"Tried and failed": Shark Tank's Jamie Kern Lima and Mel Robbins discuss "Tips to make habits stick" 

Shark Tank mentor Jamie Kern Lima invited author and podcast host Mel Robbins on her The Jamie Kern Lima Show Podcast. The recent podcast episode, Mel Robbins: How to Reset Your Habits and Make Them Stick! The Secrets That Actually Work! aired on February 11, 2025.

During the episode, Shark Tank's Jamie asks Mel for tips on how to make "habits" stick. They had a detailed discussion about the topic, during which Mel shared various examples and insights about how one can make habits stick.

The discussion for "habits" and how people fail to change them started with the Shark Tank mentor's question:

"How do you, so you do it, you do the thing, how do you make habits stick? Especially for people who have tried and failed over and over and over."

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Shark Tank's Jamie Kern Lima and Mel Robbins discuss "habits" and how to make them "stick" toward a successful routine

Shark Tank fans must know that Jamie Kern Lima is the newest Shark on the reality show. She also hosts her podcast, often sharing motivational and empowerment tips. Her latest episode, aired on February 11, 2025, featured Mel Robbins, a fellow podcast host and author.

They talked about habits and how one can make them "stick" after trying and failing to do so. When Jamie asked Mel about that, she responded:

"I give up the belief that it's going to be automatic. Like, I think all this 21-day stuff is horses*it. Because if you...and that's not even the research. Like, the research is the habit "becomes something that's a pattern somewhere between 9 days and 237 days." Habit formation is highly variable."

She said that it also depends on the "actual habit" and the person. However, for herself, as Mel mentioned, it was "easier to presume" that the habit-forming was not going to be "automatic."

"I think it's easier to presume that I will never like getting out of bed. I will never greet the alarm at 5:15 like some songbird that is summoning me to a beautiful day, and that's okay. And I, instead, Jamie, set up tricks and traps to make it easier not to opt out. So I'll give you some examples."

Sharing examples with the Shark Tank investor, Mel Robbins stated that she keeps her phone in the bathroom. Hence, when her alarm would ring in the morning, she would have to get out of bed. She called it a "trap" that she set for the "worst part" of herself.

Not having a choice to stay in bed and not "relying on emotion and willpower," - Mel referred to it as the example of making "change stick."

After getting out of bed, she mentioned that walking into her closet, she would have her clothes already laid out. Mel called it an "environmental trigger."

"First of all, I just made it easier. I've taken one step out, and now I've got a visual reminder, "Oh, yeah. Here we go. No matter what you feel like putting on, this is what you need to put on," stated Mel Robbins.

Further on the Jamie Kern Lima Show Podcast, Mel mentioned that she would keep her water bottle filled and ready in the kitchen and take the supplements she needed. The reason behind this was to stay "an hour or two" without coffee and get her supplements done.

She told the Shark Tank investor that "the only way" to make a change "stick" was "by doing it."

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ABC Network now streams Shark Tank Season 16's latest episodes every Friday.