370. Your year for doing less and achieving more
The Psychology of your 20s
iHeartPodcasts
4.8 • 1.7K Ratings
🗓️ 1 January 2026
⏱️ 31 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
At the start of every year, I choose a theme - not just goals, but a guiding philosophy. For 2026, that theme is doing less and achieving more.
In this episode, we explore why focus beats busyness, why saying no creates better outcomes, and how choosing depth over overwhelm can actually lead to more success.
Our discussion includes:
- Why a yearly theme is more powerful than traditional goals
- The psychology of intrinsic motivation
- The importance of focused vs. scattered effort
- How to choose 1–2 true priorities for the year
- The surprising psychology of rest
- How to plan a year that feels intentional, not exhausting
Happy listening!
Follow Jemma on Instagram: @jemmasbeg
Follow the podcast on Instagram: @thatpsychologypodcast
For business: psychologyofyour20s@gmail.com
The Psychology of your 20s is not a substitute for professional mental health help. If you are struggling, distressed or require personalised advice, please reach out to your doctor or a licensed psychologist.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | This is an I-Heart podcast. |
| 0:02.5 | Guaranteed human. |
| 0:08.6 | Hello everybody. |
| 0:10.0 | I'm Jemma Spike and welcome back to the psychology of your 20s, the podcast where we talk |
| 0:15.4 | through the biggest changes, moments and transitions of our 20s and what they mean for our psychology. |
| 0:28.5 | Hello everybody. |
| 0:29.9 | Welcome back to the show. |
| 0:32.0 | Welcome back to the podcast, new listeners, old listeners, wherever you are in the world. |
| 0:39.6 | It is so great to have you here back for another episode, back for the first episode of 2026. That feels bizarre to say 2026. Like, |
| 0:50.3 | the years really do start coming and they don't stop coming. But I have a good feeling about this year, |
| 0:55.6 | like a really good feeling, not to jinx anything. I'm also very superstitious, but the energy |
| 1:02.7 | I just feel for the next 12 months feels amazing. And I'm hoping either you're feeling that as well, |
| 1:09.9 | or perhaps my unrealistic unrealistic delusional enthusiasm |
| 1:13.7 | is rubbing off on you. |
| 1:16.1 | As some of my long-time listeners may know, especially if you have been here for maybe more |
| 1:24.1 | than a year or two, at the start of every new year, I personally like to set a theme |
| 1:31.3 | for myself for the 12 months ahead. And I like to share that theme with you guys. Obviously, I also |
| 1:40.5 | set personal goals and I have personal ambitions for myself that I'm like |
| 1:44.3 | privately working on but my theme is like the overall tone I like to bring to every decision |
| 1:51.0 | for this year every crossroad my daily choices my daily behaviors I use it as a guiding philosophy |
| 1:58.4 | and the reason I do this is actually based on this psychology paper. |
| 2:02.5 | I read a few years back on what it means to live a good life. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from iHeartPodcasts, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of iHeartPodcasts and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.