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The Mel Robbins PodcastShould You Trust Your Gut Instinct? | The Mel Robbins Podcast
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At a glance
WHAT IT’S REALLY ABOUT
Stop Asking Others: How To Courageously Follow Your Own Gut
- Mel Robbins uses her son’s college tour experience—and her own overbearing behavior at her Dartmouth alma mater—to explore why we ignore our inner knowing when making big life choices. Through conversations with her son Oakley and team members Amy and Jessie, she contrasts the physical sensations of a clear “yes” and “no” with the noise of other people’s opinions and our own fearful self-talk. Drawing on neuroscience, she explains that decisions originate in the body, with the brain merely interpreting those signals, and argues that the real issue isn’t trusting your instincts but finding the courage to act on them. The episode offers a powerful metaphor of “separate tours” to help listeners mentally step away from external pressures and walk with their future self instead.
IDEAS WORTH REMEMBERING
5 ideasStop saying “trust your gut” and start saying “find courage to follow it.”
Robbins argues your instincts are usually accurate; the real barrier is the fear of disappointing people, breaking norms, or stepping into the unknown, which requires courage rather than more analysis.
Use your body as a decision compass: expansion means yes, contraction means no.
A true yes feels open, energizing, and full of possibility; a no feels closed, drained, out of place, and often shows up as tension or dread in the body before the mind rationalizes it.
Mentally “separate tours” to reduce other people’s influence on your choices.
Visualize the people whose opinions you normally seek—parents, partners, friends—on a different tour, so you can walk through a decision alone with your own reactions and your future self guiding you.
Notice how quickly your gut speaks—and don’t talk yourself out of it.
Oakley’s college visits showed that strong nos can appear within minutes and strong yeses feel obvious; with practice, you can get faster and more precise at recognizing and honoring those signals.
Be wary of decisions driven by fear of being left behind or judged.
Robbins’ law school story and Amy’s mastermind experience illustrate how staying with the “pack” or internalized voices can trap you in years of misaligned work, even when your body is loudly protesting.
WORDS WORTH SAVING
5 quotesWe lose our power the moment we turn around and ask, “What do you think?”
— Mel Robbins
A yes is super open. You feel lots of possibilities. You feel like you’re in the right place.
— Oakley (Mel’s son)
I don’t want to talk about trusting your instincts. I want to talk about the fear you have in following them.
— Mel Robbins
If she wants to do it, why wouldn’t you let her try it?
— Richellie Wright (quoted by Amy)
You have to be your own tour guide in life.
— Mel Robbins
High quality AI-generated summary created from speaker-labeled transcript.
