won’t believe how simple it is to transform your life, your work, and your attitude. I can’t wait to show you how.

Xo Mel

‍IN THIS EPISODE, YOU WILL LEARN...

• The truth about motivation and how to hack it
• How I went from rock bottom to where I am now (and the exact steps I took)
• Why change is so hard (hint: it’s not your fault. It’s just neuroscience.)
• How to develop a “bias towards action” using “metacognition” techniques – using very simple tools that make the science easy to understand.
• One tool that will help you create any change and how to use it to take action.
• And: I’ll help you get started creating new habits with a 5-day challenge I’ll guide you through.

RESOURCES + LINKS

• The Wake Up Challenge (Free 5-day challenge to get started with the lessons from this episode!)
• For Closed Captions: Watch on YouTube and turn on “CC.” For instructions to turn on closed captions, click here.
• The 5 Second Rule book (including links to all published languages and bonus resources)
• Mel’s TEDx Talk, How To Stop Screwing Yourself Over

GO DEEPER INTO THE TOPICS + SCIENCE

• Activation energy explained: A great primer
• Behavioral Activation Therapy: See this article + very helpful article
• Habit loops explained: Excellent article
• Research: see the work of Dr. Amy Arnsten. Feeling out of control leads to losing functioning of the prefrontal cortex. Great summary of her work, Paper 1, Paper 2
• Research: Dr. Theresa Amabile, Progress Principle and momentum. Paper, TED talk
• Your brain resists things that feel like a threat: Paper.