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

you and I live in a moment in history where the world is now designed to steal your time your energy your joy and your focus you may have had this kind of feeling or you've been wondering why am I exhausted all the time why do I never have time for myself why can't I focus why can't I make progress on something that's important to me well I'll tell you why it's because the world is designed to steal your time and energy from social media to the crazy headlines that make you feel helpless endless work to

to-do lists that never end I mean I'm sure that there are so many weeks where you just crawl through your week and you get across the finish line and then you collapse over the weekend and the next thing you oh my God it's Sunday night you have the Sunday scaries and you're just right back in it again you're just trying to survive I did something about it and I want you to do something about it and I've boiled it down into this super simple seven item checklist that will help you fight back against a world

that's stealing your time your energy and joy enough the fact is you can take control of this and you need to and it begins by taking your week [Music] back hey it's your friend Mel I am so thrilled you're here I am fired up can you tell I'm fired up for today's conversation welcome to the Mel Robins podcast I am so excited that you're here and you know it's always such an honor to spend time with you and to be together but today's conversation this feels urgent to me and that's why if you're a new

listener I want to take a moment and intentionally purposefully welcome you to the Mel Robins podcast family I am thrilled that you're here for this conversation and because you made time to listen to this particular episode I know that you're the type of person who values your time you want to use it wisely and here's what I'm going to tell you this episode values your time too because I'm going to teach you how to take your time back from a world who is stealing it I'm going to teach you how to take your energy and

your focus and your joy back from a world that is designed to rob you of it that's right you heard me right I mean have you stopped to think about how you are now living in a moment in history where everything about the world today it is purposefully stealing your time you've heard the phrase time is money well so is your energy your focus your joy I mean the headlines make you feel work is endless social media oh my gosh Doom scrolling stealing Joy stealing time stealing energy and your friend Mel Robbins I'm going to

tell you something you have to wake up and take your power back and if somebody forwarded this episode to you and recommended that you listen to it I want to remind you of something you have people in your life that care about you you have people in your life that believe that your time and energy is valuable that is a very cool thing and you're now with your friend Mel and I believe your time and energy is valuable and so thank you for making the time to listen to this because the seven things on the

checklist that I'm about to share with you these are the secret the foundational building blocks to you taking your power back from a world that is trying to steal it and purposefully purposefully putting in place the seven things that will help you create a great week and when I go through the seven things on this checklist I'm going to warn you this is not like some super fancy intellectual crazy complicated thing on the surface every one of the seven things is going to be like oh well that's a low bar but they're so deep and

so profound the research you're about to hear is going to not only make everyone of the Seven Things feel urgent it's going to make you know why they matter and you're also going to go oh well I'm not currently doing doing these things no wonder I feel powerless no wonder I have no time no wonder my energy is drained and I can't wait to share this with you because you can do every single thing on this checklist and the checklist is what makes this research that you're about to hear from Harvard Medical School Harvard business

school all of these incredible uh studies that have been done around the world it makes all of this knowledge actionable and doable and before I jump in and I cannot wait to jump in because I can't wait for you to take your power back and start having great weeks again I know you're G to be going oh my gosh slow down Mel do I need to write these down I want to make this so easy for you I want you to have a great week every week so I have a onepage download for you that

you can print out you can hang it on your fridge you can put it on your desk you can put it on your dresser it's free just go to melrobbins.com that's it melrobbins.com put in your email I'll email you download boom now you got the checklist for every week and I want you to have the checklist because when you see it it will remind you oh these are the seven things I need to check off and if I check off these things then I can plan to have a great week but here's what we're going

to do regardless of the day of the week that you're listening regardless of it's a good week or it's a lame week or it's a hell week or it's a amazing week I want you to listen to the entire conversation right now with me I want you to learn and absorb everything I want you to truly embrace the truth the Simplicity and the Brilliance of what I'm about to say to you that having a great week isn't what you think it is having a great week is a combination of seven simple things and I'm going

to unpack all of them but I want to make sure that you understand before you try to implement it the whole process the research the step-by-step stuff you're going to be nodding along you're going to be thinking of a million people you need to send this to so be generous with it and listen and then you can go to melrobbins.com we and get the onepage download so that you're reminded of everything we talked about and then you can implement it I'm going to do all the heavy lifting I want to set you up for success

U because you chose to hit play you chose to make the time for this and so by God I'm not only going to make this fun to listen to you are going to feel so excited about the week ahead of you because you're going to have the seven item checklist that's going to make it great all right you're ready to jump in me too let's start with number one and the very first thing on the checklist to creating a great week is you got to do a brain dump now I know what you're thinking what

is a brain dump it is as simple as it sounds you're going to take everything that's up in your brain that's weighing you down and you are going to get it out of your brain and dump it onto a piece of paper it is the equivalent of mental vomiting you're just going to put it all out on paper I have done this for years and for years the way that I have used a brain dump is anytime I feel overwhelmed or I start to feel like I'm starting to ruminate or if you get a case

of the Sunday scaries and you're starting to dread the we week ahead or you feel like you've got a lot to do and you didn't get it done over the weekend you need a brain dump and here's what you do you take out a piece of paper and you just start writing down everything that is in your head and it's going to be random stuff like it is fascinating how much you actually carry upstairs in your mind and you're probably not even aware of it because you're going to start writing things like I got to

pick up the dry cleaning I got to make lasagna I got to call my mother I've got to finish that presentation at work I need to finish reading that chapter I got to clean out the drawer in my bathroom and it's then it's going to go ba you might have to put down I got to stop crying I've got like it's going to be unbelievable I got to buy the birthday present for that friend of mine I got to call that friend back it is incredible once you rip that seal open how much is going

to come pouring out of your mind and onto a piece of paper and one of the reasons why a brain dump is so liberating is because first of all every time you write something down you feel a little space in your mind free up it's really cool the second thing that you're going to notice is holy cow I actually carry a lot around and you're going to be kind of impressed with your mental capacity and it's also going to show you no wonder I can't focus on anything because I've been walking around up here with

clean out the back closet and don't forget to call your sister and you got to pick up that thing oh you know one thing that's on my brain dump is we went on a family trip for my dad's 80th birthday and one of the things that I've been carrying around ever since is I got to get the photo album done I got to get that photo album done you know how you do like one of those family photo albums with an online print photo thing I got to get that done got to get that laid

out got to get everybody to contribute their photos to the family album I am carrying that around and so you're just going to brain dump it out in fact I did one yesterday and I used an entirely new approach want to show it to you normally what I do is I dump it on one piece of paper that's step one just get it out get it out get it out get it out it might take you 15 minutes and then what you'll notice is 30 minutes from now you're going to see that thing be like

oh there's that thing that I forgot I forgot that I needed to do that thing at work and so let me put that down oh I forgot that I needed to send that email let me put that down oh I forgot that I need to uh pull my sweater out of the washing machine and hang it up so that my roommate doesn't throw it in the dryer and then shrink my sweater into a Barbie size thing and so you've got all of this upstairs yesterday I did one of these because a brain dump is always

number one on the checklist for how I set myself up to have a great week because we don't want to carry that with us right we want to get all that out so we have a clear head and we're also have a sense of what's actually important on paper so yesterday check this out yesterday I was so overwhelmed because I'm about to go on a business trip to Los Angeles so that means I got a pack which always throws me into a complete frenzy so yesterday I decided here's what I'm going to do instead of

putting it on one sheet I got three big Post-it notes out I'm going to show you them actually I'm going to show you one of them right now because normally what I do is I'll put the brain dump because I know you're going to ask I'm holding up if you're listening I'm holding up just a garden variety notebook and I keep this by my desk I'm not going to show you this because I do not want you to actually Zoom zoom in on the insanity that is my mind that I write in here but I'll

often be at a meeting and work and I'll draw a line down the right hand side of the paper and literally start a little brained up there it's not a to-do list very important not a to-do list I have no intention of getting any of this stuff done I'm just dumping it down on paper to get it out of my brain because I'm starting to notice that I'm swirling and I'm getting overwhelmed so again very important to understand that a brain dump not a to-do list here's another notebook this one's prettier I know even has

my name on it Mel this one is The Notebook that I use for like my therapy notes and important things but occasionally oop there's the there's a brain dump there there's sketching of something that I want to redesign at my house oh here's another brain dump right here here's another wow I got a lot of brain dumps in this fancy notebook but again it's not a to-do list and that's what's so liberating about this you're actually just creating space in your mind but that brings me to how did I do it yesterday this is a

level up on the Mel Robins brain dump let me tell you what I did is I have these kind of big Post-it notes I literally put three poit notes out on the uh Island right here check this out and I put work at the top of one and then I put personal and then I put home so it was work personal and home and I put them on the counter in the kitchen and all day long it was the most liberating thing over the weekend I would just walk past and be likeoh yeah I got

to get ready for the speech I'm giving for Microsoft oh yeah I got to remember to pack three microphones for La oh yeah I got to make sure to uh do this thing that's not going to make any sense to you but the code is map and the blueprint and map it to the marketing Ops job which means absolutely nothing but it means something to me and more importantly now that it's on this little Post-It note it is not in my brain and that's what you need and so whether you start this checklist by just

taking out a piece of paper that is from your printer paper or a spiral bound notebook or your journal or you use this three Post-it not note system work home and personal and you just keep it out keep it out and you just are dumping it out that's what you're doing and one of the things that you're going to notice and this is where things get liberating is especially the things that were on my list for Home 99% of the stuff on my list is not happening this week and yet I'm carrying it around in

my head I'm not going to organize my bathroom drawers right now that's not what I'm going to do I am not going to go through the pantry and find everything that's expired and actually don't like get rid of it that's not what I'm going to do in fact you want to know what's come up on my to-do list for uh home over and over and over and over again I'm almost embarrassed to tell you this because I've talked about this on social media I've think I've talked about this on the podcast before but what comes

up every single time I do a brain dump every weekend literally I have lived in this house in southern Vermont for four years we don't have a single photo of anyone in our family hanging on any wall not one not one four years I have lived here four years and not a single photo of our family hanging on any of the walls and so every single time I do a brain dump do you want to know the two words that ends up on that single piece of paper or this weekend in my elevated home brain

dump list picture wall I mean I know you have something like this in fact as we were talking as a team about this our executive producer Tracy was like oh my God I can't believe you just said that my husband and I have lived in this apartment for almost a year I am sitting next to a shelf that still has baggies on it it is on my to-do list to organize the Shelf I'm not going to get this done this week and I'm like exactly and you still need to dump it on the brain dump

list because this is not a to-do list the whole purpose of this is to get you to get everything out of your mind so that you do not succumb to the Sunday scaries get everything out of your mind so you don't start the week in a state of overwhelm get everything out of your mind so you're not dragging all of this stuff that's knocking around in your brain like a pinball machine into this week we're not doing that so if you start with the checklist item number one and you just do a brain dump and

just write everything down and just keep coming back to the list here's for work here's for personal here's for home here's for work here's for personal here's for home here's for work here's for personal here's for home boom you're done and you're going to feel lighter it's sort of like a mental spray tan I got one of my first spray tans ever you know my 25-year-old daughter was like Mom you got to have a spray tan you're looking really zombie like uh lately in the videos and so I try to spray tan I swear to

God I'm like I need to own a spray tan machine I feel like I'm 10 years younger and five pounds lighter you are going to feel the same way after you do a brain dump okay so that's checklist item number one so now you're standing there you got your brain dump barfed out mental stuff piece of paper where you got your three Post-it notes right like I did this weekend which I just loved because the other thing that I loved about the Post-it note I can then stick it into the journal that I carry around

so now I've got the reminder you know kind of right there there but you're going to be standing there feeling 10 years younger and 5 lbs lighter now that you did your brain dump that brings me to item number two on the checklist for having a great week you ready you're going to Free Yourself what does that mean oh honey you're going to Free Yourself of all the things on that little brain dump that you're carrying around mentally here's how you're going to do it this is the most liberating thing in the world you are

G to cross things off there is so much on that list that you have zero intention of doing this week just put a cross right through just take a sharpie wipe it right off the list that's where you're you're going to Free Yourself of the burden of carrying this around my uh friend Tracy our executive producer she's not organizing her bookcase cross it off the list I'm GNA tell you about another thing that I crossed off the list so I have this this box right here I'm going to show it to you if you're watching

Youtube but you can you can hear it as you're listening to me this is a FedEx box okay this big priority mail box it is full of photos full of photos these are all photos these are now photos in baggies that are photos that I sent to I believe the Today Show like like four or five years ago so that they could scan some photos and show some photos you know like when they're introducing somebody they have been sitting in a box next to my desk is this is like a tractor trailer that I drag

around mentally with me because they sit next to my desk and I look at it and I think I got to go through that I got to get those back in the photo album things I I I I got to do something with it you can hear this as you're listening to me I I pulled out I pulled out some of them and I I I have look at this right here I have a photo right here of me getting dropped off freshman year of college this is a photograph from 1986 why is this in

my brain right now here's another photograph from December 1981 of me and Jodie and my brother an exchange student whose name I've now forgotten ice skating on the lake by my this is in my brain I do not need to carry it into the week I guarantee you whether it's a bookcase or it's photos that you need to organize or it's the junk drawer in the kitchen or it's the bag of clothes that you keep meaning to drop off and donate there are things on that brain dump list that are staring you in the face

and now that they are out of your mind dear Lord checklist item number two set yourself free you're not doing it this week cross it off zero guilt you are just claiming space you are saying you're not going into my brain not this week no thank you nope we're not doing it doesn't this feel good can't you already feel like man I'm gonna have a great week I am not doing the family photo album for Peru this week just not happening cross it off the list because without doing this you know what I would have

done I would have been on the plane to Los Angeles going you know I should probably work on that proof photo album I should probably do this and then I would spend a bunch of time sitting there thinking about the things I needed to do no no and neither are you because you're going to start this week with checklist item number two after you do your brain drump you're going to set yourself free free of all these things that you carry around and you're going to cross it off and you are not going to have

any guilt about it you are going to claim your time because as I said to you at the beginning we live in a world that is now programmed and designed to steal your joy to steal your energy to steal your time you and I we are taking it back that's what you're doing you are Mo making room in your brain and in your body and with your energy to not carry this stuff around with you you're setting yourself free isn't this freaking awesome don't you already feel like it's going to be a great week of

course you do it's why you're going to love this checklist that you're going to print out and you're going to have it right by your desk or sitting on your fridge to remind you Saturday or Sunday this is what I do this is how I create a great week I don't even care if it's a Monday or Tuesday or Wednesday if you've had a terrible week get the checklist Out start right now you can reclaim this step one brain dump step two set yourself free cross off absolutely everything that you're not doing this week see

that you are in control I love this now the third thing on the check list you've done your brain dump you have now set yourself free oh baby now now is where you take control now is where you set the priority I am holding in my hand one of these what they call chisel tip Sharpie permanent marker no they're not a sponsor of the Mel Robins podcast this just happens to be my favorite marker on the planet it is a big fatty Sharpie I love this thing big tip on this side sucker don't get dirty

in your mind come on this is all art I take this Sharpie and the reason why I love this Sharpie is it's big it is bold if you're going to Mark something up with this thing it's cuz you mean it and so you're going to take whatever is that version of it for you it can be a pencil for all I care you can write it with a thing a lipstick you can take if you're a spray paint person you can use spray paint I don't care because the third thing on the list is you're

going to choose one thing you're going to Circle that sucker of all the things that you've written down I want you to stand in front of that brain dump I want you to look at all the things that you've been like nope nope not the bookcase not the box of photographs not the bathroom door not the kitchen junk drawer I'm not going to get to the donation pile I'm not going to cut the lawn this week nope I'm not cleaning out the garage these projects are not getting done you're going to see that there are

things that you're sort of like can't quite crush it off can't quite set myself free so as you stand in front of the things that are left I want you to take a deep breath and I want you to look at those things and I want you to say to yourself h of all the things that are left on this list what's the one thing on this list that if you were to fast forward to next weekend and you look back on this week that you're about to live you fast forward 7 days from now

if you actually got a little progress done on that if you actually moved the ball down the field that you personally would feel better what is that one thing is it picking up the guitar and playing for a half an hour is it cleaning out the junk drawer is it taking 30 minutes and spending that time sorting through some health insurance claims is it fixing lunch and driving it over to a friend of yours that isn't feeling well is it the bookcase like really look at that list because there's something on there that is Meaningful

to you and if you were to just move the ball down the field spend 15 lousy minutes on the thing it would make you feel better because it matters to you this is so important that's why I've got the Chisel tip marker out here because this is not about work it's not about your family it's not about what your friends want you to do it's not about what your parents need this is something that matters to you and as I'm going to keep on reminding you we live in a moment in history where the world

is engineered and deliberately programmed to steal your joy to steal your time to steal your energy and to steal your attention and if you're not careful and this is step three of this checklist the world will steal meaning from you as well and so whatever that thing is for you this is where you get to be selfish this is where you get to say this is something that I really would like to find a little time on can you take a guess what it is that I circled this week after four years of putting it

on the list that's right the damn picture wall mm I circled the picture wall honest to God that's what I've circled I have been wanting to do this for four years I have been cting around these photos that I keep next to my desk some of the photos in there are things that I would like on the wall I I I literally said I am going to move from talking and thinking about this which I've been doing for four years and it has continued to be on my brain dump for four years and you're going

to have things like that too this was the week this was the week that I'm like I'm doing it I'm doing it and so I want you to do the same thing I'm gonna I'm going to I want you to Circle it when you Circle this thing you're not committing to getting it done this is a really important Nuance here and there's a lot of research that explains why I'm telling you I'm not expecting you to complete it if you were to circle the bookcase you don't have to get the bookcase organized all you got

to do encircling it is find 15 minutes I call this your hot 15 this is 15 minutes where you are going to schedule time to just work on it and make progress because you and I both know in 15 minutes I can't even find half the photos I need I I I I mean I can't get much done in 15 minutes but here's what I can do I can actually move the ball down the field now here's the reason why it's critical for step three of the checklist for you to put it in the calendar

the reason why is it's not real until it's scheduled if it's not in your calendar it's not happening this can't be an accident now is where you get serious now is where you move from having plans to planning and there's this famous quote maybe you've heard it plans are nothing planning is everything and so what I am committing to doing and I've now already done it I did it this morning is I did a Google search picture wall Services turns out there's a lot of them there's a lot of places online that can help you

organize a wall of photos on your wall I had no idea this was a thing I guess I'm not the only idiot that's struggling with this I also found a retail store in Boston that provides a service I'm not going to name them because they're not a sponsor of the show but I found it and in 15 minutes flat I also was able to look in my calendar and find a Sunday which is normally the day that I travel down from our home in Vermont down to Boston ahead of the weeks where we tape our

expert interviews for the show so I found this Sunday and I figured out a Sunday where I could come in earlier than I normally drive in and I made an appointment oh my God I actually made it appointment this is going down in three weeks from now how freaking cool is it I'm actually have an appointment I've actually planned it in my calendar I not only made the appointment I was smart enough to realize I'm probably going to be there for four hours because I'm going to show up with this box that's been by my

desk for four years and my folders that I've got of all my favorite photos online and I'm going to get started do you know how liberated I feel you now get to decide what matters to you this is like the theme of the week for you and what's super cool is you don't have to do it right then just flip open your calendar and say Where's a 15minute block that I could work on this if you just get that block in I'm going to pick up the guitar and I'm going to schedule it right here

and I'm going to schedule it for this period my classes get out at 3:00 I'm going to walk back to dorm room and by 3:30 I'm going to be sitting there with my guitar in my hand and make sure to put it in your calendar and make sure to put an alarm on it because again the world is designed and is trying to steal your joy your time your energy and your focus this checklist and these simple little tools help you take it back when you get those things done you do feel liberated you do

feel more in control and there's a lot of research around this and it Taps into something called the progress principle and if you and I have been hanging out for a while or you've read either the 5sec rule or the high five habit or you've been listening to the podcast you've probably heard me talk about this but I want to unpack this because the progress principle is one of the key principles that is foundational to my success it's foundational to the way that I approach productivity and this will change your life life and I want

to tell you about how this comes from amazing research that has been done at Harvard Business School see there was a study at Harvard Business School where they found that one of the most important things that you can do every single week is to have this sense that you're moving forward on things that matter to you now it's important to say they didn't say that one of the most important things you can do is to get a ton of things done on your checklist did they no they didn't say that they said based on the

research the most important thing is simply to feel like you made progress and this is a critical difference because you're probably so focused on getting things done that you're missing where the real juice is so you don't know what to squeeze see the researchers at Harvard Business School they looked at 12,000 accounts what they did is they had people who were working across seven different companies in different Industries they had them keep these journals about what they were focusing on during the week and when they crunched all the data on 12,000 people across seven different

companies do you want to know what they found that the most common event that triggered someone saying boy I just had quote the best day was that they made progress in some important work either personally or with the team progress the best day was not when they got the project done the best day was feeling like oh I was actually able to make some progress on something that's important this makes sense doesn't it I mean just think about have you ever had to paint a room I mean hasn't everybody I I feel like I've painted

my entire house every apartment I've ever lived in my poor parents every time Chris and I moved I'd be like come visit and they'd show up like okay let's go to Home Depot and get some paint brushes we're going to paint doesn't it feel good to just cut out the edges like it almost feels better to make progress and get the edges cut than getting the whole thing done see here's the thing that they found based on the research simply moving the ball forward simply spending 15 minutes simply making a small amount of progress I'm

talking you made the phone call you made the appointment you watched the video you picked up the guitar you actually sat on hold and had one more conversation that is going to help you eventually solve the healthcare claim progress creates more positive emotions in you see you're in a more upbeat mood in general and you also feel this sense of joy and warmth and pride when you know you're actually moving things forward you also kind of have this sense of motivation you feel more naturally motivated and interested in what you're doing when you make progress

It's almost like a little bit of Forward Motion keeps you feeling like you want to keep it in motion and that's what you're going to also find I guarantee you if you find 15 minutes to start working on that bookcase you'll probably do it for 30 or 40 minutes because it's not the actual project that is difficult it's carving out the time and getting yourself started and moving a little bit forward in a world that is constantly screaming at you for your attention that brings me to number four on our checklist for having a great

week and this one has some awesome research around it too you're going to love this so while you're standing there with the calendar open and you've done all these amazing things and you got the hot 15 scheduled I want you to scan the week ahead and here's what you're going to do next because item number four is plan your meals and I'm only going to ask you to plan one let me unpack this I'm not trying to get you on a diet or have you lose weight that's not what this is about this is about

having a great week and one of the things that I've learned and one of the things that the expert after expert after expert comes on to this podcast and says is that food is medicine and what you put in your body fuels your body and fuels your mindset and one of the mistakes that I used to make is I used to let this happen by accident you know literally I would not plan out the week I would go to the grocery store with the rest of the planet every Saturday I would be hungry which basically

means you're buying everything that looks good to eat right now I do not have a plan I'm just filling up the cart half of the stuff that I buy is probably going to spoil because I don't know what I'm going to do with it and if you if you're kind of nodding your head or you're in that rut where you door Dash every meal you never cook you don't have anything in your fridge you get to work you work till lunch then you go what am I eating how about we stop that because one way

to have a great week is to actually put on the checklist meal prep and meal prep in the Mel Robbins world is not meal prep on Instagram okay you do not have to make 75 meals you do not have to prep high protein stuff I'm talking about planning in one simple way so that you have a great week and here's what this looks like you're going to have your calendar out just scan the week and then say to yourself what could I actually plan ahead and there's so many ways that this could look it's incredible

you might have the kind of week that is so nutso that the only only thing that you can do is make a brunch reservation for Saturday after you army crawl your way through this week you're good if you've planned that meal and it makes you happy you're good this could look like um looking at the week and if you have a roommate or you live with a significant other or you're married like I am or you have kids that are living at home that can actually cook or at are adults that are living back at

home it might look like going oh check this out uh on Monday Wednesday and Thursday we're all here why don't we figure out what we're going to have for dinner that night and actually look and say okay I'm GNA make spaghetti on Monday night I'm gonna roast a chicken on Wednesday I'm G to try this new web recipe on Thursday and then write out the ingredients that you need so that when you go to the grocery store it's not like a traumatic experience you're literally you got a plan you got your list you know Monday

Wednesday Thursday another tip that I loved is that whenever I do cook or whenever my husband and I get together and we say okay you're going to take Monday you're going to take Wednesday what I love about it is we double the recipe and then that means we got dinner or lunch covered for the next day and when you do this you feel more in control of the week I mean this has been a big thing for me and my husband because we are now officially what's the term empty nesters I prefer bird launchers because

they always fly back but right now it's just Chris and I the two dogs and the cat and what has happened because I kind of slacked off on my checklist and I didn't think about the meal planning is night after night Chris and I literally emerge in the kitchen at like 6:45 after a day of both sitting separately I'm above the garage working on the podcast and the Le them Theory he's down in his office working on his men's Retreat sold degree we're basically busy all day and then we wander into the kitchen at 6:45

and because life is stolen our time our energy our joy and our Focus we both look at each other and we're like what are we having for dinner I don't know I don't know you play I don't know and now it's 6:45 at night we don't live in a part of the world where restaurants are open past 8:00 P.M so that's out the window now we're opening up the the pantry and I'm like breakfast for dinner again I guess it's breakfast for dinner again and I'll be honest I'm kind of annoyed because we don't have

anything planned and whose responsibility is it to plan both of ours and if you want a great week you don't want to walk into the kitchen and feel like when you open the fridge the only thing that you see in there is a mirage in a desert because you haven't gone to the grocery store and you haven't planned this so that's what you're going to do as part of the checklist this is item number four and it could also look like this so last week I was in Boston all week and I don't know what

it was that got me all excited oh I know what it was it was a checklist I pulled out this checklist and I was going to be traveling to Boston and as I looked at the calendar and I'm thinking I am going to be living in a hotel 5 days a week every day we bring lunch into the studio and I know that the team's going to ask me what do you want to eat and I'm going to be like M and I thought well why don't I just make something why don't I make a

soup that I love and just load it up into Tupperware and then eat it every day for lunch why not just meal prep for this big work week I'll tell you what I made my favorite thing to make our daughter Kendall found it online it is fantastic it's like chicken and spinach and jalapenos and scallions and ginger and garlic and it's like Health in a bow and you put rice in there and chicken broth and it's like so fantastic and so I make this thing and then I put it in a huge Tupperware dish and

this is a funny thing I literally put it on the floor of the passenger side of my car thank God I have rubber mats I'm thinking oh my gosh I am so um organized I'm so productive I'm to be so healthy I'm driving down to Boston for a big production week to interview all the experts and as I'm driving down talking to friends and catching up with people I get to the parking lot at the studio and I park the car and I walk around and open up the passenger side the freaking thing had leaked

all over the front of the car thank God I didn't put it on the seat thank God it was on the rubber mat but literally an inch of the soup was now on the rubber mat bright green I'm like oh my gosh any who that doesn't matter because I got it upstairs washed it off because of force it was all sloppy and I didn't want to put it in the fridge and I had it all week and everybody you would have thought that I had shown up at the studio having lost 100 pounds and having

six-pack abs everyone was like what did you do oh my gosh that looks so good you're eating that that looks amazing everybody wanted the recipe truly changed my life and you know I'm kind of making a joke of it but here's the other thing that happened for me because I had taken the time to go through the checklist and I had decided that one way I was going to take care of meals this week and my food and food is medicine and food is fuel was to make this soup and just take care of my

lunches is that it's a really healthy soup and it's a really fing thing and not only did I feel less stressed and I felt more focused but the team kind of noticed it my executive producer Tracy the one who still needs to organize her bookshelf literally was like you need to make that soup every single week because your body clearly runs well on it and you're just like dialed in you would come out of one interview now you're eating your soup that you prepared now you're ready to do the next thing it was like boom

boom boom boom because I'm taking away the decisions and I've actually set myself up to be fueled by something that tastes great and is going to help me perform and so now now that I've done it I don't know that I'm ever going to go a week without trying to prep something that sets me up for success and that's why I want you to do it too because based on the research and the research is really interesting around this people who take the time to prep their meals and again the bar is low for you

and me if you just pre one meal this week you're winning people who plan their meals the research says you have better nutrition you maintain a healthier weight you save money and it's better for your mental health no joke the research has shown that people who take the time to prep meals for the week have lower stress why because they have it covered it makes sense doesn't it and again this is one of those things and every one of the things on the checklist is clear and obvious and sort of a duh but because you

have so much going on and because of the state of the world I think we have forgotten the basics that actually made life good and so do this I mean one pot of soup versus four takeout meals way less money better mental health because you got no decision fatigue and you know that in doing this you're taking care of yourself and check this out people who prep their meals have lower stress because they've covered something that can be a source of stress and don't you also notice that if you wander into the kitchen at 7

o'clock at night and it's takeout yet again it's kind of stressful and if it's takeout it's not going to be that healthy certainly not as healthy as what you can make in your own home now let's move on to checklist item number five one workout that's it because that's another thing that makes up a great week can you just get one great workout in that's all I'm asking not five not seven not three one if you want to do more yay for you you're fantastic and you might be going Mel why just one great workout

well first of all if you're not working out because you don't have the time because of course you wouldn't you live in a moment in history when the world is designed to steal your time and your attention and your energy and your joy so if you can't find the time to get that great workout in then it's not actually a habit for you yet and so it's never going to be realistic if you feel like you don't have any time to say I'm going to work out every day all I'm asking you to do find

one good workout okay one because you can do that you might not even be able to do it during the week but you could do it over the weekend I mean have you ever had one of those weekends where you go away with friends or you are uh planning to do something in the city that you live in like let's say you live in New York City and you decide you're going to walk the loop at Central Park that's six miles and you do it with a friend and that takes like couple hours you look

back on that weekend as one of the best weekends of the Year why well because you were out doing something that's available to you now and you can get it in if you plan and if you say all I'm asking of myself is one one really good workout one of my favorite yoga classes just one you know I'm about to head to Los Angeles and there's a studio there that I love because it's dark and hot and sweaty and I love the music you better believe I'm checking in the Box on this checklist and I

am going to head to that yoga studio and be in that class and I can't wait and the other reason why I'm saying just one awesome workout because there's research around the power of one workout even if it's just 15 minutes remember how I talked about the hot 15 yes one 15minute workout makes a big difference in your health This research comes from the University of Sydney and the research was done in collaboration with institutions around the world and it was published in the European art Journal now this study enrolled check this out 72,000 people

and it tracked their physical activity over five years so we're talking big study and in the published findings even the people who only did 15 minutes per week of vigorous physical activity had a 177% lower risk of death from any cause and death from cancer compared with people who did nothing and with about 50 minutes per week death from any cause reduced by 36% but if you can get just 15 minutes in oh my gosh that's amazing and how are you going to get that in you're not going to do it while you're standing there

with your brain dump and your things you've crossed off and the thing that you've circled and your meal planning you're going to plan for it and here's why because when you look ahead at the week I bet you can find an afternoon or a morning where you can find time to go for a walk or you can ping a friend and say hey I'm going to go to this yoga class or I'm going to go to this like CrossFit thing do you want to go with me and one of my favorite hacks to make sure

I get this in is if I'm going to stream a class ahead of time I take the link to the class and I actually put it in my electronic calendar with an alarm that way when it comes time to exercise I'm not searching for that thing that I thought I would do in fact I have exercised the last two mornings in a row because I selected a Matt pilates class when I did this checklist last weekend and two days ago and yesterday I'm like I can find the time I can do it at 2:30 in

the afternoon and I scheduled it in my calendar and I put the link in there and that way when the alarm went off I'm like oh and there's the class I'm going to take Isn't that cool that's so cool just one workout a week helps make it a great week love that you know what else I love the sixth thing that makes for a great week plan time for rest just find one moment of quiet for you that's all I'm asking you've opened up the calendar and you've found time for that one thing that you're

going to make progress on and now you've layered in what you're going to plan for your meals to the extent you're going to do that and you found the one day that you're going to do exercise and what it is and what you're going to be doing and what time all of that's taken care of now what I want you to look for is I want you to find a moment of quiet that's it can you pick a night after work where you can just do something for you my only requirement is that you're not

looking at your phone that's it you got to rest could you make a cup of tea do you have a book that you're reading that you would love to just sit down in your favorite chair and do that instead of turning on the TV or Doom scrolling what constitutes rest is not being on your device and this is hard because it's very weird one of the reasons why we Doom scroll on social media and hours can go by is because it kind of lulls you into this trance and we mistake it for rest that's not

rest at all it's actually keeping your brain really wigged out and active and keeping your nervous system on edge and screwing with your dopamine that's what it's doing so that's not rest what I'm talking about is scan your calendar and I want you to find a time this week where you can give your brain and your body a little rest and here's some ideas could you carve out a half an hour just take a bath or stand in a hot shower a little longer than you normally do could you have a cup of tea or

make a mocktail and sit down in a chair and do nothing could you pack up a towel and walk over to a park and just lay it out and lay down on the grass and just look up at the sky and watch the clouds could you go for a walk in the woods with the dogs that's what my husband does I think those are his moments of walking meditation and Solitude and a reset but don't take your phone don't be listening to anything if you have your phone keep it in your pocket don't be looking

at it just be outdoors how about picking up the guitar and just strumming for the sake of playing music and resting or sitting down at the piano and just playing or if you're somebody that loves crafting I mean I'm a big Knitter um when's the last time that you knitted anything or you picked up your needle point project or you picked up your paintbrushes I mean if you're like me you think that rest gets nothing done and therefore you don't want to do it you think that you got to always be doing something well I

want to tell you a little bit about the research on this because the research says that if you are resting you're just sitting there feed her up reading the paper or just let let the cat sit on your lap if you're doing that you're getting something incredibly important done first of all you're reducing your stress levels this comes from a study from the University of constans in Germany they found that a short period of rest even just 10 minutes can activate your body's parasympathetic nervous system now why do you want to activate your parasympathetic nervous

system I know I know that's a big word parasym athetic nervous system is basically your calm resting confidence State this is the opposite of fight flight or freeze your parasympathetic nervous system is just this rest and digest that's what you'll hear the medical experts say and it helps you counteract your stress response and see your stress response is on all day long so the first thing that happens when you put your feet up and you just rest is that reduces stress levels you are intentionally flipping the switch between the world that is stealing your energy

and stressing you out and your inner world where you have the capability of resting and putting yourself back into a de-stress State pretty cool huh what's the second thing that you're doing while you're rest you're increasing your mental Clarity and focus now this is research from Harvard Medical School that found that activities like mindful medic ation gives you mental Clarity and focus I mean the fact is you need to give your brain a boot it's just like turning your phone off how many times your phone been like this is not like okay turn the thing

off give it a reset and then you power it back up you're the exact same thing so when you're resting you're actually increasing your ability to process things to face the rest of the day and the third third thing that rest does well it improves your physical and emotional health a study from the National Institutes of Health and University of California found that allowing yourself time to relax can lead to better physical health and prevent stress related illnesses this is one that in today's world we do not do and if you do not prioritize it

the world will steal it from you and so if you feel burnt out if you feel constantly on Edge if you feel chronically overwhelmed you're procrastinating so much you're going to tell yourself you don't have time to rest I'm going to tell you you can't afford to not rest you got to take this part of your critical life and health back and the only way it's going to happen is if every weekend you look at this checklist and you're like oh yeah yeah yeah I got to fight back I got to do this act of

defiance I got to rest in a world that is telling me I need to be constantly doing something that's not true that's not true and this checklist is what's going to help you start to make this a part of your week and when you make this a part of your week you're going to have a great week and that brings me to the seventh thing that is going to be part of your great week and it is the seventh item on the checklist you got to connect with somebody okay so while you're still standing there

and you've got the calendar out and again you've already gone through and done your brain dump you have set yourself free you've circled the thing that's meaningful to you you found your hot 15 and scheduled it in for when you know you're going to make progress on it you have identified the one lousy meal you're going to make and if you make more fantastic you have also identified the one workout you're going to do and you've put it in the calendar you have also identified why rest is important and you've actually scheduled time to do

nothing fantastic put your feet up you earned it and by the way what you just learned is why you got your feet up you're doing three important things that you really need go you see it's a great week and finally icing on the cake you ready connect with someone that's number seven look at that calendar when can you connect with somebody do you have time to meet for coffee I mean are you even leaving the house these days do you know I went five days I was sick but I went five days last week and

I didn't even leave my house so if that's you I'm I'm the same kind of person you know I I I I like my house and I also can just get so stuck in here because I'm always working or busy doing something that then I'm like oh my God I haven't left the house can you take a walk with somebody because it's not just the people that you see on Zoom or at work that matter what about the people in your life that bring you meaning and so if you look at your calendar now you

can find a time to either invite somebody over for dinner or go out for dinner or go for a walk or make a date to go to a museum or go meet for coffee or go meet for like go do something go walk your dogs together and the reason why this is cool is because if you have the time oh I'm going to go to this yoga class this is how you can get it to for in I'm going to go to this yoga class you want to come now that you have the time in

mind now you can reach out to somebody and say would you like to meet up for coffee would you like to get together and cook dinner would you like to go do this volunteer thing with me and because you have this spot in your calendar you can now make it happen so I've mentioned that I often will go down to Boston we uh tape all of our expert interviews one week a month and so we do a huge production week and I'll drive down the night before the production week starts which means I have hours

and hours in the car and you know what I love about that drive the entire time I'm in cell range I literally call old friends and it's not the same people every week I use the drive as a way to catch up with people and it is so freaking cool to be able to catch up with people that way I feel so connected to a lot of people because I use driving time as a way to just call somebody and you know often times you'll find that you're like well I don't have a lot of

time no problem call them and when they pick up be like I was just thinking about you I only have seven minutes and then I'm going to lose cell reception or seven minutes and I'm going to get to where I'm going and you can catch up and cover a lot of ground in just seven minutes another tip that's helped me a lot is remember how I referred earlier to the fact that a good Zone for me to find that hot 15 is to arrive at my desk about a half an hour before the workday is

going to start and to use that time at my desk to make progress on something it's also a time where I will send a text or an email to somebody I've been thinking about and it really does help or it's a time where I'll send a quick text to somebody saying hey I'm going to be in LA and I'm going to this yoga class you want to go and this has helped me stay ConEd to people and this really matters it really matters first of all because I know you don't see your friends as much

as you want to and it matters because making friends and keeping friends tight as an adult is really challenging because everybody's super busy and everybody's drained and everybody's moving in a million directions and so it's really hard to organize but this matters and if you don't go through this checklist at the beginning of every week and plan for it the connection starts to fade and you start to feel like you don't see your friends and you don't have friends and it's not true they're there but you have to in a world that's going to steal

your time and energy and joy and focus you have to steal it back and the reason why this matters so much that you find a moment every week to either connect with somebody on the phone or connect with them in person it relates to the most important study that's ever been done on human connection and happiness of all time I'm sure you've heard of it it is called the Harvard study of adult development this study started in 1938 it is still continuing to this day it is one of the largest running studies on human happiness

and health it's been running for over 80 years and it's given scientists and you and me profound insights into what actually are the factors that contribute to a fulfilling life so what did they find about studying health and happiness in human beings for 80 years well let me give you the findings in a nutshell so Dr Robert waldinger is the fourth director of the study he's been on this podcast he's actually one of the favorite experts that has ever appeared on the show and Dr waldinger said that the study is conclusive you need relationships to

make you happy and healthy and the key findings are Undisputed number one close relationships more than wealth more than Fame more than anything are crucial for you to to have a happy and healthy life so that's why we're going to put them on the checklist and relationships protect you from life's challenges they help delay mental and physical decline participants in this 80- yearlong study that had strong social ties they experienced longer healthier lives compared to those who were less connected people who were lonely and didn't make it a priority they didn't have it on the

checklist they had it in the back of their mind oh I need to call soand so but again remember you have to get it out on paper you have to plan for it otherwise it's not happening people who were lonely had earlier Health Decline and were less satisfied with her life and as I'm saying this aren't you kind of thinking to yourself well this is why the week gets away from me it's true like it's kind of one of those conversations when you're like Mel you're just reminding me of what I know you do know

all of this I know it too but it's so easy to have your time and what's important robbed from your attention and instead you find your days just filled with this meaningless nonsense or other people's emergencies or your energy drained by stupid stuff it's happened to me and I love this checklist because you can come back to it over and over and over again and this checklist summarizes into action the foundational research that creates the building blocks to not only a great week but a much better life you can find this checklist at melrobbins.com we

but I'm going to walk you through it real quick brain dump Free Yourself by Crossing it off choose one thing that's important and schedule the hot 15 plan one meal that you're going to cook plan one workout plan one moment that is time for rest and intentionally plan the time when you're going to connect with someone you do that you put it in your calendar you check that list you are having not a great week but a fantastic one I promise you and don't just take my word for it you can count on it because

of all the research that supports everything that I'm telling you and everything that I'm doing in my own life and what's also interesting about this checklist is that the weeks that I have a terrible week guess what I can look back and see that I didn't do any of these or I only did one or two of them this truly is the guarantee and the checklist to make the next week of your life a little bit better a little bit brighter and if you do all seven I actually think your week is going to be

way better than you think it's it's going to be and you deserve that and in case no one else tells you I wanted to be sure to tell you that I love you and I believe in you and I believe in your ability to create a better life and what's interesting about creating a better life is that you don't do that over the course of years you do that with the decisions that you make every day and everything that you learn today is something you're capable of doing it's something that you know how to do

it's something that I think deep in your heart you know actually works and that's why I'm so excited not only to see what happens in your life but I'm also excited to see what happens in the lives of everybody that you share this with when you use this episode as a way to connect with them and you share this with them as well I just think the ripple effect is going to be incredible and so thank you for taking the time to listen thank you for spending this time together with me thank you for sharing

this with people that you care about and want to connect with and I'll talk to you in a few days and in fact I'm going to be waiting for you in the very next episode I'll be there to welcome you in the moment you hit play I'll see you there and for you thank you thank you thank you for being here with me on YouTube I just love spending this time with you I'm so excited that you're watching videos that are helping you have a brighter future that are empowering you to improve your life that's

so cool thanks for being generous with this and sharing this with people that you care about you know I know that you love supporting people who support you and one of my goals is that 50% of the people that watch this channel are our subscribers it is free to subscribe and the reason why it's important to subscribe is it's a way to support me and the team so that we can continue to bring you extraordinary videos at zero cost every single day and so please hit subscribe thanks for doing that I really appreciate it and

I know you're thinking Mel what do I watch next I think you're going to love this video for real check this video out I'll welcome you in the moment you hit play I'll see you there