Why You Don’t Follow Through on Your Health Goals — and How to Fix It
The Art of Manliness
The Art of Manliness
4.7 • 14.8K Ratings
🗓️ 9 December 2025
⏱️ 55 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Most of us know what we should do to be healthier: eat better, move more, sleep well. The real challenge? Actually following through.
On today’s show, I talk to behavioral psychologist Amantha Imber, author of The Health Habit, who argues that the missing piece in most health advice isn’t more information — it’s learning how to bridge the gap between knowing what to do and actually doing it.
Amantha first outlines four “habit hijackers” that sabotage your best-laid plans and shares practical, research-backed tactics to overcome each one. We then dive into some specific health habits that will give you a lot of transformative bang for your buck. We discuss how restricting your sleep can help you sleep better, the truth about the popular 10,000 steps a day recommendation, the underrated power of an after-dinner walk, and more.
Resources Related to the Podcast
- Hijacker Survey Link
- Related AoM Podcasts:
- The Psychology of Effective Weight Loss
- How to Hack the Habit Loop to Build a Better Life
- The Microbiome Master Key
- Related AoM Articles:
- Unlocking the Science of Habits
- The Science of Drive: 5 Theories of Motivation
- The Power of Temptation Bundling
- The 10 Best Ways to Make Exercise an Unbreakable Habit
- The Importance of a Good Start: Using Temporal Landmarks to Achieve Your Goals
- AoM “Sleep” archives
- AoM “Habits” archives
- The Power of Implementation Intentions
- The Digestive Power of an After-Dinner Walk
- The Existential in Red Dead Redemption 2
- Sleep Restriction and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
- Study: Holding the Hunger Games Hostage at the Gym
- Study: “I Don’t” vs “I Can’t”
- Study: The Fresh Start Effect
- Study: Designing More Effective Goals by Using Emergency Reserves (“Hall Passes”)
- Study: Untapping the Health Enhancing Potential of Vigorous Intermittent Lifestyle Physical Activity (VILPA)
- Study: Reduced exertion high-intensity interval training
Connect With Amantha Imber
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | So as we head into the holidays, things have gotten extra busy than the K household. |
| 0:03.2 | We got basketball games, school events, church activities, and all the end of year chaos that somehow hits at once. Most nights, we barely have time to sit down, let alone cook and clean up. And we don't want to eat fast food either. That's where Factor Meals comes in. We've been using Factor Meals, take the stress at our dinner time for a while. these are chef-prepared, dietitian-approved meals that show up ready to eat. |
| 0:23.6 | There's no prep, no mess. They take two minutes to warm up. You just heat and enjoy something that actually tastes good and supports health goals. Right now, Factor has more meal variety than ever, including premium options like salmon and shrimp at no extra costs. They've also added Mediterranean diet meals plus bold global flavors inspired by China and Thailand. |
| 0:41.0 | A few of my favorites lately have been cilantro chicken. |
| 0:43.1 | It's pretty spicy. |
| 0:44.0 | I like that. |
| 0:44.6 | They also have the Pente Rosee meatballs. |
| 0:46.7 | Really good as well. |
| 0:47.6 | They also have another spicy southwestern dish that I like. |
| 0:51.4 | Spicy Southwestern style turkey and macaroni. |
| 0:53.7 | Very, very good. |
| 0:55.0 | So if your schedules is packed as ours, eat smart at factormeals.com slash manliness 50 off |
| 1:00.0 | and use code manliness 50 off to get 50% off your first box plus free breakfast for a year. |
| 1:06.2 | That's factor meals.com slash manliness 50 off. |
| 1:09.1 | So that's M-A-N-L-I-N-E-S-S-5-0-O-F, and use code |
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| 1:18.9 | Offer valid for new customers only with qualifying auto-renewing subscription. |
| 1:33.2 | Brett McKay here and welcome to another edition of the Art of Manliness podcast. |
| 1:36.0 | Most of us know what we should do to be healthier. |
| 1:38.8 | Eat better, move more, sleep well. |
| 1:42.0 | The real challenge, actually following through. |
| 1:45.2 | On today's show, I talked to behavioral psychologist Amanda Ember, author of The Health Habit, who argues that the missing piece in most health advice |
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