Most people, when they're pursuing a new goal, think them, the best way to do it is to figure out what is the most effective route to my end objective.

What very few people do is look for a fun way to pursue their goals.

If you just tell people to pursue change in a way that's fun, they have better outcomes than if you tell them to pursue it in ways that make it more effective.

And that's because if you don't enjoy the change you're pursuing in the moment, you will quit. You will not persist.

If we overweight instant gratification dramatically and underweight the things we gain long-term benefits from, like achieving that big goal.

So if it isn't fun, we won't keep doing it. We have to find ways to make it enjoyable to pursue our goals or else we won't get anywhere.

Welcome to Good Money, where we believe money is not bad and good people should have more of it.

Good money in the hands of good people gets good work done. I'm your host, Derek Kimmy.

My guest today says 40% of premature deaths are due to decisions you can change. Let that sink in.

You have more control over change than you might think. And my guest today, Katie Milkman, is here to tell you how.

You probably want to change at least one thing in your life right now.

But the goals you've set this year aren't exactly fun and exciting. You tried the gym and budgeting for a few weeks, but you gave up when it got tiring and overwhelming.

I know you want to change, but you don't know what steps to take.

As a professor at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, Katie Milkman has spent nearly 20 years studying change and has some absolutely fascinating research to share with you today.

She says the secret to stick into your goals is making them fun. And Katie is giving you the tools you need to immediately implement them and whatever change you're working through right now.

If you're ready to take back control of your life and your money, then don't miss my conversation with Katie Milkman. Katie, it's great to have you with us.

Thank you, Derek. I'm so excited to be here.

Well, let's go right to it. Why is change often a person's toughest enemy?

Oh my gosh, there's so many reasons actually, and that's the reason there's a whole I wrote a whole book on this challenge.

There's many different reasons that change is difficult. One is that just getting started, getting out of your usual routines is a challenge we tend to be stuck in our ways and prefer to do what we've gotten used to doing.

So getting started is a problem. It can be hard to change because we're impulsive. We prefer things that are instantly gratifying and most of the things we want to change, most of the goals we might set for ourselves aren't as instantly gratifying to pursue.

Those are a couple of reasons, but you know, there's many more from forgetfulness to the general tendency to stick to our habits to self confidence that can all be barriers to change.

...