13/02/2026
Mel Robbins…. This woman deserves a mention here…
To be honest I struggled to read her history out loud which I tried to do to my partner, without getting emotional… but she is an inspiration in my opinion and deserves all the mentions she gets. At the very least my life has been enriched by her and I know many others too!
She took an idea from a tv programme to get her moving when she was at rock bottom… that was the 54321 theory and she then moved herself in the directions she needed. She wrote a book about it that sold globally and was translated into 63 languages.
She took the phrase Let them and developed it into a theory and then again into a book that has sold 9 million copies in 9 months.
This didn’t happen over night it was hard work and determination and dedication and we can all achieve what seems impossible if we choose.
She definitely showed me and many that at the end of the day it is not only let them but it’s letting yourself that has has the power….
Let me ❤️ and let me thank YOU Mel ♥️👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
https://www.melrobbins.com
She was 41 years old, $800,000 in debt, unemployed, and couldn't get out of bed. She saw a rocket launch on TV and counted backwards from five. That decision turned her into the most listened-to female voice in personal development on the planet.
A Dartmouth-educated lawyer who hid her failures from everyone she knew invented a tool on her couch while drinking bourbon that has now reached over 40 million people.
Mel Robbins was 41 years old.
Sitting on her couch in Boston. Unemployed. Watching her husband's restaurant business collapse in real time.
The business had been thriving. Then a few bad decisions sent it into free fall. Revenue disappeared. Debt piled up. Liens hit the house.
$800,000 in the hole.
She had three kids in school. Bills she couldn't pay. A marriage that was cracking under the pressure.
Every morning, the alarm would go off and she'd lie there. Pinned to the mattress by anxiety. Hitting snooze over and over until her kids were late for school.
Every night, she'd pour herself a drink and promise that tomorrow would be different.
Tomorrow I'll get up.
Tomorrow I'll look for a job.
Tomorrow I'll stop screaming at my husband.
Tomorrow I'll tell my friends the truth about what's going on.
Tomorrow never came.
Here's what nobody knew about Mel Robbins at that point.
She had a degree from Dartmouth. A law degree from Boston College. She'd worked as a public defender in New York City. She'd been a CNN legal analyst.
On paper, she was the definition of high-achieving.
In reality, she was falling apart.
What she didn't know yet was that she'd been battling undiagnosed ADHD and dyslexia her entire life. From college through law school through every career she'd tried. Eight years of what she later called "the worst years of my life."
The anxiety she'd been carrying since childhood had been the only thing keeping her productive. It pushed her to work harder than everyone around her just to keep up.
But when the external structure disappeared, when there was no job to show up to, no courtroom to perform in, no deadline forcing her out of bed, the anxiety turned inward.
And it swallowed her whole.
Everyone had advice.
"You need to stay positive."
"Just get up earlier."
"Make a vision board."
"You're so smart, you'll figure it out."
She didn't need advice. She knew exactly what she needed to do. She just couldn't make herself do it.
That's the part most people don't talk about when they're stuck.
It's not a knowledge problem. It's an action problem. You know what needs to happen. Your body won't move.
Then one night, something shifted.
Mel was sitting on her couch, bourbon in hand, TV on in the background. A commercial came on showing a NASA rocket launch. The countdown. The engines firing. The rocket lifting off the pad.
And she had the dumbest idea she'd ever had.
"What if I launched myself out of bed tomorrow morning like a rocket? What if I counted down, 5-4-3-2-1, and just moved before my brain could talk me out of it?"
She went to bed thinking it was ridiculous.
The next morning, the alarm went off. The anxiety hit immediately. Every cell in her body wanted to hit snooze.
Instead, she counted.
She stood up.
Nothing in her life had changed. The debt was still there. The unemployment was still there. The marriage was still strained.
But she was standing.
She did it again the next morning. And the next. And the next.
Then she started using it for other things.
It wasn't a breakthrough. It was a pattern interrupt.
A five-second window between the impulse to act and the brain's instinct to shut it down.
She didn't know it yet, but she had stumbled onto something that neuroscience would later confirm. When you physically move within five seconds of an instinct, you activate your prefrontal cortex and override the fear response that keeps you frozen.
She wasn't reading research papers at the time. She was just trying to survive.
For two years, nobody knew about this. She used it privately. Slowly rebuilt her life. Got a weekend radio gig for $25 an hour. Started coaching people on the side.
Then in 2011, she got invited to give a TEDx talk in San Francisco.
She almost didn't go.
The only reason she accepted was because they offered two free plane tickets and two nights at the St. Regis. When you're struggling to pay your bills, a free trip sounds pretty good.
She barely prepared. She walked on stage and did something she had never done publicly before.
She told the truth.
About the debt. About the drinking. About hitting snooze while her kids missed the bus. About the bourbon and the rocket launch and the counting.
The talk was called "How to Stop Screwing Yourself Over."
It went viral.
Not because it was polished. Because it was real.
Over 30 million people have now watched that talk. It became one of the most viewed TEDx talks in history.
But here's the part that matters.
Mel Robbins didn't go from broke to famous overnight. There was no lightning bolt moment. No sudden transformation.
After the TEDx talk, she spent years grinding. Radio shows. Small coaching gigs. A book deal that took years to materialize. A TV show that got cancelled after one season.
The 5 Second Rule book didn't come out until 2017, six years after the talk. It became a global bestseller translated into 63 languages.
Then she launched The Mel Robbins Podcast in 2022. Within weeks it was a top 10 show on Apple Podcasts.
Her 2024 book, The Let Them Theory, sold 7 million copies in nine months. Publisher's Weekly called it the top selling book of 2025.
Today, Mel Robbins has 40 million followers. She's been named to the TIME100 Most Influential Digital Voices. Forbes 50 Over 50. Hollywood Reporter's Creator A-List. She founded 143 Studios, a media company that works with Starbucks, JPMorgan Chase, LinkedIn, and Spotify.
She lives in Vermont with her husband of nearly 30 years and their three kids.
The same husband whose restaurant went under. The same marriage that almost didn't survive.
They figured it out.
But here's what I think about when I think about Mel Robbins.
It's not the book sales. It's not the podcast numbers. It's not the follower count.
It's the gap.
The gap between 41 and 57.
Between $800,000 in debt and building a media empire.
Between hitting snooze and becoming the most listened-to female voice in personal development.
That gap wasn't closed by one viral moment. It was closed by sixteen years of showing up and doing the work.
And the work started with the smallest possible action. Getting out of bed.
There's a lesson in Mel's story that I think about a lot as someone building a portfolio of businesses.
The biggest changes in your life don't come from massive overhauls. They come from tiny pattern interrupts that you repeat until they become the foundation of something bigger.
Mel didn't build a media empire because she had a brilliant strategy at 41.
She built it because she figured out how to take one small action when everything in her brain was telling her to stay still.
That's what systems are. They're not complicated frameworks drawn on whiteboards. They're the small, repeatable actions that keep you moving forward when motivation disappears.
Mel's system was five seconds. Count down. Move. Don't think. Just act.
My system is different. It's operators and SOPs and delegation and clean books and businesses that run without me.
But the principle is the same.
When you're stuck, you don't need a bigger vision. You need a smaller first step.
When you're overwhelmed, you don't need more inspiration. You need one action you can take right now.
When everything feels like it's falling apart, you don't need someone to tell you it's going to be okay. You need to move.
That's it.
Most people are waiting for the perfect moment to change their life. The right opportunity. The right partner. The right amount of money in the bank.
Mel Robbins was $800,000 in debt with a drinking problem and a failing marriage. Her perfect moment came from a TV commercial about a rocket.
Stop waiting for conditions to be perfect.
Start with the smallest action you've been avoiding.
The person you want to become is on the other side of the thing you keep putting off.
Mel didn't have a plan. She had a countdown.
And sixteen years later, she's reaching 40 million people from the same life she almost gave up on.
What's your five-second decision?
What's the one thing you've been putting off that could change everything if you just started?
What alarm have you been hitting snooze on, not just in the morning, but in your business, your relationships, your health?
The gap between where you are and where you want to be isn't as far as you think.
It's five seconds.
P.S. Building a 10-business portfolio; remote, systematic, and transparent. Follow along at nathanhirsch(dot)com/newsletter and my socials.
Mel Robbins' mission with The Mel Robbins Podcast is simple: to share proven tools that empower you to create a better life. Jump into Mel's podcast and you'll laugh with her, learn from her and create your new life — your better life — step by step.
