How Hoda Kotb Adopted 'Right on Time' as Her Personal Mantra: 'You Need to Have Faith' (Exclusive)

For Hoda Kotb, turning 60 is something that's come "right on time."

The Today show co-anchor marked her milestone birthday on Monday, Aug. 12 with a celebration thrown on the NBC morning show. But among the many surprises that came her way — including a performances from Little Big Town and Sugarland, as well as a birthday-shout out from fellow 60-year-old Leo Sandra Bullock — it was a mural hung outside the Plaza that might mean the most.

Illustrated by Thrive Collection, a New York City nonprofit that connects artists with public schools students, the image features Kotb's hand being held by two young hands, each wearing bracelets with the names of her two daughters, Haley and Hope.

Next to it is the phrase "Right on Time," which Kotb has adopted as a personal mantra over the years.

She tells PEOPLE that she first hear the words when she called pal Robin Roberts in 2017 with the news that she had adopted Haley. "I said to Robin, 'Can you believe I'm going to be a mom in my 50s?' And she said to me back to me, 'That baby is right on time.' "

Since then, Kotb has gravitated towards the phrase in every aspect of her life. Her second daughter, adopted in 2019, came right on time. Career success, from hosting Today with Hoda and Jenna to her Today co-anchor gig alongside Savannah Guthrie, came right on time. And love, one day too, will come right on time.

"Some people, they'll say, 'Oh, everyone around me is married and I'm single, why hasn't it happened for me?' Or, 'Why don't I have that job?' But you can't live on other people's timelines, you have have to ride your own ride," Kotb says. "In many ways, my life started in my 50s. Bevy Smith always says, 'It gets greater later' — that's what happened for me. And when it did, I was ready for it."

"It's about trusting that life is going to give you want you want when the timing is right," she continues. "You need to have faith. These blessings are coming your way, you just have to believe you're worthy of them."

That's not something Kotb understood at first.

As she admitted in the Monday, Aug. 12 episode of her podcast Making Space, she struggled for years with a feeling of unworthiness — something that she was only able to overcome by putting in the work to build up her self-esteem.

"If you would have told me when I was in my 40s that this is the life I would have when I'm turning 60, I wouldn't have believed you," she tells PEOPLE. "I felt grateful for what I had, don't get me wrong, but I sort of felt that that was all there would be; that what I had in life was good enough, and I didn't deserve anything more. And it wasn't until my early 50s that I started to change that."

Speaking it into existence proved to be a helpful tool for Kotb.

"Sometimes, just looking in the mirror and saying the words 'I want' can open up a whole new set of doors for you," Kotb says. "I remember doing that before I had my girls; I literally looked in the mirror and said, 'I want to be a mom.' And if I didn't have the courage to do that — to visualize it and manifest it and speak it out loud — I don't think I would have opened myself up to it, allowed that love to come in and really grow to believe I was worthy of it."

Kotb pauses for a moment of self-reflection. "You know, I didn't feel worthy of it at first," she admits. "When I adopted Haley, I remember holding her and saying to myself, 'I don't know if I deserve this to have this beautiful child in my life.' But saying that out loud, that's doubt and fear; that's not going to help you. So I really did the self-reflection and told myself, 'You are worthy of this; You deserve to be her mom and she deserves to have you as her mom.' "

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That self-worth has powered Kotb through every obstacle since, which has allowed her the confidence to believe that it's all part of the universe's grand plan.

"We only have one life to live," Kotb adds. 'We're only going to be here once. Why should we settle for 'just enough?' Do you really want to waste your life not going for what you want? You have to push for it and you have to remember that it'll come to you... right on time."