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The Mel Robbins PodcastThe Mel Robbins Podcast

Stanford Luck Researcher: How to Manifest the Life You Want

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. — In today’s episode, a Stanford neuroscientist is going to teach you exactly how to manifest the life you want – by becoming a luckier person. Dr. Tina Seelig has spent 25+ years at Stanford, where she also earned her PhD in the science of neuroplasticity, studying leadership, success, neuroscience, and luck. She's written 18 books, including her newest, What I Wish I Knew About Luck – and after this conversation, you will never see luck the same way again. In it, she breaks down something most people get completely wrong: You may believe that luck is something you have, or you don't. As Dr. Seelig will teach you today, there is a science to luck. And when you understand it, and start using it, you can create a life that feels a whole lot luckier. In this conversation, you’ll learn: -What research reveals about lucky people -The #1 mindset shift that separates lucky people from everyone else -The difference between fortune (what happens to you) and luck (what you create) -The 3-step framework to creating luck: build your sailboat, recruit your crew, hoist the sail -The 6 kinds of risk (and how your risk profile might be keeping you stuck) -Why asking for a “5-minute favor” can change your entire life -Simple ways to “stir the pot” this week so new opportunities can find you Dr. Seelig isn't ignoring reality. A lot of life right now doesn’t feel lucky. Everything is more expensive. Jobs are harder to get. Headlines are scary. Owning a home feels out of reach. That is real. And Dr. Seelig acknowledges all of it. And still she says this: There are practical, everyday things you can do - even when you feel stuck in the thick of it - that can change your luck and the direction of your life. If you’ve been telling yourself, “Nothing ever works out for me,” this episode is your wake-up call. If you follow the formula that Dr. Seelig is sharing with you today, there is no doubt that you will have a better and luckier life - because you will have created it. For more resources related to today’s episode, click here for the podcast episode page: https://www.melrobbins.com/episode/episode-388/ 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 Intro 01:35 What Is The Difference Between Fortune And Luck? 07:35 How To Create Your Own Luck 19:26 This Is How to Be More Lucky 28:58 The 6 Types of Risk You Need to Know 39:39 Is It Worth Taking Risks In Life? 50:28 The Best Tool For Increasing Your Luck 53:09 The First Thing You Should Do If You Feel Unlucky 55:43 You Can Create Your Own Luck — 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

Mel RobbinshostDr. Tina Seeligguest
Apr 20, 202658mWatch on YouTube ↗

EVERY SPOKEN WORD

  1. 0:00 – 1:35

    Intro

    1. MR

      Have you ever looked at someone else's life and thought, "How did they get so lucky?" If you could turn your luck around, wouldn't you? Today's guest is Dr. Tina Seelig. Her work is all about the science of luck. You can learn how to become a luckier person. Dr. Seelig earned her PhD in neuroscience at Stanford Medical School. She's also the author of 18 books.

    2. TS

      Luck is success or failure apparently caused by chance.

    3. MR

      Success or failure apparently? What, what is the apparently in there for?

    4. TS

      And that's the point. I mean, this is really important. It looks on the surface as though it's chance, but really underneath, there are things that you have done to tempt good luck your way. There's something very, very important to keep in mind. Fortune is the things that happen to you. Luck is what you control.

    5. MR

      You know, if somebody feels really unlucky right now, what's the first thing they should do this week?

    6. TS

      I would say, if you were gonna pick one thing...

    7. MR

      Hey, it's Mel, and before we get into this episode, my team was showing me 57% of you who watch The Mel Robbins Podcast here on YouTube are not subscribed yet. Could you do me a quick favor? Just hit subscribe so that you don't miss any of the episodes that we post here on YouTube. It lets me know you're enjoying the guests and the content that we're bringing you, because I wanna make sure you don't miss a thing, and I'm so glad you're here for this episode, 'cause this is a really good one. All right. Let's dive in.

  2. 1:35 – 7:35

    What Is The Difference Between Fortune And Luck?

    1. MR

      Dr. Tina Seelig, welcome to The Mel Robbins Podcast.

    2. TS

      I could not be more delighted. Thank you so much for having me.

    3. MR

      I am thrilled about the topic that we're gonna talk about. I love your research, and thank you for taking time out of your schedule to come and share all of this research around luck and how we can use it to improve our lives, and I think that's where I wanna start. So could you talk to me and the person that's here with us right now and just tell us what might change about our lives if we really apply everything you're about to teach us today?

    4. TS

      I couldn't be more delighted to share this information, because when people understand that they have more agency in their lives, they realize that they have levers they can use every single day to make themselves luckier.

    5. MR

      When you talk about luck, Dr. Seelig, what are you talking about? What does that mean?

    6. TS

      Uh, first of all, please call me Tina. Uh, the definition of luck is success or failure apparently caused by chance.

    7. MR

      Success or failure apparently-

    8. TS

      Apparently

    9. MR

      ... caused by chance?

    10. TS

      Exactly, and-

    11. MR

      Wait, wait. What is the apparently in there for?

    12. TS

      And that's the point. I mean, this is really important. The word apparently, it looks on the surface as though it's chance, but really underneath, there are things that you have done to tempt good luck your way.

    13. MR

      Oh, okay. So I wanna make sure that I am tracking, and I wanna make sure that as the person who's with us is listening, we got that, 'cause I think that there is a little treasure buried underneath that, which is oftentimes the things that we attribute to luck, are you saying that once we understand everything you're about to teach us, that those things we once just attributed to luck, bad luck or good luck, we could trace back and say, "Actually, there was something that I set in motion that I'm not giving myself credit for that made this chance thing happen."

    14. TS

      Exactly. And in fact, we often use the word luck to humbly say, "Oh, I didn't have anything to do with this." But if you actually unpack it, you'll see what actually happened to bring that good luck your way. Or, people don't understand the things they did to make themselves luckier. And so what I've been doing is unpacking all the things that are in that apparently to show the things that people actually are doing to make themselves luckier.

    15. MR

      Okay, so you have done all this research. You've written this massive bestselling book, What I Wish I Knew About Luck, and you also have concluded that there is a science to becoming a luckier person. What's the number one thing that drives the lucky breaks that people get?

    16. TS

      Well, first of all, you have to realize that there is a physics to luck.

    17. MR

      Ooh.

    18. TS

      All of the world is cause and effect, right?

    19. MR

      Okay. Yes.

    20. TS

      Fortune is the things that happen to you. Luck is what you control. And it's very, very important to distinguish between those two things, because people conflate the concept of fortune and luck, and they make a mistake in thinking that everything is just happening to them. Well, of course, there are some things that are out of your control. How tall you are, where you're born, who your parents are. Those are things that are out of your control. That's, you know, uh, you're fortunate or you're unfortunate.

    21. MR

      Right.

    22. TS

      And the world is spinning and things are happening. There might be an earthquake. There might be a war. You might have n-

    23. MR

      There might be systematic racism.

    24. TS

      Exactly.

    25. MR

      There might be poverty.

    26. TS

      Exactly.

    27. MR

      There might be all kinds of things.

    28. TS

      Exactly. A pandemic.

    29. MR

      Yes.

    30. TS

      But you have more control over how you respond to it.

  3. 7:35 – 19:26

    How To Create Your Own Luck

    1. MR

      All right. I wanna read to you from your bestselling book, What I Wish I Knew About Luck. This is on page six. "Luck requires taking a chance, a calculated risk. It begins the moment you decide to act in the face of uncertainty. Whether it's throwing your hat into the ring for a competitive opportunity, moving to a distant city without a clear plan, or simply introducing yourself to someone new, each action is a leap of faith beyond the familiar. These moments may seem small, but they're pivotal, creating openings to capture lucky opportunities." What does that mean?

    2. TS

      Every decision you make opens the door to something brand new. We are always one decision away from a completely different life. I think about this all the time. You know, some of the closest friends I have made in my life are people who were standing next to me in line, who I started a conversation with, and we found that we had something in common. And then we started working together, and then we became best friends. If I had not started that conversation, that entire world would not have existed.

    3. MR

      Okay, let's stop right here 'cause I love this kind of thing. Okay?

    4. TS

      Okay.

    5. MR

      So I was standing in a bar in nine... Well, it, it was in a bar. I was standing at a United Way benefit in 1994. I was a brand-new legal aid attorney in New York City, and I walked up to the bar, and I ordered a bourbon on the rocks to go. I wanted it on a plastic cup-

    6. TS

      [laughs]

    7. MR

      ... 'cause I was gonna bounce from the party. And behind me I heard somebody say, "That sounds great, make it two." I turn around, and it was Christopher Robbins, who I will be celebrating my 30th wedding anniversary with this year. Let's unpack that moment in the framework of luck versus fortune. Do, do you see what I mean?

    8. TS

      Okay. Exactly.

    9. MR

      Okay.

    10. TS

      Well, I think it's a great example-

    11. MR

      Okay

    12. TS

      ... because, A, he, you know, he saw you, he was intrigued. He said, "I'll take the same," and you started a conversation.

    13. MR

      Yes.

    14. TS

      It could've been the end. Think of the number of conversations that went nowhere. "Thank you very much. I'll see you later. I'm going home."

    15. MR

      Think about the moments where you see somebody who's interesting, but you don't walk across the room.

    16. TS

      Exactly, and I have so many examples. Let me tell you one-

    17. MR

      Okay

    18. TS

      ... that is, uh, well, in fact this book is the result of a conversation I had with someone sitting on an airplane next to me.

    19. MR

      Really?

    20. TS

      I was flying across the country. Early, early morning flight. Coulda just shut my eyes and gone to sleep. The man sitting next to me was a publisher, and I started chat with him. We talked for a good long time, and at some point, I pulled out a book proposal. I took a little risk, and I said, "Guess what? I've got a book proposal right here on my computer." And he was kind enough to look at it, and you know what he said? "This is very nice, Tina, but not really for us." I said, "Okay, no problem." But guess what? At the end of the flight, we exchanged contact information, and he sent me a text as I was walking off the plane. I stayed in touch. I was teaching a class, my creativity class at Stanford, and I thought, "You know, gee, I'm doing a project this quarter. What should it be on? Maybe I'll do it on the future of publishing." So I called him up again, and I said, "Hey, guess what? I'm doing a project on the future of publishing. Would you come to class?" He said, "Sure." So he came, he met my students. We had a great, great opportunity for everyone. I followed up again with, uh, some videos of some projects my students had worked on. Some were as part of a global innovation tournament. They were pretty cool. He said, "Wow, there is a book in here for the students," and he wanted to meet the students who had worked on this project. I said, "Okay, that sounds pretty cool," uh, and I set up a lunch. At the end of the lunch, which he had brought one of his editors to, his editor turned to me and said, "Hey, would you ever consider writing a book?" And I gave him the exact same proposal-

    21. MR

      [laughs]

    22. TS

      ... I had given his boss, I don't know, it was either one, two years earlier. But I kept that relationship going. That was the point. There were all these little choices I made that ended up leading to the publication of What I Wish I Knew When I Was 20, starting with the conversation with the man sitting next to me on the plane.

    23. MR

      So do you want us to think about luck really more as something you create through the actions you take?

    24. TS

      Exactly.

    25. MR

      Versus something that just happens to some people versus others.

    26. TS

      Exactly. But here is the important thing, Mel.

    27. MR

      Okay.

    28. TS

      Luck is ubiquitous.

    29. MR

      What does that mean?

    30. TS

      Opportunities are ubiquitous. Opportunities are like the wind, but you need a sail to catch it. And what I am passionate about is teaching people how to catch the winds of luck.

  4. 19:26 – 28:58

    This Is How to Be More Lucky

    1. MR

      Yes

    2. TS

      ... 'cause it's kind of big, and I wanna talk to you about how to become a sailboat.

    3. MR

      Okay.

    4. TS

      I wanna talk to you about that. Because if you wanna be a sailboat to capture the winds of luck, there are three things you need to do. First, you need to build that sailboat. The next is you need to recruit your crew. And third, you need to hoist the sail.

    5. MR

      Okay.

    6. TS

      And this is very important to separate these three things.

    7. MR

      Okay.

    8. TS

      You build your sailboat. That's all the internal work. You know, it's funny, there's a, whenever I tell people I'm writing a book about luck or I'm doing work on luck, they go, "Oh, yes, yes, fortune favors the prepared mind." Well, I love that quote. You know, Louis Pasteur, great quote about fortune favoring the prepared mind. But what is the prepared mind?

    9. MR

      I don't know.

    10. TS

      That sailboat is your prepared mind.

    11. MR

      Okay.

    12. TS

      That is all the internal work that you need to do to be ready to ultimately catch the winds of luck.

    13. MR

      Okay, so let's stop right with building the sailboat, okay? Because I know as you're listening and watching right now, you're like, "All right, I'm with you, Dr. Seelig, but how do I build a sailboat? What does that actually mean? How am I doing the internal work to turn this brain of mine that's told me my entire life, 'Oh, things like that don't happen to a person like me. Oh, I'll never get out of this debt. I'm not gonna be this way. I'm not smart, I'm not good...' " Because I'm, I can tell you right now, that doesn't sound like you're building a sailboat. So what are the specific things that we need to do or know or change in order to take advantage of step one, which is you gotta build that sailboat in yourself?

    14. TS

      Exactly. And it's very, very important.

    15. MR

      Okay.

    16. TS

      One is you need to know what your core values are.

    17. MR

      Okay.

    18. TS

      If you do not have those core values, which are like the keel under your boat that keeps you steady, you're gonna be manipulated by people who ask you to do things that are not ethical, they're not legal. I mean, this is how people get caught, when they don't have their core values. And in fact, I can tell you a story about what happened to me when I was young-

    19. MR

      What happened?

    20. TS

      ... and I, I didn't know how to do this. I had taken my first job right out of graduate school, and it was a company, it was a med tech company, and I was so eager. I was just, wanted to do everything right. And the president of the company asked me to go at, to a conference. And it was a conference actually being hosted by a competing company, and he asked me to go, not as a member of the team of this company, but as Dr. Seelig from Stanford. And he was my boss. I, I, why should I question him?

    21. MR

      Yeah.

    22. TS

      I had never thought about whether this would be ethical or not. So I said, "Sure, of course I'll go." So I got on a plane, I went to Chicago. I registered Dr. Seelig from Stanford, went to the conference, and as the conference started, it was a relatively small conference, at the end of every session, I raised my hand and asked all sorts of probing questions. 'Cause I knew a lot about this technology 'cause I was working at a competing company.

    23. MR

      Yeah.

    24. TS

      And they started getting suspicious, and they called up my company, and they said, "Is Tina Seelig there?" And of course, the receptionist said, "Yes. No, no, no, she's not here. She's at a conference in Chicago." And so I was getting into the elevator to go up to my room, and two people followed me in. The door shut, and one of them turned and hit the stop button.

    25. MR

      Are you... What did you think was happening?

    26. TS

      I had no idea. I turned around, and they looked at me. They backed me in the corner, and they said, "Are you a spy?" I mean, I burst into tears, honestly.

    27. MR

      [laughs]

    28. TS

      I was like, "Oh my gosh." But they, you know, they, they said, "We called your company." They were very friendly. They said, "We understand you're the VP of marketing at the company," which was sort of a joke, since I was, like, an intern. But, uh, they escorted me out, uh, very quickly, and I sat on the s- sidewalk thinking, "What happened?" And I realized it was because I hadn't even taken a minute to think about my values-

    29. MR

      Huh

    30. TS

      ... and to think about... And I was very unlucky, wasn't I? Because I should have said to my boss, "Of course I can't do that. I can't misrepresent myself." And so one of the first things you need to do is really think about what your core values are.

  5. 28:58 – 39:39

    The 6 Types of Risk You Need to Know

    1. MR

      me, how do you start building this sailboat?

    2. TS

      Right. So you need to understand that you can do little experiments every day.

    3. MR

      Okay.

    4. TS

      You need to be willing to take some risks, to get out of your comfort zone-

    5. MR

      Mm

    6. TS

      ... and to try something different.

    7. MR

      Okay.

    8. TS

      Now, let me ask you now.

    9. MR

      Yes.

    10. TS

      And please call me Tina.

    11. MR

      Okay, Tina.

    12. TS

      Okay.

    13. MR

      Sorry, I keep s- calling you Dr. Seelig. [laughs]

    14. TS

      [laughs] It's okay. Are you a risk-taker?

    15. MR

      Absolutely.

    16. TS

      Okay. Most people answer yes or no, but risk is much more nuanced. They're all different types of risk.

    17. MR

      I should've said depends.

    18. TS

      I know, but, yeah, but you said, uh-

    19. MR

      See, you're so smart.

    20. TS

      Okay, it depends.

    21. MR

      I'm like, yes, I take a risk.

    22. TS

      Of course.

    23. MR

      But no, then, no-

    24. TS

      Of course

    25. MR

      ... I always take a calculated risk.

    26. TS

      Exactly, but think about the different types of risk.

    27. MR

      'Cause I'm not in a hot air balloon just going, throwing caution to the wind.

    28. TS

      Exactly, but think about the different types of risk. Let me show you something.

    29. MR

      Okay.

    30. TS

      This is the risk-o-meter that we use in our classes, where students map their risk profile.

  6. 39:39 – 50:28

    Is It Worth Taking Risks In Life?

    1. MR

      whether it's a small financial risk, or it's a small social risk, or it's a small physical risk, small intellectual risk to put yourself out there, why does that create luck?

    2. TS

      Oftentimes, it's because you get yourself out of your comfort zone. Th- there are such great examples. Uh, let me tell you a story th- th- that sort of encapsulates a number of these principles. There was a young man who reached out to me a few months ago. Maybe, actually, maybe it's about a year ago. This young man, his name is Oliver, and he reached out to me after he watched my TED Talk on luck. And he said, "You know what? I really resonate with all of this, and I, I wanna become a luck coach."

    3. MR

      Okay.

    4. TS

      I said, "A luck coach?"

    5. MR

      Right.

    6. TS

      "That sounds like a great idea." Uh, and he said, "Could I just have five minutes of your time? I just wanna talk to you." And I said, "I would be delighted." So I set up a time to talk to him, and we had a really nice chat.

    7. MR

      Now, by the way, you could either look at that one moment and say, "Well, he was really lucky that you said yes."

    8. TS

      Of course.

    9. MR

      "He was really lucky-

    10. TS

      Oh, yeah

    11. MR

      ... that it was you and not some curmudgeon professor." But I think your point is, if he hadn't taken the risk to ask for the meeting, it never would've happened.

    12. TS

      Of course.

    13. MR

      And so he's creating the luck.

    14. TS

      Yes.

    15. MR

      Just to kinda get you to understand, 'cause most people think, "Oh, I should reach out to Tina." And then you go, "But she's so busy, and she's not gonna have time, and I don't wanna be a burden. And what do I actually say with the email, and da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da." So you talk yourself out of doing the thing that could actually create the luck that you want.

    16. TS

      Exactly. And it could've been that I didn't respond.

    17. MR

      Yes.

    18. TS

      Right? Because, uh, there are so many examples where you have to send a letter to 500 people-

    19. MR

      Of course

    20. TS

      ... before you end up getting a couple people who respond to you.

    21. MR

      Of course.

    22. TS

      But here's the thing. I did respond. I was intrigued. I had just started working on this book. And I said, "Oh, that's interesting. A luck coach. Uh, let me find out what he's doing." And he told me, and I spent literally five, 10 minutes on the phone with him. And this is important. He asked for a 5-minute favor, a very small thing that was gonna be an easy thing. He made himself easy to help.

    23. MR

      Mm.

    24. TS

      Just five minutes of your time. So afterwards, what did he do? He sent me a thank you note. Now, do you know how many people do not send thank you notes? It is the most amazing thing when someone does something for you-It is a huge missed opportunity if you do not send a thank you note. So he did the right thing, he sent a thank you note, but he didn't stop there. He sent me a long list, he sent me a document with all these ways he could help me. He said, "I understand, you know, you're writing a book on luck. Here are different ways I can help you." I was so intrigued. Now, nothing that he listed was exactly what I wanted, but I thought, "Oh, this guy, he really took the initiative here," and I hired him as a research assistant for the book. Now, I had never, ever used a research assistant for any of my books, ever. So this was... But I thought, "You know, I think he c- might be able to help me," so I hired him as a research assistant. Over the next months, I got to know him in our calls. There's a whole chapter in the book about him. Now, this all started with him asking for a 5-minute favor.

    25. MR

      I love the thank you note example. Do you know what I love about the way you're teaching us this, is the risk assessment that you do on yourself reveals the things that you value and how your actions are probably holding you back, and that's a core part of really building the sailboat of who you are. And the second part was the crew. So how do you build the crew?

    26. TS

      Exactly. Exactly. So asking for what you want, but also helping other people. The more you help other people, it comes back in wave upon wave upon wave. It's really im- important to understand that the more you give to other people, the more comes back to you. And I, I can tell you so many examples, because when I talk to people about what makes them lucky, you start realizing that one of their key characteristics is their generosity.

    27. MR

      Mm.

    28. TS

      Their generosity to others, l- you know, how can I help you? How can I help you? Seeing someone has a problem and helping them. It comes back. Oftentimes when you help somebody in a little way, it was so meaningful, you might've even forgotten you did it, the resulting feedback you get, the resulting impact is so much more.

    29. MR

      Why does helping other people make you luckier?

    30. TS

      Because so many, so few people do it.

  7. 50:28 – 53:09

    The Best Tool For Increasing Your Luck

    1. MR

      One of the other ones that I loved is that you need to, quote, "capture luck," that luck favors those who ask questions. Why does asking questions increase your chance for luck?

    2. TS

      Great.

    3. MR

      This is chapter 14 of your book.

    4. TS

      One of the biggest tools we have for capturing luck is being curious, and boy, you are so curious, right?

    5. MR

      I really am. [laughs]

    6. TS

      And it really leads to a lot of luck-

    7. MR

      [laughs] I thought

    8. TS

      ... because you ask lots of questions, and the more questions you ask, the more curious you are, the more you learn. I always like to tell my students that before something's your passion, it's something you know nothing about.

    9. MR

      Mm.

    10. TS

      And this is really important. People wanna sit around and say, "Oh, I need to find my passions." Well, what a crazy thing. Go out and do things. Be curious. Try lots of things. Keep what works. The more curious you can be, the more questions you can ask, and the better listener you are. The better you l- as you know, the more you meet people and listen and learn from them-

    11. MR

      Sure

    12. TS

      ... you are gonna walk away with things that you never knew before, and opportunities that will present themselves that you never even imagined.

    13. MR

      Well, I, I love that we keep coming back to this framework that's reminding me, and I'm sure it's reminding you as you're listening or watching, that this research and this framework that you're teaching us about luck and becoming a luckier person is really about intentionally making decisions to put yourself in a position to have the things that you want. Because I think, uh, you know, common sense tells you, if you wanna meet the love of your life, you're probably not going to do it sitting alone on your couch, binge-watching television.

    14. TS

      Exactly.

    15. MR

      And yet, when... And then you can sit there and just, "Well, I'm just really unlucky in love, and I've just met the wrong people, and na, na, na, na, na, na." That may be true about your past, but that doesn't have to be true about your future, and there are specific things that you're teaching us to do that can make you one of the lucky ones, to meet that person at the bar in your pajamas, but it's gonna require-

    16. TS

      [laughs]

    17. MR

      ... something of you.

    18. TS

      Exactly. We each have more agency than we may think, and there are so many levers at our disposal. You know, there are, like, 20 different things you can do every single day, whether it's, you know, asking for what you want, helping others, showing appreciation, taking some risks, learning to be more resilient, on and on and on, right? Resolving conflicts.

  8. 53:09 – 55:43

    The First Thing You Should Do If You Feel Unlucky

    1. TS

      But there's something very, very important to keep in mind. Luck is a long game. Luck is like investing money. You start out putting little deposits, and it compounds over time.

    2. MR

      Sure.

    3. TS

      You need to trust the process, that the more deposits you make by doing these things that increase the possibility of good things happening, that they do. But I see people all the time walk right by opportunities. This is why I wrote this book, is because I see so many people, it's like there are gold coins sitting there, and I see them walk by it. You have to have a mindset that there's a prize in every room. It's up to you to find it.

    4. MR

      Yes.

    5. TS

      And with that mindset, you find it. It's like the $5 project, right? You know, oh, not everybody is sitting there saying, "I should set up a, a bike tire pressure monitor in the middle of campus," but once you were given the challenge, create some value, people did.

    6. MR

      You know, of all the tools that you're sharing-Which, you know, as you're listening, and, um, you're probably just like me, as you're listening to, uh, Tina, Dr. Seelig, talk, you're probably like, "Okay, I could do... I could take a risk. I could see. I, I, I get it. I see how, like, sitting back, staying silent, hoping somebody finds me, not asking for what I want, not stirring the pot, not getting out of my house, I can see how I need to shift things." But if you're listening and you're feeling skeptical, maybe you're feeling a little beaten up by life, what do you want the person to know about how this truly makes a difference over time?

    7. TS

      Yes. It is critically important to realize that the choices you make today determine the choices you are going to have in the future.

    8. MR

      You know, if somebody feels really unlucky right now, what's the first thing they should do this week?

    9. TS

      I would say, if you were gonna pick one thing-

    10. MR

      Yes

    11. TS

      ... do something to stir the soup. Do something to add something new to your life. Remember, we are all one decision away from a completely different life. Apply for the job, introduce yourself to the person in line. Do something to stir the soup, to open the door to something new.

  9. 55:43 – 58:30

    You Can Create Your Own Luck

    1. MR

      Dr. Tina Seelig, what are your parting words?

    2. TS

      I wish everyone the very, very best of luck.

    3. MR

      Mm-hmm.

    4. TS

      And I know, I know that the choices you make today are going to be reflected over and over again in waves and waves of good luck into the future.

    5. MR

      Thank you so much for being here. I love you, I appreciate you. I'm so grateful you're doing all this research for [laughs] all of us. And there's no doubt in my mind that if you apply this, you will be luckier. No doubt.

    6. TS

      Thank you so much.

    7. MR

      Well, thank you.

    8. TS

      Thank you.

    9. MR

      And I also wanna thank you, and I wanna point something out, and I bet that Tina is gonna say, "Mel, that's right." The fact that you hit play on this episode, especially if somebody shared this episode with you, the fact that you stirred the pot in your own life, you took a risk and hit play, and you spent time watching or listening all the way to the end, is an example of what you are talking about, Tina. That you took an action aligned with something that you want, which is you do wanna be luckier in life. You do want life to break in your direction. You do want to open up the sail and capture the winds of opportunity, and I'm grateful that you spent the time listening and watching something that is really gonna help you do that. And in case no one else tells you today, I wanted to be sure to tell you as your friend that I love you and I believe in you, and I believe in your ability to create a better life. And if you follow the formula that Dr. Seelig shared with us today, there's no doubt in my mind that you will create a better life, because you're gonna be a lot luckier, 'cause you will have created it. All right, I will see you in the very next episode. I'll welcome you in the moment you hit play. And thank you for watching all the way to the end. Didn't you love this? I hope you're generous sharing this episode with people that you love so that they can learn all of this research and apply it to their life to create more luck. We all deserve that. And one more thing I wanted to ask you. If that subscribe button is lit up, would you please subscribe? It is free. It is the number one way that you can tell me and the team here at The Mel Robbins Podcast that you love what we are doing. Remember, Dr. Seelig said you gotta ask for what you want, so I'm asking you for what I want. I want you to be a subscriber, that way you don't miss a thing, and it's how we know that you are loving all of the world-renowned experts that we bring you here on YouTube. All righty, I know you're thinking, thank you by the way for doing that, "Mel, what's the next video I should watch? I'm loving this." You definitely wanna check out this one, and I will welcome you in the moment you hit play.

Episode duration: 58:31

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