Mike Posner: I Had Fame, Money, and Success… But I Was Still Empty!

Your emotional set point isn't fixed—it can be changed. Mike Posner went from depression to joy by facing his deepest fear: intimacy and relationships. The pain we feel isn't punishment; it's life calling us to grow. Start by asking: Do you want to live? Why? What do you want? These simple questions

March 10, 2026 1h 1m

The Ed Mylett Show

Key Takeaway

Episode Overview

Grammy-nominated artist Mike Posner shares his journey from depression and isolation to joy and purpose. Despite external success—climbing Everest, walking across America, millions of dollars and followers—he was miserable inside. At a Tony Robbins event, he realized his depression stemmed from avoiding intimacy and relationships. This conversation explores changing your emotional set point, the difference between significance and love, the three stages of artistry (puppy love, disillusionment, service), and four powerful questions to redirect your life: Do you want to live? Why? What do you want? What would make life worth living?

Key Insights

You Can Change Your Emotional Set Point

Depression isn't a disease you have—it's something you do. Mike went from a default emotional state of depression to one of joy, faith, and love through intentional work. Your baseline emotional state is changeable through addressing underlying fears and patterns, not just external achievements.

Pain Is a Message, Not Punishment

When you're avoiding something crucial in your life, your body and emotions send increasingly loud warning signals—illness, depression, anxiety. Life gives you pain to wake you up and redirect you toward what you actually need, not to punish you. The pain gets worse until you face the fear.

Significance vs. Love: Know the Difference

Many people confuse recognition and significance with love. They organize their lives around getting attention and validation from strangers (followers, applause, achievements) while avoiding real intimacy. True fulfillment comes from genuine relationships and service, not external validation.

The Three Stages of Artistry (and Influence)

Stage 1: Puppy Love—you love the attention and think it will fulfill you. Stage 2: Disillusionment—you realize the attention is fickle and doesn't satisfy. Stage 3: Service—you stop manipulating for validation and start genuinely contributing. This progression applies to anyone with an audience, not just artists.

Focus on What You Want, Not What You Don't Want

Most people create mental lists of everything they don't want—past regrets, current frustrations, future fears. Life gives you what you focus on. The shift happens when you ask 'What do I want?' instead of cataloging complaints. Prayer as if you've already received it works because focus shapes reality.

Not All Crazy Ideas Are Great, But All Great Ideas Are Crazy

When your manager, friend, or inner voice says your dream is 'crazy,' that's often validation you're onto something meaningful. If an idea scares you and others think it's unrealistic, it might be exactly what you need to pursue. Safety and comfort rarely lead to transformation.

Your Soul Knows When Life Should Feel Better

That persistent feeling that 'life should feel better than this' isn't complaining—it's your deeper self recognizing a gap between where you are and where you could be. The pain of that gap is proportional to the distance. This dissatisfaction is actually a calling to grow, not evidence that something's wrong with you.

Notable Quotes

"I went from somebody whose emotional home base, their set point, was depressed, was negative to somebody whose emotional set point now is joy, faith, and love."

— Mike Posner

"I was letting this part of my nature die underneath all these lies I was telling myself. And life told me in that moment, it gave me the message clear. Face the fear or we're going to give you louder warning signals. The pain's going to get worse until you wake up."

— Mike Posner

"Depression was a disease I had. It's not something I had. It's something I did."

— Mike Posner

"Not all crazy ideas are great, but all great ideas are crazy."

— Elliott Bisnow

"Stop measuring life and saying life isn't meeting my expectations and start asking what does life expect of me?"

— Viktor Frankl (referenced by Mike Posner)

"I was 60 years old and people knock on the door, Mike, how you doing? I got a big fake smile on my face. I'm doing good, but inside I'm a lonely man. That's where my life was headed."

— Mike Posner

Action Items

1
Ask Yourself the Four Life-Changing Questions
Daily or weekly, journal answers to: (1) Do you want to live? (2) If yes, why? What's your purpose right now? (3) What do you actually want? (Not what you don't want—what you DO want. (4) What would make life truly worth living? These questions shift focus from complaints to intention and reveal what your soul is calling you toward.
2
Audit Your Emotional Set Point
Identify your default emotional state. When nothing particular is happening, what emotion do you return to? Anxiety? Melancholy? Irritation? Joy? Once identified, trace it to its source—often a childhood pattern or unaddressed fear. Remember: this isn't a disease, it's a habit that can be changed through awareness and intentional work.
3
Face One Fear You've Been Avoiding
Identify the area of life where you keep getting 'warning signals' (recurring illness, depression, relationship problems, dissatisfaction despite success). What fear are you avoiding? For Mike, it was intimacy and relationships. What's yours? Make one concrete move toward facing it—a difficult conversation, therapy, ending something that no longer serves you.
4
Shift from Significance to Service
Notice when you're seeking external validation (checking social media obsessively, needing approval, fishing for compliments). Instead, ask: 'How can I genuinely contribute right now?' Reframe your work, content, or interactions around giving value rather than getting recognition. You'll still feel significant, but it comes from contribution, not manipulation.