The Mel Robbins PodcastGive Me 60 Minutes and I'll Eliminate Your Self-Doubt Forever | Benny Blanco and Mel Robbins
EVERY SPOKEN WORD
55 min read · 10,724 words- 0:00 – 4:04
Meet the Guest
- MRMel Robbins
Today, on The Mel Robbins Podcast, the one and only Benny Blanco is here with unbelievable stories.
- BBBenny Blanco
I would cold call record labels, and then I'd call and I'd say, "Uh, yes, uh, I, I'm, I'm, I'm calling on behalf of Jay-Z. We need to speak to, uh-"
- MRMel Robbins
From his 12-time Grammy-nominated songwriting and producing career, Benny has 29 number one hits.
- BBBenny Blanco
Justin Bieber's Love Yourself, Ed Sheeran's Don't, Katy Perry, Rihanna, Maroon 5.
- MRMel Robbins
Benny will teach you how to eliminate self-doubt.
- BBBenny Blanco
You're stopping yourself because you're scared, and you don't need to be scared. I'm gonna look at the camera. You don't need to be scared. I still have imposter syndrome.
- MRMel Robbins
You?
- BBBenny Blanco
I still do.
- MRMel Robbins
Overcome failure.
- BBBenny Blanco
See, I fail all the time. Look, I just [beep] up just now.
- MRMel Robbins
[laughs]
- BBBenny Blanco
Okay. So that's a, that's a perfect... Keep that in. Nobody take that out.
- MRMel Robbins
And reset your mind for success.
- BBBenny Blanco
Look at me. I'm not, like, I'm t- it's not, like, some special thing. I have no special power. I wasn't born with anything special. I'm just a normal guy. I get to the brick wall, and I, like, w- I, like, I, like, throw it to the ground, I run, I jump through it. I might break my neck or something, but I'm gonna die trying to do it. Here's what you need to do.
- MRMel Robbins
Benny Blanco, welcome to The Mel Robbins Podcast.
- BBBenny Blanco
Oh, my gosh.
- MRMel Robbins
[laughs]
- BBBenny Blanco
Are we on?
- MRMel Robbins
We're on.
- BBBenny Blanco
Oh, wow. Okay. I'm ready.
- MRMel Robbins
So am I. Here's where I wanna start.
- BBBenny Blanco
Okay.
- MRMel Robbins
If the person listening takes everything to heart that you're about to share based on your life experience and your crazy career about the importance of failure, the importance of how you handle self-doubt-
- BBBenny Blanco
Mm-hmm
- MRMel Robbins
... if they really take to heart what you're gonna teach us today-
- BBBenny Blanco
Mm-hmm
- MRMel Robbins
... what the heck could change about my life?
- BBBenny Blanco
I got a few things.
- MRMel Robbins
[laughs]
- BBBenny Blanco
One, I'm from Virginia. I'm not from Los Angeles. I am not from New York City. I did not grow up with famous parents. I did not grow up with a ton of money. I was, like, a funny-looking kid, and somehow, through sheer will and not an incredible amount of talent, I really don't have an incredible amount of talent, I'm, uh, not the hottest guy you've ever seen in your life, but somehow I married the most beautiful, talented woman on planet Earth. I did everything I wanted to do in my career, and I'm still searching for new, amazing opportunities every day. Like, look, if you're 5'4" and you wanna be in the NBA, I'm gonna root for you, but it might be an uphill battle. I'd say almost everything in the world you can do. You can do most of the things if you work hard at it. It's just about getting started, okay? So everyone always gives nine million excuses why they're not gonna do something, why they can't, so they'll, they'll say, "Oh, um, I'm gonna write this book, but, oh, shoot, first I gotta get a typewriter. Oh, no, I'm not gonna do a typewriter. I'll do it in my phone. No, no, I gotta be old school, and I gotta do it, uh, I gotta write it by hand." And there's, by, by then there's, it's been three weeks, and you're still figuring out what apparatus you're gonna use to write your book. And it's just about starting now. Start today. I don't care. Whatever idea you have, if you have one idea, and it's usually the idea you're too scared to tell anyone because you're embarrassed, you're shy, you, uh, one, all of the above, start doing something to move that from here to here. I'm asking you to move it three and a half inches forward. So just three and a half inches forward today. If you can do that, just start to do it. And you know what? The thing you start off doing might not be the thing you do in the end, but you'll probably land somewhere pretty fucking cool. Like, I thought I was gonna be the biggest singer-rapper in the world when I was 11 years old. That didn't happen for me, but I did get to do some pretty cool shit along the way. So just start
- 4:04 – 6:32
How to Stop Being Afraid of Failure
- BBBenny Blanco
somewhere.
- MRMel Robbins
You write on the back of this book, "I wrote this book to show you why it's the key to success, failure."
- BBBenny Blanco
Yeah.
- MRMel Robbins
"Every hero you've ever had has failed more times than you can imagine. Nobody is keeping a scorecard on your life except you, and if they are, they're an A-hole. Embrace failure and never look back." Why do you think it's so hard for people to start? Why do we get so up in our heads? What are we afraid of, Benny?
- BBBenny Blanco
I think it's really hard for people to start the engine because there's s- so many what-ifs. There's so many things, "Well, what if I post this, and then my friends from when I was younger make fun of me 'cause it looks like I'm trying to be, like, too reachy or too preachy or too this or too that?" And then someone says, "Well, what if I post my music video and it gets zero views? Well, what if I try out for the basketball team and I, I don't make it? I'm... And, and what if I, you know, go to acting class and they tell me I'm bad?" People are scared of being embarrassed, okay?
- MRMel Robbins
Hmm.
- BBBenny Blanco
And it's something that we were taught. And it's not true. I, I fail every day, okay? I fail every single day. And one of my friends, one of my friends told me, he said, he was going through a tough time. He, very successful, had something that failed in his career, and he, like, couldn't get over it. And he said, "You're standing on a soapbox talking about how you're gonna do something and it's gonna be the biggest, best thing in the world, and, you know, 90% of the time it is." He said, "But even when you fail, you just wake up the next day-" And you just go about it. You just go about it like nothing happened. And I, I, I started thinking about it and I said, "Well, I guess I have, like, a failure to amnesia."
- MRMel Robbins
What does that mean, failure to amnesia?
- BBBenny Blanco
Or amnesia to failure.
- MRMel Robbins
An amnesia to-
- BBBenny Blanco
See, I fail all the time.
- MRMel Robbins
[laughs]
- BBBenny Blanco
Look, I just fucked up just now.
- MRMel Robbins
[laughs]
- BBBenny Blanco
Okay. So that's a, that's a perfect ex- Keep that in. Nobody take that out.
- MRMel Robbins
I'm not taking that out.
- BBBenny Blanco
Okay.
- MRMel Robbins
Don't you worry.
- 6:32 – 12:26
How to Bounce Back From Failure
- MRMel Robbins
[laughs]
- BBBenny Blanco
So I s-
- MRMel Robbins
You have an amnesia to failure, meaning you forget about failure?
- BBBenny Blanco
If you forget about the failure, I feel like everyone else is gonna forget about it. Like, look, like, okay, okay. Look.
- MRMel Robbins
Did you... I wanna make sure that as you're listening, you actually heard what Benny just said, that if you forget about the failure, everyone else is gonna forget about it.
- BBBenny Blanco
Yes. Okay, look. This.
- MRMel Robbins
What are you... Oh, so he's holding-
- BBBenny Blanco
What-
- MRMel Robbins
... a board that says failure
- BBBenny Blanco
... what's that say? Yeah, anyone listening, I'm holding a board.
- MRMel Robbins
[laughs]
- BBBenny Blanco
It says failure, okay? This is, this is you. This is me. We are this board. We are together. We both have lots of failures. But if we just go like this, and we go like that, and we go like that, and you just pretend that I'm really good at erasing and there's none of those little specks of failure there anymore, right now, we have a blank board, okay? So you're looking at this right now. This is me. You don't see failure. You see nothing.
- MRMel Robbins
It's so true.
- BBBenny Blanco
Okay.
- MRMel Robbins
But hold on. You know what I see when I look at you?
- BBBenny Blanco
What?
- MRMel Robbins
Because this is one of the reasons when we, when you and I s- first started talking, and I think you are such an incredibly powerful and unique teacher, I really do, and yet I was like, "Okay, and how do I get over the fact and overcome the fact that when somebody looks at you and sees your career or sees you in the public eye and sees all the accomplishments, there's that distance that's sort of like, 'Okay, well, you know, it's Benny Blanco. I mean, w- w- what could he teach me about, like, how I'm gonna get, like, happiness in my life or meaning in my life?'" Do you see what I mean? And so people look at you and only see the accomplishments, but they don't see the failures that got you here.
- BBBenny Blanco
Because nobody's looking at those failures. What do you remember about Michael Jordan? He dunked from the foul line. He scored, like, the most amount of points out of anyone. Maybe LeBron broke that now, I don't even know. But at that time, it was that. So y- you're sitting there, you're looking at Michael Jordan, and y- what are you, are you counting all his misses? He took the most shots out of anybody, and it's like he, he's not, he, he's not sitting there saying like, "I took 22 shots today. I shouldn't take any more. I only made six of them." No, he's gonna shoot the fucking lights out until he gets what he wants, and I feel like you, me, we're all doing the same thing. I should be the exact person you're listening to. Look at me. I'm not, like, I'm just not, like, some special thing. I have no special power. I wasn't born with anything special. I'm just a normal guy who works really hard and gets what I want, because most people, when they get up to that line where it's just a brick wall, okay? You're sitting at a brick wall. Most people, they get to the brick wall, they go, "Ah, it's a brick wall. I'm gonna turn around." Me, I get to the brick wall, and I, like, l- I like, I, like, throw it to the ground. I run. I jump through it. I might break my neck or something, but I'm gonna die trying to do it, and that's just, if you have the motivation and you just keep going and you don't let anybody tell you you can't do something because of this, this, and that, you just, you're... You can do it. You can do whatever you want if you put your mind to it, almost.
- MRMel Robbins
Well, Benny, you know what I find fascinating, is that a lot of, at least I, for me personally, I can see years wasted-
- BBBenny Blanco
Mm-hmm
- MRMel Robbins
... waiting for either somebody to pick me-
- BBBenny Blanco
Mm-hmm
- MRMel Robbins
... or somebody to notice-
- BBBenny Blanco
Mm-hmm
- MRMel Robbins
... or somebody to give me permission-
- BBBenny Blanco
Mm-hmm
- MRMel Robbins
... or s- the perfect conditions. And as everybody's been waiting around for some, like, other person, right, to give you the signal-
- BBBenny Blanco
Yeah
- MRMel Robbins
... what, it's easy to miss, is that the only person that's actually stopping you from doing something is you.
- BBBenny Blanco
And you're stopping yourself because you're scared, and you don't need to be scared. I'm gonna look at the camera again. You don't need to be scared. Nothing bad is going to happen except maybe you, you, you're right where you started and you just gotta keep working harder at it. And I'll tell you one thing. I've been at the top and had to go all the way back to the down, up, to the bottom and come back up. Has that ever happened to you? Have you ever been at the top of your game and fallen down so far you don't even know where you could go, and then you gotta climb all the way back up?
- 12:26 – 18:15
Why You Should Start When You Have Nothing
- MRMel Robbins
... but when you say that you don't have any special talents-
- BBBenny Blanco
I, I d- I, I, I really... Look, obviously I know h-
- MRMel Robbins
Convince me, 'cause I don't believe that.
- BBBenny Blanco
Okay. Here's what I-
- MRMel Robbins
'Cause I think it's a special talent to start, but I think you can teach us how to do it.
- BBBenny Blanco
Yes. I know if I show up every day, if I just show up, okay? That's the first thing you gotta do. Just show up, okay? I just show up. Not even, I, maybe I don't know even what I'm doing, but if I show up, and eventually, if I show up, there might not be the other guy there, and they just need the next best thing, and I happen to be... Like, it's really not that complicated. Look, it seems so complicated. It seems daunting. For me, I started, okay? I had a dream. I wanted to be a musician, a professional musician.
- MRMel Robbins
Okay.
- BBBenny Blanco
Music is gonna be my life. And I just, I have no connections. 0.0 connections. So there's nothing. There's nothing there. There's no point of entry. Zero. I can't even go show up somewhere. I don't know where it is to show up.
- MRMel Robbins
[laughs] That's so true.
- BBBenny Blanco
And so I would go, and I would wait outside of recording studios when I was probably, at this point, like, 10, 11. And I would go-
- MRMel Robbins
10 or 11.
- BBBenny Blanco
Yeah, I'd go to a studio. I'd have my mom take me. I'd go to a studio, and I'd wait outside, and I'd wait for a person to walk out, and I'd say, "Do you make music?" And that was, I would just ask, and then I'd say, "Can I do anything here? Can I do this? Can I do that?" And I was just trying to be in the room. 'Cause if you show up and you're in the room, something's gonna go down. Something's gonna happen. You're gonna either learn, you're gonna get an opportunity. Like, so much of it is just showing up and then finding the room, okay? That's the first two things.
- MRMel Robbins
Okay. And your mom, you figured out where recording studios are, so you're showing up.
- BBBenny Blanco
And I remember the turning point for me is the first form of social media came out, okay? And it was called... Well, the first form that I got was called MySpace.
- MRMel Robbins
Mm-hmm.
- BBBenny Blanco
Okay? And I got on MySpace, okay?
- MRMel Robbins
So again, showing up.
- BBBenny Blanco
Yes.
- MRMel Robbins
Putting yourself in the room. These can be real rooms.
- BBBenny Blanco
Yes.
- MRMel Robbins
They can be digital rooms.
- BBBenny Blanco
Yep. And we didn't even have a computer at this point, so I would do it at lunchtime in the library, and I would do anything I could to get in touch with people. So first thing I started doing is I would cold call record labels, okay? And let's say I was calling Interscope Records. I would call up, and I'd say, "Is Jimmy Iovine there?"
- MRMel Robbins
[laughs]
- BBBenny Blanco
Jimmy Iovine ran Interscope Records. I'd say, "Is Jimmy Iovine there?" And then I would look up who Snoop Dogg or Tupac Shak- I'd look up who their lawyer was. I'd look up online, and then I'd call, and I'd say, "Uh, yes, uh, I'm, I'm, I'm calling on behalf of Jay-Z. This is Michael Guido. We need to speak to, uh, you know, uh, Jimmy, uh, immediately." And, you know, half the time they wouldn't do it, but occasionally I would get put through, okay? So I'd be put through to the president of the company, and I'd say, "Oh, I'm sorry, this isn't, uh, Michael Guido. I just wanted to let you know this is Benny Blanco. I have all this music I wanna show you," blah, blah, blah. And I'd get hung up on, and, but eventually I started becoming friendly with the interns, with the people that answered the phone. And I, I, I, you know, and I kept those relationships up till this... I mean, my manager, my manager of my career is a person I met when I was 16 years old, doing all these same shenanigans, working for people, interning for people, and I still am with him 20-something years later. And a lot of those people I first called are now the heads of companies, and, and I still have those relationships 20-something years later. And I started, I had no idea what I was doing, but I got up, I woke up, and I did the same thing as you. I got out, I got out of bed, and I just, I, I start every day myself. I try to make every day the best day I can for that day, okay? And the only way you don't get better is if you don't get out of bed. And getting out of bed doesn't just mean getting out of bed. Getting out of bed means going and attacking the day. And as long as you start attacking the day, it will get better.
- MRMel Robbins
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- 18:15 – 22:35
Start Before You Feel Ready
- MRMel Robbins
I wanna read to you from what is going to be a blockbuster bestseller, this book. I love the color.
- BBBenny Blanco
Thank you.
- MRMel Robbins
This is page 72.
- BBBenny Blanco
Okay.
- MRMel Robbins
Okay? Here's a fun fact: You're never going to feel ready to start. If you wait around until you feel prepared or like you have enough experience or like you know how it all works, I will come back to check on you in five years, and you will still be standing exactly where you are right now. Success is not worrying about the inevitable failure that comes from not totally knowing what you're doing. It's about going all in with so much conviction that everyone believes you, including yourself, then rolling the dice. What does that mean?
- BBBenny Blanco
Right before I do something, I get scared, but it's a different type of scared. I'm not scared to do it. I'm just, it's about to happen.
- MRMel Robbins
Hmm.
- BBBenny Blanco
It's about to happen, and there's that moment where you go, "Do I want everyone to know this? Do I want everyone to know this? Do I..." F*ck it. And then you just, and then you just go for it. And I'm always gonna go for it, because if I believe it, if I can sell a dream to myself and to the people around me, it's, it's gonna start work- It's just gonna start swang in your direction. Like, the gravity will pull. It's gonna, it's... Like, if you have the energy on your side and you're moving forward, even if some things are pushing you back, eventually you're gonna be able to push through. And it's just most people find it hard to do that first push, and a lot of people don't believe in themselves.
- MRMel Robbins
Well, what would you say to the person who's listening like, "I want that, yes, yes, and I don't believe in myself"? Maybe they've been rejected after trying for a little bit. It's taking too long, and so that self-doubt is really there. What would you say to the person who's listening who's like, "Benny, I want that, but I don't know how to start believing in myself"?
- BBBenny Blanco
How bad did the rejection hurt? Okay, that's first what I wanna know. How bad was it being rejected? Is it bad? Yeah, you ask someone out when you're a kid and they say no, and you're embarrassed for a few hours, and then you come back to school the next day and nobody gives a sh*t because a new person got asked out and rejected. So first you gotta know how bad did it hurt to be rejected. And, and it's, I promise you, you're sitting there, you're talking to yourself right now, and you're saying it's not that bad in your head. You wanna say it's worse. You really wanna say, "It was this terrible thing and I couldn't get out of bed for 16 year-" No. It's, it wasn't that bad. It wasn't that bad. It, it sucked. It sucked for a second. It wasn't that bad. Okay, so rejection's not that bad, so that's not your excuse. Okay. Is it gonna be hard? Yeah, it's gonna be hard. What, you, you just wanna, like, immediately be the best at something in the world? No. You're gonna have to work at it. Okay, you're gonna have to work at it. And you're gonna fail, and you're gonna have so many barriers, and you're gonna have so many times where you wanna quit, but you're not gonna, because you know that if you do quit, you're just giving space for that other person trying the same thing to just get right ahead of you.
- MRMel Robbins
Oh, God. That's a good one.
- BBBenny Blanco
Yeah.
- MRMel Robbins
That the second you quit, you actually just-
- BBBenny Blanco
Open the door for someone else
- MRMel Robbins
I think what you're talking about's really interesting, because a lot of people believe that the path to getting what they want should or will be easier than it needs to be, and it will be. But, like, let's talk about that. Like, the-
- BBBenny Blanco
It's gonna be harder.
- MRMel Robbins
Yeah, like, it's gonna be so much harder than you think it is.
- BBBenny Blanco
You're gonna work harder than you've ever worked in your life, and you're gonna wanna quit. I wanna quit all the time. I'm exhausted.
- MRMel Robbins
[laughs]
- BBBenny Blanco
I'm tired. Like, we're all tired. Everyone is tired. I'm looking at the... Are you tired? Yes. You don't even... Y- your, I know you're shaking your head yes. We're all tired. Everyone is tired. I'm tired doing a thing that I love more than anything in the world, but I'm, I'm tired because I'm putting in the hours and I'm doing-
- MRMel Robbins
Hmm
- BBBenny Blanco
... and, you know, sometimes, look, I'll, I'll, I'll be for
- 22:35 – 25:50
How to Turn Failure Into Success
- BBBenny Blanco
real with you. Sometimes I've been working all day, okay? And I finally get home. I'm exhausted. It's, you know, it's 8:00. I gotta make dinner. Um, Selena's waiting for me. She's been waiting to eat. And yet sometimes I come home and I'm exhausted, and, and, and I know I have to give that to her because she wasn't, she wasn't part of that day. She, her day is just starting now with me. Success comes in so many different forms, and if I get to come home and I listen to everything she's saying and she tells me about her whole day and we get to connect on a deeper level, like, that's a whole different, that's my other, that's another sign of success. I didn't fail. I succeeded, you know?
- MRMel Robbins
Well, I, I really got something out of what you just said, so I wanna hover right here for a minute.
- BBBenny Blanco
Okay.
- MRMel Robbins
'Cause you said something that has never quite hit me that way, which is when you get home after a long, stressful day, and you are walking in, and your wife Selena's there-
- BBBenny Blanco
Mm-hmm
- MRMel Robbins
... her day with you is just starting.
- BBBenny Blanco
Mm-hmm.
- MRMel Robbins
And after being with Chris for 32 years- [laughs]
- BBBenny Blanco
Yeah
- MRMel Robbins
... I will tell you, that poor man typically gets the worst of me-
- BBBenny Blanco
Mm-hmm
- MRMel Robbins
... even though he is my favorite person in the world and sh- deserves the best. But I had never thought about framing it as your kids or your spouse or your friend-
- BBBenny Blanco
Brother, your mother
- MRMel Robbins
... or your brother or your mom, their day is starting with you when you walk in at the end of the day.
- BBBenny Blanco
Of course. Of course. Look, you're not gonna win every time. Like, I, I've, I've- And I, I'm competitive until the thing's over. Like, let's say it's like I'm in a race to get a song number one or to get number one on the, uh, the book charts, or I'm, I'm gonna give it my all and I'm gonna be competitive as shit and do everything I can. Or if I wanna get that job, I'm gonna do everything I can. And then at the end, whether I get it or not, that's the end. I did my absolute hardest. I, I put it, all the effort I could possibly do into it, and I'm happy. That's success to me. Whether it's technically a failure or not, that is still success to me. That is the definition-
- MRMel Robbins
So, do you have a trick, like if you put your all into something and then it doesn't happen?
- BBBenny Blanco
Yeah.
- MRMel Robbins
Is there a way you unhook yourself from the fact that it didn't happen?
- BBBenny Blanco
Yeah, I say, "What else could you have done? You did ev-..." If you do, I only am mad at myself if I didn't do-
- MRMel Robbins
Mm
- BBBenny Blanco
... all the things. Sometimes things don't work. Sometimes it's not the right time, not the right place. I might, I'm not gonna give up on that passion, but I might have to go back to the drawing board and say, "Okay, how did this not work? Like, what, what can I do differently this time to make this work for me?"
- MRMel Robbins
Yeah.
- BBBenny Blanco
And sometimes working doesn't mean being number one on the chart. Like, like, for me to know that this resonated with people, for me to know this or that. And I look at it, if I did everything I possibly could do, it's complete, and the only way that stays a failure and doesn't get flipped into a success is if I didn't learn from what happened during that failure.
- 25:50 – 32:40
Overcome Your Fear
- MRMel Robbins
What I wanted to unpack with you, Benny, is the fact that it is also hard to not do it.
- BBBenny Blanco
Yeah.
- MRMel Robbins
It is hard to sit in the self-doubt. It is hard to say all the what ifs. It is hard-
- BBBenny Blanco
Oh, yeah
- MRMel Robbins
... to think about all the things you could be doing and watching everybody else do it, and at some point understanding that either one, doing it-
- BBBenny Blanco
Oh, yeah
- MRMel Robbins
... or not doing it is hard.
- BBBenny Blanco
Oh my God, they're both painful. Everything is... Look, that's what I'm saying. It's like everything in life is gonna be hard at some point. That's just how it works. The best things in the world, you say you have a kid, you love your kid, something's gonna be fucking hard. You have a relationship, you love, I don't care if it's the best relationship in the world, it's hard because two people are fitting together and two people have completely different lives, and they have to coexist and live together. Let's say you're working in a job with, let's say you're working for someone. It's gonna be hard because you're gonna have to do things for that person above you. Let's say that person above you is having a shitty day and they're taking it out on you. Like, it's gonna be hard. It's all gonna be hard. So it, your point's perfect, because it's like if it's all gonna be hard, at least do something that's gonna have some relief somewhere-
- MRMel Robbins
[laughs]
- BBBenny Blanco
... rather than just sitting in a hole that's always gonna be a hole of misery.
- MRMel Robbins
What is this big fear that you got over?
- BBBenny Blanco
I wouldn't say got over.
- MRMel Robbins
Okay. [laughs]
- BBBenny Blanco
But, okay. So, I was on an airplane in 2009. So I get on the plane. My plane instantly is a terrible flight. Like, it couldn't be worse. It's like one of those flights where no one's allowed to go to the bathroom. There's no drinks, no anything.
- MRMel Robbins
Oh, that's the sign that, that things are dangerous-
- BBBenny Blanco
It's tense
- MRMel Robbins
... when they don't put the cart and the aisle.
- BBBenny Blanco
Well, well, they had it up at the beginning, and it flew down the thing. So it's, it's tense. Get off the plane, get on another plane that's, like, this big.
- MRMel Robbins
[laughs] That's so good.
- BBBenny Blanco
And, and I'm connecting. It's, like, me and my three friends, and I can, like, smell what the pilot had for lunch. And then I, I, I tell my manager, I say, on the way back, I say, like, "I don't know if I can fly home." And I remember I took a train home. So I took a train back to New York from Florida.
- MRMel Robbins
From Florida?
- BBBenny Blanco
Yeah. So, and I was like, ugh, it was so annoying. But then I get home, and I fly again a few times. I remember I had a girlfriend at the time in London. I'm going to see her. It's okay. Like, I'm okay, but I'm, like, really on edge. Like, every little bump is, like, making me nervous. On the way home, this was back in the day, I don't even know if it's like this anymore, where, like, your TV came out of, like, a thing next to the rest or whatever, and I remember I'm on there, we hit a bump, and my TV thing just flies off. And I'm like, "I'm never flying again." At this point, first I, like, my brother drives me across country for the first time. And then my, uh, my friends did. Then I took a train. Then I took a bus. Then I started taking a tour bus. And I really never flew again, really, after that. I, um-
- MRMel Robbins
For how long?
- BBBenny Blanco
I flew a handful of times after 2009, and I flew once in 2018, then I flew once in, like, 2019, and then I flew once, like, a week or two ago, or, like, a month ago.
- MRMel Robbins
Really?
- BBBenny Blanco
I flew a month or two ago for this book, because I said, "If I'm talking about failures and successes and coming over them, how could I not get on a plane?" And I was scared, but I didn't hit the snooze button. I woke up. I attacked the day. And I got on the plane, and then I went and I ate tacos. Um, but I was scared. I was scared, but I did it. I was convincing myself that I was gonna do it. I don't know if I'm cured forever, but I was still very scared, but I did it. I did it. And then I, I, I'll, I'll tell you something. I'll tell you, I'll tell you a few stories. One time, I was... Me and Ed Sheeran were finishing The Divide album. Okay? And that's, like, his album with Shape of You, Perfect, Castle on the Hill. Like, so many, so many big songs. And he said, "I wanna finish the album in my hometown, in Suffolk," which is on, you know, the coast of, like, it's on, like, the water in, in England. So I said, "Ed, I, I don't, I, I, I, I don't fly." And he knew I didn't fly. And he said, "Come on, man, just fly." And I said, "I can't fly." And he said, "Well, what if we take a boat?" So we took a boat from New York City to London, and it was seven and a half days.
- MRMel Robbins
[laughs]
- BBBenny Blanco
And we watched the Titanic on the boat while we cuddled together.
- MRMel Robbins
Oh, my God, you are a glutton for punishment.
- BBBenny Blanco
And we made, we actually made a lot of the album on the boat. There's a documentary out about the whole experience.
- 32:40 – 35:43
How to Keep Going After a Setback
- BBBenny Blanco
stupid. And, and sometimes, look, I'm not saying you have to be perfect. I am the furthest version from perfect that there is. I mess up constantly. I'm the same guy who will go in and I'll say something, and I'll say, "Oh, why did I say that? That was so stupid. I shouldn't say that." Or, or I'll have, you know, always, I'm still, I still have imposter syndrome.
- MRMel Robbins
You?
- BBBenny Blanco
I do. I s-
- MRMel Robbins
When?
- BBBenny Blanco
I still do.
- MRMel Robbins
Like, put me at the scene in the last time you had imposter syndrome.
- BBBenny Blanco
When I walked in here today.
- MRMel Robbins
Oh, not... Really?
- BBBenny Blanco
I'm saying, when I walked in, and there was a bunch of people in here, the first thing that I said, I said, "Oh, why are all these people here for me? This is like, shouldn't they just do their stuff?" And, and, and I got, and I, and I, and I started getting embarrassed, and, and, and sometimes I'll be like, h- always when I'm doing one of these things, I'm like, "Well, why does a person wanna listen to what I have to say?" And, and I think that's also part of what helped me get to where I am today. I just want people to really know, like, 'cause it's very easy for me and Mel to sit here and say like, "You're gonna do this, and you're gonna do that," but like, I know for us, there's always, no ma- there's forms of self-doubt. There's times when we don't feel like doing it. There's times when I wake up, and I say, "F*ck, I can't do it today." The point I'm trying to make is I feel like sometimes people will start what they're doing, and then they'll regress, and they'll have that moment, and they'll say, "Oh, it's already gone. It's a- I, I, I, I stopped. I can't do it." And it's not true. It's not true. You're just gonna get up, and you're gonna work twice as hard tomorrow. It's not always perfect, and that's okay. And it's okay to fail, and it's okay to be bummed about failing, too. But in the back of your head, you still gotta be like, "Today, I couldn't do it. I couldn't fight. I wanted to. I couldn't do it. And tomorrow, I'm gonna work f*cking three times as hard."
- MRMel Robbins
I wanna make sure as you're listening, you really heard something really important that Benny just explained, which is when it comes to success and creating the life that you want or going after goals that you really feel called to go after, the skill is not that you just start and you keep going, and then suddenly it gets easier. The actual skill that creates the things that you want is continuing to wake up for decades and not feel like it, continuing to have it be really hard, continuing to question what you're doing, and the skill becomes showing up anyway. That's what I kinda hear you saying.
- BBBenny Blanco
Yes.
- MRMel Robbins
That, like, it's not about that if you just keep showing up, and you just keep producing the music, or you just keep posting the videos, or you just keep trying to lose the weight, that it's gonna get any easier, 'cause I don't think it does.
- BBBenny Blanco
No. That's people's biggest misconception.
- 35:43 – 44:25
Success Is Full of Setbacks
- BBBenny Blanco
Look, I'll tell you a story.
- MRMel Robbins
Tell me a story.
- BBBenny Blanco
I, the year is maybe 2015. I don't even know. I'm so bad with years. I was a really successful producer and songwriter, and I-
- MRMel Robbins
Can, can you stop before you tell the story? Can you just tell the person who's listening, like, like, what does that mean?
- BBBenny Blanco
In-
- MRMel Robbins
Like, how old were you when you signed your first record deal?
- BBBenny Blanco
Well, I signed my first record deal when I was seven, uh, 18.
- MRMel Robbins
Seven?
- BBBenny Blanco
18.
- MRMel Robbins
Oh, okay.
- BBBenny Blanco
18.
- MRMel Robbins
18.
- BBBenny Blanco
My first, like, real, real one. Basically, I started writing songs for other people, okay? I- Had a knack for it, I guess, and I was able to create most of, like, the soundtrack for, like, kids' childhood from a certain y- from a certain era. I hate talking about myself, but for all intents and purposes, I was at the top of the charts for many, many years for writing most of the popular songs at any given time.
- MRMel Robbins
Well, just give the person a couple, like, 'cause, 'cause somebody might not know what you're talking about.
- BBBenny Blanco
Hold on. I'm gonna-
- MRMel Robbins
And you're not talking about Kidz Bop.
- BBBenny Blanco
No, I'm gonna, I'm... Guys, uh, this, this is so embarrassing, just because I always forget. I'm gonna, I'm gonna literally Wikipedia myself. I'll read a few. Katy Perry, I Kissed a Girl. Katy Perry, Hot and Cold. Britney Spears, Circus. Uh, Kesha's TikTok. Kesha's blah, blah, blah. Kesha's Your Love Is My Drug. Katy Perry's California Gurls. Katy Perry's Teenage Dream. Uh, Rihanna, Diamonds. Maroon 5, Moves Like Jagger. Maroon 5, Payphone. Um, Maroon 5, Maps. Maroon 5, Animals. Ed Sheeran's Don't. Ed Sheeran's entire X al- or entire, uh, Divide album. Justin Bieber's Love Yourself. Major Lazer's Cold Water. Uh, Señorita by Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello. There, I mean, I, I don't, I'm done.
- MRMel Robbins
Great.
- BBBenny Blanco
That's enough.
- MRMel Robbins
No, no, that, that, like, gives good context. So let's go back to the story now-
- BBBenny Blanco
Okay
- MRMel Robbins
... that we have the context. You said it was, like, 2015 the song was like-
- BBBenny Blanco
Here's a, we're going even earlier than that.
- MRMel Robbins
Okay, great.
- BBBenny Blanco
Okay. So I was really in a good position, okay? I had all the success, all these number ones, and I was finding it hard to get the work I wanted, and I was like, "Why is this so difficult?" And I was, like, still running into the same problems. I always thought, m- and when I was younger, and I was making these songs, "Oh, well, once I have all the hits, everyone's just gonna come to me." I was still running into the same pro- And honestly, it was even worse because people were like, "Oh, well, you made..." Any song you played them has to be the biggest song in the world because they're expecting something that's so, um, larger than life. And I was on tour with Ed Sheeran, okay? And The Defiant Ones had just come out by, uh, doc- it's a documentary with Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine. And I remember sitting backstage at Gillette Stadium with Ed Sheeran, and it was his first time ever playing a stadium show. And we were watching Defiant Ones, and it just finished, and he stood up, and he said, "Man, they did so much in their life. What the fuck are we doing with our lives?" And literally, as he said, "What the fuck are we doing with our lives?" A man comes backstage and says, "All right, Ed, you're on." And Ed went and played in front of 75,000 people, and I remember right after that I called my manager, who's right outside, the guy I've known since I was 15, and I said, "We gotta do something different. No one's taken my music. The artists are changing. That idea isn't w- I need to put out the music myself. I need to be the record label, the artist, the publisher, everything." And two days before, me and Ed had made a demo together, and the demo was the beginnings of a song called Eastside, okay? And I told him, I said, "Hey, I think I really wanna use Eastside for my artist project. I wanna become an artist." And I thought Ed was gonna say, "Dude, what the fuck are you talking about? Just make songs for us. That's it." And he looked at me and he said, "I can't believe it's taken you so long to do this. You should totally become an artist." Ed tells me to do it. The song's amazing. I love it. Go to Ed. I say, "Ed, I want you on the song." He says, "No." He said, "I'm putting out my own music for the next year, can't have, can't be on the song." And I said, "Okay." One down. I go to Justin Bieber next. I say, "You gotta be on this song." No response. Okay. Then I say, "All right. No one wants to record it." Then I say, "Wait, I think this song should be a duet." Okay? And I'm at my house one day, and I'm recording Halsey, and I said, "I got this song that I did with Ed and I want it, I'm s- making my own artist thing." And, and she was like, "You're making an artist project?" And I thought she was like, I thought it was, like, gonna be like, "What are you doing?" She was like, "That's awesome. Of course I'll do it." So within, like, 20 minutes she does her verse on the song. So now I have one artist on the song. I somehow get put in touch with Khalid at the time, and this is like, he was really top of the charts at this point. And I said, "I have this song. I want you to be on it." And he says, "Let's do it." So he records the song. Okay. Then we get to the point where the song's g- about to come out, and I send Khalid the song back, and he said, "I hate my vocals. I have to redo it or the song can't come out." And I said, "W- we got one more day. The song has to be sent to master." With all odds stacked up against us, we get that done. Okay? So song is recorded. It's finished. I say, "We're home free. Everything's good." All the powers that be, all the label owners, the managers, it gets all fucked up. Song's not coming out anymore. Okay? Song's not coming out. We wait more months. Now we're 10 months after, you know, things were gonna happen. So many start and stops, and I finally get to the point where I'm about to give up. And I have a call. Someone in the deal is not budging, and it's either this way or the highway, and it was something that was unworkable. And I remember everyone was like, "Well, we did it. We, we gave it our best shot." I said, "I'm gonna call one more time." And I smoothed the deal out. Immediately called all my people. Everyone did it. We finally get the song out, okay? Song comes out, and I'm like, "Let's go." And I was like, and, and, and doesn't really do anything. Like, it's, like, going, but it's like, eh. And I'm like, "Okay." And then starts picking up a little bit, okay? Then a little more, then a little more, and it was the longest climb to number one in radio history, the longest it's ever taken for a song to get from the bottom to the top. Now, I have my first hit song as an artist. Now, that long story I took there, that was just one story in the process of making an album. And to you, you saw the song come out, be incredibly successful. You definitely didn't realize all the conversations I had staying up trying to get this song to happen. You definitely didn't-- I had so much self-doubt. I was questioning it all the time. I was questioning every second of the way, and then I got there, and we did it. And I could have given up, and I could have hit the snooze button, and I could have not, and I could have looked when failure was written all over that board that I threw around, but I just got up, and I kept doing it. And I don't know why I kept doing it. I kept putting my foot in front of the other, even if I didn't know why I was doing it, and then we got there, and we did it. And we did it, and a thing that was just a little dream backstage at a show became the rest of my life.
- 44:25 – 48:37
How to Unlock Your Untapped Potential
- MRMel Robbins
I love the story so much, and one of the reasons why is because as you go along the trajectory of what sounded like almost a two-year-
- BBBenny Blanco
Mm-hmm
- MRMel Robbins
... long project.
- BBBenny Blanco
Almost, yeah.
- MRMel Robbins
And the various points, there was infinite, infinite moments where you could have just been like, "F*ck this."
- BBBenny Blanco
Yeah.
- MRMel Robbins
"I, it, it is done. Okay, I got the no. I'm exhausted. I'm not doing this anymore." And in those infinite moments, all it takes is one person to still believe, and that person is just you. And it's one of the things that you've kind of been saying over and over, that if you wake up every day and say, "I'm just gonna move this song forward three inches today."
- BBBenny Blanco
Mm-hmm.
- MRMel Robbins
"And then I'm gonna do it again tomorrow, and I'm gonna do it again tomorrow until I get enough momentum to make the phone call-
- BBBenny Blanco
Yeah
- MRMel Robbins
... and inch it forward three more inches." And what's amazing about that story, because I really want you to sit with this as you think about where you are in your life, is how many days you wake up and you're the no, and you're coming up with the reasons why you can't inch it forward or find another way. And, you know, you talked, Benny, about the what-ifs, right? And you sit in the what if and what if, what if.
- BBBenny Blanco
Mm-hmm.
- MRMel Robbins
And we don't ever ask ourselves, "What if it all works out? What if I make one more phone call and I can get the deal done? What if I ask one more time? What if it works?"
- BBBenny Blanco
My mom, you know, she never chased her dreams. Never. My mom worked as a person who set up the jewelry at, like, JCPenney's and Macy's. Her, she eventually landed in a job that she did like, where she worked at an assisted living home, and she was giving back to people. I asked her, I said, I s- I said, "Why didn't you chase your dreams?" You know, when she was younger, she was a model, and then she painted, and she had all these dreams. And she said, "I wasn't taught to believe." When you went to school, you went to school, they told you you're supposed to do this, and you're supposed to get a job, and you're supposed to not make a mess. You're not supposed to make... The world tries to tell you not to make a mess. They try to be really clean, and you gotta do as you're told, and you gotta get your job, and then you gotta go here, and then you gotta do this. And then for 30 years you work, and then maybe you'll get Social Security. And there's, like, they're telling you all these things, and we're just supposed to sit back and take them at face value and just listen? The reason why I want this book to happen is because I know there's so many people out there that have ideas, thoughts, concepts, uh, musical ability, acting talent that can make the world a better place and, and, and, and inspire us and change us.
- MRMel Robbins
Thank you for saying that, 'cause I do get both sad and frustrated. Because I see that inside every single person, there is this untapped potential. There is a story to tell. There is a song to sing. There is a book to write. There is a, a difference to make. There's something to build, to create, to connect with. And I think it is so sad, and I, and I say sad because I can see now looking backwards, Benny, the decades, the decades where I was the one who was in my way. I was the loudest no.
- BBBenny Blanco
Yeah.
- MRMel Robbins
I was the one saying, "It's not gonna work." I was the one saying, "Not you. Not now. Who do you think you are? What are people gonna think?" That I was the one that blocked it, and I think for a lot of us- That is the biggest barrier to starting, and you'll never believe if you don't actually see yourself start taking that first step.
- 48:37 – 51:13
The 3 Things You Need for Success
- MRMel Robbins
You know, one of the things you talk about, Benny, is that life is like a stool, and that there are three legs to really focus on, and I think this is really helpful, particularly if everything feels overwhelming.
- BBBenny Blanco
Okay. I have a stool here.
- MRMel Robbins
Yep.
- BBBenny Blanco
So your life is this stool, okay? So this is success. This is, this is the end goal, okay? Now, you have three legs. A stool is made of three legs. Okay, now Mel, when you're, when you're thinking of what three things are that make up your life, what, what, what are they? You know, most people say, you know, like, career.
- MRMel Robbins
Yep.
- BBBenny Blanco
Relationships, self-care, health, whatever it is. Whatever your three are. What are your three? Just, just you. It doesn't have to be the same as mine.
- MRMel Robbins
Oh, well, it would definitely be, like, relationships and family kind of thing.
- BBBenny Blanco
Okay, so family is right here.
- MRMel Robbins
For sure.
- BBBenny Blanco
Okay.
- MRMel Robbins
Uh, the other one would be, like, it would be really about, like, purpose and impact, so it's kind of career.
- BBBenny Blanco
Okay.
- MRMel Robbins
You know, like-
- BBBenny Blanco
Purpose
- MRMel Robbins
... like, yeah, and impact.
- BBBenny Blanco
Purpose and impact.
- MRMel Robbins
Yeah.
- BBBenny Blanco
Career.
- MRMel Robbins
And then the, uh, third would be health, 'cause if you don't have your health, you don't have a life, so.
- BBBenny Blanco
Okay, health.
- MRMel Robbins
Yeah.
- BBBenny Blanco
I don't have three arms, but I'm, I'm grabbing all these stool. These, these, l- these, uh, legs. Okay. So let's say, let's say you're crushing it. You own a company. You're in- you have the fucking Ferrari, the Lamborghini, everything's good, but your kids hate you, okay? So that's your, that, that, that's the relationship and family, okay?
- MRMel Robbins
Oof.
- BBBenny Blanco
Your kids hate you, okay? So now I'm gonna let go. Okay, what just happened?
- MRMel Robbins
Uh, your life sucks.
- BBBenny Blanco
Your life sucks. Okay. Now we're, we're, we're pulling this back up. In life, when you can get that combination of the three, then nothing's stopping you. Nothing. Nothing in the world. And it's, and, and I, I, I recently got that. I recently got that in probably the last five years, and I feel more stable-
- MRMel Robbins
Hmm
- BBBenny Blanco
... than I ever have in my entire life.
- MRMel Robbins
Hmm.
- BBBenny Blanco
And if all those, those little pegs, those legs are strong, then you're rocking. If they aren't, you gotta realign. Sometimes you gotta step back. You gotta get up and do my method. You gotta do whatever it is to realize that it's not working.
- 51:13 – 54:06
How to Know You’re Ready for Love
- MRMel Robbins
That's your method. I wanna read to you from your best-selling book. This is page 108, and it's really about timing.
- BBBenny Blanco
Okay.
- MRMel Robbins
And the importance of timing. "Everything in life is about timing. My relationship with Selena is another great example. We first met about 15 years ago. We worked together five or six years after that, and then again five or six years after that, and had a casual friendship during the time. Then we started dating a few years after that. Now she's my wife. We always talk about how it never would've worked out if it were at a different time or place in our lives, because neither one of us would've likely been ready." So what had to change about your life in order for the timing to be right, and for you to be ready to have the relationship that you have now?
- BBBenny Blanco
I had to figure out that work/life balance.
- MRMel Robbins
Hmm.
- BBBenny Blanco
I was filling up the career side a little too much. Um, I had to get healthy, and that means physically, mentally, all, all of that. Um, I had to understand myself.
- MRMel Robbins
Hmm.
- BBBenny Blanco
I think I also had to learn, um... I was always, I always wanted to do so much. I wanted to f- fulfill my destiny. I had so many things I wanted to do, and I realized over time it doesn't have to happen overnight. It can... honestly, sometimes waiting and, and, and, and getting there slowly makes it even better when you get to the finish line.
- MRMel Robbins
So was it even on your radar? I mean, you guys knew each other for 15 years, which I find to be really interesting.
- BBBenny Blanco
No. She asked me out. There's imposter syndrome. I, I didn't even think of it. It wasn't even on my radar as if it would be a date, and then when we were on our first date, she's like, "Well, I, I wouldn't have worn this if it was our fir-"... And I said, "Date? Oh, wow. Okay." And then, then I'm thinking about it like that. N- no, it wasn't even... I always think those are the best type of relationships, when you're friends with someone, and you know them, and then once you are there, it's like there's not too much learn- like, it's always so scary starting a new relationship. It's like being with a new therapist. It's like, ugh, I gotta tell... I was already with someone. They know my backstory. What, I gotta, I gotta catch you up to 38 years of speed? So it's like, so she already knew. She knew me at, uh, obviously didn't know me deeply like that, but she knew me, and there was, there was a rapport there.
- MRMel Robbins
Hmm.
- BBBenny Blanco
So it made it easy and comfortable.
- 54:06 – 57:50
How to Choose the Right Partner
- MRMel Robbins
How did you get clear about what you actually wanted? 'Cause you said something that struck me about, like, really understanding how you wanted to love and be loved.
- BBBenny Blanco
I wrote a list with my therapist.
- MRMel Robbins
You did?
- BBBenny Blanco
Yep, my therapist. We made a list.
- MRMel Robbins
Of what?
- BBBenny Blanco
I'll tell you exactly what we did. We... I said, "I really wanna find the right partner." And I'm doing something wrong. I'm, I'm doing, I can't find the person that I'm gonna spend the rest of my life with, and I want to do that. And we came up with some guidelines and a list. "Okay, first," he said, "I want you to write down what you think your ideal partner should be. Okay?"
- MRMel Robbins
Mm-hmm.
- BBBenny Blanco
The first thing on my list was age appropriate, okay? So I wanted to date-
- MRMel Robbins
[laughs]
- BBBenny Blanco
... someone... That was, and, the, the... I, I, I... You have to be very honest with yourself, and I said-
- MRMel Robbins
I have never had that on a list.
- BBBenny Blanco
I, I-
- MRMel Robbins
[laughs] I mean, that is like-
- BBBenny Blanco
So that was, that was... I, I... Age appropriate.
- MRMel Robbins
Okay. [laughs]
- BBBenny Blanco
Okay. Then the second thing on my list was, um, someone who's nice. Nice, caring, compassionate. Like, someone who's a nice person, okay? The third thing on my list was I wanted someone who woke up generally happy, who wasn't so sad when they woke up, and if they were sad, they were doing something about it.
- MRMel Robbins
Hmm.
- BBBenny Blanco
Like, they were going to therapy, they were taking medicine if they need to, they were doing yoga. They were actively trying to... 'Cause sometimes people just wake up sad.
- MRMel Robbins
Mm-hmm.
- BBBenny Blanco
That's just part of how it is. Um, and, and I had a list of things, and these were, like, broad things. It wasn't like, I want their, like, left toe longer than their right. Like, these were, like, broad things, and if it didn't meet those, like, first five or six things, couldn't even pursue. Don't waste your time. Don't, don't waste your time.
- MRMel Robbins
Wow. I w- I wanna just broaden this to the person listening, because as I hear this story-
- BBBenny Blanco
Yeah
- MRMel Robbins
... I can't help but think what would be on my list.
- BBBenny Blanco
Yeah.
- MRMel Robbins
And as we think about taking on this exercise, because it's true, you can get so focused on the outside or the chemistry-
- BBBenny Blanco
Mm-hmm
- MRMel Robbins
... or whatever it may be, that you don't stop and think on an average Tuesday-
- BBBenny Blanco
Yeah
- MRMel Robbins
... who is it that I wanna be with, and what does it feel like, and what's important to me? And I'm not sure a lot of us have ever stopped to write that down. So if you had to give, if you had to give some counsel to the person who's listening about, like, guidelines about the list, what would you say? Okay, if you're gonna do this...
- BBBenny Blanco
Cut off all the people right now that you know aren't on that list. Even if it's easy, it's something... Like, for your sake and for their sake, cut off all the people that don't make the list you're about to make. I think you need to find someone that's both nice to themselves and nice to you.
- 57:50 – 1:00:53
The First Step to Achieving Your Goals
- MRMel Robbins
it." So Benny, I, if the person who's listening-
- BBBenny Blanco
Yes
- MRMel Robbins
... takes one action after listening to everything that you have taught us and shared with us today, what do you think the most important thing to do after listening to this is?
- BBBenny Blanco
I want you to do a few things. I don't want you to do one thing. I want you to, right after, right after this is done, okay? I want you to either grab a pen, paper, your cellphone, however you wanna write things down, your laptop, and I want you to make a list of something you wanna do. Maybe it's one thing, maybe it's 10 things, maybe it's 20. I want you to make a list of some things you wanna do, and I want you to pinpoint just one you're gonna focus on right now, okay? If one comes to mind, 20 comes to mind, find that one you're gonna focus on, okay? Then I want you to make another list of the first things you have to put together to, to get that moving in the right direction. Then I want you, today, not tomorrow, today, go like this and move it even a centimeter forward, okay? And then just keep that same momentum. And you know, some days you might let it sit still, or it might go back one inch. But I want you to keep doing that, and I promise you, I promise you, you will be in a better place than you were before you started this podcast.
- MRMel Robbins
What if it all works out?
- BBBenny Blanco
Not what if. It will all work out.
- MRMel Robbins
That's true, especially if you don't quit. Like, I think that's actually the secret.
- BBBenny Blanco
Yeah, ju-
- MRMel Robbins
It works out if you don't qui- like, you can't fail if you don't quit.
- BBBenny Blanco
You can't. You can't. You might still be working at the same thing for a while, but you're not gonna fail.
- MRMel Robbins
That's right. Benny Blanco, what are your parting words?
- BBBenny Blanco
Try to do what you want that's gonna, like, fulfill you, and don't just go along with what you were taught to by, like, some archaic thing in a textbook. And yeah, be yourself, 'cause everyone else is taken.
- MRMel Robbins
Benny Blanco.
- BBBenny Blanco
Five, four, three, two, one.
- MRMel Robbins
[laughs] Oh, my God. There he goes, everybody. Benny Blanco. And before I sign off, I wanna make sure I acknowledge you. Thank you for hitting play. Thank you for listening all the way to the end. I am so excited that you got to experience this, and thank you in advance for sharing a little Benny Blanco wisdom with everybody in your life. And one more thing. In case no one else tells you this today, as your friend, I wanted to be sure to tell you that I love you, and I believe in you, and I believe in your ability to create a better life. There is no doubt in my mind that there was something very specific that Benny shared today that was exactly what you needed to hear right now, so go do it. All righty. I'll see you in the very next episode. I'm gonna welcome you in the moment you hit play.
Episode duration: 1:00:53
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Transcript of episode wzUxCN-ZFfU
