What idea have you been sitting on lately?

What’s been holding you back from starting?

Today, Jay sits down with engineer, innovator, and YouTube creator Mark Rober to explore the unexpected life experiences that shaped one of the internet’s most beloved minds. Mark shares the childhood moments that ignited his passion for building, breaking, and understanding how the world works, moments nurtured by a mother whose love, imagination, and encouragement helped lay the foundation for his life’s mission. He reflects on how her influence continues to ripple outward, inspiring millions of young people who learn, explore, and dream through his work today.

Jay and Mark explore the mindset that carried Mark from NASA engineer to innovative educator, unpacking what it really means to “think like an engineer:” experiment boldly, embrace failure, and treat every setback as an opportunity to learn. They follow Mark’s unusual pivots, from designing Mars rover hardware to crafting Halloween costumes, to ultimately shaping a career that blends curiosity, storytelling, science, and play. Together they reveal the deeper lessons behind Mark’s most viral experiments: why creativity thrives when we stay childlike, how passion reveals itself through repetition, and why the most meaningful work grows from genuine excitement rather than algorithms or expectations.

In this interview, you'll learn:

How to Think Like an Engineer

How to Stay Curious as an Adult

How to Follow Your Passion Practically

How to Build Ideas That Actually Work

How to Find Creativity in Everyday Life

How to Recognize Your Real Calling

How to Inspire Others Through Your Work

Keep following the questions that excite you, keep trying the things that scare you, and keep believing that you’re capable of far more than you realize. Your next breakthrough might be just one experiment, or one brave attempt away.

With Love and Gratitude,

Jay Shetty

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What We Discuss:

00:00 Intro

01:16 Were You Always Creative?

04:02 Understanding the Real Impact of Your Life

06:55 What It Really Takes to Work at NASA

09:49 Learning to Think Like an Engineer

11:22 How Rovers Are Tested for Mars

12:20 Searching for Life Beyond Earth

13:24 Follow What You Truly Love Doing

16:11 If You Can Imagine It, You Can Build It

17:22 Practical Wisdom from a Lifelong Tinkerer

20:57 The Pivot from NASA to Apple

23:34 Turning Ideas into Actionable Success

24:45 What is the Engineering Design Process?

28:28 Why Embracing Failure Matters

29:57 Relearning Trust and Finding Love Again

34:56 The Power of Immersion Weekends

36:45 Making Learning Engaging Through Creativity

40:29 Why Mastery Is Worth Pursuing

41:40 Balancing Business with True Creativity

44:51 How Communication Shapes Great Storytelling

47:40 Two Common Mistakes Creators Make

52:30 Staying True to Your Creative Style

54:04 The Importance of Focusing on One Passion

56:44 The Hidden Failures Behind Viral Success

59:35 Giving Kids Room to Be Creative

01:04:30 Curiosity as the Root of Creativity

01:06:07 Inside a Real Creative Process

01:08:45 Where Do You Get Your Big Ideas?

01:11:46 The Mind-Bending Question of Life in the Universe

01:16:02 The Promise and Peril of Rapid AI Growth

01:19:56 Focusing on What You Can Truly Influence

01:24:57 Mark on Final Five

Episode Resources:

Mark Rober | X

Mark Rober | Instagram

Mark Rober | Facebook

Mark Rober | LinkedIn

Mark Rober | TikTok

Mark Rober | YouTube

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode, Jay talks about a side of gratitude we rarely acknowledge, the kind that isn’t shiny or uplifting, but the kind that helps when life feels heavy, complicated, or far from what you expected. He explains how, for years, he treated gratitude like something meant to fix pain or override his feelings, and how that mindset only added pressure instead of bringing any real peace.

Jay talks about what real gratitude actually feels like, not the kind that tries to cancel out your struggles, but the kind that can sit beside them. He shares how acknowledging both things at once, what hurts and what’s still good, builds real resilience. Jay breaks down why phrases like “at least…” shut your feelings down, while using “even though…” or “and…” keeps you present with your emotions instead of pushing them away.

Jay also shares the small, practical habits that help him reconnect with gratitude when it feels far away: paying attention to what stayed instead of what disappeared, taking 10-second pauses to notice something good in the moment, borrowing someone else’s joy when you can’t access your own, and writing a thank-you note to the version of you who got through the harder seasons.

Jay reminds us that gratitude isn’t supposed to hide what’s hard, it’s meant to help you steady yourself. It’s the quiet admission: “Life is messy, and there’s still something I can hold onto.”

In this episode, you’ll learn:

How to Stop Using Gratitude to Mask Your Feelings

How to Hold Pain and Gratitude Together

How to Notice What Stayed, Not What Left

How to Use 10-Second Pauses to Reset

How to Borrow Gratitude When You Can’t Feel It

How to Thank the You Who Survived

You’re not doing gratitude wrong, you’re just learning to do it honestly. Keep showing up with awareness, gentleness, and patience. You’re not rebuilding from zero, you’re rebuilding from experience.

With Love and Gratitude,

Jay Shetty.

Join over 750,000 people to receive my most transformative wisdom directly in your inbox every single week with my free newsletter. Subscribe here.

What We Discuss:

00:00 Intro

01:00 How to Practice Gratitude

02:39 Gratitude Without Hiding Your Emotions

06:46 Don’t Use Gratitude As Your Escape

09:17 Focus On What You Still Have

11:11 Finding Gratitude in the Gaps

14:43 Gratitude Reset: Take A 10 Second Pause

18:26 The Art Of Borrowing Gratitude

21:15 Stay Thankful To Your Past Self

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.