MARK ROBER: If you're creative but lazy, please watch this...

1. 0:00 – 0:23

   Intro

   1. JSJay Shetty0:00

      [camera clicking] What's

2. 0:23 – 3:04

   Were You Always Creative?

   1. JSJay Shetty0:23

      the earliest childhood memory you have that you feel defines who you are today? Is there a, a moment, a friend, an experience from school growing up that you're like, "That is why I am the way I am"?

   2. MRMark Rober0:35

      Hmm. [sighs] I think a defining moment, one that sticks out, I feel like... So my mom was... Oh, this is out of the gate. You're getting me talking about my mom.

   3. JSJay Shetty0:48

      [laughs]

   4. MRMark Rober0:48

      Uh, d- uh, my mom was like, had the biggest influence of, on my life by a very comfortable margin, and she was like a stay-at-home mom. Like, she barely graduated high school. Um, but she was just, um, so encouraging of us and, like, trying to m- turn us into, like, good humans. And so she would very... She would encourage just being creative and, like, out-of-the-box thinking and just, um... I remember one time, you know... And, and she, we did chores, like, as f- to raise a good human. Like, we had a list of chores from the time I was five years old, right? So I was helping prepare dinner, and I was in charge of doing the salad, and I was cutting the onions. And I was, like, crying 'cause I was like, "Oh, this is a thing. I don't like this." So I was like, "Well, I should go..." I remember upstairs we had these swim goggles, so I, I ran upstairs, got the goggles, not thinking anything of it, and just kept cutting with onions on. And now I know that's, like, a hack, like, people know about this, but I was, like, five years old.

   5. JSJay Shetty1:47

      [laughs]

   6. MRMark Rober1:47

      This is, like, 1986. And I just remember her reaction to that. Just, like, she laughed, and she's just like, "No way." And, like, the encour- She took a picture. We have a family picture of it, right? And that's 24 pictures in those days, so if you're taking a picture, you mean it, right?

   7. JSJay Shetty2:02

      Yeah. [laughs]

   8. MRMark Rober2:02

      It's on film. And it just felt really good to be in this environment where, like, that kind of thinking was encouraged. Um, that, it has just always stuck with me. And then, you know, just growing up, you know, if I took apart the remote control and I couldn't quite get it back together again, like, I didn't get in trouble for that. It was like, "Oh, what, what are you up to now?" Right? It's like, "What are you up to?" But it was more celebrated as opposed to something that was just overlooked.

   9. JSJay Shetty2:31

      Yeah. That's special.

   10. MRMark Rober2:32

       And I, and I feel today, like, that same feeling of, like, cr- creating content and sharing it with people and, like, getting that reaction of other people being like, "Oh, man, why didn't I think of that?" Like, I love hearing that 'cause that means it was kind of obvious, and you took things, uh, you know, things... Especially if I do a build. If I can do it with junk you have lying around your house, that's so much better than just, like, all these, the technical solution, right?

   11. JSJay Shetty2:55

       Yeah.

   12. MRMark Rober2:55

       And so that feeling of coming up with an idea, sharing with people, and getting feedback on it is just, like, it's kind of addictive.

   13. JSJay Shetty3:02

       Yeah, yeah, that's beautiful, and it's amazing when your parents encourage

3. 3:04 – 5:58

   Understanding the Real Impact of Your Life

   1. JSJay Shetty3:04

      it. When, when was the last time you shared that story with your mom?

   2. MRMark Rober3:09

      Um, so interesting story on that, Jay, which is that, like, um, uh, like six months before I made my first YouTube video she passed away from ALS, um, which I think is, like, kind of a beautiful thing in the sense that, you know, we can all disagree on what happens when you die, right? But this idea that, like, you never know the true measure of your impact in this life, right? You do, you know... You interact with other people, even if it's just, like, what do you say when the guy opens the door for you, you know, or you open the door for someone. Like, with her, you know, the channel now reaches, you know, we have 72 million subscribers and, like, billions of views a month, and none of that was on her radar. And, like, my mission is to get kids, you know, e- everyone, but especially the young folks stoked about science and education and curiosity because that's what she did to me. And this is also how I feel about, like, teachers. They're like seed planters, right? And just nobody knows the measure of, the full measure of their impact. And-

   3. JSJay Shetty4:18

      Yeah

   4. MRMark Rober4:18

      ... so I just think it's, it's, it's really sweet that, like, you know, when she passed away I think she felt really good about, like, the kids she raised. But, like, she just didn't know, like, her direct, like how she raised me and my siblings is now, like, impacting so many kids and, and people across the world.

   5. JSJay Shetty4:39

      Yeah.

   6. MRMark Rober4:39

      So it's, it's, it's really beautiful. Like, that's her version of, of living on and living forever, regardless of what you think what happens after we die.

   7. JSJay Shetty4:48

      Yeah. No, thank you for sharing that, man. It's so, it's so beautiful to hear that. As, as someone who's... My mom, who's, who's still with us, but the, but the impact she had on me as well, like, I feel like my mom showed me how to love. And if anyone ever feels loved by me or feels I can create a safe, loving space for other people, it's because my mom did that for me-

   8. MRMark Rober5:09

      Yeah

   9. JSJay Shetty5:09

      ... in the most difficult of situations and always made me feel like I had a shield of love around me. And so I've never really had to question whether I'm lovable or not-

   10. MRMark Rober5:17

       Mm.

   11. JSJay Shetty5:17

       .. which is just an insane superpower.

   12. MRMark Rober5:19

       Yeah.

   13. JSJay Shetty5:20

       And then all that love that you were given just spills onto other people. And then everyone's like, "Oh, how are you so loving and thoughtful?" And I'm like, "Oh, it's my mom." Like, it was like my mom just gave me so much that it had to spill out and spill over into other people. It's actually not me. And, and it's something that I hold very deeply as well, and I think moms, dads, teachers, mentors, guides, spiritual leaders, whoever your family turns to for support have such a big impact, and now YouTubers.

   14. MRMark Rober5:50

       Yeah.

   15. JSJay Shetty5:50

       Right? Like, now you. Like, there are so many kids and parents that turn to you for your content-

   16. MRMark Rober5:55

       Yeah

   17. JSJay Shetty5:56

       ... to inspire their children to think differently.

4. 5:58 – 8:52

   What It Really Takes to Work at NASA

   1. JSJay Shetty5:58

      How do you get a job at NASA?

   2. MRMark Rober6:00

      [laughs]

   3. JSJay Shetty6:01

      Like, I just... When I, when I saw that, when I was looking, I was like, "How do you get a job at NASA?" Like, that sounds like made-up stuff.

   4. MRMark Rober6:08

      I mean, you get lucky, first of all.

   5. JSJay Shetty6:10

      [laughs]

   6. MRMark Rober6:10

      Like, you know, my resume was just in a stack of resumes. And yeah, the interview-

   7. JSJay Shetty6:16

      What did you do at college?

   8. MRMark Rober6:17

      So I studied mechanical engineering.

   9. JSJay Shetty6:18

      Okay, so you had that.

   10. MRMark Rober6:20

       Yeah, yeah. So for sure.

   11. JSJay Shetty6:21

       [laughs]

   12. MRMark Rober6:21

       You gotta start with an engineering degree.

   13. JSJay Shetty6:23

       Yeah. [laughs]

   14. MRMark Rober6:23

       I'll give you that. Um, yeah, and, and-

   15. JSJay Shetty6:26

       From a good school.

   16. MRMark Rober6:27

       From a good school, yeah. I did undergrad at BYU, grad school at USC.

   17. JSJay Shetty6:31

       Yeah, so-

   18. MRMark Rober6:31

       In mechanical engineering, yeah. I remember going in, there's this old engineer there, Don Bickler, and when you interview there, you know, you go into his office. He shuts the door.

   19. JSJay Shetty6:41

       At NASA?

   20. MRMark Rober6:42

       NASA. This guy's a legend. Invented, like, the rocker-bogie system on the rover. And then you just, you stay in that room for, like, an hour, and he hands you a whiteboard, a whiteboard marker, and he just drills you on questions. And at the end of that, he comes and kind of offers the verdict, and when I left, he's like, "He's good. Hire him." So, you know.

   21. JSJay Shetty6:58

       Y- tell me what the questions are like. Like, what is that... How's that interview? C- because I imagine it's so different from any interview.

   22. MRMark Rober7:04

       Yeah, I mean, they're, like, technical questions, right? Like, um, here's a good one. If you have a, a fishing boat and you have an anchor, and then you take that anchor and you throw it overboard, and what happens to the w- water level on the ra- lake? Does it go up or down? And so it's, it's kind of like a riddle, but the point is you write out the equations on the board, the buoyancy equation, you know. You solve for this, and then the answer's pretty obvious if you can do that. So it's kind of like i- questions like this, technical questions, but they're just, like, rapid fire one after another.

   23. JSJay Shetty7:36

       Right, right, right.

   24. MRMark Rober7:37

       Um, and so then, yeah. So I worked at NASA for a decade. Uh, 10 of those, or about seven of those were working on the Mars Curiosity rover. So I have hardware that's, like, on the jetpack that lowers it to the ground, and then also on the top deck of the rover. So-

   25. JSJay Shetty7:51

       That you designed.

   26. MRMark Rober7:51

       That I designed, built, tested, integrated.

   27. JSJay Shetty7:54

       How many of you are working on something like that at the same time?

   28. MRMark Rober7:57

       Yeah, like, it's, like, probably 3,000 people-

   29. JSJay Shetty8:00

       Wow

   30. MRMark Rober8:00

       ... all told, like, have a hand in creating something like the Mars rover.
5. 8:52 – 11:24

   Learning to Think Like an Engineer

   1. JSJay Shetty8:52

      What was the mindset you think you learned from working at NASA and the people there that you don't think most of us would come across in our daily life?

   2. MRMark Rober9:00

      I think this concept of, like, thinking like an engineer.

   3. JSJay Shetty9:04

      What does that mean?

   4. MRMark Rober9:05

      Yes.

   5. JSJay Shetty9:05

      I've heard that before. I've also heard, like, think like a rocket scientist, and I'm like, what does that mean?

   6. MRMark Rober9:09

      [laughs]

   7. JSJay Shetty9:10

      Yeah.

   8. MRMark Rober9:10

      So me, I... In fact, I have a, um, a toy company now, CrunchLabs, where, you know, basically it's, like, a really fun toy you get every month, and you c- the kids can put it together, and it teaches the engineering principles a- what makes them work. And on the side of the box, it says, "Think like an engineer." And the idea there is, like, it means that, like, you're not afraid of failure, and, you know, you, you're resilient because you know that failure's part of the process. Like, the point is to break stuff and test it. If you're not breaking stuff, it means, like, you're not really testing the limits. And then when you fail, it's... You don't internalize it, like, "Oh, I'm a failure." It's like, "Oh, great. We just learned one more way not to do a thing." You're excited, right? It's like, "Let's try something different." And so I think that, that philosophy applies to life and to challenge. Like, toddlers are like this, right? Like, when they fall, they're not like, "Oh, I look so dumb. I'm never gonna try and walk again," right? It's like they just get up and try again, and they're excited to try again. You know, the kid who's just tinkering in his garage and doesn't care and is trying stuff, like, that's the kid that's just, like, learning so much, right? And again, this is how you put a rover on Mars. You just break stuff and test it and test it and test it so you know the limits, and now you know exactly what will work when you go to Mars.

   9. JSJay Shetty10:25

      And what was the purpose of the rover?

   10. MRMark Rober10:27

       So essentially, it's just, like, to go to, you know... We want... It's good for humanity if we are a multi-planetary species. Uh, and so it's like this is the precursor to, like, humans going and living on Mars. So basically, it goes there and says, like, "Hmm, what's the soil like? Could you plant asparagus there?" Turns out you can. Uh, is there water there?

   11. JSJay Shetty10:48

       Wow.

   12. MRMark Rober10:48

       Yeah. Turns out there is. So all these things that we would want to have on Mars if we were living there, like the rover. You know, how much radiation is there here? So it can do a bunch of, "Let, let us learn the history of this planet," um, so that, A, we can potentially live there someday, but B, it helps us learn about ourselves. Part of what we know about global warming is by studying Venus, which is basically like runaway global warming. So by, like, studying other areas in the solar system, we're able to learn, like, more about h- you know, how, how Earth even came about and formed, which helps us to know how do we protect it in the future.

   13. JSJay Shetty11:22

       Wow. And so wait, when you

6. 11:24 – 12:27

   How Rovers Are Tested for Mars

   1. JSJay Shetty11:24

      started to get this information and data back that you can grow asparagus-

   2. MRMark Rober11:29

      Mm

   3. JSJay Shetty11:29

      ... there's water there, what was the big discovery that the rover felt like it achieved that you all walked away with and said, "Oh, wow, this was mission accomplished"?

   4. MRMark Rober11:37

      I mean, with sci- Like, y- your objectives are always smaller than that, of like, we just wanna go there and answer whether or not there's water. Um, you know, life is always the big one. Like, if you can find life on another planet, like, that's pretty wild.

   5. JSJay Shetty11:53

      Yeah.

   6. MRMark Rober11:53

      Because if life came to exist twice in our own solar system, you know, then, like-... there must, like the universe must just be teeming with other forms of life. It's just like a really fascinating question, right?

   7. JSJay Shetty12:06

      Yeah.

   8. MRMark Rober12:07

      Sometimes you don't, you just go there to gather the data.

   9. JSJay Shetty12:09

      Yes, yes.

   10. MRMark Rober12:10

       And then you just look for something interesting to come from the data. But you don't necessarily know ahead of time. You can have objectives, right?

   11. JSJay Shetty12:16

       Yeah.

   12. MRMark Rober12:17

       But I think us just getting closer to live there and studying if life did exist there, are like always some... And, and is water there currently flowing? Those kinds of questions are, like, really interesting with Mars.

7. 12:27 – 15:13

   Follow What You Truly Love Doing

   1. JSJay Shetty12:27

      Yeah, the reason I'm mining it is for two reason, these questions to you, is one is I'm fascinated because it's so different from any world I've ever lived in, and so I'm like a kid in a candy shop right now.

   2. MRMark Rober12:38

      Yeah, yeah. [laughs]

   3. JSJay Shetty12:38

      I'm like, "This is so cool." And, and then the second side of it is because I think it's a mindset thing, too. The idea that all of these really smart people are building something, and there isn't this big goal or objective. There's this idea of, we're gonna learn, and we're gonna grow, and we're gonna figure it out, and we'll discover something, is such a beautiful mindset for life.

   4. MRMark Rober12:59

      Mm.

   5. JSJay Shetty12:59

      Like, I think about even with what you were talking about with CrunchLabs, teaching kids at an early age to just experiment, play, break, live, without the goal of like, "Oh, I have to build..." I'm sure they, I'm sure CrunchLabs, yeah.

   6. MRMark Rober13:13

      No, you're totally right.

   7. JSJay Shetty13:14

      Yeah. It's like that's a great mindset because I feel like if you think about all the companies that we all use today, they didn't start off saying, "We're gonna build a billion-dollar company." They just built something that helped people and figured it out and pivoted and-

   8. MRMark Rober13:27

      Yeah

   9. JSJay Shetty13:28

      ... gave us another option. Then one day they were valued at billions of dollars. But today, there's a pressure I feel that people have where it's like, "If I build an app, it has to be a billion-dollar app. If I build a products company, it has to sell 100 million the first year. If I sell a apparel brand, I have to make a million dol-" Like, I feel like we put these goals and objectives, and you're actually saying, "Well, when we're [laughs] going to Mars, we're not thinking about those things."

   10. MRMark Rober13:53

       I mean, I completely agree with you. Like, I don't love when people expect you to know what you wanna be when you grow up, when you're like 16 years old. Like, nobody... Ask any adult, and if you ask them, you know, what they're doing, if they knew they'd be doing what they're doing now, if they say yes, they're totally lying to you.

   11. JSJay Shetty14:08

       [laughs]

   12. MRMark Rober14:08

       Like, nobody knows. And that's just the way life is. It's like a river that meanders, right? So it's like my advice, if you don't know what you wanna be and you're, you know, a teenager or something, it's like what do you love to do? Do you love to draw? Then, then just dominate it. Just draw like crazy and get so good at it, right? Maybe you love to write or to tell stories. Like, just do that, and then when you do that, like, then more doors will be open to you. So, like, this is kinda my philosophy with life, too. Like, I've had a lot of left and right turns to get me sitting across from you right now. And what I do is just, like, whatever's in front of me, I just give it every single thing I have. And I just try and just crush it and learn as much as possible. And then when you're done with that, it's like, "All right. Now what are my next options," right? And it's usually pretty clear, to be honest. Like, it's never like... I've honestly never h- had a moment in life, even quitting NASA [laughs] to go do YouTube stuff, where it's like, is this the right decision, is it not? It feels pretty clear if you've really committed yourself, and then you have all the new facts in front of you, right?

   13. JSJay Shetty15:12

       Yeah.

8. 15:13 – 16:25

   If You Can Imagine It, You Can Build It

   1. JSJay Shetty15:13

      Before we get to that, what did you wanna be when you were a kid? And when people asked you that question that you-

   2. MRMark Rober15:18

      I wanted-

   3. JSJay Shetty15:19

      ... now hate

   4. MRMark Rober15:19

      ... I wanted to be... My first job I wanted to do was to design, uh, play places at McDonald's.

   5. JSJay Shetty15:25

      Oh. [laughs]

   6. MRMark Rober15:26

      You know, like the ball pit things.

   7. JSJay Shetty15:27

      I used to love those.

   8. MRMark Rober15:28

      I was like an architect of those. I remember I'd have all these drawings, like, "All right. We're gonna start with a ball pit."

   9. JSJay Shetty15:33

      [laughs]

   10. MRMark Rober15:33

       "Then we're gonna [laughs] go to the nets." And now CrunchLabs, which is this, like, actual place I have, it's like this Willy Wonka factory for engineering, is sort of the embodiment of that dream. 'Cause we have, like, secret passageways. You know, a Coke machine opens up into a claw machine that you can, like, take a picture-

   11. JSJay Shetty15:49

       It's like the North Pole.

   12. MRMark Rober15:50

       Yeah.

   13. JSJay Shetty15:51

       [laughs]

   14. MRMark Rober15:52

       We have, like, fire, like, pistons that you slide down from.

   15. JSJay Shetty15:54

       You're basically Santa.

   16. MRMark Rober15:55

       Yeah. [laughs]

   17. JSJay Shetty15:56

       [laughs]

   18. MRMark Rober15:56

       That's right.

   19. JSJay Shetty15:57

       Yeah.

   20. MRMark Rober15:58

       Um, yeah. Like, I'm like Willy Wonka for engineering.

   21. JSJay Shetty16:01

       Yeah.

   22. MRMark Rober16:01

       Like, it has that vibe, right? It's like, uh, a rock, paper, scissor machine that it's a robot that beats you every time. A staircase that's an infinite Slinky staircase. The Slinky just goes. So it's like, you know, if you can dream it up, then you can build it. Like, that's the beauty of being an engineer, is like, if, if, if something doesn't exist and you want it to exist-

   23. JSJay Shetty16:21

       Yeah

   24. MRMark Rober16:21

       ... you can just will it into existence.

   25. JSJay Shetty16:23

       Yeah.

   26. MRMark Rober16:23

       And what a superpower.

9. 16:25 – 20:00

   Practical Wisdom from a Lifelong Tinkerer

   1. JSJay Shetty16:25

      Yeah. There's this, uh, there's this amazing... I mean, this is to- I'm going totally the opposite way, but, uh, you're reminding me of something beautiful. There's this, uh, beautiful verse in Eastern spirituality that says, "The mind moves faster than the gods."

   2. MRMark Rober16:39

      Mm.

   3. JSJay Shetty16:39

      And the point of it is this idea that the mind can create and build, and you can visualize. And it's based off of this character in Vedic history called Vishwakarma, who's the architect of the gods.

   4. MRMark Rober16:52

      Mm.

   5. JSJay Shetty16:53

      So he builds flying palaces and flying cities and... But he visualizes it all in his head before it becomes manifest.

   6. MRMark Rober17:00

      Yeah.

   7. JSJay Shetty17:00

      And it's that same idea of just, like, we... But do you know what's so interesting is we're talking about that, but we all know that it's so natural as a parent to go, "Okay, but get a real job."

   8. MRMark Rober17:11

      Mm-hmm.

   9. JSJay Shetty17:12

      Right? So, like, you, you, you have this dream of, "I wanna design McDonald's-"

   10. MRMark Rober17:16

       Yeah

   11. JSJay Shetty17:16

       ... "playhouses," or whatever. And then family, friends, expectations, school, everyone goes, "Yeah, but get a real job." Like, I remember I was-

   12. MRMark Rober17:23

       Yeah

   13. JSJay Shetty17:23

       ... a kid who loved graphic design, and I love art direction, and I loved juxtaposition and imagery. Like, that was always my... I loved that. It's always been a passion of mine. And my family encouraged it. It was a good hobby. It was like, "Get a real job, though."

   14. MRMark Rober17:38

       Yeah.

   15. JSJay Shetty17:38

       I mean, engineering's such a great skill and such a great job, but how do you encourage young people, and how do you think about, when you're making content, to encourage people to live their passion but be pragmatic? And what does that look like? Because you-

   16. MRMark Rober17:50

       Yeah. I-

   17. JSJay Shetty17:50

       ... you've kinda pursued so many things.

   18. MRMark Rober17:52

       I mean, I think it's a yes/and situation, right?

   19. JSJay Shetty17:54

       Yeah.

   20. MRMark Rober17:54

       For example, for me, like, [laughs] I worked at NASA for a decade, then I worked at Apple for five years doing product design. I didn't quit Apple till I had 10 million YouTube subscribers. So, like, this idea of like I had to choose one or the other, right?

   21. JSJay Shetty18:10

       Yeah.

   22. MRMark Rober18:11

       You can kind of do both. You can moonlight as your passion, and then when that becomes big enough, then it's like, oh. And, and that isn't always the case, but I think there's a lot of situations, there's a middle of that Venn diagram where it's like you do the passion and pursue it as much as you possibly can while also having the real job, right? Um, I mean, that's like practical advice. Sometimes it does come to a point, you know, you hear these great stories of actors or something where it's like, "I'm just gonna really go for it," and then they land. But that's also, you know, the scientist in me wants to say, well, there's survivorship bias. So you only hear the stories-

   23. JSJay Shetty18:47

       Yeah

   24. MRMark Rober18:47

       ... of the ones that worked, and for the one that does, there's a thousand that don't. So, um, you know, I think when parents say that, they generally have their best interest in mind for the kid. They want them to be happy and have a life that they can... But at the same time, the kid knows what they're passionate. So I think it's a very healthy, a very healthy, like, you know, yin and yang there. I, I, I, I don't fault parents for saying that, but I think there's a lot of times you could still pursue the thing. You know, you just pursue both.

   25. JSJay Shetty19:13

       Yeah. I'd agree with you. So my life's the same story and, and I'm... That, to me, is the, to me, that is the best and most likely path for most people.

   26. MRMark Rober19:22

       Mm-hmm.

   27. JSJay Shetty19:22

       Which is you're gonna have a steady job, you're gonna figure out something on the side, and you're gonna wait for the thing on the side to outpace the thing you're doing right now, and then... And it, and it bec- And it actually proves to you as an individual whether you really love it.

   28. MRMark Rober19:34

       Yeah.

   29. JSJay Shetty19:34

       'Cause you're doing it in your evenings-

   30. MRMark Rober19:35

       Yeah
10. 20:00 – 22:37

    The Pivot from NASA to Apple

    1. JSJay Shetty20:00

       What was the pivot from NASA to Apple? Why did that come about? Why leave NASA?

    2. MRMark Rober20:06

       Um, well, actually, for two years I was at a Halloween costume company, Jay. Before then going to Apple. So that's like-

    3. JSJay Shetty20:14

       Halloween costume company.

    4. MRMark Rober20:16

       Yes. [laughs]

    5. JSJay Shetty20:17

       Wait, how do you go from NASA to a Halloween costume-

    6. MRMark Rober20:19

       Okay, that's the better question.

    7. JSJay Shetty20:21

       Yeah. [laughs]

    8. MRMark Rober20:21

       [laughs] Which is... So my first ever YouTube video, I went to like a Halloween party, and I had an iPad on front, an iPad in back of me, and if you cut a hole in the shirts a- and you do a FaceTime call, it looks like you have a hole in your body.

    9. JSJay Shetty20:35

       Oh, yeah.

    10. MRMark Rober20:35

        So you wave, you wave your hand in the front, and the camera in the back shows it. And-

    11. JSJay Shetty20:40

        That's cool

    12. MRMark Rober20:40

        ... again, it felt like being five years old cutting onions. People at the party were like, "This is such a cool costume. What a cool idea. How did I not think of that?" So I went home, I put it on YouTube, and I... My life goal was to be on the Gizmodo, which is like an old tech blog.

    13. JSJay Shetty20:55

        Yeah, yeah, I remember it. Yeah.

    14. MRMark Rober20:56

        And so I made it on the cover of Gizmodo, and then quickly realized I need more life goals. [laughs]

    15. JSJay Shetty21:02

        [laughs]

    16. MRMark Rober21:02

        And so I was like, "I have more ideas," like, "I should just do one video a month." And for 14 years now, I've basically uploaded one video a month about an engineering build or an idea, and the channel's just grown from there. Um-

    17. JSJay Shetty21:16

        How did you get that out there on the cover of Gizmodo?

    18. MRMark Rober21:19

        Well, the, the... So the YouTube video went up, and it went viral.

    19. JSJay Shetty21:23

        Okay.

    20. MRMark Rober21:23

        So it was on the front page of CNN, like, it was like on all these, all these outlets covered it, including Gizmodo.

    21. JSJay Shetty21:29

        Got it.

    22. MRMark Rober21:29

        From there, the, the, the one complaint was that, "Cool idea, bro, but I don't have $1,200 for Halloween costumes," two iPads, right?

    23. JSJay Shetty21:35

        Yeah.

    24. MRMark Rober21:35

        And so I was like, all right. So I, I came up with an idea for next year where it was like a, a design printed on the shirt, like a, a guy's face or something that was like kind of his eye was pulled open, and then if you cut a hole out for the eyeball, and then there was a free app of an eyeball that moved around. Your eye would've worked great, Jay.

    25. JSJay Shetty21:53

        [laughs]

    26. MRMark Rober21:53

        Then all... You had a really cool Halloween costume for like the price of a T-shirt.

    27. JSJay Shetty21:58

        Yeah.

    28. MRMark Rober21:58

        Called Digital Dudz. So I launched that company nights and weekends, working all week while making YouTube videos, and, uh, while working at NASA, and it, it did pretty well. So then that did well enough that I sold it to some guys in the UK, and I went and worked for them for, for two years.

    29. JSJay Shetty22:17

        Wow.

    30. MRMark Rober22:17

        And it's like, it's such a... Right? This is my example. I mean, this is, this is exactly what I was talking about. I had this idea. I thought it was cool, so I moonlit nights and weekends, basically bootstrapped the company, and then when I launched the video the next year to explain what it was, that T-shirt idea, you know, we made our money back in eight hours, and then, yeah. So very meandering.
11. 22:37 – 23:48

    Turning Ideas into Actionable Success

    1. JSJay Shetty22:37

       Did you always have the ability to turn an idea into action, and how... What have you learned about that, right? Like there's a big... A lot of people have good ideas, and I'm sure you hear all, hear them all the time. I hear them all the time. People come up to me and be like, "Jay, I've had this incredible idea. I want to build this thing," but then it stops there. It doesn't get somewhere. What have you learned about turning ideas into action? What's worked for you?

    2. MRMark Rober22:59

       My superpower is my naive optimism. Like, I'm just an idiot that thinks I can do it, and I don't see... Like, I just feel like, oh, this is so obvious, like, I can totally do this. If I knew the amount of work it actually would end up being, I'd be very discouraged. [laughs]

    3. JSJay Shetty23:15

       [laughs]

    4. MRMark Rober23:16

       But I'm just like an idiot who's like, oh, yeah, I could do this. Like, I think this makes sense. Like, I see the end goal, and so then any pitfall that comes along the way, like I'm so focused on this end goal and, and like that matters, right? Like the attitude you have and whether or not you believe you think you can do it. So then im- if I think I can do it, then the next step is like, well, let me break this down into all the steps, and step one is this, and I'm just gonna dominate that step, and then, you know, just kind of step through it. It's literally the engineering design process, but for ideas

12. 23:48 – 27:32

    What is the Engineering Design Process?

    1. MRMark Rober23:48

       and businesses.

    2. JSJay Shetty23:48

       Walk us through the engineering design process for anyone who doesn't know what that is. Like, break that down for us. Make it simple, but-

    3. MRMark Rober23:54

       I think the idea, it's just like you, you have an end goal, an objective, and break it down into the steps, and know what you don't know, and, and test what you don't know, is kind of like, you know, g- get your, give your best shot at it. You kind of in, in engineering, let's say if I'm designing a piece for the Mars rover, I think, okay, I think it needs, you know, maybe it's a, the, the, the wheel for the Mars rover. I think it needs to probably look like this. I'm gonna design it in CAD. I'm gonna analyze it analytically with computer programs, but that's not what I fly to Mars. I take that-And then I build it, and then I test it to see if it matches. And then sure enough, oh, it does match up. All right, now it's good enough. I've tested it, now I can fly it to Mars. So I think it's this idea of like building iteratively and, and, and breaking things. Like part of designing that is I would make one and I would smash it with a bunch of stuff so I know the limits of the wheel, right? So again, th- we call that a failure, and others outside of engineering, but we embrace that, and it's like, great, now we know. Now let's tweak it, and we're gonna, we're gonna... Now, now we can build something better, right? But I think a lot of times in life, if you get a bad grade on a test, then you internalize that, "I'm not good at math." Or a relationship fails. You're like, "I'm just not good at this love thing." Or a business fails, and you're like, "I guess I'm not a good businessman." But if you, if you look at it like an engineer or even like a video game, I think is like a good way to do it. Like, if you, if you frame your challenges like a video game. No one, no one picks up a controller to play a video game and falls in a pit, let's say Super Mario Brothers or something, and thinks, "I'm s- I'm a failure." Like, "Ah, how embarrassing. I'm terrible at video games." No. You're immediately like, "Oh, shoot. What did I just learn from that? Now I'm gonna j- I'm gonna jump a little faster. I'm gonna run a little faster, jump a little..." You're excited to try again, right? So just the framing of it, it turns from fear to curiosity where you're like, you wanna get up and try it again. So if it's like... A- and you know, you asked me, like, oh, when you have ideas, like, I'm thinking of it like a video game where it's like I wanna rescue Princess from Bowser. So when I get the sliding green turtle shell, which could look like a lot of different things, I don't internalize that I'm a bad player. I'm like, "Got it. I know the shell comes right here. I'm gonna jump a little faster."

    4. JSJay Shetty26:10

       Yeah.

    5. MRMark Rober26:10

       Right? And that is a life hack. Like, truly. This happens to me all the time on just whenever we wanna do a big video. We just filmed a video where, um, [lips smack] I made a soccer goalie robot that goes back and forth at, like, 80 miles an hour, and then Cristiano Ronaldo tried to score on it.

    6. JSJay Shetty26:26

       [laughs]

    7. MRMark Rober26:26

       Right? It took us like a year to build.

    8. JSJay Shetty26:28

       Yeah.

    9. MRMark Rober26:28

       So we tracked the ball, and in the first six milliseconds, when the ball has gone from, like, here to here, I- I just moved it, like, maybe an eighth of an inch. We know exactly where the goalie [chuckles] needs to be to stop that ball. So it's hilarious to see. You know, he tries to do it, and of course...

    10. JSJay Shetty26:45

        He misses.

    11. MRMark Rober26:46

        No. He's... There's no way he can score. It's way too fast.

    12. JSJay Shetty26:49

        No.

    13. MRMark Rober26:49

        From the penalty kick area.

    14. JSJay Shetty26:51

        Yeah, yeah.

    15. MRMark Rober26:51

        He kicks it 80 miles an hour, and the robot's just like, woop, just goes, and it stops.

    16. JSJay Shetty26:56

        Oh my gosh.

    17. MRMark Rober26:57

        So the point is, though, with that video, I mean, there was tons of sliding green shells and setbacks, and you know... And, and that doesn't mean it doesn't sting, by the way. Failure still can sting. This isn't some fake Pollyanna attitude, right? But it's this idea of like, oh, dang it. But I'm, okay, here we go. We're going at this again, right?

    18. JSJay Shetty27:17

        Yeah.

    19. MRMark Rober27:17

        And I think that can help you accomplish so much more in life and, and just have honestly better relationships even, right?

    20. JSJay Shetty27:25

        Yeah.

    21. MRMark Rober27:25

        Because it's just like the way you approach it is like, okay, what did I learn? Versus internalizing that it's something about me.

    22. JSJay Shetty27:31

        Yeah. Well said.

13. 27:32 – 30:20

    Why Embracing Failure Matters

    1. JSJay Shetty27:32

       Really well said. And I love the video game analogy because you're so right. You, you die, and even though it says game over, you don't feel that way.

    2. MRMark Rober27:39

       No.

    3. JSJay Shetty27:40

       You're like next, next pl- you know, you wanna get another life. You wanna play again. Like, you never, ever... And it's so crazy 'cause I'm like, it actually says game over.

    4. MRMark Rober27:47

       Yeah.

    5. JSJay Shetty27:48

       And you don't care.

    6. MRMark Rober27:49

       No.

    7. JSJay Shetty27:49

       And whereas if someone says game over in real life, where you get rejected or you don't get a job and you apply for one, that hurts much worse, and I guess because it feels like it has real stakes, whereas a video game-

    8. MRMark Rober28:01

       I think it's more like you internal- you think that makes you-

    9. JSJay Shetty28:04

       Yes

    10. MRMark Rober28:05

        ... unemployable.

    11. JSJay Shetty28:06

        Yes.

    12. MRMark Rober28:06

        You internalize what that means about you, but you don't do that in video games. You don't say, "I'm a bad video game player."

    13. JSJay Shetty28:13

        Mm-hmm.

    14. MRMark Rober28:13

        And I think the same is true in life. Like, anyone who's got to somewhere in life, they started out sucky at that.

    15. JSJay Shetty28:18

        Yeah, yeah.

    16. MRMark Rober28:19

        Right? And then they just learned and iterated and overcame. It's the same thing you said with companies. Like, no Fortune 100 company t- today started out doing what they do now.

    17. JSJay Shetty28:29

        Yeah, that's right.

    18. MRMark Rober28:29

        They've pivoted 15 times, right?

    19. JSJay Shetty28:31

        Yeah. Yeah.

    20. MRMark Rober28:32

        And I, so I think it's this ability to just, like, not internalize what it says about you-

    21. JSJay Shetty28:36

        Mm

    22. MRMark Rober28:37

        ... um, and just almost flip it. Like, I'm a person who, who embraces failure and celebrates it, lets it sting.

    23. JSJay Shetty28:44

        Mm.

    24. MRMark Rober28:44

        Just like in a video game. It sucks to miss that key jump on level 8-1 on Super Mario Brothers [chuckles] with the little platform.

    25. JSJay Shetty28:51

        Yeah.

    26. MRMark Rober28:51

        But it's like, dang it, we're going back. Because you're focused on the end goal.

    27. JSJay Shetty28:55

        Yeah.

    28. MRMark Rober28:55

        You're focused on what that would feel like, not the pits and the mistakes.

    29. JSJay Shetty28:58

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14. 30:20 – 34:23

    Relearning Trust and Finding Love Again

    1. JSJay Shetty30:20

       What's a failure that you ever experienced in life that you did internalize? Did that ever happen?

    2. MRMark Rober30:26

       I got married pretty young, and then it's very amicable, but, like, five years ago, I split with, with my wife. Um-For, you know, I'm pretty private with my private life [laughs] for like reasons and stuff. But, um, and I was like really cautious to get out and like date again. It just, it took me a year to even like start. Um, and I don't know, it felt like I was just very protective. Like I didn't... I wanted, if I was gonna find my person, like I wanted them to love me and not the thought of me or, you know, you just want it to be authentic, right? Um, and so like I never, I, I just wasn't... I was being very cautious about everything. I did find someone that I thought was like, this was, this was it, and I, for the first time, like really opened my heart, right? Like being really, really open. And like the worst possible situation happened where it was like it was, um, it felt, it was like a betrayal. Something happened that it was like, it was essentially this, the worst case where it's like, "Okay, I'm gonna do this. I'm gonna really lean in," and then it happened, and it was absolutely the worst pain like I've experienced as an adult. It was like really, really hard, and it was hard to feel like I would ever find this thing that I felt like other people have found, and I've, I'd never felt it my whole life. Um, and so taking a beat after that was like... I think it was hard. That was like a really, really difficult period for me. Um, but then I honestly, eventually I came around to this Super Mario thing, and I'm like, "You know what? Like, it's just a number. Like, I just gotta put in the reps. I gotta like put the work in."

    3. JSJay Shetty32:17

       Mm.

    4. MRMark Rober32:17

       And so I did that, and then again failed. I did like, I was like, "I'm gonna m- in 30 days I'm gonna like try and..." [laughs] This, I'm such an engineer. I basically made a goal where it's like I'm gonna go on 30 FaceTime dates in 30 days.

    5. JSJay Shetty32:32

       [laughs]

    6. MRMark Rober32:34

       And just like 20 minutes, just to get a feel, 'cause you know in the first three minutes-

    7. JSJay Shetty32:38

       Yeah

    8. MRMark Rober32:38

       ... if there's a connection or not, right?

    9. JSJay Shetty32:40

       Yeah.

    10. MRMark Rober32:40

        And I did that, and it was, again, Jay, and these are like amazing, accomplished, attractive, lovely human beings, lovely women, right? And I felt nothing. And I was like, "Damn," like, "I think, is this me?" So I was like, "You know what? I'm gonna do one more," and then I did one more, and that's my partner.

    11. JSJay Shetty33:01

        Ah.

    12. MRMark Rober33:01

        And she's my life partner. It's like it. And it was a, it was a matter of like, it was a like half-hour in, it was like, "Yep, this is it." Like, and it feels like coming home. It's like when you find the right person, it feels like home. It's just like, um, yeah, and it's just like no reservations. And like we're both the same way, and she had the same experience.

    13. JSJay Shetty33:23

        Yeah, she's wonderful, man.

    14. MRMark Rober33:24

        Yeah, and you met her. And she's had the same experience where she just never felt like she'd found it, and immediately we're just like, "This is it."

    15. JSJay Shetty33:31

        Mm.

    16. MRMark Rober33:31

        "Cool. Done. Close the spreadsheet."

    17. JSJay Shetty33:33

        [laughs]

    18. MRMark Rober33:33

        [laughs] Delete it.

    19. JSJay Shetty33:35

        So you did engineer your way to love.

    20. MRMark Rober33:37

        I did engineer my-

    21. JSJay Shetty33:38

        It does work

    22. MRMark Rober33:38

        ... which is funny.

    23. JSJay Shetty33:38

        It does work, yeah.

    24. MRMark Rober33:39

        Because she's the oppo- She's more like you, Jay.

    25. JSJay Shetty33:42

        Yeah, yeah.

    26. MRMark Rober33:42

        And she just puts it out to the universe.

    27. JSJay Shetty33:44

        Yeah.

    28. MRMark Rober33:44

        So she's the, uh, she's the dreamer and I'm the thinker.

    29. JSJay Shetty33:47

        Yeah.

    30. MRMark Rober33:48

        And we each try and take credit for us getting together.
15. 34:23 – 37:08

    The Power of Immersion Weekends

    1. JSJay Shetty34:23

       I do what I call, for myself, immersion weekends, and so if I'm really fascinated by something, I will find a coach, find the book, find the TED Talk, find the course, and do it all in one weekend to figure out whether I care or not.

    2. MRMark Rober34:36

       Yeah.

    3. JSJay Shetty34:37

       And I do these immersion weekends all the time where I'll literally obsess over something for 48 hours, and if I really like it, then it becomes a part of my consistent schedule. And if I hated it, I won't go back again, and I'm okay. And I've loved doing that over time where I'm like, "I'm fascinated by this. I don't have time to go on a weekly course. I don't know if I wanna invest that time. I don't wanna commit to a retreat. Who knows?"

    4. MRMark Rober34:58

       Yeah. Yeah.

    5. JSJay Shetty34:59

       "But I could do it for a whole weekend."

    6. MRMark Rober35:00

       That's genius.

    7. JSJay Shetty35:01

       Yeah, it works, it works wonders for me.

    8. MRMark Rober35:02

       And that goes back to kinda what I was saying before too, just like w- whatever's the step in front, dominate it.

    9. JSJay Shetty35:07

       Dominate, yeah.

    10. MRMark Rober35:08

        See it. And if, and if you really immerse yourself, like it will be very clear at the end of that weekend if this is something you wanna do more versus like just dabbling in it, right?

    11. JSJay Shetty35:16

        Dabbling, yeah.

    12. MRMark Rober35:17

        What's an example... I'm gonna turn the tables on you.

    13. JSJay Shetty35:19

        Go on.

    14. MRMark Rober35:19

        What's the last thing you did like that, like an immersion weekend?

    15. JSJay Shetty35:22

        The immersion weekend?

    16. MRMark Rober35:23

        Yeah, like for-

    17. JSJay Shetty35:23

        I, [laughs] I'll be honest with you. I just did it this weekend.

    18. MRMark Rober35:26

        Mm.

    19. JSJay Shetty35:26

        It was, uh, acting.

    20. MRMark Rober35:27

        Oh, nice.

    21. JSJay Shetty35:28

        So I've been getting all these opportunities to like audition for like TV and film, and I've just been kinda going back and forth. I've spent a lot of time on movie sets with actors that I coach-

    22. MRMark Rober35:38

        Yeah

    23. JSJay Shetty35:38

        ... not in acting, in-

    24. MRMark Rober35:39

        Yeah, yeah

    25. JSJay Shetty35:39

        ... in my work. And I've spent a lot of time on movie sets, but I've never been the person doing it, and I've done a few cameos here and there. And because I was getting all these opportunities, my question always is, do I love the process?

    26. MRMark Rober35:50

        Mm.

    27. JSJay Shetty35:50

        I'm not interested in the result or is it cool. I'm like, do I actually love doing the thing?

    28. MRMark Rober35:55

        Yeah.

    29. JSJay Shetty35:56

        And so this whole weekend, I had an acting coach. I was with him for three hours a day.

    30. MRMark Rober35:59

        No way.
16. 37:08 – 40:53

    Making Learning Engaging Through Creativity

    1. JSJay Shetty37:08

       But that, that's what was so, that was what's so fascinating about it, and I think we're both talking about this idea of learning something deeply, was when you're sitting down with a professional, the way they talk about it, and he was talking about like the Stanislav method and the Chekhov method-

    2. MRMark Rober37:21

       Yeah

    3. JSJay Shetty37:21

       ... and th- there's all these, there's, there's systems of why the best are the best. Like, they're not-

    4. MRMark Rober37:26

       Yeah

    5. JSJay Shetty37:26

       ... they're not just the best because they have it. They've studied systems, and they've worked at it. And so to me, he was just like, "There's this method where it's called to act as if." So you can't relate to what the character's going through, but you have something that happened in your life that makes you feel that way that the character's-

    6. MRMark Rober37:43

       Yeah

    7. JSJay Shetty37:43

       ... feeling, and you channel that. And so to me, it was just, I was just fascinated by the empathy that actors have to have, the compassion, the connection to embody characters.

    8. MRMark Rober37:54

       Yeah.

    9. JSJay Shetty37:54

       But that was my most recent discovery.

    10. MRMark Rober37:55

        I love that.

    11. JSJay Shetty37:56

        Yeah.

    12. MRMark Rober37:56

        And my thing right now-

    13. JSJay Shetty37:57

        Yeah

    14. MRMark Rober37:57

        ... again, like I'm kind of with you. I love mastery, like finding... Mine's public speaking. I hate public speaking.

    15. JSJay Shetty38:02

        Oh, yes.

    16. MRMark Rober38:03

        Hate it. But my goal is just be really good at it in like a year. So I'm currently working up... I'm actually doing a TED Talk in April. Actually, this is cool to actually mention to you, 'cause I haven't really talked about this publicly much. But we're doing... So through the YouTube channel, we've learned how to like hide the vegetables, right?

    17. JSJay Shetty38:21

        Yeah.

    18. MRMark Rober38:21

        Basically teach science, and you don't even know it's happening, right?

    19. JSJay Shetty38:24

        Yeah.

    20. MRMark Rober38:25

        So we're taking all the learnings we've taken th- from that, like 'cause kids can watch or people can just watch whatever they want to on YouTube, but they choose to watch this, and we're making a full science curriculum.

    21. JSJay Shetty38:34

        That's amazing.

    22. MRMark Rober38:34

        Third to eighth grade. It involves, you know, has my fellow YouTube friends. You know, I just got Cristiano Ronaldo, and we're filming him. He's part of it. Just a bunch of people in it, but then, you know, resources for the teachers, really cool hands-on activities they do in class, everything. And then it's gonna cost about, it's gonna cost us about like $55 million to make, and then we'd make it free forever for all time.

    23. JSJay Shetty38:58

        Where will it go? Online, so you don't have... It won't be in your school?

    24. MRMark Rober39:01

        No.

    25. JSJay Shetty39:02

        Okay.

    26. MRMark Rober39:02

        It's like a, it's like online. Teachers can use it. It's a full... It adheres to all of the standards, right? Because teachers will tell you, like they can't teach a kid if they don't have their attention. And what [laughs] I've learned to do on YouTube is getting their attention. So for example, the electricity and magnetism lesson, we just filmed this. There's an MRI machine. I put a watermelon inside it. I'm holding like a 10-pound hammer. And then you essentially flip on the MRI machine. And, but, you know, the hammer just flies out of my hand, destroys this watermelon. And now, Jay, I've got your attention, and now I can say, "You know, there's invisible magnetic fields all around us that exist."

    27. JSJay Shetty39:36

        Yeah.

    28. MRMark Rober39:37

        Right? And that-

    29. JSJay Shetty39:38

        And so teachers can use these in school. They could play that video.

    30. MRMark Rober39:41

        And it has, you know, the whole lesson, what they say back to the kids. It will replace their science curriculum, right?
17. 40:53 – 42:05

    Why Mastery Is Worth Pursuing

    1. JSJay Shetty40:53

       I love that you're doing things that scare you.

    2. MRMark Rober40:54

       Yeah.

    3. JSJay Shetty40:55

       Like, even at this point, having had so much success and having-

    4. MRMark Rober40:58

       Mm

    5. JSJay Shetty40:58

       ... you know, being, you know, the spokesperson for science-

    6. MRMark Rober41:01

       Mm

    7. JSJay Shetty41:01

       ... across the world.

    8. MRMark Rober41:02

       Yeah.

    9. JSJay Shetty41:02

       It's incredible to see you say, "I'm still scared of this, and I'm gonna do it."

    10. MRMark Rober41:06

        No, like I crave it, Jay.

    11. JSJay Shetty41:08

        Yeah.

    12. MRMark Rober41:08

        Like, I also like, uh, uh, I started like going to the gym two years ago. Same thing, where it's just like I just love an opportunity for mastery. It is this video game thing, right?

    13. JSJay Shetty41:19

        Yeah.

    14. MRMark Rober41:19

        I think a lot, if you say that I've seen success in my life, a lot of it comes down to this mentality of it's like I just love working on something and the feeling of incrementally getting better. I mean, that's how our brains work, right? Your... I mean, a lot of studies have showed if you get a huge raise, and then, and then your salary's flat for 10 years versus incrementally go up to that 10 year, like you're much happier. You have way more dopamine to your brain if you incrementally level up. This is, again, how video games even work. You start the video game with a wooden sword and three heart containers.

    15. JSJay Shetty41:50

        Yeah.

    16. MRMark Rober41:50

        Because they reverse engineer. You love just like little levels up. So opportunities that life provides you to just find something like that and then get better at the end of a couple years or months or whatever, decades, nothing better.

18. 42:05 – 45:16

    Balancing Business with True Creativity

    1. JSJay Shetty42:05

       How do you keep the childlike fun energy, playful energy that you have, that your work requires, and at the same time run businesses? Because to me, that's the balance that young entrepreneurs, seasoned entrepreneurs, everyone runs into, where it's like running the business is a serious business.

    2. MRMark Rober42:24

       Yeah.

    3. JSJay Shetty42:25

       But then the business is all about play, curiosity, fun, crazy experiments, right?

    4. MRMark Rober42:30

       Yeah.

    5. JSJay Shetty42:30

       And we'll get into some of the videos that, that you love the most, but how do you think about the curiosity, creativity part of the business and then the running of a business?

    6. MRMark Rober42:40

       Yeah, I think it's good. I, I, there's been studies that look at like successful mid-range comp- These are companies worth, say, 50 to $500 million or something, or even 10 to $500 million, and what all of them have in common is there's one person who is like, has the swim lane of being the creative, the big thinker, you know, the 10X thinker, and then one person who's logistics, right? So, you know, one person who can build the thing and one person who can run the thing. And I was very lucky, a buddy of mine, Jim-You know, worked at Google. I knew he had a very analytical brain, and I said, "Hey, I'm thinking about starting this company, CrunchLabs, you know, make me a model, financial model to see if it works," and he did, and educated me on how they work. It's still the model we use today, and the company's doing very well. [laughs]

    7. JSJay Shetty43:28

       Wow.

    8. MRMark Rober43:28

       So he's been the one to like, in my opinion, make all the, all the boring stuff I don't want to look at, Jay. Oh, we have to have like a, a warehouse that ships out the stuff. Like, I don't... Just find a good one.

    9. JSJay Shetty43:39

       [laughs]

    10. MRMark Rober43:39

        You know? [laughs] And he'll geek out over it-

    11. JSJay Shetty43:41

        Yeah

    12. MRMark Rober43:41

        ... and he has them, you know what I mean? And I'm thinking about like, "Oh, this is... We could do this, you know? Or we could do this." So I think truly if you're starting a business and you're the creative one, just don't try and do the other thing.

    13. JSJay Shetty43:53

        Yeah.

    14. MRMark Rober43:54

        And the good news is if you're the creative one, the other one's a lot easier to find. Like, the creative, like the good, that, that's more of a rare talent.

    15. JSJay Shetty44:01

        Yeah.

    16. MRMark Rober44:01

        So just find someone to help you.

    17. JSJay Shetty44:03

        Yeah.

    18. MRMark Rober44:03

        Don't you-

    19. JSJay Shetty44:04

        I- it's great advice.

    20. MRMark Rober44:05

        Yeah. At some point if you're small, if you're doing something small like a Halloween T-shirt company, [laughs] like you can be both, but at some point it'll just get way too hard.

    21. JSJay Shetty44:12

        Yeah. No, I fully agree with you. We did the same, and I remember when I brought on one of my partners in the early days, everyone was like, "You don't want to give away a percentage," like, "Don't do that. You know, you- it's all your creativity." And I was like, "You have no idea how much time," because I said to him when I met him, I said, "All I want to do is think, study, and teach, and create. Like, that's, that's where I want to live. Like, that's my s- strength, superpower. That's my fascination. Like, I love reading and studying and learning about psychology and ancient wisdom and science and behavioral science." And I... That's, that's what I love reading, studying, learning, observing humans, and then turning into stuff that people can use to make their lives better.

    22. MRMark Rober44:50

        Yeah.

    23. JSJay Shetty44:50

        But I don't want to run any of the other stuff.

    24. MRMark Rober44:53

        100%.

    25. JSJay Shetty44:53

        And-

    26. MRMark Rober44:53

        So I think knowing that and owning that-

    27. JSJay Shetty44:55

        Yeah

    28. MRMark Rober44:55

        ... like is a key to staying happy and honestly fighting burnout.

    29. JSJay Shetty44:58

        Yes.

    30. MRMark Rober44:58

        Like, I think a lot of times when people feel burnt out in a creative endeavor, it's because they lost sight of what got them in it in the first place, and they're managing 15 people, and they're a manager now. They're not a creative.
19. 45:16 – 49:24

    How Communication Shapes Great Storytelling

    1. JSJay Shetty45:16

       learn at, what did you learn at Apple that you didn't learn at NASA?

    2. MRMark Rober45:20

       Um, Apple [laughs] I would say [laughs] like NASA I feel like had a ver- a lot of smart people. At Apple, you had to be pretty smart, but a very good communicator, which is like a... I, I just keyed in on this. And communication and, and sharing ideas and like telling stories matters a lot in... You know, people think I'm a good engineer. You know, I, I can build cool stuff, but it's like I'm an okay engineer, Jay, but I'm a pretty damn good storyteller.

    3. JSJay Shetty45:50

       [laughs]

    4. MRMark Rober45:50

       Like, [laughs] and in the videos you're telling stories, right? Like this video with Cristiano Ronaldo where he's, like, with the goalie robot going back and forth. Like, it starts out like, "You know, this is my childhood dream. I want to do this thing," and I even... Landon Donovan takes me out, and he's like a coach, and he's like-

    5. JSJay Shetty46:07

       Yeah

    6. MRMark Rober46:07

       ... "Dude, you suck." You know?

    7. JSJay Shetty46:08

       [laughs]

    8. MRMark Rober46:08

       He... And so it's like, okay, well, if I can't do it with my athletic prowess, I'm gonna do it with my brain. So now I'm gonna make this goal, right? So you like you case the whole thing in a story-

    9. JSJay Shetty46:16

       Yeah

    10. MRMark Rober46:16

        ... right? And I think at Apple I learned that. There were some very, very good engineers who were also incredible communicators of like explaining ideas and, you know, that's what really makes us special as a species, ab- ability to cooperate on large scale, and we do that through telling stories.

    11. JSJay Shetty46:33

        Mm.

    12. MRMark Rober46:33

        Right? That's... We've, we've evolved to tell stories.

    13. JSJay Shetty46:36

        Yeah.

    14. MRMark Rober46:37

        Long before you could write stuff down, w- we communicated through telling stories and making somebody feel something.

    15. JSJay Shetty46:42

        Yes.

    16. MRMark Rober46:42

        That's the exact... That's how you make a viral video. You just, you have to evoke a visceral response.

    17. JSJay Shetty46:47

        Yeah.

    18. MRMark Rober46:48

        And if you can do that, that helps you at work because it convinces everyone else like, "Hey, this is a good idea. Let's all do this." Helps you in your relationships. Like, if you can really create that visceral response by connecting with the human, then, you know, your partner will... Your, your, your child or friend will accept your apology, right? Like, like, um, it'll help you, yeah, just personal life, business, anything by tapping into the ability and owning the ability of like, I need to say this in a way that connects heart to heart, not brain to brain.

    19. JSJay Shetty47:19

        Mm.

    20. MRMark Rober47:19

        Whereas at, you know, NASA it was like, "Well, you know, our rover is 20% faster-

    21. JSJay Shetty47:24

        [laughs]

    22. MRMark Rober47:24

        ... on the gigahertz," [laughs] and it's like nobody cares, right?

    23. JSJay Shetty47:26

        Yeah.

    24. MRMark Rober47:27

        Apple I feel like is a very good example of this, right? Like AirPods is an example. Like the com- the, the advertisements for AirPods, they're just... Technically they're just better than any other head- you know?

    25. JSJay Shetty47:35

        Yes.

    26. MRMark Rober47:36

        They're... any, like, ear, in-ear product out there. But the commercials are like the dance. It focuses on the feeling, right?

    27. JSJay Shetty47:43

        Yeah.

    28. MRMark Rober47:44

        Like what does it feel like to have these things? Not like here's the tech spec of why it's better.

    29. JSJay Shetty47:48

        Yeah.

    30. MRMark Rober47:49

        And as a result, I think they're... Like if they were a standalone company, it would be, the market cap would be like, I don't know, it's something crazy like-
20. 49:24 – 52:54

    Two Common Mistakes Creators Make

    1. JSJay Shetty49:24

       It's like what was the journey from zero to 1,000 subscribers?What does that look like for someone if someone's trying to do that as stage one?

    2. MRMark Rober49:33

       There's a lot of really good reasons to start a YouTube channel or to be a creative. There's only two bad ones.

    3. JSJay Shetty49:38

       Tell us.

    4. MRMark Rober49:39

       To get rich and to get famous. [laughs] And I think that's, like, the mistake a lot of people... Especially now that you know you can get rich and famous, and I think we both started in this game. It just wasn't the same. Like, th- you didn't realize that was it, right? And we ca-

    5. JSJay Shetty49:54

       [laughs]

    6. MRMark Rober49:54

       Our passion was like, "We love this," right? Um-

    7. JSJay Shetty49:57

       I thought it was gonna be... I thought I was gonna... Because I was a consultant at the time.

    8. MRMark Rober50:00

       Yeah.

    9. JSJay Shetty50:00

       So I was at Accenture.

    10. MRMark Rober50:02

        [laughs] Oh, really?

    11. JSJay Shetty50:02

        I... Yeah. I thought I was gonna be a consultant by day-

    12. MRMark Rober50:06

        [laughs]

    13. JSJay Shetty50:06

        ... and just upload videos by night and weekends because I was like, "This is a fun hobby." It was, it was just-

    14. MRMark Rober50:11

        Yeah

    15. JSJay Shetty50:11

        ... a creative outlet for me.

    16. MRMark Rober50:12

        Totally.

    17. JSJay Shetty50:12

        I was like, I was doing live events, teaching wisdom, and teaching classes and meditation, and I would teach at my local gym. I would teach at-

    18. MRMark Rober50:19

        Yeah

    19. JSJay Shetty50:19

        ... my local college, I'd... Whatever. And I loved it, but I was like, "Oh, I'd like to share that with more people. I'll just upload some videos." And yeah, I had no idea that any of this would ever happen. So and, yeah, we started... I started 2016. You started 2011.

    20. MRMark Rober50:35

        Yeah, but ultimately 20-

    21. JSJay Shetty50:36

        Yeah. Yeah

    22. MRMark Rober50:36

        ... I mean, like, to your point, like, it takes forever to get 1,000 subscribers, and so I think the, the trick is just to make content, just to do it. Don't overthink it. D- you know, the temptation is you wanna make the perfect thing, and again, going back to an engineer, you build prototypes.

    23. JSJay Shetty50:51

        Yeah.

    24. MRMark Rober50:52

        Like, the biggest mistake when you wanna make something is like, "I wanna build the final thing." Any object in this room was not built... Like, this was not the final form. This was not the initial version of this microphone. Like, it started very simply, and then it iterated and iterated. And so it's the same thing with, like, creating content or making anything or trying anything, like set a low bar. You know, I like to say, like, make your goal to, to fail 10 times. Like, flip it. Make the goal, like, I wanna make 10 videos, and my goal is that they don't get more than 100 views, in a sense of, like, don't make your metric, "But I'm not rich yet, and I'm not famous yet, therefore I'm a failure."

    25. JSJay Shetty51:31

        Mm.

    26. MRMark Rober51:31

        Like, make your me- like, destigmatize the failure-

    27. JSJay Shetty51:34

        Mm

    28. MRMark Rober51:34

        ... and just go for it. And make that... So make the goal, you know... Maybe a better way to say this, make the goal to just upload 10 videos in 10 weeks. That's my goal. I, I don't care about metric. I don't care about views. And you will learn so much more through that by then... And then iterating and seeing what worked. Back to a video game. "Okay, I said this thing. I started this way. Aha, the algorithm seemed to really like that." You know, and that's what the audience wants, so now I'm gonna lean into that, right? So it's like just gamify it in that sense, and it w- it will be great. Don't do it to be rich or famous. [laughs]

    29. JSJay Shetty52:07

        Yeah. It's great advice. I remember I got to... I got my first thousand subscribers in a month on YouTube.

    30. MRMark Rober52:12

        Mm.
21. 52:54 – 54:29

    Staying True to Your Creative Style

    1. JSJay Shetty52:54

       What's the difference between getting from 1,000 to 100,000? Like, what is changing in skill set, mindset, ability?

    2. MRMark Rober53:02

       You start to get, like, a process down. You start to be able to, um, figure out your own voice. I think, like, from about 10,000 to 100,000 subscribers, you start to understand who you are. You know, and a good place to start, by the way, is just copying other channels that you like. Like, don't be ashamed at the beginning just to copy someone else's style and i- you know, if you don't know where to start, if you don't have something, and you'll start doing it, and you'll try something one time, and it works, and it sticks, and then you, you know, you start to find what your own voice is.

    3. JSJay Shetty53:32

       You've only ever... You said you've only ever made one video a month.

    4. MRMark Rober53:35

       Yeah.

    5. JSJay Shetty53:36

       How did you not get sucked into the landscape when it was like people were making a video a day, people were making three videos a week, people were make... You know? How did you stay true to... Was it just that your creative vision was so big that you could only ever do one a month?

    6. MRMark Rober53:51

       Partly that, and just, like, again, I, I wasn't doing it to chase the views. And you're absolutely right. There was a time in the YouTube algorithm where daily vlogs-

    7. JSJay Shetty53:59

       Yeah

    8. MRMark Rober53:59

       ... is how you got all the views.

    9. JSJay Shetty54:00

       Early.

    10. MRMark Rober54:01

        And I said, "Great." Like, great for everyone else. Like, I am enjoying it this way. This is what I like. This is, like, the pace I'm comfortable with. Like, I'm very protective. I'm very good at saying no. [laughs] Like, that's my superpower and just, like, I can have that restraint, and I... you know, I've got a nice comfortable jogging pace on my treadmill, and I'm gonna stick with that. Um, so and even today, you know, good at saying no.

    11. JSJay Shetty54:28

        What was the hardest

22. 54:29 – 57:09

    The Importance of Focusing on One Passion

    1. JSJay Shetty54:29

       thing you ever said no to?

    2. MRMark Rober54:31

       You know, early on there were some opportunities to do some, like, Discovery Channel shows that I would've loved as a kid, but then it's like when I had everything else going on, like, I don't know. You just get opportunities that come by that you don't... It's almost not hard to say no 'cause it's like unless it's an absolute hell yes, I don't even consider it, right? And I think that is... That can be a superpower is, like, laser focus. Like, I, I don't often, like, pick something that I'm just like, "Oh, I'm on it," but, like, if I do choose something that it's like I want it, like, I can be like a pit bull [laughs] on it where it's just like I, I, I will not fa- Like, I, I don't know. At some point, if it's not working, you need to pivot, and I do, but it's like I just get so obsessed with accomplishing the thing that, um-I can just exclude everything else.

    3. JSJay Shetty55:20

       Mm.

    4. MRMark Rober55:20

       So I, I'm, I don't have this temptation of like, "I'm gonna try this, I'm gonna try this, I'm gonna try this, I'm gonna try this," and now you're just diluted across the board, right? 'Cause that applies not even for business, but in your relationships, right?

    5. JSJay Shetty55:30

       Mm-hmm.

    6. MRMark Rober55:31

       In life. If, if you are stretching yourself thin... You know, I'd much rather give like five people in my life like very deep depth and have that richness of human connection than to spread that thin across 50.

    7. JSJay Shetty55:43

       Yeah.

    8. MRMark Rober55:44

       Right?

    9. JSJay Shetty55:44

       Yeah, absolutely, yeah. It's a... Yeah, there's almost like there's the experimenting phase where you're trying lots of things out-

    10. MRMark Rober55:50

        Yeah

    11. JSJay Shetty55:50

        ... but then when you know who you are, and you know your voice, and you know what you're building-

    12. MRMark Rober55:53

        Yeah

    13. JSJay Shetty55:54

        ... you gotta stick to that. And, and it, and it does make all the difference. And you gotta know when to let something go. Like, the, the videos I used to make on Facebook when I first started as a creator, I don't make them anymore. And it's not because they weren't amazing and they didn't change my life, it's just that's not who I wanted to be forever.

    14. MRMark Rober56:10

        Yeah.

    15. JSJay Shetty56:10

        And they would've been really successful now if I carried on making them, but I wouldn't have felt happy. And so I chose what I wanted to do, which was this, and telling stories in a certain way that's allowed my life to also be fulfilling as well as successful, rather than keeping, keep doing something because the algorithm wants it.

    16. MRMark Rober56:29

        That's right.

    17. JSJay Shetty56:29

        And, and it doesn't... That, that gets really dry to... It, it gets really tiring, I think, and creators get burnt out chasing the algorithm, which I think we've both seen probably a lot of.

    18. MRMark Rober56:38

        Yeah, I think that's right. I think when you crank up that treadmill speed to a sprint pace, that's exciting at first. And it's like, whoa, all these opportunities are coming. But, you know, the dopamine wears off and you're still sprinting.

    19. JSJay Shetty56:50

        Mm.

    20. MRMark Rober56:50

        And to me, that's the definition of burnout, when you're not getting like the positive feedback and you're like really, really going for it. So to the extent that you could just like keep your treadmill at a jogging speed, in creating and in life, I think like that's, that's the power of saying no.

    21. JSJay Shetty57:05

        Yeah.

    22. MRMark Rober57:05

        And being okay with saying no and not feeling guilty about it.

    23. JSJay Shetty57:08

        What was

23. 57:09 – 59:59

    The Hidden Failures Behind Viral Success

    1. JSJay Shetty57:09

       the, uh... I'm looking at your most popular videos, and obviously, World's Largest Jello Pool, Can You Swim in Jello? 203 million views six years ago. That video, what went wrong trying to get that video?

    2. MRMark Rober57:21

       I lost 10 pounds making that video.

    3. JSJay Shetty57:23

       How-

    4. MRMark Rober57:23

       I'm not kidding.

    5. JSJay Shetty57:24

       You couldn't eat.

    6. MRMark Rober57:24

       Because, because we were make... I get... When I get stressed, I don't eat. We were making it in my brother's backyard, because to make Jello... No one's ever done this on the internet, by the way. To this day, I'm the only person who'd ever made, like, an actual Jello pool. Because Jello, as you know, you have to get it really cold. You gotta first of all boil it, and then it's gotta put it in the refrigerator, right? So we had like six, you know, 55-gallon drums [laughs] that we boiled Jello in, basically, drained it in this pool that we'd, we'd built. And then he lived in Utah, so it was like the perfect temperature. It didn't freeze overnight, but got cold enough. And so it took a full week, and it failed eight different ways.

    7. JSJay Shetty58:04

       [laughs]

    8. MRMark Rober58:04

       And we'd have to tweak and, and, and change it. A storm came. We're covering it with a tarp. But eventually we got that money shot of, like, a kid belly flopping on this pool of Jello and, like, me swimming in it.

    9. JSJay Shetty58:17

       [laughs]

    10. MRMark Rober58:18

        And, uh, it felt really good. That's like a, actually a v- it turns out a very technically difficult problem. Again, my naive optimism was like, "Oh, I got this. I can do this," right?

    11. JSJay Shetty58:27

        Yeah.

    12. MRMark Rober58:28

        And it was very, very tricky, but we pulled it off.

    13. JSJay Shetty58:31

        What, what was the hidden vegetable in the Egg Drop From Space video? 140 million views two years ago. Like, what was the, what was the hidden vegetable there?

    14. MRMark Rober58:39

        Yeah. There again, that video had so many failures in it, Jay. Like, we tried originally to put a, a, a, a, basically a model rocket on a h- on a hot air balloon or on a weather balloon, and then guide it over a mattress so that where it would let go and drop the egg on the mattress. We tried that three different times, and this was costing me like 30,000 times a drop. And eventually I t- called up one of my buddies at NASA. He's the lead when we try and land something-

    15. JSJay Shetty59:06

        [laughs]

    16. MRMark Rober59:06

        ... on another planet. And I was like, "Adam, how do we do this?" And he's like, "Oh, what you're trying to do is create a guided missile, and there's like 100 people in the United States who know how to do that, and they've all signed a very large stack of papers saying they won't tell anyone." [laughs] So we're like, "Oh, we shouldn't try and guide this rocket down then. Well, let's go 100,000 feet up, you know, basically to space, drop this thing," and then we landed it like the Mars rover. So in that video, we learned about terminal velocity, and we learned about, like, space environments. But kids know about-

    17. JSJay Shetty59:39

        That's... I love how, I love how you were bugging a NASA friend-

    18. MRMark Rober59:42

        Yeah

    19. JSJay Shetty59:42

        ... who's d- dealing with, like, solving, like-

    20. MRMark Rober59:44

        Yeah

    21. JSJay Shetty59:44

        ... discovery and problems.

    22. MRMark Rober59:46

        It's literally the man who, like, invented-

    23. JSJay Shetty59:47

        Yeah

    24. MRMark Rober59:47

        ... how you land on Mars.

    25. JSJay Shetty59:49

        Yeah.

    26. MRMark Rober59:49

        And it's like my phone-a-friend.

    27. JSJay Shetty59:50

        You're like, "Can you teach me how to drop a egg-

    28. MRMark Rober59:53

        Yeah

    29. JSJay Shetty59:53

        ... on a, on a mattress?"

    30. MRMark Rober59:54

        And he's like, "Yeah, no, that's called a missile." [laughs]
24. 59:59 – 1:04:55

    Giving Kids Room to Be Creative

    1. JSJay Shetty59:59

       Well, who have you met through doing all of this work that you've just been so... like, you've learned from or you've been inspired by, or someone that you've met through this crazy journey that you've been on that has kinda left a mark on you, or someone that you always looked forward to getting to know and you've got to meet?

    2. MRMark Rober1:00:14

       Yeah. I would say, I don't know, weirdly, like, a, a mentor for me actually has been Jimmy Kimmel. Like, you know, he saw one of my videos, like, a decade ago and said, "We should get this guy on the show." And his staff was like, "After, like, one or two times going on the show that he really likes you." And I'm like, "You say that to everyone." But, like, the fourth time I was like, "I think he does really like me." [laughs]

    3. JSJay Shetty1:00:37

       [laughs]

    4. MRMark Rober1:00:37

       And so now he's like, uh... He, it was his idea even to start CrunchLabs, the company, 'cause people would tell me all the time, like, "You need to do a podcast. You need to write a book. You need to go on tour." And when I double-click on it, 'cause again, I'm good at saying no, it always came back to like, "Oh, so you can make more money." And it's like, "Oh, good, great news. I don't spend a lot of money, so I've got enough money. I don't need to do that," right? And his point was like, "Yeah, but you could reach more brains deeper." And, and that's the idea with CrunchLabs. It's like you're in the trenches. You're not just passively watching a video. It's a really fun toy, and you're in the trenches. And you get 'em every month. And he was totally right. Like, the amount of letters we get from parents saying, like, "This has changed the way my kid sees the world, sees themselves," right? They love it. They go out to the mailbox every month waiting for it to come. Makes a great Christmas present, by the way, Jay.

    5. JSJay Shetty1:01:27

       [laughs] There we go.

    6. MRMark Rober1:01:28

       Makes a great Christmas present.

    7. JSJay Shetty1:01:29

       Yeah. I was about to say, it's, uh... No, it sounds like the perfect gift. I mean, I've, I think I'll have to... I'm gonna, I'm gonna get some for my niece and nephew.

    8. MRMark Rober1:01:36

       Okay.

    9. JSJay Shetty1:01:36

       Yeah. I think, I think they'll love it because my, my... I can see... My nephew's, like, 10 years old.And his brain's like that.

    10. MRMark Rober1:01:44

        Yeah.

    11. JSJay Shetty1:01:44

        Like, he wants to build stuff, he wants to break stuff, he wants to figure things out. Uh, my niece is more into like Gabby's Dollhouse and stuff like that.

    12. MRMark Rober1:01:51

        Well, the good news, Jay-

    13. JSJay Shetty1:01:52

        It's like, "Oh, all right"

    14. MRMark Rober1:01:52

        ... it's funny you mention that.

    15. JSJay Shetty1:01:53

        "Go on then."

    16. MRMark Rober1:01:53

        We just, uh-

    17. JSJay Shetty1:01:54

        No, have you got Gabby's Dollhouse, man?

    18. MRMark Rober1:01:56

        More or less. [laughs]

    19. JSJay Shetty1:01:57

        [laughs]

    20. MRMark Rober1:01:57

        We, it's called Creative Kit. So what I do is creative engineering. The engineering part we've got covered. Build Box is the toys I was saying, and then we have like a robotics one. But like, the creative part we never... So we've like studied what creativity is, and now there's a version called Creative Kit that it, it's like six years old and up, and it's a little bit of a Trojan horse to get more girls in STEM, but also it's for boys as well. But they, they get a world. Every, every month it's a different part of a little town they build. And the important part is like it's within guide rails. If you tell a kid, give them a piece of paper and say, "Come up, you know, draw something," they're like, "Uh." But if you say like, "Draw s- draw an animal doing something really, doing their hobby, you know, in a place you wouldn't expect," well, now they have like a seed, right? So it's this idea of like the first one's a tree house, but then you name, it's a little animal's friend that comes with it. And then we're getting that within guidelines to think really creatively. And, and what this research shows, you can m- watch these alpha brainwaves in your, in... Is the more time you spend in this space, the m- easier it is to do it. So it's just like a muscle that you develop. So it's basically giving kids time in this space to be more creative.

    21. JSJay Shetty1:03:04

        Did you always want your work and your products to help kids? Like, was that the goal for the YouTube channel from day one? Was it like, "I wanna help young people figure out, young kids figure out..."

    22. MRMark Rober1:03:14

        I don't think so-

    23. JSJay Shetty1:03:14

        No

    24. MRMark Rober1:03:14

        ... to be completely honest. Like, I think it was more just like, I love sharing ideas. Like, I love the aha moment when you learn something new. Um, and I love even more is like giving that to someone else. Like, here's something I was just talking about with my partner the other day, which is such a cool thing to do. I don't know if you've ever done this. If you're ever laying underneath a tree-

    25. JSJay Shetty1:03:34

        Yeah

    26. MRMark Rober1:03:34

        ... and you just look up, or anything where there's like a bunch of little things, and you close one eye, and all the leaves feel like they're kind of, or branches kind of feel like they're at the same plane. Because with one eye you don't have three-dimensional, you know, 3D. But when you open both eyes and realize like, "Oh, now I know which leaf is in front of me and which one is farther," like if you've never done this, you should do it. And it's remarkable, and it's just, it, it's immediately just like a, a teachable moment that shows like, oh, like our brain, because the right eye is a little bit different from what the left eye sees, the brain does all this incredible math to tell you how far and close something is.

    27. JSJay Shetty1:04:11

        Hm.

    28. MRMark Rober1:04:12

        And just to g- to get that moment. And then now once you know that you're like, wait, with animals, I have noticed like predators, you know, a hawk or a lion, they have eyes on the front of their face-

    29. JSJay Shetty1:04:22

        Yeah

    30. MRMark Rober1:04:22

        ... so that they can see three-dimensional. But if generally speaking, if you're a prey, a zebra or a deer, your eyes are on the side. They don't have the depth perception, but now they can avoid the thing that has three dimensions that's trying to get them, right? [laughs]
25. 1:04:55 – 1:06:32

    Curiosity as the Root of Creativity

    1. JSJay Shetty1:04:55

       to constantly learn things like that? Like, where are you coming across statistics, facts, human behavior, animal... Like, where are you exposed to this? Where are you finding it and discovering it in a way that's helping you feel like you're always on the cusp of something cool?

    2. MRMark Rober1:05:10

       Everywhere, truly. Like, I think the, the answer to this question, I think what you're driving at, is it kind of starts with a curiosity, right? Just, and observing, and being like, even if there's like a weird, on the side of a building or something there's like a pipe that comes out, I'm like, "What? Why, why is that pipe there?" Like, I've never seen a build, a pipe come out there on a building. And it'll drive me crazy, to be honest. [laughs]

    3. JSJay Shetty1:05:34

       [laughs]

    4. MRMark Rober1:05:34

       And I, and I like have to figure it out. But the step one with the scientific method too is just observation.

    5. JSJay Shetty1:05:39

       Mm-hmm.

    6. MRMark Rober1:05:40

       Right? The most interesting thing to hear in science isn't like, "Eureka," like, "I found it." The most interesting thing in science to hear, like the one thing you wanna hear is like, "That's interesting."

    7. JSJay Shetty1:05:49

       Hm.

    8. MRMark Rober1:05:50

       Like, "Hold on a second."

    9. JSJay Shetty1:05:51

       Hm.

    10. MRMark Rober1:05:51

        Right? Like, "That wasn't expected. Let me double click on that and see what's going on there."

    11. JSJay Shetty1:05:57

        Yeah.

    12. MRMark Rober1:05:57

        So I think part of learning a bunch is just having a curiosity mind, just asking the question.

    13. JSJay Shetty1:06:03

        Yes. Yes.

    14. MRMark Rober1:06:03

        Right? And I think that's what I try and do is like I am a fire start... My, my videos are not gonna teach you everything you need to know about the natural world, but like what I can do is I can like, I can f- I'm a fire start. I'll start that fire in their brain, and then they get addicted to this feeling, right? I'm like the gateway drug dealer [laughs] to this-

    15. JSJay Shetty1:06:22

        Yeah, yeah

    16. MRMark Rober1:06:22

        ... aha feeling, and then they wanna go out and learn more, right?

    17. JSJay Shetty1:06:25

        Yeah.

    18. MRMark Rober1:06:26

        And like that, that's beautiful, and that's a gift that you can give someone that will last their whole life long.

    19. JSJay Shetty1:06:31

        How

26. 1:06:32 – 1:09:03

    Inside a Real Creative Process

    1. JSJay Shetty1:06:32

       do you, how do you come up with creative ideas, having made a video a month for 10 years?

    2. MRMark Rober1:06:37

       Yeah.

    3. JSJay Shetty1:06:38

       How are you coming up with new ideas? How, how, what's your creative process? Do you sit down in a room, lock away? Are you on your laptop?

    4. MRMark Rober1:06:45

       Yeah.

    5. JSJay Shetty1:06:45

       Are you talking to people? Are you with a team?

    6. MRMark Rober1:06:47

       Yeah.

    7. JSJay Shetty1:06:47

       What's your process?

    8. MRMark Rober1:06:48

       Can I tell you one that you bleep out on this?

    9. JSJay Shetty1:06:50

       Yeah.

    10. MRMark Rober1:06:50

        But you could play it, but then I want your reaction on camera.

    11. JSJay Shetty1:06:53

        Yeah. [laughs]

    12. MRMark Rober1:06:58

        [laughs]

    13. JSJay Shetty1:06:58

        That's so good. That's so good.

    14. MRMark Rober1:07:01

        It's so good.

    15. JSJay Shetty1:07:02

        I love that.

    16. MRMark Rober1:07:03

        Is that not so good?

    17. JSJay Shetty1:07:04

        That's... Why do I have to bleep that out? I love that.

    18. MRMark Rober1:07:06

        No, because I don't want someone to steal it.

    19. JSJay Shetty1:07:07

        Oh, right.

    20. MRMark Rober1:07:08

        You know what I mean?

    21. JSJay Shetty1:07:08

        Oh, yes.

    22. MRMark Rober1:07:09

        It's such a simple thing. I could tell you it. You're like, "Banger."

    23. JSJay Shetty1:07:12

        I, yeah, I love it.

    24. MRMark Rober1:07:12

        You wanna know what that is, right?

    25. JSJay Shetty1:07:14

        Yeah. That is amazing.

    26. MRMark Rober1:07:15

        Is it so good?

    27. JSJay Shetty1:07:16

        That's so good.

    28. MRMark Rober1:07:17

        So it's just like when, when I can get that reaction-

    29. JSJay Shetty1:07:20

        Yeah, yeah, yeah

    30. MRMark Rober1:07:20

        ... I, I'd like, I, that, the ideas list is long. I always thought you'd run out of ideas, but it's like, I, I always-
27. 1:09:03 – 1:12:03

    Where Do You Get Your Big Ideas?

    1. JSJay Shetty1:09:03

       but okay, so what, so what's the creative process then? Now you planned out, uh, that far ahead. I love the idea you just gave me-

    2. MRMark Rober1:09:09

       Yeah

    3. JSJay Shetty1:09:09

       ... that we'll bleep out, but what, how, how does... Obviously, that one makes sense, and you're like... The, the thing about good ideas is when you hear them-

    4. MRMark Rober1:09:16

       Yeah

    5. JSJay Shetty1:09:16

       ... you go, "Of course."

    6. MRMark Rober1:09:17

       Yeah.

    7. JSJay Shetty1:09:18

       But coming up with it is not that easy.

    8. MRMark Rober1:09:20

       Yeah. I would say, and I, I don't have a good answer for this-

    9. JSJay Shetty1:09:23

       That's okay

    10. MRMark Rober1:09:24

        ... except ex- no, but except to say, because I get asked this a lot, right?

    11. JSJay Shetty1:09:27

        Yeah.

    12. MRMark Rober1:09:27

        It's like, I think it goes back to just, like, my brain is always on, right? It, the inspiration for ideas can come, you know, and, and it's just from a conversation I'm having with someone.

    13. JSJay Shetty1:09:38

        Mm-hmm.

    14. MRMark Rober1:09:38

        Or I just read something on Reddit, or I'm driving down the freeway and I'm like, "Hold on." Or I did this, uh, you know, for... I'll give you two examples. One, I did this, um, obstacle course for squirrels in my backyard that's kind of popular on the channel right around COVID. And I was l- you know, they were stealing my bird seeder, so it's like, all right. But they were stealing my bird seed. So I was like, you know what? I'm gonna make them earn it. So I, I made an eight-part Ninja Warrior obstacle course and put the bird seed at the end, and sure enough, like, they solved it. It was very entertaining, but, like, the idea for that came from me just laying in bed-

    15. JSJay Shetty1:10:06

        Yeah

    16. MRMark Rober1:10:06

        ... and just hearing them on the roof and knowing they're stealing my bird seed. I was like, hold on. I should do, like, man versus animal, engineer versus animal. Or another one, I made this glitter bomb series where, like, someone legitimately stole a package from my porch. I felt really sad. It was a sliding green shell in Super Mario Brothers. It stung. And then I was like, hold on a second. Like, if anyone can do something about these porch pirate punks, it's, like, I helped put a rover on Mars. I could design something. So then it's, like, four phones, cup of glitter. We track it. There's fart spray. It's, like, a whole thing, right?

    17. JSJay Shetty1:10:37

        Yeah.

    18. MRMark Rober1:10:38

        And eventually that one took us all the way to, we shut down, like, three scam call centers in India by tracking them down and glitter bombing them and doing all these other pranks, and then putting that video out in the world. It gets 100 million views with, like, a bright spotlight, and, and we shut them down. So it's like, again, I couldn't have predicted you would land there.

    19. JSJay Shetty1:10:57

        Yeah, yeah.

    20. MRMark Rober1:10:58

        If you just follow the natural steps, it just happens.

    21. JSJay Shetty1:11:00

        Was there a video that you did 'cause you thought... But you did it because you just had to put something out, and you're like, "It's a terrible idea," but then it turned out to be amazing.

    22. MRMark Rober1:11:07

        Yeah. I did a video on bedbugs [laughs] 'cause I just thought they're fascinating. Like, what is up with bedbugs? They, like, suck human blood, and if you s- if you see bedbugs, they have to be fed, like, every three days. If you see a bedbug in your house, that means they fed on you. All they can eat is blood. And so it's like, there's just a lot about them that's fascinating, and my team was like, "This is gonna kill the channel. No one's gonna watch this." And I was just so curious about it, right? So I just went down the rabbit hole deep, and it turned out to be, like, I think an interesting piece of content that has, like, I think 80 million views or something.

    23. JSJay Shetty1:11:42

        Wow. That's amazing.

    24. MRMark Rober1:11:43

        So I think if you just approach it with curiosity and legitimately, like... You know, I don't pre-write my videos. If I have an idea, I go learn about it, and then once we have the, the, the, the footage, it's like, all right, what's the story here?

    25. JSJay Shetty1:11:57

        Yeah.

    26. MRMark Rober1:11:57

        And I think if you have the right attitude, there's always a really cool story to find.

    27. JSJay Shetty1:12:02

        Yeah, absolutely.

28. 1:12:03 – 1:16:19

    The Mind-Bending Question of Life in the Universe

    1. JSJay Shetty1:12:03

       Absolutely. What's, what's a question that you still don't have the answer to, but you can't stop thinking about? Do you ever get into that loop of, like, I wish I understood how this worked?

    2. MRMark Rober1:12:13

       I don't know. There's, like, kind of unanswerable questions, like where is all the life in the univ- Like, if life exists here, especially if... So NASA's... There's a moon called En- Enceladus in our, in our solar system that has a, a molten lava core, and the outside is ice, right? Water. Uh, water, frozen water. So somewhere between the molten lava core and that, and that surface, there's a 70-degree ocean. It's warm. It's water. It's, that's where life formed. We know that's where life formed on this planet. So NASA's building a probe to go out there essentially. We're gonna drill through the ice. We're gonna put a submarine down there and basically see what eats it, right? [laughs] And if, if something is there, for life to exist twice in our own solar system kinda independently, then it's like, whew, w- where is all the rest of life in this huge, huge, huge universe, right? There's, I think, something like, there's a million times more stars than there are grains of sand on the whole planet. The bottom of the ocean... I mean, think about the ne-

    3. JSJay Shetty1:13:19

       That's insane

    4. MRMark Rober1:13:19

       ... the last time you picked up a handful of sand. Every one of those sand pieces represents a million stars. I'm talking bottom of the ocean. How unfathomable.

    5. JSJay Shetty1:13:29

       That's bizarre. That is completely unfathomable.

    6. MRMark Rober1:13:32

       It's unfathomable. So but then, like, it's called Fermi's paradox, but there's a few hypotheses of, like, well, then why don't we see other signs of life in the universe? And it's a very fa- if, if you want a fascinating rabbit hole, look up Fermi's paradox. [laughs]

    7. JSJay Shetty1:13:45

       Yeah. What, what have you learned so far? We ju- is it that life form looks different? We can't see it? Is it-

    8. MRMark Rober1:13:51

       Well, we don't know, but, like, some of the hypothe- some of the hypotheses on why we don't know is, like-It could be, um, there's like super predator civilization... There's super predator, um, um, organisms out there that as soon as you get past a certain point, then like, "Okay, now this is a problem. We're gonna go take care of these people." So they extinguish life if it gets too high 'cause it could be a threat. It could be... Another one is like intelligences get to a, a glass ceiling where they destroy themselves. When you have the energy that can take you to interstellar, to another system, well, you could probably use that energy on yourself. And, you know, when we... A lot of organisms fight each other, and y- you know, that could be a pretty darn good thing for us to be looking at as a, as a civilization ourselves, right? [laughs]

    9. JSJay Shetty1:14:42

       Yeah, for sure.

    10. MRMark Rober1:14:43

        Like, where you just get too hard, and then it just, it collapses in on itself.

    11. JSJay Shetty1:14:46

        Yeah.

    12. MRMark Rober1:14:46

        Is another hypothesis.

    13. JSJay Shetty1:14:48

        Yeah.

    14. MRMark Rober1:14:48

        One is like they know about us, but it's ki- we're kind of like an endangered species, like an uncontacted tribe in the Amazon, so they're like, "Shh, just, like, leave them alone."

    15. JSJay Shetty1:14:56

        [laughs]

    16. MRMark Rober1:14:56

        We're like so basically in a zoo over here, right?

    17. JSJay Shetty1:14:58

        Yeah.

    18. MRMark Rober1:14:58

        So there's all these, like, really fun hypotheses on what could be the explanation as to why, so.

    19. JSJay Shetty1:15:04

        That's good.

    20. MRMark Rober1:15:04

        Yeah.

    21. JSJay Shetty1:15:05

        That's what keeps you up at night.

    22. MRMark Rober1:15:06

        Yeah. I, I think it's a fun-

    23. JSJay Shetty1:15:07

        Yeah, yeah

    24. MRMark Rober1:15:07

        ... those kind of things are, like, fun to think about, right?

    25. JSJay Shetty1:15:09

        Yeah, yeah. Absolutely. Actually-

    26. MRMark Rober1:15:10

        But n- next time you are near sand, truly-

    27. JSJay Shetty1:15:13

        Yeah

    28. MRMark Rober1:15:13

        ... think of me, Jay.

    29. JSJay Shetty1:15:14

        [laughs]

    30. MRMark Rober1:15:14

        Take a scoop of that sand and just look at how many grains of sand.
29. 1:16:19 – 1:20:40

    The Promise and Peril of Rapid AI Growth

    1. JSJay Shetty1:16:19

       What do you get excited about with what's happening with technology, with AI, with this? Is there anything that you get super excited about right now, and what do you get scared about on the other end, or things you get worried about?

    2. MRMark Rober1:16:30

       There's a famous sort of, one of the early thinkers, and this... In 2015, I was talking with all my buddies about this, about AI. Nick Bostrom wrote this book about super intelligence, and his beginning analogy to the book is, like, imagine there's some sparrows and they find the egg of an owl. Just so you know, owls eat sparrows, right? Just so we're all clear. Then they're like, "Hey, we're gonna raise this owl. We're gonna put, raise him in our nest, and it's gonna love us, and then we can use the owl to, like, go hunt for us. We're gonna use the owl to do, you know, all these things that will be really useful." And, you know, of course, if you just carry that-

    3. JSJay Shetty1:17:05

       Yeah

    4. MRMark Rober1:17:05

       ... if that actually happens, the owl is born thanks to the sparrows for incubating it, but it doesn't end well for the sparrows. [laughs]

    5. JSJay Shetty1:17:13

       Yeah, yeah, yeah.

    6. MRMark Rober1:17:14

       That's a real concern. I share that concern with, like, a lot of people. That could be an outcome of AI. I do think it, the, the, the best case scenario though, I think there are some upsides where it's like it solves a lot of the scarcity thing. A lot of the wars and terrible things that have happened in, you know, our history of civilization is the scarcity thing. So if, if unlimited energy and resources and stuff, and, and something that helps allocate those resources, that, that could be good, right? It could reduce human suffering a lot.

    7. JSJay Shetty1:17:45

       Mm-hmm.

    8. MRMark Rober1:17:46

       So, I mean, nobody really knows, Jay. Like, I don't know. I'm curious where you li- where you land on this.

    9. JSJay Shetty1:17:52

       I... The question I get a lot is do I think AI will ever have a soul, and my response is I don't know if AI will ever have a soul. I just hope the people building it have a soul, because ultimately to me, it's the Frankenstein piece of anything we make becomes us, and there's a part of us that's within it. And so if we're scared of an ability that humans have, then we'll be scared of the more bigger, powerful thing that we create that has more of it in it. And so to me, it's more about, again, I think we've... I think there's that beautiful statement by Mark Twain where he said that history never repeats itself, but it always rhymes. And I think we've had enough experiences in history with technology. Like, let's take social media, for example.

    10. MRMark Rober1:18:36

        Yeah.

    11. JSJay Shetty1:18:36

        It started, we didn't really care about how it was gonna affect us. Everyone had it, and now we're talking about mental health, kids, phones. Not just social media, phones, technology early on in life, right? And it's like we know that that's how everything goes.

    12. MRMark Rober1:18:51

        Yeah.

    13. JSJay Shetty1:18:52

        So scaremongering doesn't work because AI's here to stay. It's not disappearing tomorrow. So trying to scare everyone from it is not gonna help because it's gonna be here. So I don't love the fear factor piece because it doesn't solve the problem.

    14. MRMark Rober1:19:05

        Mm-hmm.

    15. JSJay Shetty1:19:05

        But the fear factor piece should lead us to being more informed and prepared for what do we do about it when... So for example, hindsight is 2020. If we could go back to 2004 when Facebook was created and YouTube in 2010 or 2009-

    16. MRMark Rober1:19:22

        Yeah, they-

    17. JSJay Shetty1:19:23

        2000-

    18. MRMark Rober1:19:23

        ... they acquired it in 2008 or something. I forget.

    19. JSJay Shetty1:19:26

        Yeah, Google. Yeah, so-

    20. MRMark Rober1:19:27

        You should know. [laughs]

    21. JSJay Shetty1:19:28

        Yeah, yeah. So you have all of that, and then, but my point's like if you could go back then and go, "Okay, let's make some guardrails. Kids shouldn't be allowed a phone by this age. Uh, social media should have verified access." I don't know. I'm making up things right now, but the point is how do you prepare for the things that are to come rather than go, "All right, we'll just deal with the whole fact that generations have mental health issues now," and now we're dealing with the reactive way. I think humans are... We, we kind of set ourselves up for failure every time.

    22. MRMark Rober1:19:57

        Yeah. I mean, it's just so hard without the evidence, right, to convince someone-

    23. JSJay Shetty1:20:01

        Yeah

    24. MRMark Rober1:20:01

        ... at Facebook when money's to be made, right? Like, I mean, I completely agree with you.

    25. JSJay Shetty1:20:05

        Yeah.

    26. MRMark Rober1:20:06

        But like there's just so many unknowns unknowns. Um, yeah

    27. JSJay Shetty1:20:11

        Yeah, it's like how do you not... How- It's, it's not about reducing innovation or doing something, it's how do we protect the vulnerable? And so if we're saying that kids under a certain age are vulnerable to X, Y, Z, in the same way as-

    28. MRMark Rober1:20:24

        Yeah

    29. JSJay Shetty1:20:24

        ... you know, like cigarettes or-

    30. MRMark Rober1:20:25

        Yeah
30. 1:20:40 – 1:25:15

    Focusing on What You Can Truly Influence

    1. JSJay Shetty1:20:40

       And, but how do you regulate the things that are [laughs] not doing what you're doing?

    2. MRMark Rober1:20:43

       I would say though, like I think for people listening, I think it could feel very doomsday. You hear really scary things-

    3. JSJay Shetty1:20:50

       Yeah

    4. MRMark Rober1:20:50

       ... and it's like at the end of the day, it's such a life hack to just control what's in your sphere of influence.

    5. JSJay Shetty1:20:56

       Yeah, of course.

    6. MRMark Rober1:20:57

       And it's like I think, you know, when I, when I get like that and I get nervous, like well what can I do to move the needle in my own sphere of influence? And, you know, I'm, I'm not creating an AI company [laughs] so it's like it's a little bit out of my hands in that sense. But it's like...

    7. JSJay Shetty1:21:13

       Well, I think you... I mean, I was gonna bring this up anyway and it, and it connects to what you're saying right now. I mean, I know you and Jimmy have partnered multiple times-

    8. MRMark Rober1:21:20

       Mm

    9. JSJay Shetty1:21:20

       ... to do incredible things-

    10. MRMark Rober1:21:21

        Yeah

    11. JSJay Shetty1:21:21

        ... for our planet.

    12. MRMark Rober1:21:22

        Yeah.

    13. JSJay Shetty1:21:22

        Which thank you-

    14. MRMark Rober1:21:23

        Yeah

    15. JSJay Shetty1:21:23

        ... for being just such, you know... Whenever people are like, "We made the right people famous," I'm like, "Yeah, we did."

    16. MRMark Rober1:21:28

        [laughs]

    17. JSJay Shetty1:21:28

        Like, you know, it's, it's amazing to see you guys-

    18. MRMark Rober1:21:31

        Mm-hmm

    19. JSJay Shetty1:21:31

        ... using your platform to do the thing that inspiring all these kids and families and parents and young p- it's all young people that are following, you know, both of you. And for you to galvanize whether it's Kai and, you know, all the guys who are in this space and all the biggest creators and celebrities jumping in and, you know, I think this year you raised what, 40 million?

    20. MRMark Rober1:21:51

        40 million.

    21. JSJay Shetty1:21:51

        Yeah.

    22. MRMark Rober1:21:51

        So the first year we did-

    23. JSJay Shetty1:21:53

        Yeah

    24. MRMark Rober1:21:53

        ... this is MrBeast and I, right?

    25. JSJay Shetty1:21:54

        Yeah, yeah.

    26. MRMark Rober1:21:54

        We did Team Trees, so we did $20 million to plant 20 million trees, and then a few years later we did Team Water. That was $30 million to-

    27. JSJay Shetty1:22:02

        That was cleaning up the beaches

    28. MRMark Rober1:22:03

        ... 30 million pounds of trash from the oceans. And then this year we- the audacious goal of $40 million to give two million people clean drinking water for decades. And we did it, but what's the cool thing about that, Jay, is the median donation was like $5.

    29. JSJay Shetty1:22:18

        That's amazing.

    30. MRMark Rober1:22:18

        So that's, that's tooth fairy money, that's big sale money, right? There were some big donors in there, but like on average it was $5. And what's so cool about that is then, you know, they're thinking like global citizens now. Like they could have spent that on $5 on candy, on Pokemon cards, but they spent it on someone else to get clean drinking water for five years. Again, kind of planting seeds, like someone who now thinks that way, who, you know, picks up trash now 'cause they see it, 'cause they're on Team Seas, right? They don't, they don't litter. They, they take care of the environment 'cause they're on Team Trees. Like that, that kinda impact... This is why I love working with young people. It's like, it's the same thing with like going to another planet, like the trajectory you have. In fact, there's motors we have on these, on these, on these spacecraft, we call them mouse fart motors where it's like it's the tiniest little poof because that difference in trajectory 90 million miles away is the difference of-
31. 1:25:15 – 1:29:55

    Mark on Final Five

    1. JSJay Shetty1:25:15

       Yeah. Mark, I, I end every episode of On Purpose with a Final Five. We ask these to every guest. The questions have to be answered in one word to one sentence maximum. So Mark Rober, these are your Final Five. Question number one is, what's the best advice you've ever had or received?

    2. MRMark Rober1:25:29

       This too shall pass. Like, which is like, it's, it, it will get easier, but also you're not as good as... If you're, if things are awesome, like it will come back down as well. [laughs]

    3. JSJay Shetty1:25:40

       [laughs]

    4. MRMark Rober1:25:41

       So the regression to the mean.

    5. JSJay Shetty1:25:42

       That's good.

    6. MRMark Rober1:25:42

       I have to answer in like a sentence you said?

    7. JSJay Shetty1:25:43

       That's fine.

    8. MRMark Rober1:25:44

       Okay, yeah.

    9. JSJay Shetty1:25:44

       That's fine. Yeah, that's... Yeah, sentence. Uh, question number two: what's the worst advice you ever had or received?

    10. MRMark Rober1:25:53

        Like don't go to bed angry.

    11. JSJay Shetty1:25:55

        Hmm.

    12. MRMark Rober1:25:55

        Like you're... Just the idea like-

    13. JSJay Shetty1:25:57

        Go to bed. [laughs]

    14. MRMark Rober1:25:58

        Just go to bed. You're in an emotional mind frame. Like let it pass with anything, not even with a partner. Just like let it pass and hit it when you're not thinking with your lizard brain.

    15. JSJay Shetty1:26:07

        Yeah.Yeah. It's true, actually, yeah. It's, and, and also sleep is good for you. So-

    16. MRMark Rober1:26:11

        Yeah, yeah. [laughs]

    17. JSJay Shetty1:26:11

        ... if, if you're gonna stay up angry, it's like-

    18. MRMark Rober1:26:13

        Yeah

    19. JSJay Shetty1:26:13

        ... probably not gonna help. Uh, question number three, uh, what's something you learned recently that blew your mind?

    20. MRMark Rober1:26:20

        That spiders' legs are hydraulic, which is why [laughs]

    21. JSJay Shetty1:26:24

        I didn't know that, yeah.

    22. MRMark Rober1:26:25

        This is why when they die they're curled up.

    23. JSJay Shetty1:26:28

        Oh.

    24. MRMark Rober1:26:28

        It's because there's no more pressure in the system. Basically, they put fluid into it. So you can actually take a syringe and put it into a spider's back and put air into it, and their legs will open and expand.

    25. JSJay Shetty1:26:38

        Oh, wow. Wow.

    26. MRMark Rober1:26:39

        The more you know, Jay.

    27. JSJay Shetty1:26:40

        I know, I know. [laughs]

    28. MRMark Rober1:26:41

        [laughs]

    29. JSJay Shetty1:26:41

        I'm like... What's something you've recently learned about yourself? Question number four.

    30. MRMark Rober1:26:47

        That, like, if I'm having a thought that's not productive, like rumination or, like, perseverating on a thing, I wanna think it away. And you aren't your thoughts. Like, your mind is the sky, not the weather. And if you just don't give it life, like, it, it'll pass.

Episode duration: 1:29:55