371. The psychology of success
The Psychology of your 20s
iHeartPodcasts
4.8 • 1.7K Ratings
🗓️ 5 January 2026
⏱️ 37 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
What makes some people successful and others, not? Is it a singular trait, habits, or just luck? In this episode, we break down the psychology and research behind success and what drives successful individuals to become the people they are. This includes:
• Objective vs subjective measures of success
• The role of the self-determination theory in guiding success
• How to find success that is meaningful to you
• The 5 habits of successful people
• Developing an identity beyond traditional success
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is an I-Heart podcast. |
| 0:02.5 | Guaranteed Human. |
| 0:08.5 | 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. |
| 0:28.0 | Hello everybody. Welcome back to the show. Welcome back to the podcast. It is so great to |
| 0:34.4 | have you here back for another episode in today's episode in honor of the new year |
| 0:40.1 | and, you know, the ambitions a lot of us probably hold for 20, 26. We're going to be taking |
| 0:46.5 | a look at success, specifically the very intricate, fascinating psychology behind success. Now, this is a topic that I've |
| 0:57.0 | actually, I've shied away from this for a little while. I feel a little bit weird talking |
| 1:01.2 | about it sometimes. I feel weird talking about success and ambition so outwardly, and I often |
| 1:08.1 | have this assumption that it's going to make me appear shallow or egotistical |
| 1:11.5 | or arrogant, you know, if I were to acknowledge my own desire for success or acknowledge what it |
| 1:16.6 | means to work for success, the psychology of it. But the fact is, what I've come to realize is |
| 1:22.3 | being successful is a huge human desire and it's intertwined with a lot of other major human desires, |
| 1:30.7 | our need to strive, our need for purpose. |
| 1:33.7 | And that doesn't mean everyone's version of success is going to look the same. |
| 1:37.5 | Mine might be different to yours. |
| 1:38.8 | But whatever it is, the psychology behind what pushes us to be ambitious and to want more for ourselves is so |
| 1:47.5 | intriguing. And that is exactly what I want to break down today. What defines success, what |
| 1:54.2 | maybe determines success in some people and not in others. And essentially, how can we use the psychology? How can we use the |
| 2:02.8 | principles and the research to be super clear on our own version of success and the behaviors, the |
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