Mind Reading: Top Creator Dhar Mann’s One Daily Non-Negotiable May Surprise You
Dhar Mann leads a powerhouse creator-driven studio that’s generated an estimated $65 million in gross earnings. He counts 171 million followers across his social channels, 250 million views of his content a week, and took the No. 2 spot on the Forbes Top Creators 2026 list.
Between running a storytelling empire including his new podcast What Happens Next, collaborating with brands from Old Navy to Adobe to Samsung and taking meetings with top executives from the likes of Disney, NBCUniversal and Spotify, the NFL’s first chief kindness officer and father of three young daughters has a seemingly endless to-do list. But there’s one part of his daily schedule he won’t ever forgo.
“There’s one thing in my morning routine that I do not miss. It’s non-negotiable,” Mann says. “I have all these goals, things I want to get done. I'm going to go into a cold plunge. I'm going to drink my green juice. I'm going to take all my vitamins. I'm going to meditate. I'm going to pray,” But the one thing that matters to me that I do get done no matter what is to go and have breakfast with my daughters. If I just get to see them in the morning smiling, feeling loved, and knowing that I help their days start on the right foot because they get that self-confidence of knowing their dad loves them, that to me is all that matters.”
Calling this ethos “a microcosm of my entire life perspective,” Mann says it helps ground him no matter the external noise. “We all have these notions of what we want to do and if you miss those things and you don’t check those boxes then you immediately feel like your whole day is ruined or disempowered. I no longer hold myself to a standard that my happiness is based on achievements or success. It’s more so about showing yourself grace and just figuring out what that one thing is for you. Because yeah, it’s easy to feel like we've fallen off the train and we have not even gotten out of bed yet. That's a tough way to start our day.”
In a media culture that still focuses on shiny objects, Mann’s lens is steadfastly focused on humanity. It’s a perspective that came to him organically, and one he felt called to.
“I entered my 30s at the lowest point in my life. I was broke, I was depressed, I was dealing with anxiety and depression I was two weeks away from getting evicted from my apartment. Everything that could go wrong was going wrong, especially on a milestone birthday. When people enter a new decade in their lives, they want to feel like their life is coming together but for me, it was the opposite,” he says.
Mann started reading stories about successful people—Michael Jordan, JK Rowling, Walt Disney—and noticed a throughline: Most had tremendous failures before they triumphed. “That’s when it clicked for me,” he says. “I realized that failure isn't the opposite of success, it's actually just a part of the journey to success. And that maybe all the failure I'm going through right now, isn't my whole story. Maybe that's just a chapter of my story and there was still more to come.”
So he began creating the kind of content he wanted to see. “The shared human experience is that we all want to feel that we are making a difference in this world, that we have dreams, that we can accomplish those dreams. But it’s really heartbreaking when you get to that moment to realize maybe that dream isn't going to work after all,” he says.
“I started thinking there's probably so many people that are feeling the way that I am feeling, so I started creating content in order to speak to that person and let them know you can get through the hard times and your life can be better than you ever imagined even if it hasn't worked out so far. And also to make that person feel a little bit less alone.”
The first video he created encouraged viewers to not give up when going after their dreams. “A good thing that that was my first topic because I had to record so many takes to get it right that I had to listen to my own message,” he jokes. It got less than 250 views, as did his first 99 videos. And then he switched it up and asked family members and friends to be in a video while he narrated. That 100th reel went viral.
Mann believes we’re experiencing a major culture shift, where vulnerability turns a story into real connection across brand, Hollywood and all sectors of influence.
“When we're not vulnerable, we may be protecting our image but we're losing our intimacy because we missed the chance to be fully known,” he says. “For a long time, we viewed celebrities and successful people as aspirational figures, but that is actually losing relevancy. Nowadays we are connecting with the people that feel most like us, that feel most relatable, whoever they are. And that's what social media has allowed. You're seeing big celebrities now showing what their bedroom looks like, what their morning routine is like, what their makeup routine is like. That's what makes them so relatable.”
Programming that pulls back the curtain can also go a long way in breaking down stigma and barriers to connections away from the screen, he says.
“I remember telling my dad that I was depressed during a point in my life and he did not think that depression was a real thing. He grew up in India, many years ago and so culturally I think it still varies and I think it’s also a little bit harder for men to talk about mental health. But we’re at a time right now where one out of three adults report feeling lonely and mental health issues often start with children 14 and under. A lot of times a parent's reaction can almost be how my dad's was when I was growing up but kids don't need discipline, they need someone to actually listen to them and make them feel comfortable talking about these kinds of issues,” he says.
“I’ve learned that positive storytelling resonates deeply, especially in a culture that often feels dominated by negativity and polarization. People don't just want to be shocked. They want to be moved, they want to feel hope and they want to feel that people believe in change and families can heal.”
Mind Reading (formerly Hollywood & Mind) is a recurring column that features interviews with musicians, actors, athletes, creators and other culture influencers who are elevating conversation and action around mental health, and breaking stigma.