Everything is Figureoutable: The #1 New York Times Bestseller

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Yeah. I love that. I don't think I thought about it from that perspective too. I mean, looking for the latest, right? What is the newest release in any category that people would actually look for that and it's a really great point. Everything is as it should be" -- "In short, here's what making is-ness your business means: engage in your life with enthusiasm exactly as it is, regardless of your likes and dislikes, your preferences, ideas, beliefs, and opinions about how things should be or could be. Unconditionally allow things to be as they are. When you deal with what is, or your is-ness, you can then choose who you'd like to be in relationship to that." (p. 12) "For the next 24 hours, make is-ness your total business. No matter what happens…pretend that you wanted it to happen. You can even say 'And this is what I want!' after any circumstance that your mind wants to resist." I LOVE learning about the lifestyles and philosophies of artists –– how they live, work, dress, and share their ideas with the world –– and this book gives me the opportunity to sit down with 100 different women and learn about their creative processes.” Totally. But I wanted people to hear that because, again, it can feel really lonely. It can feel really isolating, and you can feel really broken when they're in the midst of the creating. My excuse: I’ve been in hermit-mode and have done nothing but read books for 5 years (no blogs/videos/etc.) so I wasn’t able to get the full sense of Marie’s heroically brilliant and grounded and HILARIOUS power until this book came out.

This is a big question, big question. I want you to think about the answer, although it might just pop out of your head. What would you say is the single most important habit for a writer? And if there's not one, if there's not one single most important habit, you might have one, give me your top three. Allow yourself to really feel it without trying to make the feeling different than it is or attempting to get over it. Experience the physical sensation. Watch what's happening on an emotional level without getting lost in the mechanical thoughts triggered by your mind. Our Creative Strategist, Hailey, loves taking time to sit down with these inspiring women anytime she needs a boost of encouragement, to learn how they get things done.

Your Future Is Figureoutable

Jayasri: For anyone feeling the impacts of uncertainty during this time, this passage from Letters to a Young Poet by Rainer Maria Rilke is one of my favorites. “Why do you want to shut out of your life any uneasiness, any misery, any depression? Since after all, you don’t know what work these conditions are doing inside you. Why do you want to persecute yourself with the question of where all this is coming from and where it is going? Since you know, after all, that you are in the midst of transitions and you wished for nothing so much as to change.” I would say it, it's got to be three. They're all equally important. But I would say mindset is the number one most important habit. Because if you're thinking it right, you're not going to keep showing up. Or you're going to show up, but you're going to berate yourself and waste a lot of your damn time. So I would say, decide that it's going to be shit. Decide that it's not all up to you, that this is a collaboration with your muse, your God, just your unconscious that is trying to help your children live a better life. Marie Forleo: And I think when there’s more of us that believe that things are figureoutable, not only can we make our lives better, but more importantly we can solve some of our collective challenges, because we’ve got a lot of stuff happening right now. Here’s the thing that people need to remember. At the end of our show, we always say the world needs that very special gift that only you have. There is only one of you. No one ever has, nor will they ever have, the unique blend of talents and skills and gifts that you have. And if you don’t do everything possible while you’re alive on this planet to share your gifts, to reach your dreams, the world will have lost something truly irreplaceable: you. Jayasri: I’m Jayasri. I’m on the Customer Happiness Team. We really support our customers through B-school, The Copy Cure, life and everything that MarieTV brings forth and people’s hearts. I wasn’t sure how the Soho House event is going to be. I have to say I love the fact that it was… You know. There’s only probably about a hundred and so. We had a full room, but you can only fit about 120 or so people in there. And I did a book signing, and I got to meet and hug so many people, and I love doing that. It’s interesting. I love big events. I love when there’s thousands of people. That’s awesome. But one of the challenges is you can’t really get to talk to everyone, so I really appreciate that right now we’re getting a little bit of a mix where I can hug people, and personally sign their books, and hear their stories, and just get to be with a lot of people at once.

Whether you want to leave a dead-end job, heal a relationship, grow a business, master your money, or just find two free hours in your day, Everything is Figureoutable will train your brain to think more positively and help you break down any dream into manageable steps. It's just that simple. It's just how it works. However, and years ago, Mary Karr told me that, "If you write a really good book, it doesn't matter. It will get sold." Ann Patchett says the same thing. A lot of the people who started out in publishing and got famous before social media, they say that. And I was like, "Mm, I'm not really sure. I'm not really sure I'm buying that." I could not underscore the importance of those habits too, and of course health and happiness, but for me that waking up every day at 5:00 AM was what allowed me and what still allows me when I need to really move on a significant in-depth project. That's how I got a roll. And here's the other thing I always like to tell people. I don't roll that way 365. It's not for me. I don't care what your motivation is, but find it and then keep your thoughts right. And if people get messy with their thoughts, garbage in, garbage out, look at what you're watching. Look at what you're listening to. Watch more MarieTV. Watch Seth Godin. I mean, there's so many people to watch. There's so many great podcasts to listen to. Abby and Glennon. I mean, on and on and on. There's so much value to be putting into your brain. So, on the heels of all of that and with a new and deeply profound appreciation for the preciousness of life, I am now wrapping up my job (with healthy savings in the bank, mind you) to start off on a new life journey as an artist. Do I know exactly how I'll get there? Not really. But now — more than EVER — I know that I'll figure it out. And I'm thrilled to have your insights and inspiration for my journey into this new chapter.So I have a friend of mine who is a painter and she's awesome. We were talking just about the creative process and I was going into a new project and I said, "I'm taking myself away." I was going to just fly across the country. Josh is going to be in New York. I was going to be in LA for a while to just kind of get into it. One last question, Linda, about really surprises. Surprises from authors that you've worked with or students or even your own as it relates to just what comes through when you commit? Marie Forleo: Oh, absolutely. This is one of the things I live my life by. As a highly creative person: simplify to amplify. So if you want to… Right? If you want to amplify, whether it’s your result, or your sense of joy, or your sense of contribution, or how far you can get in any domain. Yes! Simplified it. It keeps me sane all of the time; use it constantly. You have to set yourself up for success. So the people that I admire the most are the ones who have boundaries like you. I mean, Liz Gilbert said that she almost had a nervous breakdown. She just gave it all away and to the point where she was left with nothing. So I think the biggest and most important habit is around time, scheduling your life appropriately. I was looking at your time. Your time course today. Doubt that you have what it takes to bring your creative vision to life? Grace Bonney’s In the Company of Women may be the inspiration you need.

We need artists, entrepreneurs, problem solvers, writers, and more people like you to share your gifts with the world. Books on how to be creative can give you the inspiration, motivation, and — most importantly — practical steps you need to take to do that. I was going to say, get the foundation down, and then you just put the mascara on the eyelashes with the editing.

The problem isn't you. It's not that you're not hardworking, intelligent or deserving, but that you haven't yet installed the one key belief that will change everything: Everything is figureoutable. One day my car tire was nearly flat and I had no clue what to do. I remembered Marie’s mantra and Googled my car model and tire air pressure at the gas station and sorted out my flat tire in two minutes. This gave me proof and confidence that everything IS figureoutable. What’s fun about this book is that it dives behind the scenes at Pixar Animation Studios to show you how movies like Toy Story, Finding Nemo, and WALL-E came to life. That state of total absorption in something you love is what psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi calls “flow” — he believes it’s the happiest we ever are.

The company’s co-founder and former president, Ed Catmull, wrote Creativity, Inc. for business leaders who want to incorporate Pixar-level creativity into their own culture. I don't think so with myself, because I had a really kind of tumultuous first marriage. So I was married for 19 years and we fought more in one month than I had fought with anybody in my entire life, everybody combined. So we radically loved each other and we had lots of drama. And then we had a kid. Really great recipe, right? And then a million animals. And then my parents were dying. I moved home to take care of them and on and on and on. Marian: And I think Anne, who is this incredibly talented writer, talking about the garbage that comes out the first time she writes something, makes me feel better because I think she just has this really funny way of talking about how basically even the best writers that you know have no idea what they’re doing until they’ve done it. And nobody just sits down at their desk with their beret and their cigarette and churns out this beautiful sentence, that it takes a ton of work and a ton of workshopping and a ton of editing. And knowing that has made me feel so much better about the writing process. So I talk about and I talk about this concept all the time.

The Copy Cure

Marian: I’m Marian and I’m a copywriter. I chose Bird by Bird by the incredible Anne Lamott and this book, she wrote it years ago, and it’s about creativity and writing, but from a personal angle, which I think is one of the reasons that this book resonated with me so much. It’s not a how-to about writing, it’s musings on writing life but not douchey, because I realized that sounds really douchey, but basically Anne just talks about her journey as a writer and the struggles and the advice and the things that have gotten her through the writing life. Marie: Oh, it’s thecopycure.com. And, oh, honey, if you still didn’t hear it, rewind the damn podcast.