The Science of Motivation: Why It’s So Hard to Stick to Your Goals

Food, We Need To Talk

Juna Gjata

Health, Health & Fitness, Nutrition

4.8 • 2K Ratings

🗓️ 1 January 2026

⏱️ 38 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

n this episode, we sit down with Dr. Mark Faries, a behavioral medicine expert, to unpack why New Year’s resolutions fail—and why “just do it” doesn’t actually work when it comes to motivation, habits, and behavior change. We talk about confidence, self-discipline, and the real science behind why it’s so hard to stick to goals like exercising more, eating better, or finally following through on the habits you set every January. Dr. Faries shares practical, research-backed strategies to close the gap between intention and action, including how to set goals that actually stick and how to get back on track after falling off. If you’re searching for answers to why motivation disappears, how to build better habits, or how to make this year different, this conversation will hit home. You’ll walk away with a totally new way to think about goal-setting—and tools that make real, sustainable change feel possible.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey guys, we're back.
0:03.6	We're back in the studio.
0:05.4	You know, head down, learning Excel and spreadsheets and how to be this really successful
0:13.3	businesswoman.
0:14.3	But she came back on break and we're back in the studio together to continue in a new year of food we need to talk.
0:22.4	Yes.
0:22.8	So welcome to our very special New Year's series.
0:25.9	As you guys know, we took a bit of a break, but we can't let New Year's go by without posting some episodes.
0:32.0	That would be insane.
0:32.9	No, because it's the time of year when people just say like, all right, finally, finally, I'm going to just do it.
0:41.4	That's what we are going to be talking about today.
0:43.7	Why is it so hard to just do it?
0:47.6	I don't know if you find it hard, but I can never just do anything.
0:52.6	I can't remember the last time I just did anything. I don't even know. So on today's
0:56.7	episode, why is it so hard to do the things that we want to do? How can we become more confident in the
1:03.0	goals that we want to achieve? And how can we finally just do it? I'm Unadjata. And I'm Dr. Eddie Phillips,
1:11.7	Associate Professor at Harvard Medical School.
1:14.1	And you're listening to Food We Need to Talk,
1:17.1	the only health podcast that has been scientifically proven
1:20.3	to steal Nike's slogans without legal retribution.
1:25.7	Just do it.
1:27.0	Hopefully.
	...

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