with learning what it takes to turn dreams into reality. You know, I started my company

back in the day with no clue, no connections, no money, and over time grew it into something

spectacular. I created the award winning show MarieTV,

was named by Oprah as a thought leader for the next generation, and wrote the instant

number one New York Times bestseller Everything Is Figureoutable. I've helped millions of

people transform their businesses and lives, and guess what? Every week I'm going to help

you take action and make the difference you were born to make, but please do not expect

anything about this podcast to be traditional. We've got songs, weird sound effects, the

occasion F bombs, maybe some fart jokes, if you're lucky, and anything else that makes

me laugh. It's all fair game, because this is The Marie Forleo Podcast.

If you're finding it hard to feel inspired, or creative, or energized right now, guess

what? You are not alone. The emotional toll of this pandemic, man is it real, but there

are steps you can take to start feeling better. So, in this episode we're going to talk about

why it is vital to opt out of non-stop negative news and what to focus on instead. My case

today is backed up by a unique combination of brain science, Milli Vanilli, and good

old common sense. You're also going to hear from a special guest

who's an expert on the power of good news, Mr. Tank Sinatra. But first a word from today's

sponsor. I'm Marie Forleo and I quit writing boring

copy after I discovered nobody wants to read that shit. If you have problems writing in

a way that's true to your voice and helps convert browsers into buyers, The Copy Cure

may be right for you. Check with your health professional and after

she says she doesn't care about your writing skills, sign up for our free seven-day writing

class at the copycure.com. That's the copycure.com. All right, here we go, people. First of all,

thank you so much. We are loving the voicemails that y'all have been sending. If you have

no idea what the hell I'm talking about just Google “leave Marie Forleo a voicemail”

and you will get the entire scoop. So, when we were listening to your voicemails

this week we noticed a recurring theme. There's a lot of people not feeling like themselves

these days, which makes a whole lot of sense given the fact we are in the midst of a global

pandemic. Right? Folks are feeling lethargic and unfocused,

and finding it harder and harder to just get things done. So, let's dive straight into

today's Hey Marie segment and talk about some steps we can all take to start feeling better

now. Hey Marie, this

is Susmitha from Bangalore, India and I love your podcast, and your book, and basically

everything about you. You are so freaking awesome and inspiring. Especially your energy.

My question for you is, during these times of uncertainty it's hard to feel very creative

or inspired or productive. So, even though technically we have more time

on our hands, it's not very easy to do stuff. Usually we get into the sense of blah. You

know? So, can you give me tips on how to get over that?

Susmitha, great question. You are not alone, my love, but more importantly these feelings

you're having are not your fault. In fact, outside of this global crisis there's another

more insidious reason you might be feeling especially blah and low energy these days.

And surprisingly Milli Vanilli has our answer. Seriously, though, right now most of us are

consuming a lot more news than usual. I mean, we're checking the headlines when we wake

up, maybe we're getting news alerts all day long, and then, let's be honest, we're probably

watching even more news at night. Make no mistake, there is a direct connection

between what you're watching, reading, and listening to all damn day, and how you feel.

Your energy levels, your mood, your ambition. Now, to understand how this all fits together,

let's look at the nature of both the news media and some simple neuroscience. For example,

did you know that there's a long standing adage in the news industry that goes like

this, "If it bleeds, it leads." I know it's a horrible statement, but it's

true. Now, what does it mean? It means that many newspapers, TV and cable networks use

fear and pain to hook our attention and keep us coming back for more.

So, that jolt of adrenaline and the negativity, as weird and strange as this is going to sound,

it can actually be addictive to our brains. Why is that? Because of something called negativity

bias. So, negativity bias is something I've talked

about many times before. It is the human tendency to pay more attention and give more weight

to negative experiences over positive or neutral ones.

This is not just some fancy pants psychological concept. This is real, people. Our brains

are literally wired to notice more of the bad stuff and pretty much ignore the good

stuff. It's evolutionary. We did, actually a whole MarieTV episode on

this if you just Google “Marie Forleo negativity bias,” you will find it. So watching the

news isn't just addictive, though, it's also terrible for your health.

Non-stop negativity weakens your immune system. Right? Increases anxiety, and guess what?

Ding, ding, ding. It reduces your ambition. So, what's the fix? What do we do about it?

Two simple steps. Step number one. Reduce your traditional news

consumption. And I'm talking no more than one serving per a day. So, here's how this

looks in my life. Right now, I'm going to be honest, I am obsessed with watching New

York governor Andrew Cuomo and his daily briefings. I love this guy.

Every single night I literally get out my popcorn, I sit my ass down on the couch and

I watch his updates on YouTube. Why do I do that? Well, he delivers the facts with precision

and empathy. He puts the data first, and then he tells us his opinion last. And he always

separates fact from his opinion. He's got a whole new PowerPoint slide on it. I love

it. He also says cool things like this. Like,

"Before you open your mouth why don't you go look in the mirror." I love him. Anyway.

Every single time I watch, no matter how bad, or terrible, or painful the facts are, I actually

leave feeling informed, and energized, and hopeful. It's so weird. It's like taking a

Xanax in the middle of this pandemic, but then getting really inspired and wanting to

change the world. It's awesome. I think it's a reflection of his leadership

and his communication style, and honestly I appreciate both. Now, look, before anybody

wants to come for me on this podcast thinking that I'm suggesting that you ignore the news,

or look past the suffering of others, or pretend this all isn't happening, I need you to calm

down. I am not suggesting that any of us turn a

blind eye to anything negative, nor am I suggesting that we close our hearts and not be aware

of the suffering of others. Do you know me? Have you paid attention to my work for any

amount of time? If not, you need to get yourself educated,

because look, there is a distinction here. There is nuance. There is a limit to how much

negative news any human being should be taking in each and every day. So, yes, you got to

be aware of the facts, yes, you got to know what's happening so you can help, but no,

you should not be watching non-stop negative news all day long and then feeling like crap.

I believe we have to take our pain and our hurt, and turn it into hope. And in order

to do that you have to have the energy to take productive action. So, back to you, Susmitha.

I want you to find a local news source that actually gives you the facts, and leaves you

feeling strong. Limit your intake of the facts to maybe, I don't know, five to 10 minutes

max and then just be done for the day. And once you do that, we are going to move onto

step number two. Increase your good news consumption and use

what I call the five-to-one rule. My author friend Rick Hanson taught me this one. Our

brains are like Velcro for negative experiences, but Teflon for positive ones. Again, that

is negativity bias at work. So, some studies have shown that in relationships

it actually takes five positive interactions to make up for a single negative one. And

I think we should apply this five-to-one rule to our consumption of negative news. Don't

you think? I think. So, here's how it's going to work. From this

moment forward each time you choose to consume one bit of traditional news, seek out five

pieces of good news to counterbalance it. That's right. So, for every little bit of

negativity you allow into that beautiful mind of yours go find five positive, or inspiring,

or funny, or hopeful things that are happening. And here's an example to get you started.

So, there's this woman, right? Who lives alone and is completely isolated during this pandemic.

She's got no spouse, no kids, no pets, no one to be in quarantine with.

So, instead of feeling sorry for herself, or letting fear or negativity take over, guess

what? She decided to use what she had in her kitchen to make a difference to others.

So, she cooked up this big old tray of eggplant parm and she posted an update on Nextdoor,

which is this app here in the states that helps neighbors stay connected to each other.

And she said, "Look, I just made a big tray of eggplant parm, if you're hungry, if you

don't have food right now come by my front porch and get it."

And so, she left these individually wrapped portions on her front porch so people could

just safely come and get something to eat. And it was such a hit that she's been making

meals for her community every few days. So, check it out. Right? Instead of watching

non-stop negative news all day long, or feeling bad, or sorry for herself, she decided to

do something productive instead. She's not only serving up eggplant parm, people, she

is serving up some good news too. I mean, don't you feel inspired by this? I

don't even feel inspired, I actually feel hungry. Anyway. If you're still not convinced

on the power of looking for good news, then I think you need to meet my next guest Mr.

Tank Sinatra. He's the founder of the popular website and

Instagram account @tanksgoodnews. So, Tank, thanks so much for joining me on The Marie

Forleo Podcast. Today we are talking about the power of good news, and I was like who

better to have on the show to talk about this with me than you?

The guy. Yeah. Exactly. The guy. Can you tell us why,

and how you started your sites? So, I'm 39 years old. I've been on this planet

that long and from as early as I can remember I didn't understand why the news, all they

wanted to talk about, I remember being a kid and being like, "The world seems like a scary

place." Growing up in New York there was always kidnappings,

and robberies, and murders, and what I quickly learned is that none of that stuff was happening

around me, and if I didn't get it from an external source I didn't have to feel bad

about everything going on bad in the world. Because, if you talked about neuroscience

you know that the brain really doesn't know the difference between what it's imagining

and what is real. So, if you're watching the news, and your mouth is dry and your heart

is pounding, and you're angry and then somebody says something and you're snapping at them,

now there's misplaced anger going on, just because you had to watch this thing that you're

addicted to. I don't blame the media or us. I think it's

just one of those things where somebody who wanted to make a lot of money figured out

this weakness that humans have, and it's a weakness for negativity.

Yeah. Negativity bias. That's what we just talked about. The brain is hardwired to give

more attention to the negative than the positive. It's evolutionary. It's just part of how we're

built. Yeah. We want to survive.

Yeah. So, if there's a snake on this pathway you

got to remember not to go down that pathway. So, I guess I didn't figure it out, I just

kind of experimented and I had seen some really beautiful stories go viral over the years.

I've been on the internet a long time, and I don't know, I just said, "What the media

is doing is they're creating a visceral reaction in people. That reaction happens to be negative.

What if I could create a visceral reaction that's positive where, instead of your mouth

getting dry or you getting angry, you're crying tears of joy or you're getting a little heart

flutter, or you're feeling for the first time in however long that the world is not a scary

place, and it's not out to get you.” So, I just try and pollute my brain with positivity

as much as possible. I love that. I love that.

Yeah. I'm actually just curious about this, personally.

How do you find the good news? Where does it come from? Do you have other people that

search for it? Is this all you? Do people submit things? How does it come about?

No. So, the thing is, it's really not that hard to find. That's the trick. You would

think that... I remember when I started the page, Hurricane Harvey was going on and the

local news is... I was posting only huge stories. J. J. Watt raising 20 million, the Cajun Navy

driving hundreds of miles to rescue people. And I remember I happened to have the news

on one day in the house and I saw a video or a story of a little four-year-old boy who

had fallen off a deck in the Bronx and died. Right?

It wasn't Eric Clapton's son falling out of a window, it wasn't some powerful person's

kid, it wasn't extenuating circumstances, it was just some family who lost their child,

and that made the news. And what occurred to me was that it doesn't

always need to be big news, it could be little news and if I attack it with that attitude

I'm never going to run out of good news. Ever. And it's just, it's so easy to find. I mean,

at this point... There was one point very early on in the development of the page, maybe

like two weeks in where I realized, I almost felt like my work was done with the page,

because not only was the page growing, but people were then starting to send me stories