Mel Robbins Dishes on the Most Life-Changing Thing Her Therapist Ever Said to Her, and Honestly, I Need to Remember It
We are a society that measures our success by productivity. There is a lot of guilt surrounding the concept of rest. In fact, according to Psychology Today, more than half of Americans won't use all of their vacation days each year. That also means statistically, 23 percent of U.S. workers took zero vacation days last year.
It's a big reason why top-rated author, motivational speaker, and podcaster Mel Robbins dedicates much of her time to the topic of success and what it means to be successful. While Robbins is famous for offering a plethora of advice, the recent tip she shared from her own therapist actually stopped me in my tracks today.
"The best thing a therapist ever told me is, 'you're not lazy. You only have a certain amount of energy right now. And you're using it all to survive,'" relayed Robbins.
She then elaborated with her own analysis.
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"When you're exhausted, does your brain say to you, 'oh, honey, you're doing such a good job,'" she jokingly asked. "No. Mine is saying, it's like, 'oh my God, you're behind. You got to get to that text. You didn't do enough. You should be doing more. You didn't get to that thing. this person's going to be disappointed.' This is from Jim Quick, who is a brain coach and a New York Times bestselling author. I once heard him say, 'if you only have 40% to give today, and you give all 40%, you just gave 100% of what you have to give.' And when you get through the day, here's what I want you to make space for. Not criticism, compassion. Make space for what you need most. You need rest, real rest. When you're given 100% to get through the day, the most responsible thing that you could do is to stop judging yourself and give your body the recovery it's begging for. So take a break. And how about you repeat this powerful reminder? You only have a certain amount of energy right now, and you're using all of it to survive."
Whew, talk about a whole word! I can't tell you how many times I beat myself up a day for not checking every single thing off of my checklist. And I'm not the only one it resonated with; many of her followers chimed in with their own takeaways.
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"Literally the best advice ever it's all energy and it gets stuck! That's why we tap it out," said one follower.
"You aways seem to pop up on my feed at just the right time. Please accept my sincere thanks," added another.
"Make space for what you need most. Compassion instead of criticism," echoed another.
We love a self-aware queen who gives herself permission to just be.
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This story was originally published May 4, 2026 at 4:21 PM.