Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Hey, it's your friend Mel, and welcome to the Mel Robbins Podcast. You are in for one heck of a conversation today. So let me just start right at the top. If you've ever wondered why you feel stuck, or if deep down, you feel like you're acting like someone you're not, let me tell you something. This is the truth you need to hear today. I'm talking real talk because we're gonna go there today.
If fear, shame, regret, or resentment are holding you back and you feel like you can't break free, if you've got big goals but you're the one who keeps putting them off, if some part of you believes it is just too late to change, This episode is gonna be your wake-up call because today you're gonna meet one of the most inspiring human beings I've ever met.
His name is Wallace Peoples, but you may know him as Wallow. Wallow spent 25 years in prison, but this is not a prison story. This is a freedom story. See, when Wallo walked out of prison, he had $1,000, a used iPhone, and a promise to make his life count. Today, he's a media powerhouse with millions of views across every social media platform every single week.
He's a truth teller, a man who's built an empire from a blueprint he wrote when he was behind bars. And he says something I'll never forget, and neither will you. There's more people incarcerated mentally in the free world than there are in prison. And after you hear what he has to say, you're going to realize he's right.
If you've ever wondered why you feel stuck and how to finally get moving, this conversation is going to shift you. This is real talk about how to eliminate self-doubt, stop waiting, and start becoming the person you know you're meant to be. And by the way, I got to tell you something. I don't want your kids in the car if you're listening in the car.
I don't want you turning this up in the kitchen because this conversation is going to get passionate. And I've already warned my team. When wallow starts going, you better keep your hand on the recording dial because holy cow, it's like part sermon, part halftime coach. Your team is down. The coach is mad. He's yelling at you and he's telling you the truth.
And this is the truth you need to hear because the fact is you're the one in your own way. And so I don't want to be hearing from you any case because this is a conversation for adults. And sometimes adults need to hear words that are a little harsh because that's what it's going to take for you to wake up. All right. I've warned you. And here's another warning.
Don't even bother listening to this if you don't want to hear the truth. Don't listen to this if you're not interested in motivation. You still here? Good. So am I. Let's go. Hey, it's your friend Mel Robbins and welcome to the Mel Robbins Podcast. I am so excited that you're here. It is such an honor to be together and to spend this time with you.
And if you're a new listener or you're here because someone shared this with you, I just wanted to personally welcome you to the Mel Robbins Podcast family. You are in for an unbelievable, unbelievable experience today because our guest is one of the most powerful, raw, and respected voices in culture right now. His name, Wallace Peoples. He's also known as Wallow267.
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Chapter 2: How did Wallace Peeples transform his life after prison?
And here's the part of his story that is a testament to Wallow's unbreakable mindset. He did all of that after serving over 20 years in prison. No college degree, no corporate ladder, just grit and vision. So without further ado, please help me welcome the remarkable Wallow to the Mel Robbins podcast.
Thank you for having me. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I'm happy to be here.
Thank you for jumping on a plane. I have been a huge fan of yours for a long time. I am so excited to be in the room with you. I'm excited for the person who has made the time to be here with us, to be able to be inspired by and learn from you. And I can't wait to dig into your story, but I wanted to start by asking you this.
Mm-hmm.
If you think about everything that you're about to share from your life story, from your experience, from the impact that you're making with millions of people, what do you think is going to change about my life if I take everything to heart? And I apply it to the way that I live my life moving forward. What's going to change?
You're going to stop caring about things that don't matter. And you're going to stop making problems for yourself. That's the most important thing. Stop making problems for yourself. Nobody makes problems for us. We make problems for ourselves. If you don't like me, right? I'm talking to the viewer. If somebody don't like you, That's none of your business, number one.
Number two, what they say about you, that's none of your business. That's their business. They own them thoughts. They own everything that they say. They got ownership of that. But what we do is we make problems when we get into their business. You minding their business now. Oh, I don't like Mel. Mel, it's not this.
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Chapter 3: What does it mean to be mentally incarcerated?
Mel, fake. This, you don't really help nobody. Mel, why are you worrying about their business, Mel? Mind your business. That's not yours. That belong to them. The thoughts belong to them. Stop giving power to other people, words, ideas, thoughts, feelings. Why do they like, a lot of times, Mel, a lot of people don't dislike you. They don't even hate you.
Some people just want to hug you and they don't know how to get your attention. So that's what it really be about. And some people just like, Mel got it going on. How can I get close to Mel? I DM Mel a thousand times. Mel don't even answer her DM. She ain't got time for that. She, she running.
Chapter 4: How can you break free from self-doubt and fear?
I'm just, but that's the reality of it. But, but I think if you, if you got to really be able to cut on that fuck it button. The fuck it bucket. The fucking button. The fuck it button. Fuck it. Like, fuck what they think. Like, as long as you living in that world of area, you're not going to live. Listen, I look at this like this. You, guess what? If nobody told you, you're going to die.
But guess what? Caskets don't have no bump beds. It's going to be you by yourself. Why are you worrying about anybody else?
Wait, did you just say caskets don't have bunk beds?
Yeah, they ain't got no bunk beds. Ain't no bunk beds in caskets. Like, what you wearing? You got to go by yourself. When it's time to leave this place, you're going to be, when the music is playing, this is going to be you. It's not about nobody else. Like, we got to get out of here.
Mel, do you know one day, do you know one day they're going to be reading your book, they're going to be reading my book, and they're going to be like, yo, they're going to be looking at old videos of us. We're going to be well off and going. That's why you're here. And I tell people, the moves I make will secure the futures of the family members I won't be living to meet.
The moves I make will secure the futures of the family members I won't be living to meet. That's all I'm here for. I'm just here to work for some people that I'm never going to meet. You too. You too. You're just here to strengthen your last name up. So it's like, listen, we got to go, Mel. Listen, we're going to the party, Mel. You see that party that be going in the graveyard?
We're going to be there.
Well, let me ask you a question. Why are you motivated by making a better future for the relatives you haven't even met yet?
Because that's our job.
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Chapter 5: What role does forgiveness play in personal growth?
But they wound up taking the cell whole and the other younger guy that was with me, I'll never forget. As I covered my head with the pillow in that cell, because we shared the cell because we was both minors. I heard him cry as I was crying at night and wishing I was home and wishing I had another chance. And it just was different, but that started my road and my journey being in prison.
And it just, it got real after that. It continued to get real. But what happened was, I was in the cell. It was hot. Summertime. No air conditioning. And I got up to splash my face. But when I got up to splash my face, it was like the devil was dancing in the cell because it was so hot in there. Walls were sweating. And I just looked in the mirror and I said, damn.
You in here doing all this time for being somebody you're not. The power... The power of wanting to be down with a bunch of people that really don't care about you can destroy your life. It can mess your life up, even if it's not about crying. It could be about, I just want to be down with these people in college because they supposed to be the in crowd.
Or I just want to be down with these people because they do business. Or I just want to be down. It could mess you up because what it do is it remove you from you. And now you got to be somebody else to be accepted by some other human beings that breathe like you, got 24 hours like you, that drink the same water you drink. You shitting me. So once I realized that, It was crazy.
I want to go back to that moment where you're looking in the mirror and you're reflecting on the fact that you're doing all this time in prison for being someone you're not. And I'd love to have you talk to the person that's having this epiphany as they're listening to you. And they're thinking, well, I am where I am because I've been being someone I'm not.
You. I'm talking to you. You right there. You. You ain't tired yet. You out there being somebody that you're not. And guess what? You just keep losing. You don't feel right. You know you're not where you want to be because you don't feel right. But you choose to take this path because you wanted to be accepted by a bunch of people that don't even accept theyself.
Because if they accepted theyself, they wouldn't put pressure on you to be with them. Why do they need you to be around? Why do they need you to change who you are? Think about it. But think about this journey you're going on and say to yourself, hold up, this might not be for me. This might not be my ideas. This might not really be what I want to do. But the crowd is telling me I should do this.
The crowd is telling me this is what's cool. The crowd is telling me this is what's accepted. When you going to say fuck the crowd and start accepting you? When you going to cut the fuck it button on and say fuck what they think? Huh? What you scared for? Huh? What you waiting for? Like, you think time is on your side? Time is not on your side.
The only thing you got on your side is the decision to let go of everything that's not supportive to you. Everything that's forcing you to change who you are in order to be a part of this idea of what's right and what's wrong. Man, come on. It's bullshit.
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Chapter 6: How can you change your mindset to achieve success?
Let go. Get free. Be you. Love you. Respect yourself enough to choose you. Say yes to you and no to them. Oh, yeah, that's the new book coming out, too. My new book.
And buy it while you're at it.
Yes, buy it. Yeah.
Well, near the end of the time that you were serving in prison, you started writing something called The Book of Life. What was that and what were you writing in it?
The Book of Life is something I wrote in A-Day and I used to write. The Book of Life was really important because I believe people don't write stuff down. Right. And that was a major thing for me. But in the process of me writing stuff down.
What were you writing down? What do you mean your people aren't writing?
I wish I'd have brung it. I wrote everything down. The states I wanted to go to. I wrote down the different peanut butters and jelly I wanted when I got out. Stores I wanted to go to. Movies I wanted to watch. Songs I wanted to collect in my MP3 player. I wrote down everything. Places I wanted to go.
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Chapter 7: What practical steps can you take to start living authentically?
If I seen something in a magazine, I write it down. Whatever. I will always write all types of stuff down.
You know, one of the things that I love about you is that your story proves that all of the excuses you have, I don't have this, I don't have that. I mean, you're in a freaking prison cell, for God's sakes. You still have years on your sentence. And you had this incredible way that you thought about being in jail after that moment. Can you explain that breakthrough to us?
I used to tell people, I'm not in jail, I'm in Yale. I'm not in prison. I'm in Princeton. I'm not in the state pen.
Chapter 8: How does Wallo's story inspire others to pursue their potential?
I'm in Penn State. Right. What does that mean? That means that I'm not just sitting around in here. I'm in here educating myself. It's not their job to educate me. It's their job to house me. And at this time, I was so crazy about it. My mind was clicking so much because in the state prisons of Pennsylvania, you could buy a TV off commissary.
Where you get some certain TV channels, cable channels, whatever, you pay for it. My cellmates, they used to always say, why do you always turn the TV? Because I'm turning the TV all the time.
You mean flipping channels?
Yeah. They used to be like, come on. I was addicted to commercials. I was addicted to advertising and marketing because I always say, hold up, man. Big Mac never looked like that when I went at McDonald's. It's be sloppy. It don't be like that. Something ain't right. Then I realized, oh, they outsourced that to advertising agencies. I started learning about marketing.
Damn, why is when they got the car commercial, they got a black person doing it, Latino person doing it, Asian person based off the channel. Oh, what is marketing?
Oh.
I ran into a book called Damn Good Advice by George Lois. Oh, I read all this guerrilla marketing. I started learning about marketing. I started learning about advertisement. I'm learning about, oh, they paying all this money for that? So now I'm thinking more. I'm thinking. I'm just looking at that. I'm looking at that.
And then one day, as I'm changing the channel, I come across this guy, right? One of my mentors, right? When I come across this skinny guy, man, skinny white guy, right? And I'm like, what's going on? I look. He here. The next day he here, he just always eating food. His name was Anthony Bourdain, my mentor. So when I see him, I'm like, hold up.
Anthony Bourdain taught me in a cell that the world is your playground. Go play. He taught me that the world is bigger than your neighborhood. He taught me that while they're waiting for you, go out there and connect with your people. It's people, places, and things that's waiting for your arrival with a sign on it.
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