I FINALLY QUIT NICOTINE… Can I Keep It Up?
On The Mend
High Performance
4.9 • 566 Ratings
🗓️ 2 February 2026
⏱️ 35 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
This isn’t just a conversation, it’s a live experiment.
TJ Power challenges Matt Willis in real time to face the invisible addictions quietly draining his energy and to decide, on camera, what he’s willing to let go of to feel fully alive again.
From nicotine and endless scrolling to constant stimulation, Matt confronts habits he no longer enjoys but feels unable to escape. TJ also explains how these dopamine loops trap the brain, leaving us restless, flat, and disconnected from real fulfillment.
The moment turns personal when Matt reflects on his children. Without planning or performance, he makes a decisive choice, throwing away his vapes and committing to quit on the spot. TJ lays out the truth: every habit is a trade, between short-term dopamine and the life you actually want to live.
No polish, no easy answers, just an honest challenge to choose presence over numbness, freedom over avoidance, and courage over comfort.
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Need Support?
Samaritans: Call 116 123 or visit samaritans.org
Narcotics Anonymous: na.org
Alcoholics Anonymous: alcoholics-anonymous.org.uk
Mental Health Mates: mentalhealthmates.co.uk
Shout: https: giveusashout.org
IAPT: england.nhs.uk/mental-health/adults/nhs-talking-therapies/
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Want to know who's coming up next? Hit follow wherever you get your podcast and you'll be the first to find out. |
| 0:09.8 | Hi guys, welcome back to On the Men. This is the podcast where we look back at life's toughest times to figure out how to move forward. |
| 0:15.8 | Now, today is going to be a very, very different episode to anything we've ever done on On The Mend. I love it when I say on, on the Mend. But we've never done anything like this before. Today we have T.J. Power with us. Now, we've done an episode with T.J. before. We're actually still rolling from that episode. So if you haven't listened to that episode, please go back and listen to that. You'll find out everything that TJ is about. |
| 0:42.8 | It was a mind-blowing episode, one of my favorites ever, and I really encourage you to go and listen to it. But today we're going to do something slightly different. So I'm going to now get, |
| 0:48.0 | hopefully, a one-to-one dopamine experience with you. Yeah, Right. That is our goal. |
| 0:55.0 | We as humans in this world are very addicted to this dopamine chemical. |
| 1:00.7 | Yeah. |
| 1:01.1 | And in my research lab, we spend a huge amount of time trying to solve that addiction. |
| 1:05.6 | We do this in big groups, schools, companies, but also in one-to-one conversations. |
| 1:10.5 | And why not have one of those conversations on camera and see what we can find out? |
| 1:14.9 | When I think about it, the last kind of like, I've felt like I'm smashing it over the last |
| 1:20.0 | couple of years. |
| 1:20.7 | Like everything's going really well. |
| 1:23.1 | And the last six to eight months, I felt something kind of fall off a cliff. |
| 1:28.3 | Okay. |
| 1:28.7 | So a little while back I was on tour, right? |
| 1:30.7 | And I was kind of feeling this way during that touring experience. |
| 1:35.6 | Yeah. |
| 1:35.9 | Which was different for me because normally I'm very much a, like touring's awesome for me. |
| 1:43.1 | Yeah. |
| 1:43.4 | You know, like it's an amazing experience. |
| 1:46.3 | Every day is wicked. |
... |
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