Marie Forleo says everything is figureoutable. Here's how to turn that mantra into a client habit, not a bumper sticker.
"Everything is figureoutable" is easy to quote and hard to coach. The value for a mindset or life coach isn't the phrase - it's the move underneath it: catching a client's "I can't," reframing it as "I haven't figured out how yet," and converting it into one resourceful next step. This breakdown covers Forleo's argument in our own words, adds our honest take for a coaching roster, and shows how to make that reframe a repeatable check-in habit instead of a one-off pep talk.
By Markus Evers · September 2026 · a Coachway video breakdown
the short version
Forleo's "everything is figureoutable" is a resourcefulness stance: almost any problem can be solved, improved, or made peace with if you refuse to accept "I can't" as the final answer - though she's explicit it doesn't mean easy or guaranteed. The one thing a coach should do about it: stop using it as a slogan and start using it as a reframe you run every week - take the client's "I can't," rewrite it as "I haven't figured out how yet," and assign one small, resourceful next step you can actually track.
Marie Forleo - Why Everything is Figureoutable
Source: Marie Forleo on YouTube - "Why Everything is Figureoutable". Watch on YouTube. We embed the public video from Marie Forleo's own channel and summarise it in our own words; the video, title and channel belong to Marie Forleo, and nothing here implies her endorsement of Coachway.
Who is Marie Forleo, and why coaches watch
Marie Forleo is a business and life coach, author and host of MarieTV, and one of the more widely-followed voices in the "multi-passionate entrepreneur" and personal-development space. "Everything is figureoutable" is the title of her 2019 book and the mantra she's best known for. For coaches - especially life, mindset and business coaches - she sits in the same reference slot that science-based lifters occupy for fitness: the person a client has probably already quoted at you. That's exactly the lens this page is written for. Not "should I teach Forleo's book," but "what does her reframe mean for how I move a whole roster of clients from stuck to moving."
What Forleo actually argues (our summary)
This is our summary of the ideas in the video, in our own words - not a transcript. Watch the original for her exact stories and examples.
- 1
"Figureoutable" is a stance, not a guarantee. The claim is that almost any problem can be solved, improved, or made peace with - not that it will be easy, fast, or that a specific outcome is promised.
- 2
"I can't" is the real obstacle. She treats "I can't" as a belief to examine rather than a fact to accept. The reframe is to hear it as "I haven't figured out how yet," which keeps the door open instead of closing it.
- 3
Resourcefulness beats resources. The engine isn't having the perfect plan or budget - it's being willing to ask, research, test, and try the next available move. Progress comes from action, not from waiting to feel ready.
- 4
Making peace counts as figuring it out. For the genuinely unchangeable, acceptance is a valid resolution - which is what keeps the idea from tipping into denial or forced positivity.
- 5
It pairs with a multi-passionate, do-the-work worldview. Across her broader work the through-line is the same: you don't have to have it all mapped out, you have to be resourceful and keep moving on the next honest step.
Coachway's take
We're fully on board with the core idea, and it's the reframe most mindset and life coaches already reach for: the block a client describes is usually a belief about the problem, not the problem itself. "I can't" is almost never literally true - it's "I don't know how," "I'm scared to," or "I don't want to pay the cost." Naming which one it is turns a wall into a workable next step. That's genuinely good coaching, and it's why the mantra spread.
Where we'd add nuance for a coaching business: a mantra is not a method. "Everything is figureoutable" delivered as a pep talk fades by Tuesday. Forleo is speaking to a motivated, self-selecting audience who bought the book and showed up; your roster includes the client who quietly stopped replying because "I can't" felt more true than your slogan. The reframe only changes behaviour when it's attached to one small, specific action and then followed up on - which is a system problem, not an inspiration problem.
The other coaching-specific point: be honest about the difference between "solve," "improve," and "make peace with." A client stuck on something they genuinely cannot change needs the acceptance branch, not another action item - and a coach who only ever pushes "figure it out" can quietly do harm. Coaches work on habits, beliefs, goals and behaviour change; clinical issues (a mental-health crisis, a medical condition, anything that needs a licensed professional) get a referral, not a reframe. The framework is for the workable, not for everything.
So our version of Forleo's advice is: catch the "I can't," rewrite it as "I haven't figured out how yet," pick the single most resourceful next step the client can take this week, and - the part that actually creates change - track whether it happened and reinforce it at the next check-in. A reframe you run once is a quote. A reframe you run every week is a habit.
Turn the reframe into a tracked weekly habit
A reframe only changes behaviour if it survives the week - which means it has to live somewhere the client sees it, not in your memory of the call. That's what Coachway is built for. Have clients log each stuck point in their weekly check-ins, then convert each "I can't" into one resourceful next step and set it as a tracked action in their progress and habit tracking. The client sees the step in their own branded app, ticks it off, and you can see at a glance whether the reframe is turning into behaviour or just sitting there. A short intake form at the start surfaces each client's default "I can't" belief, so you know which reframes to reinforce, and automations and broadcasts nudge the action mid-week so it doesn't quietly die between sessions.
If you want the strategy layer first, our guide to habit-coaching frameworks covers how to make small actions stick, and the companion piece on setting client goals that stick covers where those next steps should point - the direction you're being resourceful toward.
The Figureoutable Reframe (a check-in script)
A short script you can copy into any check-in, coaching note, or client message. When a client says "I can't ___," walk them through the three steps, assign the next step as this week's tracked action, and repeat the rule. Paste it into your Coachway check-in template so it's the same reliable move every week - not something you have to reinvent per client.
The reframe script
The three steps
| Step | Prompt to the client | What you're doing |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Rewrite it | "Instead of 'I can't ___,' say 'I haven't figured out how to ___ yet.'" | Move it from a fact to a not-yet. |
| 2. Find one step | "What's ONE resourceful next step - someone to ask, something to research, a small test, or a decision to make peace with it?" | Turn the reframe into a concrete action. |
| 3. Track it | "That's your action for this week - we'll check it at your next check-in." | Attach it to accountability, not just intention. |
Which branch is this "I can't"?
| What's underneath | The honest reframe | Next-step type |
|---|---|---|
| "I don't know how" | Solve it | Ask / research / learn |
| "I'm scared / not ready" | Improve it | Small low-stakes test |
| "I don't want the cost/trade-off" | Decide it | Choose and commit |
| "It genuinely can't change" | Make peace with it | Acceptance, not an action item |
Rule to repeat: not everything is easy, but everything is figureoutable. The block is usually the belief, not the problem. Note: this is a mindset and habit tool for the workable - clinical concerns (mental-health crises, medical conditions) get a referral to a licensed professional, not a reframe.
THE FIGUREOUTABLE REFRAME - check-in script (via Coachway) WHEN A CLIENT SAYS "I can't ___", walk them through: 1. Rewrite it: "I haven't figured out HOW to ___ yet." 2. What's ONE resourceful next step (ask, research, test, or make peace with it)? 3. Assign it as this week's tracked action - and check it at the next check-in. WHICH BRANCH IS THIS "I can't"? Underneath Honest reframe Next-step type "I don't know how" Solve it Ask / research / learn "I'm scared / not ready" Improve it Small low-stakes test "I don't want the cost/trade-off" Decide it Choose and commit "It genuinely can't change" Make peace with it Acceptance, not an action item RULE TO REPEAT: Not everything is easy, but everything is figureoutable. The block is usually the belief, not the problem. NOTE: This is a mindset/habit tool for the workable. Clinical concerns (mental-health crises, medical conditions) get a referral to a licensed professional, not a reframe.
The figureoutable mindset for coaches - FAQ
What does "everything is figureoutable" actually mean?
It is a mindset stance, not a promise. Marie Forleo's idea is that almost any problem can be solved, improved, or at least made peace with if you are willing to be resourceful and take action. She is careful to say it does not mean everything is easy, fast, or guaranteed - it means treating 'I can't' as the real obstacle to examine, rather than accepting it as a fact. For a coach, the useful reading is that the block is usually a belief about the problem, not the problem itself, and beliefs are workable.
Isn't 'everything is figureoutable' just toxic positivity?
It would be, if it meant forcing a smile and ignoring hard reality - but that is not the framework. Forleo explicitly allows for the third option of making peace with a situation you cannot change, which is the opposite of denial. As a coach the honest way to use it is to pair the reframe with genuine effort and a concrete next step: you are not telling a client their problem is small, you are helping them find the one resourceful action available right now. The mantra without the action is a slogan; the mantra with a tracked step is a method.
How do life and mindset coaches use the figureoutable mindset with clients?
The practical move is to catch the client's 'I can't ___' and turn it into a question. Rewrite it as 'I haven't figured out how to ___ yet,' then ask for one resourceful next step - someone to ask, something to research, a small test to run, or a decision to make peace with it. That single step becomes the week's action, and the coach tracks whether it actually happened. Over weeks, the client learns the pattern themselves: the point is not to solve everything at once, it is to keep converting stuck stories into small, doable moves.
Does the figureoutable belief work for big life problems?
It scales down better than it scales up in one leap. A large, vague problem - 'I hate my career,' 'my relationships never work' - is rarely figureoutable in a single session, and pretending otherwise sets a client up to feel worse. The framework works when you break the big thing into the next honest step and let resourcefulness compound. For a coach, that means resisting the urge to figure out the whole life on a whiteboard and instead protecting one small action per week, checking in on it, and adjusting. Big problems get figured out the same way small ones do - just over more check-ins.
More coaching breakdowns
- · Behavior-change frameworks for coaches - the models behind why a reframe plus a small action actually moves people.
- · How to coach clients who don't follow the program - what to do when "I can't" quietly becomes "I didn't."
- · The full roundup: creator coaching breakdowns.
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Make the reframe a habit, not a pep talk
A mindset shift only counts when it turns into behaviour you can see. Coachway lets clients log each stuck point in their check-ins, turns each 'I can't' into one tracked next step in their branded app, and nudges it mid-week so it doesn't die between sessions - while you see at a glance whether the reframe is landing. Start your 14-day free trial and run your first roster from one screen.
