Skip to content
The Mel Robbins PodcastThe Mel Robbins Podcast

#1 Mindset Expert: Simple Mindset Shifts That Transform Your Body, Energy, & Life

Order your copy of The Let Them Theory 👉 https://melrob.co/let-them-theory 👈 The #1 Best Selling Book of 2025 🔥 Discover how much power you truly have. It all begins with two simple words. Let Them. — Today, you are going to learn scientifically proven ways you can use your mind to upgrade your life, starting with your body, your energy, and your confidence. In this episode, Stanford professor and leading psychology and mindset researcher Dr. Alia Crum reveals the science behind how your thoughts shape your body, your energy, and your health. She’s proven over and over again that your thoughts about exercise, stress, and food are working against you – and how you can change them. She’ll explain that this isn't just about thoughts, but that you have settings in your mind that you need to change. This is not positive thinking. This is repeatable, evidence-based science behind mindset, motivation, and physical change. You’ll learn: -The one mindset shift that makes healthy habits feel easier instead of exhausting -The groundbreaking studies proving your beliefs can change your biology -How to make workouts easier so you get fitter, faster -How the “settings in your mind” influence your metabolism, hunger, stress, and recovery -How to make healthy eating easier so you feel your best every day -How to stop fighting your body and start working with it -How to feel more energized, capable, and consistent without forcing yourself -How to overcome your worst fears so you don’t let anything hold you back If you are tired of criticizing yourself, tired of your fears and anxiety, and tired of never seeing the results you deserve, Dr. Crum is going to teach you, step by step, exactly how to change the settings in your mind to achieve anything you want. Once you hear this, you’ll start noticing shifts in places you never expected. For more resources related to today’s episode, click here for the podcast episode page: https://www.melrobbins.com/episode/episode-353 Follow The Mel Robbins Podcast on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/themelrobbinspodcast I’m just your friend. I am not a licensed therapist, and this podcast is NOT intended as a substitute for the advice of a physician, professional coach, psychotherapist, or other qualified professional. Got it? Good. I’ll see you in the next episode. In this episode: 00:00 Meet the Guest 04:09 Learn How to Control Your Mindset 09:05 How to Use The Placebo Effect In Your Life 22:24 Trick Your Mind to Work With Your Biology 37:21 How Your Mind Changes How Food Affects You 54:04 Practical Tools to Live a Healthier Life 01:15:39 You Have More Control Than You Think — Follow Mel: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/melrobbins/ TikTok: http://tiktok.com/@melrobbins Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/melrobbins LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melrobbins Website: http://melrobbins.com​ — Sign up for Mel’s newsletter: https://melrob.co/sign-up-newsletter A note from Mel to you, twice a week, sharing simple, practical ways to build the life you want. — Subscribe to Mel’s channel here: https://www.youtube.com/melrobbins​?sub_confirmation=1 — Listen to The Mel Robbins Podcast 🎧 New episodes drop every Monday & Thursday! https://melrob.co/spotify https://melrob.co/applepodcasts https://melrob.co/amazonmusic — Looking for Mel’s books on Amazon? Find them here: The Let Them Theory: https://amzn.to/3IQ21Oe The Let Them Theory Audiobook: https://amzn.to/413SObp The High 5 Habit: https://amzn.to/3fMvfPQ The 5 Second Rule: https://amzn.to/4l54fah

Dr. Alia CrumguestMel Robbinshost
Dec 20, 20251h 20mWatch on YouTube ↗

EVERY SPOKEN WORD

  1. 0:004:09

    Meet the Guest

    1. AC

      Do you believe the world is dangerous or safe? That's a mindset. Do you believe the world is just or unjust is a mindset. Do you believe the world is abundant, you know, full of resources, enough for all of us to go around? Or do you believe it's scarce? That's a mindset. These mindsets, Mel, they're not true or false. They're not right or wrong. They're oversimplified, highly evaluative judgments, but they matter in shaping our lives. In fact, they create our realities.

    2. MR

      Today, the world's number one expert in mindset, Dr. Alia Crum, is here in our Boston studios. Dr. Alia Crum is a Stanford professor and she runs the Stanford Mind and Body Lab. She has proven in her research over and over again that your thoughts are working against you.

    3. AC

      My life's work is to understand the power of the human mind. Mindsets are quite literally settings of the mind.

    4. MR

      Wait a minute-

    5. AC

      (laughs)

    6. MR

      Hold on a second. I ... Okay, and now I feel almost like an idiot.

    7. AC

      So the total effect of anything we do, whether that's medication or what we eat, for example, is a combined effect of what's actually in it and what you believe to be true about it. It no longer needs to be, "Oh, is it mind over matter?" No, it's mind and matter.

    8. MR

      Dr. Alia Crum in the house. Thank you and welcome to the Mel Robbins podcast.

    9. AC

      Thank you, Mel. It's so exciting to be here.

    10. MR

      I am so excited because I really wanna make being super fit and healthier and happier easy and I- I do believe that you can help me change my mindset. So here's how I wanna start. Could you tell the person listening, how would my life be different, how might it be better if I take all of this amazing research and all the tools you're about to teach us and I just apply it to my life? What's gonna happen?

    11. AC

      Hmm. So, Mel, uh, my life's work as an academic, but also as a human, is to understand the power of the human mind. So I think we all know this, right? There is this power of belief, of mindset, and the people who are listening to your show are especially clued into this fact. But I'd like to go a little deeper and be a little bit more specific.

    12. MR

      Okay.

    13. AC

      Right, so when we say things like, "Oh, just believe," or-

    14. MR

      Yes.

    15. AC

      ... um, "Think positive."

    16. MR

      Uh-huh.

    17. AC

      Or, you know, "Change your mindset." Like, what do we really mean?

    18. MR

      I don't know.

    19. AC

      (laughs)

    20. MR

      What, what I'm hoping you're gonna tell me because I think with th- a lot of us do feel like, okay, I just have to believe, but you're here to teach us, no, there's actually something deeper and there's something more accessible.

    21. AC

      Yeah, I think we need to be more specific. So say you have something stressful on the horizon like a job interview or say you're trying to lose weight or get healthier or say you were just diagnosed with cancer-

    22. MR

      Mm-hmm.

    23. AC

      ... or some other health diagnosis. Like, it really matters to know what should you believe, what is the best mindset to have, like how much does that matter, and most importantly, what can we do to adopt more useful mindsets? So the goal as I see it for our conversation today is to help people to become more sophisticated and more skillful in-

    24. MR

      Mm-hmm.

    25. AC

      ... understanding and applying the power of the human mind.

    26. MR

      Whoa. I love the idea that there is this skill that you can develop to be able to tap

  2. 4:099:05

    Learn How to Control Your Mindset

    1. MR

      into the power of your mind because way beyond sort of just your beliefs but rather understanding the mechanics-

    2. AC

      Yeah.

    3. MR

      ... of how it works. Now, Dr. Crum, given that you are a world-renowned researcher on mindset, maybe we should just start with vocabulary. What exactly is mindset? What does that mean?

    4. AC

      Yes. So mindsets are quite literally settings of the mind. So they're-

    5. MR

      Wait a minute. Hold on-

    6. AC

      (laughs)

    7. MR

      ... a second. I ... Okay, and now I feel almost like an idiot because I don't- I've never heard anybody explain what is so obvious-

    8. AC

      Mm-hmm.

    9. MR

      ... now that you said it.

    10. AC

      Mm-hmm.

    11. MR

      Mindset is the settings in your mind.

    12. AC

      Exactly. Now, they're settings, they're lenses or frames of mind which orient us to a particular set of experiences.

    13. MR

      Okay.

    14. AC

      Okay, so our minds can be set in many ways. The mindsets that I'm interested in that have sort of occupied my thinking and research are the mindsets that are set by our core beliefs.

    15. MR

      Okay.

    16. AC

      So our core beliefs are- are beliefs about the essence of what something is and why it matters.

    17. MR

      Okay. Can you give me an example? 'Cause already I'm like, "I don't know if I'm gonna follow this." Okay, go ahead.

    18. AC

      Yes. I know (laughs) . So an example. So we have mindsets about many things in the world. In fact-

    19. MR

      And- and hold and let me just-

    20. AC

      Yeah.

    21. MR

      ... because I wanna track with you because I'm so excited to really think about mindset as simply the settings in your mind and what I love about the idea of thinking about mindset as the settings in your mind is that even somebody like me who is not a world-renowned Stanford researcher like you understands at a basic level, wait a minute, if there are settings in my mind, then clearly someone or something-... put those settings in place, and if they're settings in my mind and I know about them, I have the ability, by learning from you, Dr. Crum, how to change the settings.

    22. AC

      Exactly. Yes.

    23. MR

      That's what we're learning today?

    24. AC

      That's what we're learning.

    25. MR

      Oh my God, I love this.

    26. AC

      And anybody can become aware of and change the settings.

    27. MR

      Okay. So give us an example of what you mean-

    28. AC

      Yes.

    29. MR

      ... when you say settings in the mind and how it impacts your life maybe right now and you didn't even realize it.

    30. AC

      Yes. So, we have mindsets about many things. Uh, my colleague Jared Clifton does great work, uh, looking at mindsets about the world-

  3. 9:0522:24

    How to Use The Placebo Effect In Your Life

    1. MR

      it's gonna help us understand why the settings in our mind-

    2. AC

      Mm.

    3. MR

      ... which we can change, matter so much. You know, when you were coming, um, all the way here, we were all so excited. And the production assistant on this show got over a decade-long fear of flying simply by listening to your TED Talk and repeating to herself over and over again, she would say on this flight, "This is just an old setting in my mind."

    4. AC

      Mm.

    5. MR

      And she says that that one technique from you helped her get over her fear of flying. In fact, I want you to hear from Alyssa.

    6. AC

      Mm.

    7. NA

      Hi Dr. Crum. I've been afraid of flying for 10 years and every time I fly, I get super overwhelmed with the idea that I could potentially have a medical emergency in flight after an experience 10 years ago, and my body follows suit with physical symptoms that I'm sick. But since listening to your TED Talk, I was really able to update the setting in my mind and remind myself that my physical sensations only feel so real because I'm working myself up into believing them. So last week, I flew round trip from Boston to LA, and for the first time in forever I felt no sickness or anxiety. It's been so incredible putting your work into practice to make my mindset work with me, not against.

    8. MR

      I love this. And here's what I wanna ask you, because I have personally the desire to turn this now into a personal coaching session for-

    9. NA

      (laughs)

    10. MR

      ... for like settings of my own mind-

    11. NA

      (laughs)

    12. MR

      ... and my kids' minds. But what I wanna know is, if she were on the plane and she were repeating to herself, "This is just an old setting in my mind"-

    13. AC

      Mm.

    14. MR

      ... and that intentional saying, "These are just old settings in my mind"-

    15. AC

      Mm.

    16. MR

      ... allowed her to not get all worked up-

    17. AC

      Mm.

    18. MR

      ... and feel the physical sensations that freaked her out, can you explain, Dr. Crum, what's actually happening-

    19. AC

      Mm-hmm.

    20. MR

      ... in this example?

    21. AC

      Yeah. Well, first of all, Alyssa, thank you for sharing that. Um, it's always so wonderful to know that the work we're doing is useful. What's happening there is really powerful, right? Which is first, you know, going back, her mind was set by probably some experience that she had-

    22. MR

      Mm.

    23. AC

      ... as a child-

    24. MR

      Uh-huh.

    25. AC

      ... where she maybe got sick on a plane or maybe was on a plane and felt deep fear and anxiety or lack of control or whatever it was on that plane, and that memory kind of forged in her mind as a setting, right, that, you know, if you fly, you will feel horrible, you will feel out of control, you will feel sick, you will feel, I don't know what it was, but I'm guessing there was some association that was made between flying and physical symptoms.

    26. MR

      Okay.

    27. AC

      Now, what's kind of glitchy about the mind is that... and the body, is that learning that, what the mind does is thinks, "Oh, I need to protect you from ever experiencing that again." Right? So, it thinks, "Let's avoid planes."

    28. MR

      Hmm.

    29. AC

      Right? Let's avoid any kind of situations when you're gonna feel like that again. But it also perpetuates this belief that if she flies, she's gonna feel those things.

    30. MR

      Mm-hmm.

  4. 22:2437:21

    Trick Your Mind to Work With Your Biology

    1. AC

      know that we can be empowered to change them.

    2. MR

      Right.

    3. AC

      Right? At any given moment, at any given time, you have the power to flip the switch.

    4. MR

      Let's dig into it. One of your favorite topics is the placebo effect. What is the placebo effect? How does it work in our minds and our bodies? And then let's talk about how your research proves that we can use it to our advantage.

    5. AC

      Yeah, so the placebo effect is typically understood in the context of a randomized placebo-controlled trial.

    6. MR

      Which is, for somebody who doesn't know what the heck that means, what is that?

    7. AC

      Yeah, so in a clinical trial, people are brought in and they're randomly put into two different groups, typically to test a new drug or medication. And, uh, half of the people will get the active drug or medication.

    8. MR

      You mean like the real one?

    9. AC

      The real one.

    10. MR

      Okay.

    11. AC

      The real thing.

    12. MR

      Yeah.

    13. AC

      The other half- half will get a, the exact same sort of capsule, um, but there'll be nothing in it, or it'll be an inactive substance.

    14. MR

      Okay.

    15. AC

      So that is called the placebo.

    16. MR

      Okay.

    17. AC

      Now, clinical trials are important for testing the specific efficacy or effect of a new drug.

    18. MR

      Okay.

    19. AC

      Right? So in a clinical trug- trial, they'll bring people in. They put them in these two groups. They'll measure the effect, and then they'll subtract out any effect that happens to occur when you're on the placebo, right? 'Cause the assumption is that's not real, right? The, what's real is in the capsule. If anything else happened because you believed you were getting a real pill or you were just taking a pill, the act of taking a pill or the feeling of being cared for-

    20. MR

      Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

    21. AC

      ... like, that's not real medicine, so let's just subtract that out.

    22. MR

      Okay.

    23. AC

      Now, what's interesting, and people have caught on with, is that in almost all of these trials, the placebo tends to work to some degree. So-

    24. MR

      Let me, let me just translate this so-

    25. AC

      Yeah.

    26. MR

      ... make sure I'm tracking.

    27. AC

      Mm-hmm.

    28. MR

      So if you're doing, like, some sort of clinical trial and you've got the real drug that's supposed to treat some medical condition or whatever-

    29. AC

      Mm-hmm.

    30. MR

      ... you got that group taking that, and then you measure whether or not the drug works.There's this whole other group taking the placebo. Basically, you're getting a sugar pill that's fake.

  5. 37:2154:04

    How Your Mind Changes How Food Affects You

    1. MR

      the mechanisms in the brain-

    2. AC

      Mm-hmm.

    3. MR

      ... and the research that proves that your mind and body are linked and the settings impact your biology. I would love to have you explain your famous Milkshake study. If there was ever a scientific study-

    4. AC

      (laughs)

    5. MR

      ... that I wanted to be a subject in, I think it would be-

    6. AC

      (laughs)

    7. MR

      ... a study called the Milkshake study. But could you explain what this study is, how you conducted it, and more importantly, what did you find in the famous Milkshake study?

    8. AC

      Mm-hmm.

    9. MR

      And what does it tell us about what's possible regarding the settings of your mind and the power that it has over your health?

    10. AC

      Yes. Great. So, the Milkshake study was very simple actually. We brought people into the Metabolic Research Lab, this was done at Yale University, and we had them come in two time points and we had them drink a 350-calorie milkshake.

    11. MR

      Okay. What flavor?

    12. AC

      Um, it was vanilla.

    13. MR

      Okay.

    14. AC

      Just a simple vanilla milkshake. And meanwhile, while they were drinking this milkshake, we had them hooked up to an IV. And the reason we had them hooked up to an IV is we were measuring their blood.

    15. MR

      Okay.

    16. AC

      And in particular, we were interested in this hormone called ghrelin.

    17. MR

      Ghrelin?

    18. AC

      Ghrelin.

    19. MR

      Okay, ghrelin.

    20. AC

      So, ghrelin, medical experts call this the hunger hormone.

    21. MR

      Okay.

    22. AC

      So the hunger hormone is thought to help regulate hunger and metabolism. So, when ghrelin levels are high, that signals to your brain, "Hey, seek out food," right? And it also slows metabolism until you actually secure and consume that food.

    23. MR

      Okay.

    24. AC

      And theoretically, it had been assumed that in proportion to the amount of calories you eat, ghrelin levels will drop. So, if we go out and have a burger and a milkshake and a lot of calories, ghrelin levels will plummet-

    25. MR

      Okay.

    26. AC

      ... which signal to the brain, "Okay, you can stop prioritizing food consumption and rev up the metabolism in the body to burn the food that you just ate."

    27. MR

      Okay.

    28. AC

      Now, of course, if we didn't get food or if we only ate a little bit of food, ghrelin levels would drop only slightly, therefore kind of perpetuating those hunger signals and keeping metabolism slow.

    29. MR

      Okay.

    30. AC

      Okay. So-

  6. 54:041:15:39

    Practical Tools to Live a Healthier Life

    1. AC

      I, you know, I always look at the dessert menu and I give myself permission to say, "Do I really want anything on this menu?"

    2. MR

      This is so cool. I, I would love, given your amazing research and the insights, and now the science that we understand, the profound breakthrough that it's had on your life, to really kind of break this down into practical tools-

    3. AC

      Mm-hmm.

    4. MR

      ... based on your research. And so I am going to pick up objects that are related to health.

    5. AC

      Okay.

    6. MR

      And for, if you're listening, I will describe it. You'll be able to see it if you're watching on YouTube. And then I would love to have you describe what are the settings in our mind, the mindset that we-... should have if we want better health outcomes.

    7. AC

      Okay.

    8. MR

      All right.

    9. AC

      (laughs)

    10. MR

      So, the first one is this. I'm holding a big head of iceberg lettuce. Okay? If you like a wedge salad, we've got a whole head here waiting for the blue cheese and the bacon.

    11. AC

      Okay, great. So, I guess I would turn it on you, Mal-

    12. MR

      Uh-oh.

    13. AC

      ... and I would say, like, when you look at that lettuce-

    14. MR

      Uh-huh.

    15. AC

      ... like, what's the first thing that comes to mind?

    16. MR

      Well, the first thing that came to mind is my mom-

    17. AC

      (laughs)

    18. MR

      ... 'cause she loves iceberg lettuce in a salad.

    19. AC

      Oh, interesting.

    20. MR

      Yes.

    21. AC

      Okay. Um, well, that's interesting. (laughs) Um, if you decided you were gonna feed your kid-

    22. MR

      Uh-huh.

    23. AC

      ... uh, maybe when they were littler-

    24. MR

      Little?

    25. AC

      Yeah.

    26. MR

      Yes.

    27. AC

      Um, this iceberg lettuce-

    28. MR

      Mm-hmm.

    29. AC

      ... for dinner, what would they think?

    30. MR

      Yuck. That's it? Salad?

  7. 1:15:391:20:36

    You Have More Control Than You Think

    1. AC

      right? Those are the beliefs that matter. They're about categories of things like yourself, healthy eating, your fitness, and so forth.

    2. MR

      I gotta change those settings-

    3. AC

      (laughs)

    4. MR

      ... Dr. Crum. If the person who's with us right now really wants to put your work into practice today-

    5. AC

      Mm-hmm.

    6. MR

      ... what's one thing-

    7. AC

      Hm.

    8. MR

      ... that you think is the most important thing to do after listening and learning all this today?

    9. AC

      Yeah. I think what I would say to the person listening or watching is to s- to start where you are, (laughs) right? To start by acknowledging the problems that you're facing. Start by acknowledging the goals that you have. And then take that next step and ask yourself, "What mindset could I adopt that would help me address those problems or achieve-

    10. MR

      Hm.

    11. AC

      ... those goals?" To the person who might be struggling with their weight, I would remind them to, sure, focus on eating nutritiously, but focus more on adopting the mindset of indulgence.

    12. MR

      Hm.

    13. AC

      Eating while enjoying the pleasure of doing so. And if you're somebody who's dealing with a health diagnosis like cancer, or any health diagnosis for that matter, can you know that mindsets like, "This is manageable, your body is capable," that those mindsets are well within your grasp?

    14. MR

      And what I love is they're also well-researched-

    15. AC

      Hm.

    16. MR

      ... and have extraordinary benefits that you have now explained to all of us. It's so amazing. Dr. Crum, what are your parting words?

    17. AC

      Yeah, I think I would say two things. The first is to just get in touch. Um, y- we've done a lot of research, but we're really just at the tip of the iceberg in understanding the power of our mind. Um, and I don't do this research so it can sit on dusty shelves.

    18. MR

      (laughs)

    19. AC

      Like, (laughs) I truly do it to solve my problems, our problems, right? So, I really encourage people to get in touch, however that might be, whether that's LinkedIn or through our website, Instagram, and share your stories.

    20. MR

      Hm.

    21. AC

      Share what works. Share what doesn't work. Share your questions. (laughs) Share your ideas, right? Because this is what makes the research better.

    22. MR

      Hm.

    23. AC

      This is what enables us to do studies that are relatable, they're relevant, and they're, uh, a- applicable at the end of the day. And then lastly, I think I would say most importantly is that you got this, right? There's so much in life that we can't control, that we can't change, but our mindsets are something that we can. So, you got this. (laughs)

    24. MR

      And because of you, Dr. Crum, we actually do. So, thank you for your research. Thank you for traveling all the way to Boston to be here to teach us all of this. Thank you for everything that you do. And thank you for explaining the power of the settings in your mind in such a way that I totally believe you and I am going to use everything we talked about today.

    25. AC

      Mm-hmm.

    26. MR

      And I know it's gonna make a huge difference in my life.

    27. AC

      Mm-hmm.

    28. MR

      So, thank you.

    29. AC

      Thank you, Mel. It really is an honor and a pleasure to have this conversation, and I'm so grateful for the work that you do.

    30. MR

      Aw. Well, thank you for saying that. And I also wanted to say I'm grateful that you're here with us. I love that you spend time listening and watching, uh, this show because it is helping you learn, it's helping you grow, it's helping you do better, and it's also an incredible resource. I mean, share Dr. Crum's research with everybody that you care about. How extraordinary to know that there are settings in your mind that are well within your control to change and the research is there and it proves that it creates better outcomes. You're gonna feel better. You're gonna do better. And in case no one else tells you, as your friend, I wanted to be sure to tell you that I love you. I love you for listening to this. I love you for being interested in this. I love you for taking what you learned today very seriously. And I also believe that if you do that, it will help you create a better life. Alrighty. I will see you in the very next episode. I'll be waiting to welcome you in the moment you hit play. And thank you for watching all the way to the end, and you're gonna love this next video and I'll be waiting to welcome you in the moment you hit play.

Episode duration: 1:20:36

Install uListen for AI-powered chat & search across the full episode — Get Full Transcript

Transcript of episode oJAV0rtSrFc

Get more out of YouTube videos.

High quality summaries for YouTube videos. Accurate transcripts to search & find moments. Powered by ChatGPT & Claude AI.

Add to Chrome