The Mel Robbins Podcast - FBI Trained Expert Explains How to Read Body Language
Episode Date: May 11, 2023In this episode, you’re going to learn how to decode body language from one of the world’s leading experts on the topic. Janine Driver has been trained by the FBI, CIA, and one of the world’s t...op hostage negotiators. When a criminal case grabs our attention, every news network calls Janine to analyze body language and critical verbal cues that suspects, politicians, and celebrities are sending so we can tell when somebody is lying. If you love True Crime, you’re going to love this episode, because it’s a masterclass from an expert who’s spent over three decades decoding body language for law enforcement agencies around the country. She will teach you which hand gestures indicate that somebody may be lying, why you should grab your chin during a high-level meeting, why you should never shrug your shoulders if you want to be convincing, and the million-dollar question that you should ask at the end of every single interview. If you’re dating, you’ll learn all kinds of incredible tactics, like why you should never sit directly across from someone on a first date. This is an incredibly interesting, entertaining, and surprising take on how to build confidence and be smarter about the subconscious signals that other people are sending you all day long. Xo Mel In this episode, you’ll learn:3:15: Janine’s early childhood trauma saved her life as a teen.6:00: So how do you go from being a profiler with the FBI to a body language expert?9:30: Which three groups of people can read body language really well?10:00: The hand gesture that says “maybe” even when you’re hearing “yes.”12:30: Listen for the word “left” when you hear it from someone else.13:40: How Janine knew Casey Anthony was lying about her daughter’s death.19:30: What’s your behavioral fingerprint? Here’s how to figure it out.20:00: What is the best question to ask at the end of an interview?21:15: How men state what they need versus how women do.27:00: This is why a shoulder shrug might be a huge clue.31:40: The power of eye contact, unpacked.34:15: What the heck is lip locking and what does it mean when someone’s doing it?36:15: When you’re trying to get the truth out of somebody, use the pause after “don’t”.37:45: Do this to get your kids to tell you the truth.42:30: Ever been interrupted by someone in a meeting? Here’s what you do!47:15: Use this hack to look more confident. 48:00: Janine tells me what my pointy chin means.48:45: Know the difference between Clark Kent and Superman, and you’re all set.52:00: This is the BEST dating advice I’ve heard in a long time.54:15: Here’s how detail-oriented people drink their water.56:30: Next time you’re on a date or an email, tilt the coaster. 58:00: What if you don’t FEEL confident when you use these “non-verbals?”1:02:00: Why belly buttons matter more than the eyes when reading someone.1:04:00: Nervous on a date or an interview? This hack releases nervous energy. Disclaimer
Transcript
Discussion (0)
Hey, it's your friend Mel, and welcome to the Malrow Robbins podcast.
Today, I am really excited to introduce you to a woman that I met over a decade ago,
who is one of the world's leading experts in decoding body language.
So for all you true crime junkies out there, you better buckle up because you're about to get a master class
from a woman who has spent over three decades decoding body language.
Jeanine Driver has been trained by the FBI and the CIA. She's studied some of the biggest
murderers in history. When a criminal case or an election or news story grabs our attention,
every single talk show in newsroom from 60 minutes to CNN puts Janine driver on speed dial. The today show they've had
around over a hundred times to analyze both the body language and the words of
criminals, politicians and celebrities to let us know when someone is lying. She
can tell you what a shoulder shrug a lip lock chin grab means. She can tell you
how to decode the body language of somebody that you're dating or the person you're working for. She can even help you
understand the signaling that your kids are giving you, that they don't even mean to be giving
you, when they're hiding information. But this goes way beyond decoding lies and deception.
This is an episode about empowerment, because there are simple things that you will learn to do in meetings in
interviews on dates and with your family to gain more influence to be more persuasive and to exude
confidence. All right, you ready?
We're gonna go from true crime
murderers to confidence and job interviews all in a single episode.
I can't wait for this.
Ladies and gentlemen, let's welcome Janine driver to the Mel Robbins podcast.
Janine.
So Janine, I can't wait to just shout you and your wisdom from the rooftops.
Thank you.
Most people have seen you on TV.
You've been analyzing murderers for the FBI,
the CIA for decades.
How did you get into this work?
When I was at six years old, no.
If we really do go back to six, quite frankly,
at six I was molested by a next door neighbor
and there's three types of people
that are good at reading people.
Kids who are abused physically, emotionally, verbally, they need to know when dad comes
home, he puts his hat on a weird way or cracks open the beer or mom gets the vodka, whatever
it is that tonight's not going to be a good night.
So for me, it happened to be a next door neighbor.
And by the grace of God, my mother believed me.
Now I believe today, as a swearing Christian, I believe that everything happens for my greater
good.
So at 16, a guy tried to kidnap me.
I was going to Mr. Donuts.
I worked at a Mr. Donut place now at Duncan Donuts.
I'm from Boston, like you, right?
And I picked up my check.
I was on my bike.
It was a rainy morning.
It was 5'30 in the morning, 1986.
And in my little 16-year-old brain, I just turned 16.
I was thinking when this guy tried to kidnap me with this car, he's gonna get me.
I became like Liam Neeson and like a future movie, right?
Like he will get you, you know?
And I swear having that trauma when I was six saved me at 16.
He said, hey kid, why don't we put your bike
in the trunk of my car?
And I'll give you a ride home.
Gavin DeBecker will call it the gift of fear.
The gift of fear just was like, shh.
And I knew I couldn't drive 2.8 miles home
because he's just gonna hit me with his car.
It doesn't care if I'm dead.
He's gonna put my broken bones in the car
and do whatever he's gonna do to me.
But I saw a bay bank, one block away,
and I'm like, if I can get to bay bank,
maybe my parents will have the closure.
I'm like Adam Walsh's family who were looking for him.
They didn't know who took him outside of a Sears Park in Lot.
And my little 16-year-old brain, because what the trauma at 6 was,
it just began to change how I thought of the world.
And I said, if I can get to Baybank, maybe there'll be a camera.
And I got there, and by what I call the grace of God,
the fence behind Baybank had been ripped open, like, cut open. It was a metal fence. It looked 20 feet, but it was probably like
eight feet. And I rode my, he followed me right to the bank, Mal, and you at home listening.
And I drove through the hole down a six-footed bank meant into a shopping, another shopping
plaza, called 911. My parents are sound asleep. It's 5.30 in the morning. A police officer
drives me home. My parents have no idea of left the house.
Oh, my God.
Janine, I have chills as I'm listening to you tell that story. And you're making me think of something.
So I was also molested by an older kid when I was in fourth grade. And in the process of healing that trauma
and learning about how that kind of experience
can impact you for the rest of your life,
I've heard the term hypervigilance.
Yes.
Psychologists, trauma specialists will talk about the fact
that when you experience that kind of sexual
or emotional or physical abuse, you create
this hypervigilance where you're always on, you're looking for the next shooted drop, you're
looking for the signs. And I've never really connected the dots to the fact that it also can
create this super power spidey sense that you have this lightning speed when it comes to your intuition and reading
danger signals and really creepy vibes from people or situations.
And that's really fascinating how you just connected the dots.
That a lot of times these terrible situations actually equip you with the ability to read
a situation like that. But how did you go from those experiences to ending up working as a
profiler for the FBI and the CIA? When I went into college,
I majored in English communications because I'm fascinated
about what makes human beings tick. And then I ended up getting a
job with ATF, the Bureau of Occult to Back on Firearms.
I never heard of them.
They're originally Elliott Ness from the tax days.
We used to be part of Treasury,
now with the Justice Department,
loved human behavior, how to spot if someone's lying.
And I watched a Dan Kennedy marketing video one night.
And I was like, oh, what am I an expert at?
And so I was like, what am I an expert at?
What do I need to claim it?
You know, what is it? And I went to work the am I an expert at? And so I was like, what am I an expert at? What I need to claim it? You know, what is it?
And I went to work the next day at ATF in DC.
And Ben Peters always gets a bagel with me.
We all made a work friend like Ben Peters.
He comes in and I go, Ben, shut the door.
Going on, I got on a how to tell you this,
but I'm leaving ATF.
I'm a New York Times bestselling author.
I go on TV shows all the time.
I'm the go-to body language-detecting deception expert
for the media.
He was winded this happen.
I go 9.35 p.m. last night.
Ha ha ha ha ha!
Two weeks later, I was on Fox News with Tony Snow,
who later became the press secretary for George W. Bush.
And then I put that on a website, Lyon Tamer,
L-Y-I-N, because I could tell if you're lion,
liontamer.com.
Four months later, the Today Show sees it.
There were three body language experts
that had sites, websites then.
They dug my vibe or whatever,
my Boston Moxie I call it, Mo.
And I've been on the Today Show,
I don't know, over a hundred times,
Dr. Oz, Rachel Ray, the rest of the day,
Rachel Ray, sidebar really quick.
I'm like, what show do I want to get on next? I'm like, oh. Oz, Rachel Ray, the rest of the way, Rachel Ray, sidebar really quick. I'm like, what's the show that I want to get on next?
I'm like, oh, this Rachel Ray chick,
this back in the day, you know, 20 years ago.
And I wrote to every single story they had coming up,
like, hey, are you meeting your future in-laws?
We'd like to talk to you.
Do you think your kids smoke?
And I'm like, I'm the human lie detector.
They call me the lion tamer,
because I could tell you're lying.
And I pitched them.
You see, my degree in college was English communications,
and I had a concentration in public relations.
And they taught me how to write press release.
People say, who's your press age?
And I go, North Adam State College in the Berkshire,
so now called Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts.
They are my PR agent.
And I wrote to 12, my son who's now 17 and 6 foot one was a baby.
And I wrote to every single pitch, like every single upcoming show. And then that was a Wednesday
Mal on Friday my phone rang. Janine driver, this is Maggie Barnes, the Rachel Ray show. And I said,
swear to God, Maggie, I've been expecting your phone call. That is a baller move.
Ha, ha, ha, ha, wow.
Wow, I wanna make sure everybody got
the incredible life lesson in that.
She didn't sit around and wait for the phone to ring.
She made it ring.
At this moment in Jenny's life,
she is a mom with a baby on a mission.
And she takes it upon herself to do the research and to put in the work.
She's looking at Rachel Ray and she sees that they've got all of these upcoming shows
and she writes in and pitches herself for every single one of them.
That's what you have to do.
She didn't sit around and wait for the phone to ring.
She made it ring.
She's teaching you more than body language here everybody,
put in the work, do the research,
and make that phone ring if you want the phone to ring.
Excellent, excellent.
So I wanna go back and ask you something though, because the very beginning, you said there were three types of people
who learned to read body language. What are the three types?
One is kids who are abused in some type of way.
Two, people like the Secret Service,
who are trained every single day to look for the anomalies,
to look for what doesn't fit.
And the third group is people have had a left brain stroke
and the right brain takes over.
So people have left brain stroke, the right brain takes over,
which is the non-verbals,
and spotting these little teeny movements that people make.
Can you start to give us an example
of what a non-verbal is?
There's a hand gesture that turns agreement to disagreement
and no one's ever told us what it is Mel.
What is the easiest thing? So I say to you, you go, hey, Jeanine, next time I'm in DC, I'd love to,
let's go to dinner, right? I don't drink by maybe you say, let's get iced tea. And I go, okay, Mel,
that sounds great. And I nod my head, yes, I'm saying yes, but I take my hand and I touch the back
of my head at the same time.
I go, yeah, that sounds great. Now, sure, absolutely.
Yeah, let's get together.
Or that's what men tend to do.
Women will go to the neighbor of our neck and we lift our hair up for those of you who are
listening and they be not seeing us right now.
And when someone says yes and they shake their head, yes,
but they touch their head at the same time.
That's called the high level pacifier.
That's indicating there's something they're uncertain about. So maybe when you say, hey, when I come to town,
you need, let's go over steak. And I go, okay, yeah, that sounds good, but I just became a vegan.
Why?
Do intermittent fasting and I don't eat three days a week now.
I'm saying yes, but I take my hand and I touch the back of my head at the same time.
It's just telling you, my definite yes actually has a nonverbal maybe.
There's a problem.
So everyone, either wherever you are in your car or the gym, just say, yeah, that sounds
really good, Janina, love to get together and pat your head, pat the back of your head.
Yeah, you're literally like going, I'm lying to you because I really don't want to.
As I'm petting my hair or I'm touching my neck,
I bet you see this a lot on first dates
where somebody's trying to get it to a second date.
And they're like, I think we should do this again.
And you probably see people not
and going, yeah, that'd be great.
And then they go and touch their neck
and that means yeah, not really.
If you think someone is not telling you the full story,
how do you approach it?
Say, maybe I'm wrong here.
It seems to me there's something you're uncertain about.
Well, I just became vegan now.
Can we get something vegan?
You just said that phrase.
Maybe I'm wrong here.
It seems to me.
Is that what you recommend that we say,
whenever we get the feeling that something's off
or we're getting mixed signals from anybody in our life
You just recommend that line. I might be wrong
It's a softer way to kind of lean into this because I would bet that when we first start trying to decode other people
We're gonna make a lot of mistakes, but you can train yourself to be better on it
I say you can't unsee it. I'm here. I'm experiencing you just said unhear it. What do you mean by that?
Words have hidden meaning if I said to you, Mal,
I just left my office. I'm going to get to the restaurant 10 minutes early, Mal.
Take your time. I've got some work I can do. What's my, what's my hidden meaning and what I just said?
Do you know? I just left my house. I just thought that you haven't just left.
Some people think I didn't leave and I'm trying to, you know, cover my ass for when I'm going to ask you something. I just want to ask you something. I just want to ask you something. I just want to ask you something. I just want to ask you something.
I just want to ask you something.
I just want to ask you something.
I just want to ask you something.
I just want to ask you something.
I just want to ask you something.
I just want to ask you something.
I just want to ask you something.
I just want to ask you something.
I just want to ask you something.
I just want to ask you something.
I just want to ask you something.
I just want to ask you something.
I just want to ask you something.
I just want to ask you something.
I just want to ask you something.
I just want to ask you something.
I just want to ask you something.
I just want to ask you something.
I just want to ask you something.
I just want to ask you something. I just want to ask you something. I just want to ask you something. I just want to ask you on a phone or face to face and they use the word left,
they're telling you about something that happened that involves strife, some problem.
I just left my house, just as a minimizing word.
I love how you're explaining this, Janine, because what you're essentially teaching us to do is to pick up on these mixed signals,
whether it's physical or verbal, right?
Left, L-E-F-T equals strife.
I left my job, I left my husband.
Well, speaking of words that are tells,
I remember that you did a ton of commentary
on the Casey Anthony murder case.
And if I remember correctly,
wasn't there something about the words that she used
to describe the day her daughter died
that were a huge tell that she was lying to the police?
And for those of you that were not following this case back in 2008, it gripped the nation.
A young mom was accused of murdering her little girl by sticking her in the back of a trunk
of a car.
And there were all these details.
And she was ultimately convicted of lying to the police.
And if I remember correctly, Jeanine, didn't have something to do with the words because she went to prison for that for lying to the police, and if I remember correctly, Jeanine, didn't have something to do with the words,
because she went to prison for that, for lying to the police.
So can you explain how you knew, unequivocally, that Casey Anthony was lying?
Yes.
So if you can just, I say you can't un-experience it, un-hear it, or un-see it.
So when you see something weird, or you hear something weird, slow down, and try it
on.
Casey Anthony, the mother, her name is Cindy Anthony, Casey Anthony's mother, so she's
the grandmother of Kaylee Anthony.
She called the police on 911 and said, my daughter's been missing and I just found out my
granddaughter's been missing for 30 days and it smells like there's been a dead body in
the trunk of the damn car.
When police interviewed Casey Anthony about the smell in her car, she said,
dead squirrels climbed to my engine and died. That's what she said. So if they're dead, how
are they climbing? And then they would they re-died? Are they zombie squirrels? Like,
but our brain plays tricks on a smell in you at home. Dead squirrels climbed to my engine
and died. And what our brain does is says, oh, what she means is a squirrel climbed up into her trunk and died. Roger Clemens, did
you cheat in baseball and take steroids? He said, how do I prove a negative? What? You
mean, how do I get people to know that I'm telling the truth? Our body and brain does
not want us to lie. And they're having a conversation with one another. So the tells
that they are really talked about a handful, there's over 5,000 body language,
and words that have hinting meaning.
Wow.
Well, speaking of tells,
you started our conversation today
by talking about what you called non-verbels,
like hand gestures or touching the back of your head,
or you said that a lot of women start touching their neck
when they feel uncertain,
and so that if you see these,
I think you said they were pacifying gestures
that when you see these pacifying gestures,
it's a sign that somebody's unsure
or they're lying to you.
Are there other places on the body that people touch
when they're stressed out or lying
or that indicate that somebody's not being
fully transparent with you?
So this pacifying happens at all parts of our body,
but the higher the pacifier,
the more stress and anxiety.
Why? Our brain is in here.
So you may be ringing your hands together
or rubbing your hands or rubbing your hands
on your legs to pacify stress.
I actually do that.
I think we all do that at times.
These behaviors with our hands indicate stress
and the closer that our hands rise up to our brains,
the more stressed out we are. Yeah, these high-level face pacifiers are indicating stress.
Think about people rubbing their eyes. Babies when they're crying mal, you're a mom, a mom,
maybe you had home or a mom or you're once a kid for sure. Babies just before they fall asleep, they rub their eyes.
That's right, they do.
There is a nerve behind our eye.
When you touch your eye, it then affects this nerve
that tickles our brain and dumps dopamine in our body.
Fascinating.
So right now, if everyone just touches your eye
and your boss says, hey, can you get this done by Monday
and it's Friday at five o'clock, right?
And you go, okay, boss, on a, and you touch the part of your eye.
If you're in a meeting or on a date and someone starts touching their eye, it's likely stress has
increased. By the way, Putin even does this when he's deceptive or stressed. He'll touch his
eyes as well under high stress. So in a meeting, it says to me subconsciously, right? Your brain is
getting so stressed in your body
that you're dumping dopamine to say it's okay, it's okay.
You see world leaders, you see corporate titans.
The president of Mexico said,
President Obama in the United States
can help us curb the cartel problem in our country.
And when he says it, he does a bunch of body language
that indicates uncertainty and then touches his inner eye.
Wow.
So you've spent decades studying murders, liars, world leaders, becoming an expert at decoding
this hidden language.
Yes.
What do we need to know so that we can spot when people are lying, so that we can spot these
signals that somebody is giving to us and be more empowered in life.
Where do we even begin, Janine?
That's a great question, Mel.
At first, I would start with us before decoding others.
So let's start with self-awareness, okay?
Okay.
That sounds great.
Why don't we take a quick moment to hear a word from our sponsors because they are bringing
you this incredible masterclass at zero cost. But everybody stay right with us because we're going straight to what you need to
know about decoding yourself with Janine Driver when we come back.
Welcome back. Today you and I are getting a master class
in decoding body language.
I freaking love this stuff.
Don't you love this stuff?
And so we have just been learning about,
as she says, non-verbals.
That sounds so like police work, non-verbals, okay?
But Janine said, before we start decoding
all the liars around us and calling people out,
we actually have to look in the mirror and start with self-awareness. So Janine, where do we start?
I call it a behavioral fingerprint. What's your behavioral fingerprint? I have no idea.
Okay. If you at home can imagine a tree. There's the four stages of how we communicate. First is the
intention, the roots of the tree. The trunk of the tree is body language. After body language comes the branches. The branches
are thought in the last one are the leaves. The leaves of the tree, male, are the words.
And if you think of a tree, male, and you at home, is, then we're going to start with
the roots of the tree. The roots of the tree is what we believe.
I spoke at Georgetown University and someone said,
a woman at the end of my presentation,
excuse me, I have a group interview tomorrow,
five people are interviewing me.
Janine, is there a question you would ask
at the end of the interview?
And I said, yes, I would ask to each of them,
what do you consider the ideal candidate to look like?
And how do I measure up to your expectation
of the ideal candidate? And the woman had you all I measure up to your expectation of the ideal candidate?
And the woman had you all been there, you would have seen her and heard her say, oh, I could never ask that, I would look desperate. You would have heard me respond, you're right.
You would look desperate. I would look confident.
Is that because of the roots?
It's because of the roots of the tree. It's what I believe because I really want to know that question.
Whoa.
I want to make sure you got that because Jeanine Driver just dropped a masterclass bomb on
us.
That is an incredible tip for any interview.
And I hear you.
Don't you dare ask that unless you really want to know the answer.
And Jeanine, you know, this is making me wonder in a very broad stroke when it comes to gender.
Do you see any differences in body language
or these verbal cues when it comes to confidence
between the way that women and men present themselves?
A lot of us, if the women who are listening,
a lot of us women, we really do ourselves
a huge disservice.
Men go in and men say, excuse me, now I just found out my mother's
coming to town, 4th of July, I'm taking four days off, confident, solid body
language. Women, we ask the same question that same day, we will often many of us
come in shoulder shrugging. And we put our shoulders up to our ears, hey boss,
I just found out shoulder shrug that my mother's coming to town shoulder shrug.
I didn't know she was coming.
Could I take the 4th of July off?
And your boss says yes to Bob and no to Jane.
And we walk away and say, this is what happens.
See, it's a double standard.
Now I'm not saying there's not a double standard with men and women because there is.
But there are some areas where we have to take responsibility for the results we're getting.
When I come in uncertain, how am I making my boss feel, Mel?
Uncertain.
Jenny, you're so right.
And I want to make sure, especially for those of you that are listening to this podcast,
if you're watching us on YouTube, because we always put a longer, unabridged version of the podcast up on YouTube.
So you definitely want to check that out so you can see Janine.
You can see these moves.
But I want to make sure if you're listening to this conversation that you really get this,
okay, because you can't see what she's doing.
Take a second and do it with me because the physical part of this is so powerful.
Okay?
First, I want you to hike your shoulders up towards your ears.
So imagine that the tops of your shoulders are earrings.
You got them up towards your ears.
Now I want you to just say out loud, can I take the fourth of July off while your shoulders
up?
Try it.
Hike your ears shoulders up.
Can I take the four?
You, it's like your body and your mouth
aren't working together.
It's so weird because you have this physical experience
that your body is questioning the words
that are coming out of your mouth.
It's impossible, Janine. It's impossible to feel confident.
If your shoulders are hiked up to your ears, I've never thought about it. I don't even feel confident
if I've got my shoulders up at my ear and I'm sitting here shrugging. Well, you're planting
pumpkin seeds and expecting tomatoes to grow. It's true. It begins with the roots. It is not our fault. It's not your fault because no one is teaching us this.
Okay, we just want to be like, we don't want to be inconveniencing people.
We don't know for a bother.
But if you look at the many of the men in confident alpha women, they just come in unapologetically.
That's the roots of the tree.
What is it that you're planting?
Because what you're planting is going to grow whatever the seed is connected to.
So get to those roots of the tree.
It's what do you believe?
What's the truck?
It's the truck.
Okay, what's the truck?
The truck of the tree is body language.
And now this is interesting because after body language
comes the branches, the branches, Mal,
and you at home are, the branches are thought.
So this means body language comes before thought. And here's the deal. It
comes up to five seconds before thought. Now, do you think five seconds is a good
advantage for the military? Would five seconds matter? It's life or death. Do you think five
seconds matter with an athlete? It's winning or losing. Can five seconds with you, with your five second rule, can five seconds make a difference?
Of course.
With understanding what I'm talking about now, first is the intention, the roots of the
tree, then body language, and then thought.
This means you get a five second advantage to know how someone else feels before their
brain knows how they feel.
Oh, I think I get it.
I was a little confused when you said five-second advantage,
but I think I get what you're saying.
You're trying to explain to us that these non-verbals,
like shrugging your shoulders or touching the back
of your head or touching your eye,
that when somebody does this, they don't even
realize they're doing it.
So if you can spot somebody touching the back of their head or shrugging their shoulders,
you have an advantage because you're reading the body language before the person even realizes
that they're unsure.
That's genius.
And what's the last part of the tree?
The last one are the leaves.
The leaves of the tree, mal, are the words.
And words matter because words plant the next seed.
And you also just taught us, Janine,
that words give us clues as to whether or not people are lying.
They are part of this behavioral fingerprint
that everybody has and that they're signaling
to the people around them.
If you understand people's behavioral fingerprints
and there's a bunch of things,
maybe I'll come back and play again and answer questions.
You can sell to them differently,
you can raise the kids differently,
you can understand them.
There's 26 billion different behavioral fingerprints.
Oh my God, now I'm overwhelmed.
You know what twins I want to focus on?
Yeah, deception.
Deception. In your work in your TED Talks, Janine, you use this term ESL, everyone's
second language. And it relates to eye blocking, shoulder shrugging, and lip blocking. Those
are the three horsemen of body language signals. Eye blocking, shoulder shrugging, lip blocking, that can signal to you, that somebody's lying to you, or not telling you the whole story.
Why is a shoulder shrug a tell that something's wrong? I mean, we all just did that exercise where we lifted up our shoulders and we felt how weird it feels, but why is it such a big tell?
Here we go. Shoulder shrug. A shoulder shrug is uncertainty.
When I say, hey, Mel, what do you want for lunch?
A salad of BLT?
I don't know.
What do you want?
A shoulder shrug makes sense there.
Your verbal says, I don't know.
And your nonverbal says, I don't know.
It's congruent.
But when I say, hey, Mel, your favorite TED Talk of mine
is black.
And I shoulder shrug.
It does not mean I don't like that talk,
but it does indicate there's something I'm uncertain about.
Ask me if I ever cheated on my husband when I was married to him.
Did you ever cheat on your husband when you're married to him?
No.
Now, I said no, and for people who are listening, I shrugged at the same time, and that's why
I'm not slapping.
See, that shrug means, Mal, you open to file in a cabinet that's this top secret of something
I don't want to share with you.
Oh.
And maybe what I don't want to share is that he cheated on me, and I'm called the human
mind detector.
Hypothetically, he cheated on me.
Hypothetically, he went on Tinder two days before Christmas and my friend told me because he showed up in her cow hypothetically.
So the shoulder shrug doesn't mean I'm canceling what I'm saying but it does mean there's
something I'm uncertain about. And I may not even realize it yet. Why? Because you have
a five second advantage over my brain. I don't even
realize I'm uncertain about something right now. But if you can spot it, you can simply say,
I call it M-I-W formula. Maybe I'm wrong. You know, maybe I'm wrong here, Mel, but it seems to me,
or it feels to me that you're uncertain about something. And then let the person say, well, yeah.
I noticed in a lot of your commentary in some of the major murder cases that you
have been an expert on that shoulder shrugging while husbands in particular who went on to be
found guilty or confessing to murdering pregnant wives or members of their family that during press conferences, you were picking up on shoulder shrugging.
Yes.
So, in our lives, if you have somebody in your life that you think is lying to you, whether
it's a kid that you think is lying about what they were doing last night or a significant
other that you think might be cheating or might not be telling you the truth, is paying
attention to whether or not
they just sort of inadvertently subconsciously
raise their shoulders as they're talking.
That is one clue that something's not right.
Yes, not only shoulders though, Mel, it's also hands.
So sometimes a hand shrug, it's also uncertainty,
or a mouth shrug, like, mm, I don't know what to tell you.
So a hand shrug or shoulder shrug of this like mouth shrug where you can feel that someone don't know what to tell you. So a hand shrug, a shoulder shrug,
this like mouth shrug where you can feel that someone's uncertain.
It's hard to describe it here.
It's indicating there's a hotspot here.
We don't know what the catalyst is,
but there's certainly something I'd want to ask more questions on
with regard to this.
So that was the shoulder shrugging,
but there are two more that you want us all to understand.
And so how about we hear a word from our sponsors
who are allowing us to bring Jeanine Driver to you
at zero cost, we are loving this.
And when we come back everybody,
we're gonna talk about the two other hidden signs.
Eye blocking and lip blocking.
Don't go anywhere. Welcome back.
I'm Mel Robbins and we are getting a master class today in reading body language, spotting
liars, uncertainty.
I just love this stuff.
Gene Driver is here and we have been covering the three body language horsemen. Whenever somebody
rides this horse on in, they shrug their shoulders, they lip lock, they eye spot, whatever the
hell that is, it means they're lying. So Janine, can you explain an example of what eye blocking
is?
Yeah, so a murderer named Chris Watts killed his pregnant wife, Shaniaan, his two young daughters Celeste and Bella,
little ones like under the age of six.
And Wendy is being interviewed.
And then there was the other guy that killed his pregnant wife.
Scott Peterson.
Scott Peterson.
If you look on my TED talk,
I tell you how long they eye block.
And so sometimes they'll just talk like this
with their eyes closed.
I think Susan Smith was something like 16 seconds.
So if right now I'm closing my eyes if you see me,
everyone close your eyes and just talk out loud.
So just I'm gonna give it a hot second.
And just close your eyes, Mel, you do it for me.
Do not open them.
Okay.
This is so weird trying to talk.
Oh my gosh, then I'm trying desperately not
to shrug my shoulders at the same time. Okay. That was about 11 seconds, right? Oh my God, then I'm trying desperately not to shrug my shoulders at the same time.
Okay, that was about 11 seconds. Oh my god, that's so weird.
So here's I'm blocking. I'm blocking, I have an iPhone right here, right? So I have to enter my code to get access to my cell phone. Yes. I blocking is you are putting up the code to
inside your brain that you don't want people to have access
to information that's inside your brain.
So I blocking can be I put my hand over my eyes,
I could be adjusting my hat,
I could be breaking the eye contact,
I'm looking away.
So I blocking is there's something
I don't want you to see right now
and I'm putting up my screensaver
and unless you have the code, which I'm gonna give to you again, the MIW formula, maybe
I'm wrong here, MIW, it seems to me there's something you're thinking about or something
you're concerned about.
And so I blocking happens under high stress and high anxiety.
People will block.
As a matter of fact, if you want to know if you're a powerful person, which I know you
are male, high status versus low status.
High status people give eye contact and look at you when they're listening to you.
High status people also look at you when they're talking to you.
Low status people look at you when they're listening, but when they talk, they break eye contact
a lot.
I do that.
I blocking when I talk.
I do that.
I do that, but I think it's my ADHD.
I notice I have a really hard time staying in locked eye contact with somebody when I'm
talking.
I can do it laser beam focus when I'm listening to somebody, but there's
something about searching for words or capturing my thought or something. I don't ever close
my eyes, but I definitely look up or I look down and then I look back.
It makes you even more likeable because it is a low status thing to break eye contact
when talking. When we do that, it comes across as you're not a know-it-all. You don't think
you're still a work in progress. You don't think you're better than everyone else. It's
almost like intimidating to not break the eye contact. But you will be seen as someone
that has a lower status, like that you're not like the alpha dog saying, hey, I'm the boss here,
this is you've got to do what I want to do.
You're, and that's not who you are, you're that team person.
You're pulling us along with your journey.
And the final of these three horsemen,
you call it ESL is lip locking.
What the heck is lip locking?
Everyone pull your lips in and just say,
not a problem, I don't mind.
No problem. And pull your lips in and just say, not a problem, I don't mind.
And pull your lips in. Okay. For those of you who are not watching this episode on YouTube,
what Janine just did is she literally like put her lips together and then rolled them in. So she made her lips disappear. That's right, right? Janine, you just make them disappear.
Make them disappear. And so Malgo's not any, you just make them disappear? Make them disappear.
And so Mal goes, not a problem, Ginny.
I say when we don't like what we see here,
our lips disappear.
That's this one.
Oh, so it's disappearing.
Rolling those lips in.
Okay.
So Mal says, not a problem.
I know there is a problem
because Mal's lips disappear.
So I know there is a problem. So I might stick around and say
Mal, you know, maybe I'm wrong here, it seems that you're disappointed or there's something you're
not saying. I'm going to tell you what that person's going to say. Yeah, I am mad because last
year you were supposed to come and you backed out three days before then. You have a five second head
start if you can decode body language because the body language
people are showing you their brain doesn't realize how they feel just yet body language shows
that before that thought.
Wow.
This is the trifecta of deception.
So everyone, you got to be on the lookout for eye blocking, shoulder shrugging, and lips.
When somebody is sucking in those lips, they are lying people.
That's what they're doing to you.
Ginne, does everybody leave a conversation with you
and suddenly think that they are now a CIA agent?
Like, you know, you're unsuspecting partner,
shrugs their shoulders,
and you're like, I saw that shoulder shrug.
Don't lie to me.
If you're confronting the people in your life,
stop saying, whatever you do, don't lie to me.
Our brain doesn't understand the word don't. And so you're giving them an embedded command to lie to you.
And it's 30% about approximately hypnotic, more hypnotic than you just saying,
hey, during this interview, please lie to me. So what you want to say instead is what
Hosses and negotiators say, I'm not a'm not a hostage negotiator. I've a mentor,
Jim Kavanaugh who is. What they say is, whatever you do today, I want you to tell me the truth.
Whether you tell me the truth or you don't, because we don't hear don't, don't tell me
the truth. I know more than you think I know. So I'm going to use that embedded command
after the don't to say, tell me the truth. So I'm going to ask you some questions about
where we were last night. And whether you tell me the truth or you don't pause,
tell me the truth, I know more than you think I do.
Now, last night when you said you went out
with your girlfriends, anyone else?
Show up and talk to you guys.
I'm scared.
No, I'm just going to type it out.
I'm really scared of what it is.
Shoulders down, lips down.
Where was I last night?
I don't know what I did.
I think I was here.
I think I was here. I think I was here.
So hold on, I want to make sure that we get...
So you now are going to watch shoulder shrugs.
If you are feeling like something's off, if you are then going to open up the file and
explore more, you're counseling us.
Number one, to either start with, I could be wrong. Yes. open up the file and explore more. You're counseling us number one.
To either start with, I could be wrong.
Yes.
Or to say, I'm going to ask you a question and you're either going to tell me the truth
or don't tell me the truth.
It's the pause, right?
The pause may hear the truth.
Tell me the truth as that because I heard you say, tell me That's it. The pause, right? The pause, right here, that tell me the truth as that,
because I heard you say, tell me the truth twice.
The don't sort of got swept under the rug,
which is why I always suddenly got nervous.
Yes.
Yeah.
Well, kids, kids,
between the ages of eight and 13,
the likelihood of you do this,
the likelihood you'll get the kids to tell you the truth
goes up to over 80%.
Really?
Yeah. I teach something called statement analysis.
I say what I want, not what I don't want.
It's called priming.
So I'm like, I say I'm hijacking your brain.
You know, and then if I want to take it to the next level, I'm going to sign you a trait
that I want you to have.
You know, Mel, everyone out here tells me you're a truthful person.
Is this true?
Yes.
Although I'm now thinking, am I truthful?
I don't know if I'm
truthful, I'm not truthful, I'm truthful. So you can say to your kid or your spouse or somebody
that works for you, everybody says that you're a very truthful person. Are you a truthful person?
You need to get them to say yes, because what you're creating is cognitive dissonance, because if you
know that you're not a truthful person, but I just said yes that I am, now we've created this
this fancy term called cognitive dissidents,
which is confusing to the brain.
And that's what we want.
So hostage negotiator, my hostage negotiator,
mentor Jim Kavanaugh, said to David Kuresh,
if you're in the younger side and you don't know about this,
was these branch-dividend compound,
this cult out in Texas years ago, the 90s.
And he said to David Kuresh, David Kuresh was inside the compound on a pay phone.
My hostage negotiator, mentor, I said, everyone out here says you're a man of your word.
Is this true?
Kuresh said yes.
Later, when Jim Kavanaugh said, will you let women and children go if we get your words
read on the National Christian Radio Network?
Kuresh said yes, yes, what?
Because he had accepted the trait that he does what he says he's going to do, that he
is integrity, he let women and children go, two by two, he said, like Noah's Ark.
When the other hostage negotiator came on from the FBI, no knock against the FBI, but
not one other person walked out of that building alive.
And it's not the FBI's fault.
It was Jim Kavanaugh built such great rapport with favored Kareth, that he didn't want to work with anybody else, but we had ATF agents
die and so the FBI takes over. I don't want to get into that political battle, but assigning people
the traits you want them to have. Jenny, can you give us an example that doesn't involve hostages?
I mean, that was fascinating, but how do I use statement analysis,
which is basically telling people the traits
that you want them to have?
How do you use this with like your family?
My son, Angus, I went in and I said,
you're addicted to video games,
you're addicted to video games.
How many times have you told your kids
you're addicted to video games?
And then we wonder when they're 20 and 30,
they're addicted to porn, gambling, cheating, lying, alcohol. Well, the most
important person in their life, us, told them over and over and over again, they're an addict.
So how can we right now assign ourselves a trait? I'm the world's greatest mom, honey,
and I just found out how to be even better. We got to start with us. We got to plant the seeds
for us first. We're great. And then reframe and
reset how we talk to our kids. Say what we want, not what we don't want. Cause it's,
here's why it comes back to body language. How we are talking to our kids and to ourselves
is then going to influence the, the, the, the circle again, what we believe about ourselves
and then the body language and our actions. So what do we say to them instead of you're
addicted? You're playing too much. I said to my son, Angus, hey, what game you playing? Some zombie apocalypse. I go, how do you
play? You have to kill the zombies or catch them. He said both. I go, so you understand
the importance of balance. Is that true? Do you understand the importance of balance,
Angus? He said, yeah, I go, hey, buddy, I thought so. I go, even your teacher's telling
me you're so good at balance, you know, You're always on time and stuff because you're balancing your schedule throughout the
day.
Is that true, too?
It's cool.
Yeah.
Oh, good.
I don't know if you know, baby, but you've been playing video games for like four hours and
your two brothers are swimming in the pool.
Because it's been four hours.
I go, yeah.
How about we go swimming?
He goes, all right, all right.
I mean, legit.
Go swimming.
So let's get on the offense, Janine.
What are some body language moves,
these kind of nonverbal cues that we can make
in order to display confidence to other people?
One is I'm doing it now.
If you're seeing me, it's called steepling.
It's fingertips to fingertips, making like a church steeple.
When we steeple people, we intimidate people.
The higher the steeple, the more intimidation.
So it's a sign of confidence.
So a nice low steeple, especially if you're a woman in a meeting and men are like over talking you, instead of saying, let
me finish with the palm down gesture, like you're the police on a raid, and telling people
to get on the ground. If you just lean back and steeple, someone else at the table will
quiet down the people who are interrupting you. So that when we steeple people, we intimidate
people. It's a sign of confidence. Let me ask you a question about that.
Yeah.
Just so everybody listening gets us,
because I think this is critical.
You're in a meeting at work,
or you're at a family dinner,
or you're out with a bunch of girlfriends
and people are talking over you.
You're saying that instead of raising your hand
or stop talking over me or continuing to talk,
if you lean back, you put your fingertips together
and make kind of like a church steeple or a triangle
and you lean back in your chair.
And then you stare at the person
who is talking over you or what do you do?
You could either stop looking at them
or look at their forehead
and you would think that they don't feel it,
but when someone's being disrespectful,
if you look at their forehead, it can change it.
When we talk to people, I talk out of my right eye into your left eye because your opposite
me, right?
So, I'm talking primarily out of my right eye, all you mean says, man, if you're right,
you're lefty.
We talk out of our right eye into your left eye.
If I want to intimidate you, because I don't like your behavior or the inappropriate things
you're saying, my right eye will go diagonal to your right eye.
And when I, you can do this to a waitress and they come to take your order and you just
focus your right eye to their right eye.
So you're going to go diagonal and they'll, they'll start to pacify.
You'll see them fix their hair, touch their throat because it's this little
hidden power that we have. So you can look at someone's forehead, you can look out of your
predominant right eye here as you're talking to someone's left eye diagonal crossing.
And then that's deep or just stop looking at them all together and stop giving them your
attention. And the steepling, someone else at the table, whether it's professional or personal, and say,
hey Mike, hey Jeff, hey Susan, stop interrupting her,
let her finish.
You know, I like to say, do you want to be writer,
do you want to be effective?
My mother taught me steepling, she's since passed,
and I had a boss that used to point,
and she'd be like, Richard, my office, now,
Marjorie, she'd walk into this pool of people at desks,
and they became cartoon
figures. Their eyes popped out of their head and they looked full of fear. And I call my
mother as 25. I was in the World Trade Center in New York. And I go, Mom, my boss does this
aggressive thing. If she does it to me, I'm mouthy. I'm going to lose my cool job with
ATF. My mother was a nurse for elderly homeless people, Mal and Boston, committee to elderly
homelessness at Mount Auburn Hospital in Cambridge.
I went home five foot two, five nine,
she's a peanut.
She says, I want you to do this.
This is before I knew it was called steepling
and fingertips to fingertips.
And I go, what's that called?
She says, I have no idea.
I just know when a doctor says my mom was Lorraine,
Lorraine, can I talk to you about the last patient?
She always feel like I'm in trouble.
So lo and behold, Colleen, my boss at the World Trade Center,
did it to me two months later.
Janine, my office, she pointed at me, was aggressive.
I pulled out Mom's move, which I now know is called
steeplein, Oprah Winfrey does it all the time.
I walked casually behind Colleen with my steeple.
When I went into her office, had you been there?
You would have heard her say, do you know why I called you
in my office?
And with my steeple in hand,
I responded the way mom told me.
I said, I have a pretty good idea, Colleen.
She was why I go, I'm exceeding all your expectations.
As you might imagine, she's like, what?
I'll do that at the end of the year in an evaluation.
I got to spread it out.
I love attention from my boss, still steepling.
And we know, and then call me in and I'll come skipping in.
I come in early, I stay late. I know I'm exceeding your expectations, isn't that why you call
me in?
She didn't know what to do.
I worked for her for three and a half years.
She never called me in her office again.
The reason she had called me in that day was to bully me.
And when I said, why did you call me in?
She said, oh, I just want to see how you're enjoying living in New York City.
She was a bully boss.
So if you have bully bosses and bully people in your life,
pull out that steeple because when you steeple people you have power over people.
I had always been told that if somebody's interrupting you in a meeting, keep talking.
And don't let them interrupt you. But I actually like the confidence of kind of putting the steeple
up kind of high like a giant triangular middle finger,
thanks Bob. And leaning back like, okay, I'll wait while the hot air comes out of your mouth.
Does it work with a spouse or somebody you're dating?
Yes, and kids, yeah, they feel like they're in trouble.
Yes, so if you want to make them feel like they're in trouble and that you're not going to be
pushed around easily, 100% steeple. Steeple, I love it. It's almost like a little shield that you're creating. It's like you can
become your own superhero superpower when you steeple. It's like wonder twins unite and they
used to hit their fists. Like you're now creating a force field. You are in charge when you put
the steeple up. I absolutely love that. Thank you. That's pretty cool.
When you're nervous, steeple, you can fake it there. So, and the other move I want to say
is a chin grab. Indra Nui is the former CEO of PepsiCo. I love Indra Nui. She was raised
in India. Her mother used to every night at the dinner table have her and her sister debate.
You're running for president of the United States. You're running for prime minister of Australia.
And they would debate. She grows up, becomes a female CEO of PepsiCo.
Wow.
Maybe that's what I did wrong.
Maybe that's what I did wrong.
I've just been going, get your elbows off the table.
So you're kids.
So when she does an interview, look at Andrew Newey.
She grabs her chin, and I say, when we grab our chin, we're about to win.
Take a picture of yourself.
How do you normally sit?
And now take a picture of yourself.
We're holding your chin.
Look how much more intelligent we look. We look
like we have a master's degree. We look like we have it all. I really look like I just won the
Pulitzer Prize and so here I figured I was holding my chin because it's very pointy. I don't really
like it. So I'm kind of hiding it, but it does look very good. Can I tell you about your pointy chin
means? Yeah, what is my pointy chin? Like a shovel Like a shovel. And a pointy-chim, you can take something on the chin.
And a pointy-chim is like a shovel
and that you will fight for people.
You could will fight.
You'll have that determination
is that chin right there.
How else, Jeanine, can we use body language
to turn on our confidence and tap into that power inside of us?
I've spoken in a event called Know Your Value
that's a woman's based event.
Before me was Sarah Jessica Parker.
I'm not saying this in a breaky way.
Sarah Jessica Parker, Martha Stewart, and Bobby Brown, the makeup artist.
They're before me.
And then I'm the fat girl size 22 in the back of the room, right?
Coming up next.
And I have 25 minutes.
And I got my stinkin' thinking coming in.
You know, people barely applauded.
Like if they don't like them, like they're never gonna like me,
no one even knows who I am, I'm not even famous
to that level yet.
And I go, Janine, pull your shoulders back.
The difference between Superman and Clark Kent
is a two-inch posture difference.
Clark Kent, his shoulders are pulled forward.
We always say pull your shoulders back.
That's actually wrong.
You're never gonna pull your shoulders back.
You actually look weird. I just pulled my shoulders back. The second actually wrong. You're never going to pull your shoulders back. You actually look weird.
I just pulled my shoulders back.
The second you said there's a two-inch difference.
I'm like, okay, shoulders back.
I'm about to get interrogated.
Here we go.
We've been taught wrong, okay?
What do we do?
If you pull your shoulders back, it's actually uncomfortable.
And you look weird.
Instead, I want you to think like Tony Stark, right?
Iron man.
Iron man.
He's got this circle orb that keeps him alive on his
chest. Right. I want you to imagine you have that in the center of your chest. Okay.
And a laser beam shoots out of it. If that laser beam based on your posture is going to hit the
ground, then you're being clocked. Kent. If you want to be Superman, where the wall meets the
ceiling is a confident feeling. So you just want to take that laser beam and lift your chest
to where the wall meets the ceiling.
Okay. Relax your shoulders, relax those, those, yeah, much better.
And as you're walking, you change how you are perceived.
So I'm in the back of the room. I was coming in from the back.
And I'm after Martha Stewart and Sarah Diske Parker.
And I have my stinking thinking and you can't be negative more than 17 seconds.
Research says you have to after 17 seconds bring yourself a steam backup. If you add on a negative thing you create momentum.
And when you create momentum then it's hard to stop the negativity. After 17 seconds I give my positivity. I'm amazing. I know cool stuff.
I'm going to change their life. People in here are hurting at least one woman needs to know this that she's amazing. I know cool stuff. I'm gonna change their life. People in here are hurting. At least one woman needs to know this that she's amazing. And I do that. And I go with a wall
meets the ceiling is a confident feeling. And I fire a laser beam right there with that wall
meets the ceiling. And I come up from my 25 minutes and I got the only standing ovation
for that conference. This girl that no one knew coming in size 22, 24 in the back of the
room, hitting the stage. And all I did was notice my stinking
thinking no more than 17 seconds of negativity.
Say five things about me that I love.
I changed my posture and then I just killed it.
Janine, I freaking love you.
You are so awesome and you're hilarious,
but I love these tools.
I love how you simplify this.
So I can remember Iron Man and I picked up on that rhyme that where the wall meets the ceiling
It's a confident feeling. Thank you for that. Yeah, and thank you for the steeple and thank you so much for that statement analysis
Example that you gave don't tell people don't lie to me
Instead you tell them the traits you want them to have balance honesty
you tell them the traits you want them to have, balance, honesty, genius. It's like you're giving us permission to manipulate people, Janine. Let's go to another real life scenario, interviewing and dating. What's a body language move that we can use to exude confidence and to basically say, pick me. Two things. Number one, how you start the day or the job interview, I want you to end it.
So if you start with a hug, I want you to end with a hug.
If you start with a handshake, I want you to end with a handshake.
We blow the ending so many times, especially in business, because that's called the
recent CFE.
The recent CFE is those last couple of moments that you had with me.
What happened there?
So if I'm in an interview and you get a call
and you'll excuse me, Janina,
it's a pleasure meeting, I gotta take this call.
I still want you in a second to lean over that table,
stretch out your hand, not a problem,
I'll always great to see you again.
Boom, get that handshake, we blow it and the ending,
we blow it on the ending.
So book end it with that handshake or the hug.
Okay.
That's number one.
Number two, where you sit is making a difference.
Stop sitting directly opposite people.
This is the fighting pose.
On dates or in job interviews,
the seat is right across from the person interviewing me
or you go to the Outback Steakhouse and you're on a booth.
Do not sit directly across from this potential
new significant other.
You want to be 30% off center.
And there's advanced techniques on which side, we'll have to talk about that another time. But be at the to be 30% off center. And there's advanced techniques on which side
we'll have to talk about that another time, but be at the very least 30% off center. Here's why.
They have a visual way out. It will decrease their stress and anxiety. You'll have a visual way out
and decrease yours. Feel what it feels like tonight at the table or at work. Sit directly across
from someone, shake their hand and say I'm so happy you're here, tell me what you love about our family.
Then come in, move the chair, 30% off center
and have that same conversation.
Watch what happens.
We're all energy at the end of the day, right?
My friend at the FBI Frank March,
he says, everything says something.
Everything says something,
even no facial expressions says something, right?
30% off center, but Janine, if I go into an office
and the chair is right there,
you want me to move the chair?
Yeah, yeah, I do.
I want you to come in, shake their hand,
move the chair, 30% off center.
When it's done, you shake the hand
and you put the chair back.
So bookend it.
I love elbow pops, by the way.
And elbow pop, very,
I love the elbow pop too.
I love the elbow pop too. I love the elbow pop too.
Yeah, you pop your elbow over the chair.
We'd see Liz Taylor do this with the long cigarette.
Look at me, boys, look at me.
Very confident to do an elbow pop, casual confidence.
Can you actually be with other people
and not be decoding them?
I can't unsee the detecting deception hotspots.
I can't unnotice them.
You have a great trick for knowing in an instant
if someone is detail-oriented
like my husband, Chris, or not.
So I wanted you to do a test, and you at home,
anyone who pays attention to all the details
like Mel's husband, right?
All these little teeny details.
I want you to watch how they drink their water tonight,
ectinar, or tomorrow at breakfast, or today at lunch.
Whatever time you're listening
to this amazing Mel Robbins podcast,
and I'm gonna tell you what they're gonna do
with their water, these detail oriented people.
And by the way, I am not one of them.
Is when they drink their water,
Mel, now why you didn't notice this
with your husband, what's this for same?
Chris.
Chris, all right.
He's gonna drink his water.
When he puts the glass or the bottle on the table,
he's gonna watch it until it hits the table. When he goes to pick up the bottle, he's gonna glass or the bottle on the table, he's gonna watch it until it hits the table.
When he goes to pick up the bottle,
he's gonna look at the bottle,
keep looking at it as he grasps the bottle.
He's gonna keep looking at it.
People like me, who are not detail oriented, what I do,
is I see the table, I look down with the table,
I grab my bottle of water, but I'm still looking at you.
So I look just to see, oh yeah, my water's still there, I look at the water, and then I look back with the table is I grabbed my bottle of water, but I'm still looking at you. So I look just to see, oh, am I water still there?
I look at the water and then I look back at you and I pick it up without looking at the
water.
And now I'm looking at you and I put it down without looking at the table.
I figure gravity and the thing I just picked it up from are still there.
Detail-oriented people.
When they talk to you, Jimmy Fallon, Amy Schumer, Jennifer Lawrence.
They're humor, all three of those people
are about the details.
They remember words from movies and words from songs.
Watch them in interviews.
They will talk, they're like smart bonds.
So it's not just the water, it's all their energy
is directed in one area.
So Jimmy Fallon will talk and his hand points up
and his eyes point up.
You see Jennifer Lawrence, how nice to meet you with a handshake in her head.
They're almost, I feel like I can't get away from their energy.
If you're talking to me and all of a sudden, if Chris, your husband was doing this,
I'd be like, whoa, detail oriented, aren't you?
You like to research the research and then recommend more research.
And watch how they put the drinks down.
I'm speaking today at a company called Paylocity.
And two of their big executives, I watched them last night
at their little cocktail hour,
and I secretly videotaped them.
Oh my God.
Are you gonna play it during your keynote?
Oh yeah, I went up and asked for permission today,
but as they drank their water,
they watched it till it hit the table
as if like, hi, I'll be right back, you made it.
And I said, a you detail, I did,
you left to research the research to executives.
They go, yes, how do you know that?
I go simply by how I watch you drink your water.
I said, if I put a coaster on the table,
and it was crooked, would you adjust the coaster?
Both said 100%.
So in meetings, if you're listening
in your business person, especially sales,
make sure you have coasters crooked on the table.
Now, some people aren't detail oriented,
it may just fix it because it's irritating.
But watch if they watch their glass
when they put it all the way till it hits the table.
What does that tell you about how to sell to them?
Two things.
One, they're going to want lots and lots of details.
That's number one.
Number two, in your emails, if you are detail oriented,
in your emails are probably too long.
And someone like me, I'm never going to read your emails.
I'm going to pick up the phone
and call and say, okay, what do I need to know about this event?
What's a dress code?
Where is it?
What you need to do if you're detaointed and your emails or text messages at the top, think
like Twitter.
Here's the three things you must know.
Additional information is below.
Someone like me who's not motivated by details, I don't look at the water when I put it down
or pick it up.
I need to do the opposite.
Here's what you need to know. Boom, boom, boom. Here's a link to additional information if you'd
like to explore on your own. I could talk to you all day long, Janine, and I can already anticipate
one question that we are going to get from listeners when they listen to all of this incredible advice
and wisdom that you're sharing with us. And that is this. What if I'm not confident?
What if I don't believe it?
You talked earlier about the roots, like it begins with the roots and the roots are your
beliefs.
So if we employ the shoulder pop or we use the steepling in order to exude confidence,
but we don't feel it, how do we eventually start to feel it?
So, I think body language is great.
And I can teach you to steeple, but if you steeple,
but you have this limited belief about yourself
that you're not powerful and that you're a loser
and they're gonna know you're trying to scam them
with your confidence and it's fake confidence,
then your shoulders are gonna be up
and you're gonna look like this like character,
you know, out of a Harry Potter movie. So you've got to believe it. You've
got to believe it. But how do you believe it? If all you see is evidence that you failed or that
you haven't believed in yourself or that you've put everybody else first. Like how do you create new roots?
Okay.
I call this a reset.
And I took a class with a woman.
Her name is Andrea Quinn.
And she calls these moments when we fail
or people knock us down, good to knows.
Hey, Mal, I did not appreciate you getting me back
focused on detecting deception
when I wanted to talk about leadership.
Good to know. They're just a bunch of good to know. I spoke in an event in this like 42 women in line. I'm hugging them all. The last woman, she had big circle glasses, black-rass glasses,
circle, right? Short, spiky hair, she had a cool vibe, I thought. She came up to me and she said,
hey, I wanted to stay here and to talk to you because I just don't get it.
You speak twice today.
I don't get what you're talking about, how it's interesting to people.
I don't like your personality.
I just don't get what my best friend who I've had for years likes about you.
All Janine would have received that, taken it in, influenced my body language, how I
held myself, my limited beliefs, my roots would have been destroyed because thanks Andrea Quinn, I said to that woman, have you been
there?
Good to know.
Anything else you want to share with me?
It's just three simple words.
And it is so powerful.
And I just want to explain the research just a little bit as to why this is working.
This is a reframe.
See when somebody says something crappy to you or something happens to you and
You go up into your head and you start to say to yourself now the pile on oh, you know
She didn't like me 41 people that I just met really liked me
But that one bitch just came up and told me that she doesn't like me
And now I'm gonna start to question myself and feel bad about myself. When you say good to know, you are putting up a physical force field and you're not letting
that negativity seep into your brain.
Good to know is like swatting away a fly.
Now does this work for everybody?
Have you used good to know with your kids, for example, Janine?
My son, Angus, this girlfriend just broke up with him.
His first girlfriend, he was all upset.
And she was badmouthing him at the school.
And he broke his heart.
And he was, she was saying something loud enough
for him to hear it.
And he came in and he's laughing.
He just took the ACT test this weekend.
He came out laughing at the school.
I go, why are you laughing?
He was, she wanted me to take the bait,
but I didn't take the bait.
She said, I didn't in texture this morning.
So she's going to hate me for the rest of her life,
but I was going to say happy birthday if I saw her.
I didn't texture because she broke up with me,
but I would have said it if I had a long time with her.
And he goes, she badmouthed me.
I go, why are you laughing?
He goes, because it's just a good to know.
I saw a side about her that I didn't know existed.
I love sharing it with people, including my kids,
and to rewrite our story because I believe we are all entitled and deserve a comeback,
everybody.
I believe in that, too, Jeanine. It's why I'm in the work that I'm in. I believe that
absolutely everybody has the ability to claw their way out of a hole to improve their
mindset and to chip away at making their life better. I, you can't convince me otherwise.
I'd love to talk a little bit more about boosting our influence
and our likability because it really does matter,
especially when it comes to success at work
and increasing your influence and your visibility.
So how can we use body language to do that?
All right. Confident and likable. We have three power zones. So our
neck dimple, it's our throat right here. Our neck dimple, is that
the neck dimple like the little dip, the dip in there?
Superstitial, lots or whatever you say. Okay. Okay.
We're, you know, your necklace lies right there. So your neck
dimple, your neck, you belly button,
and then you'll lower extremity.
I call it your naughty bits.
It's from the Holy Grail.
But you're learning today, you gotta practice.
Say today I'm gonna pay attention to belly buttons.
So keep our neck dimple, our belly button,
and our naughty bits open.
Now let's talk about the belly button.
I call this naval intelligence.
We face our belly button towards people
we like, admire, and trust.
So if I'm flirting with Brad Pitt, but my belly button is facing George Clooney.
Everyone thinks I'm flirting with Brad.
I want to hook up with Brad, but really my belly button wants to go home with good old George.
In a meeting, how do I how many belly buttons are facing you?
If you have 50% of the belly buttons facing someone else, then
that person is probably your arch-nemesis. And if I were to give you a tip, emotional intelligence
is being smarter, I would make sure I have meetings with that person first to get them
on my side before going into that other meeting, to get 50% of the ears are listening to
that person. On a date, pay attention if the date is over. I'm a talker, right? So are you like talking past the sale,
even in an intimate thing like on a date, right?
Pay attention that belly button is angled towards the door
to the car, they want out.
I call it naval intelligence.
And it's our first connection to another human being.
Our belly button was used to fill the court.
Oh, that's true.
Oh, that's true.
Let's say I'm a really nervous person.
What are the steps you need to take to calm your own as you say, stinking, thinking when
it takes over?
First of all, give yourself a positive trait, plant that seed, that belief.
And then if you need to pacify, do toe pushups inside your shoe.
Want into and through inside your shoes.
What does that do?
It's getting out that stress and anxiety.
Wow, that's why exercise decreases stress.
In law enforcement, we get more in confessions,
walking from the jail cell back to the interrogation room
or the interrogation room to the police car,
then we do in the interrogation room.
When you move your body, you move your mind.
What do you think is the biggest thing that you've learned? After
decades of studying human beings and this hidden second language that we all have, that's
helped you in your everyday life. The biggest thing that I've learned? I would say that
I believe in comebacks because I've experienced them. I believe in comebacks because I've experienced them.
I believe in comebacks and I believe there's a story behind the story.
Susan Smith was the most hated mother in the world at the time when she killed her two young
sons because she was dating a guy that didn't want to date a woman that had kids.
But Susan Smith drowned her two kids and what most people don't know is she started being
raped and molested by her father at like three and four years old.
So it makes me emotional.
As a mother, just imagining my kids at the age of three.
And I'm not saying what Susan Smith did was justify, but I'm saying
there's a story behind a story. And, you know, there's that expression,
stopping some judgment on stopping curious, asking questions. And I think that there's a story
behind a story. And Susan Smith was raped by her dad, her whole childhood, even as a young woman.
And then in her young teens would go back to the dad's house
and have sex with her dad.
And so I'm always interested in what's
the story behind the story here.
Can I find a little bit of compassion or empathy?
And I'm a work in progress all the time.
I'm an eternal student at this event this morning.
I sat in there for five hours because I wanted to learn.
I took about five pages of notes just listening to two CEOs who, this company, Paylocity just
hit the billion dollar mark for the first time.
I wanted to hear every word they had to say.
They were asked what's the biggest thing that they learned at working together in their
life and taking notes, right?
So I think that, I don't know, I believe in comebacks. Jenny, I just have to say I love you.
You go in from ball, buster, cop talk
to getting choked up because of the compassion
that you feel for somebody that did something so horrible
and yet you can look at her story and find understanding,
not that condones it, but that explains how somebody could get to such a horrific point.
I just love you. And I know everybody listening does too. And one of the thing I want to point out,
And I know everybody listening does too. And one of the things I want to point out,
this everyone is a woman who stands on a stage
and teaches the world's leading brands,
which he's just been teaching to us.
And yet, I just want you to picture her,
sitting in the back of the room
where she was the keynote speaker,
getting paid a lot of money to share her expertise,
sitting there,
like a student, taking notes and listening.
Because at the end of the day,
there is always something that you can learn from anybody else.
And when you look at life,
like just you're just a student of life,
there are opportunities to learn,
to make a comeback, to be better everywhere
around you. And so I just love that picture in my mind if you sitting in the back of this
massive corporate event, diligently taking notes. You're just the greatest.
Thank you.
And I also believe in what you were talking about, which is when you seek to understand something, it doesn't condone
what somebody did, but it can explain why. Listen, I was molested as a kid. I could have became
a Susan Smith. I happen to have a mother that loves me so much that believed me and if I can help
anyone like, please, I love, I love, my mother always said,
your powers, what you give to others.
Tannin, thank you, thank you, thank you.
I just appreciate your generosity.
I know I'm speaking on behalf of you listening as well.
Thank you for pouring into us,
for bringing your humor, your humanity,
for giving us so many tools.
I just, I just want to squeeze you.
I love you so much.
And I also want to kick you out of here
because you and I could talk for days
and you got to get back to that room
where you were taking notes yesterday as a student
and get on that stage and wow everybody
with your wisdom, all right?
So I'm not going to make you late.
Go woman, buy, we love you. Buy everybody, thanks, Mel, I love you. I love you, I give you not going to make you late. Go woman. Bye. We love you.
Bye everybody. Thanks, Mel. I love you. I love you. I give you an air hug when you arrive. So I'm going to bookend it with an air hug back. Thank you.
I'm just sitting here reflecting on everything we just learned. And I realize my biggest takeaway
is that this is really about trusting your intuition.
That's what decoding body language
and seeing words that don't match body language.
That's what this is about.
And you've been listening to this podcast,
so you know I talk a lot about your inner wisdom.
And every time you catch somebody touching their eyes or shrugging their shoulders or
I blocking they're not looking at you or some just feels a little off.
Lean into that. And you now have the tools because you can not only spot it, but Janine also told us how
to approach it. Remember what she told us to say? I could be wrong here.
But something seems a little off.
Are you okay?
Or maybe you had plans throughout the dinner
and somebody just kind of shrugs their shoulder
or touches their neck, you know what to do.
When that's spidey sense that intuition inside you
goes off, lean into that.
All you have to do is say, I could be wrong here, but it doesn't seem like you want to
go out to dinner tonight.
That's it.
That is it, but that's everything, isn't it?
That is everything.
That ability to connect with yourself and with your own wisdom and empower yourself to not only see the signals, but to find the courage and
the confidence to say something about it, to trust yourself.
Wow.
What a conversation from true crime to truth telling, to true deception.
We covered it all.
And I'm confident that you left with empowering and tactical tools that you can start using.
In fact, I want to hear about how you use all this stuff.
And in case nobody else tells you,
I'm going to tell you that I love you
and I'm looking right at you.
Like this, my shoulders are not shrugged.
My hand is not on the back of my head.
I'm looking at you in the eye
because I love you and I believe in you
and I believe in your ability to not only tell the truth but to spot the truth and use it to create a better
life.
Alrighty, I'll see you in a few days.
Oh, one more thing.
It's the legal language.
This podcast is presented solely for educational and entertainment purposes.
It is not intended as a substitute for the advice of a physician, professional coach,
psychotherapist, or other qualified professional.