Marie Forleo's mother was a force of nature.
Picture a woman about five-foot-three, the kind who looked like she might bake you a pie but would take down a roofer’s quote with a glare if it wasn’t right.
She was from Newark, New Jersey, grew up tough, two alcoholic parents, stretched every dollar until it begged for mercy.
Marie remembers the way her mother moved around the house, radio by her side, blaring as she worked.
That radio, shaped like an orange with a little straw-antenna sticking out, was one of her mom’s prized possessions, a freebie from Tropicana she’d earned by saving up proof-of-purchase labels.
And that woman, she had a knack for fixing things—no manuals, no tutorials.
Just grit, tools, and time.
One day, Marie came home to find the kitchen transformed into something like an operating room.
Her mom sat there, screwdriver in hand, the orange radio gutted in front of her, each part splayed out neatly on the table.
She looked like she was deep into a project that should’ve been way beyond her reach.
“Mom,” Marie asked, “Are you okay? Is everything alright?”
Marie’s mom replied, “Oh Ree, it’s fine. The tuner dial was a little off and the antenna was busted. So I am fixing it.”
“How do you know how to fix that?”
Her mother just looked up, with that mix of focus and toughness she always had, and said,
“Ree, nothing in life is that complicated.
You roll up your sleeves, get in there, and do it.
Everything is figureoutable.”
And that line became the backbone of Marie’s life, the belief she fell back on whenever things got rough.
She took it to heart and carried it with her into the world—through tough years in school, working nights to pay her way, through heartbreak, dead-end jobs, dreams she barely dared to dream.
And every time she hit a wall, she heard her mother’s words.
Figure it out.
Marie learned that nothing—not a broken radio, not a pile of bills, not a hard life—was beyond her reach.
The lesson here is simple yet profound:
Life doesn’t come with manuals, step-by-step guides, or a guarantee that things will work out easily.
But it does come with opportunities—opportunities to tackle every challenge, every heartbreak, every dead end with the belief that you can find a way.
You don’t have to know all the answers or wait until you feel “ready.”
Sometimes, you just need to start.
Roll up your sleeves.
Dive in.
Trust that you’ll figure it out as you go.
Break down your challenge piece by piece, just like Marie’s mother with that orange radio.
And don’t be afraid to get a little dirt under your nails in the process.
This post was inspired by Marie Forleo’s talk, Why Everything is Figureoutable.