424. How to ACTUALLY change your bad habits ft. Harvard Behavioural Scientist, Julia Dhar
The Psychology of your 20s
iHeartPodcasts
4.8 • 1.7K Ratings
🗓️ 1 June 2026
⏱️ 62 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
We all have something about our behaviour or our lives we really want to change. But every time we go to try, we find we lose motivation very quickly and end up back where we started with the behaviour still in tact. Whether it's quitting smoking, exercising more, wanting to eat healthier, sleep better, stop gossiping, be a better partner; bad habits usually all have the same psychology.
In today's episode we invited on Harvard-trained behavioural scientist & BCG Managing Director, Julia Dhar, to give us the step by step guide to changing bad habits. We talk about:
- Where bad habits come from?
- Why bad habits stick?
- What's happening in our brain when we can't quit a bad habit?
- The 3 principles of behaviour change you need to know to change
- How to help OTHERS change when they don't want to?
- Why your approach to failing will determine if you're successful
- Plus much more!
Happy listening!
Buy Julia's book here: How Change Really Works
Watch her TedTalk here: How to Disagree Productively
Watch on Netflix: HERE
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Follow the podcast on Instagram: @thatpsychologypodcast
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For business: psychologyofyour20s@gmail.com
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is an I-Heart podcast. |
| 0:02.5 | Guaranteed human. |
| 0:08.6 | 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. |
| 0:28.3 | Hello everybody. Welcome back to the show. Welcome back to the podcast. It is so great to |
| 0:33.5 | have you here back for another episode as we of course break down the psychology of our 20s. |
| 0:39.4 | Today's conversation is one that I've been wanting to have for a very long time. |
| 0:45.2 | Because if there is something, I would say all of us, if not a lot of us struggle with in our |
| 0:50.5 | 20s, it is this constant cycle of trying to become better, trying to break |
| 0:57.2 | patterns, trying to stop doing things we know we shouldn't be doing, and just somehow always |
| 1:03.3 | ending back where we started. Whether it is procrastination, whether it is phone addiction, |
| 1:09.7 | vaping, drinking. |
| 1:12.8 | I think we've all had a moment. |
| 1:16.6 | I've definitely had a moment where I've been like, this is the last time I'm ever doing this. |
| 1:17.2 | I'm quitting. |
| 1:18.3 | I'm done. |
| 1:22.2 | I'm going to become this discipline, motivated person. |
| 1:24.7 | And it just doesn't work. |
| 1:29.3 | I don't think the problem is with us, if I'm being honest. I think the problem is that we actually misunderstand the psychology behind why and how change actually works. |
| 1:37.8 | So today, we are going to do a deep dive into the science and the psychology behind changing |
| 1:43.3 | bad habits, not like a surface level |
... |
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