Marie Forleo’s mom was a badass.
Five-foot-three. Looked like June Cleaver.
But had the tenacity of a bulldog and cursed like a truck driver.
She grew up in the projects of Newark, New Jersey.
Two alcoholic parents.
Learned early how to stretch a dollar bill five times around the block.
Marie remembers her mom always working on something.
She had this tiny orange radio—a freebie from Tropicana—blasting music as she moved around the house.
It was her prized possession.
That little radio was always playing, and if you followed the music, you'd find her…
Fixing. Creating. Doing.
One day, Marie came home and heard music from outside.
She looked up—
And there was her mom. Perched on the roof.
Her little orange radio beside her, blasting tunes.
Power tools in hand.
Marie panicked.
"Mom! What are you doing up there?"
Her mom yelled back without missing a beat.
"REE, I’m fine! The roof had a leak. I called a roofer, and he said it’d be at least 500 bucks."
"So I said, screw that—I’m doing it myself."
That was her mom.
If something was broken, she didn’t complain.
She didn’t wait for someone to fix it.
She rolled up her sleeves and figured it out.
Another day, Marie came home and heard the music again.
This time, it led her to the bathroom.
She opened the door—
Tiles ripped from the wall.
Pipes sticking out.
Tools scattered everywhere.
"Mom?! What happened?"
"Oh, Ree, the bathroom tiles had cracks. I didn’t want mold, so I’m retiling the whole thing."
This was pre-YouTube. Pre-Google.
She wasn’t a contractor. She didn’t take classes.
She just figured it out.
And then came the day Marie walked into the kitchen and saw something different.
No music. No movement.
Her mom was hunched over the table, laser-focused.
The orange radio was in pieces—completely gutted.
Screws. Wires. Electrical tape.
Marie froze.
"Mom… what are you doing? That’s your favorite thing."
Her mother, without looking up—
"Oh, the tuner was off, and the antenna was busted. So I’m fixing it."
Marie stood there for a moment, watching.
Then, finally, she asked the question she should’ve asked a long time ago.
"Mom… how do you know how to do so many things you’ve never done before?"
Her mom put down the screwdriver, looked up, and said—
"REE, nothing in life is that complicated."
"You roll up your sleeves, get in there, and do it."
"Everything is figureoutable."
That phrase?
It hit Marie like a lightning bolt.
She carried it with her.
Through the hardest years of her life.
Getting kicked out of her house.
Navigating a toxic relationship.
Being the first in her family to go to college.
Holding down multiple jobs just to stay afloat.
Then later—
Figuring out business.
Drowning in debt.
Feeling lost and unsure, with no roadmap for success.
Every time she hit a wall, she heard her mother’s voice.
"Figure it out."
And she did.
That mindset led her to become one of Nike’s first elite dance athletes.
It helped her launch a business from scratch at 23 years old.
It helped her pull herself out of piles of debt.
It led to an award-winning show that now reaches millions.
Because she believed it.
The lesson here is simple yet profound.
Life doesn’t come with cheat codes.
No manuals. No step-by-step guides.
No guarantees that things will just magically work out.
But you do get opportunities.
Opportunities to face challenges head-on.
To push through heartbreak.
To hit dead ends and find a way forward anyway.
You don’t need to have all the answers.
You don’t need to feel “ready.”
You just need to start.
Roll up your sleeves.
Get in the game.
Figure it out as you go.
This post was inspired by Marie Forleo’s talk, Everything is Figureoutable.