The Liz Moody Podcast - Harvard Researchers Found The Secret to Staying Consistent—And Actually Achieving Your Goals

Starting point is 00:00:00 There's one huge science-backed hack for achieving your goals and creating your dream life that we are not talking about enough. It is the difference between feeling incredibly powerful and motivated and feeling burnt out and depressed. It's the difference between being consistent with new habits and trying them out for a few days or weeks before falling off of the routine. And the best news is you can do it right now no matter who you are or where you are in your life. Welcome to the Liz Moody podcast where we share science-back tools and tips to empower you to live your best life, but we do it in a way that's fun that makes space for emotions and vulnerability and the realities of our actual lives. I have a zillion therapist in my life. My dad is a therapist. My mom is a therapist. Zach's dad was a therapist. Zach's mom is a therapist. My aunt is a therapist. My sister is a therapist. This arguably has some interesting impacts on my life. But what I'm a therapist is a therapist. But what I'm a therapist is a therapist. But what I'm a therapist is a therapist. This arguably has some interesting impacts on my life. But what? One of the best, best, best parts of it is that I am constantly getting to just drink in all of this

Starting point is 00:01:04 incredible therapist wisdom that they had to go to school for years to get. And one day, this was maybe a year ago, I was on a hike with my sister and I was telling her how hard I found it to motivate myself to have a great morning routine, which science clearly shows is really, really helpful for setting the tone for the day that we want to have. And she stopped in the middle of the trail and she said to me, have you been tracking what you have accomplished? She explained to me that this is a huge part of the secret sauce of therapy. Therapists track your progress over time and then they reflect that progress back to you. Acknowledging and celebrating that progress is a really necessary part of motivation.

Starting point is 00:01:45 And yet, most of us are not doing that at all. And this isn't just something that therapists do. It is backed by incredible Harvard research. So let's get into that. And then I will share some really practical ways that you can actually apply this research to successfully achieve all of your goals and create your dream life. There were two Harvard researchers, Teresa Mubule and Stephen Kramer, and they wanted to know, what makes people feel their best at work? What motivates people? What results in people being happiest at their jobs? They studied 12,000 diary entries from hundreds of professionals, and after years of analysis, they found that the single biggest predictor of motivation wasn't recognition, it wasn't money, it wasn't praise from a boss. The single biggest

Starting point is 00:02:31 predictor of motivation, which far outweighed every other factor, was a sense of progress. When we feel like we are moving forward, even just a little bit, we become naturally motivated. Our energy rises. We feel alive. And when we don't see progress, no matter how hard we are working, our motivation dies. Here is the neuroscience. When you make and notice your progress, your brain releases dopamine. A lot of us think of dopamine as a chemical of reward, but far more accurately, it is a chemical of motivation. It's essentially your brain saying, that felt good. I want more. Let's do it again. This is why progress builds momentum. You take one small step, your brain releases dopamine,

Starting point is 00:03:15 which makes you want to take another step, and the loop continues. Even teeny tiny progress, like writing one paragraph, solving a really low. little problem. Checking just one thing off the list lights up your brain's reward centers and it boosts creativity. It boosts confidence. It boosts energy. You realize this is working so you want to keep moving forward. The more progress that you notice and track, the easier it's going to be to be consistent. I love this research for so many reasons, but one of the reasons is that it connects to one of my favorite psychology principles ever, which is the arrival fallacy. Humans are meant for progress, not arrival.

Starting point is 00:03:56 Humans are meant for the journey. And in fact, research shows that when we think the arrival is going to make us happy, when we tell ourselves stories like, when I get this job, I'll be happy, when I get married, I'll be happy, when I have a baby, I'll be happy. Basically, anything that starts with the word when, we end up less happy, even if we get that thing. The progress principle, which is what those Harvard scientists coined the results of their research, adds this other layer to it, which is that it's in the journey we're actually getting those

Starting point is 00:04:24 dopamine boosts. Those little wins along the way are the thing that creates the motivation to achieve our wildest dreams. The Harvard researchers were focused on the progress principle in the ways that it applies to work, but it turns out it applies to everything. That same basic neurochemistry does not know the difference whether you are writing a novel or at the gym, or building a life with a romantic partner, or parenting, or chugging through sports, spreadsheets for your boss. And actually noticing and appreciating the small winds along every stage of those journeys is not trivial. That's what's going to literally rewire your brain to be consistent, to keep going, and to create the life that you want. Even if you have to drag yourself

Starting point is 00:05:07 through some of the more menial tasks of life to get there. And yet, we are so, so bad at acknowledging or even noticing how far we have come. In that same conversation with my sister, I was generally reflecting in a negative way about my mental health because that's part of why I have a hard time sleeping and getting up in the morning to do a morning routine. I was like, it is so frustrating that I have put all of this effort into my mental health over the years

Starting point is 00:05:35 and I still have anxiety. And my sister was like, whoa, whoa. Do you remember 10 years ago when you literally could not get out of bed because you would have a panic attack? And I was like, yeah. And she was like, are you in bed now? And I was not. I was far, far from my bed. I was on a hike enjoying beautiful nature that me 10 years ago fully thought I would never get to see or enjoy again. I have made so much progress in my mental health, both in the tools that I use to support myself and in how I feel on a day-to-day basis.

Starting point is 00:06:11 I not only get out of bed, I go on live national TV. I host podcasts with guests that I've idolized for years. I run a team of people whose livelihoods my business supports. But my brain just wants to dismiss all of that. There's science behind this too. There's actually a bunch of swirling factors that play, all designed to make us dismiss how far we have come, which impacts our motivation and keeps us from keeping on going and achieving our goals.

Starting point is 00:06:40 There is hedonic adaptation, which is the idea that our brains are incredibly resilient. And they adapt back to a baseline of happiness. So when we buy a nice house and think that will make us happy, it does for a second. But then it becomes our new normal and we start fantasizing about a nicer house. It is one of the reasons why more money doesn't equate to more happiness after a certain amount of needs are met. What once was the dream becomes the norm and then our brain gets. a new dream. Evolutionarily, this was really, really useful. If our ancestors basks too long in their success, they might have missed the next threat or the next opportunity. But in modern life,

Starting point is 00:07:22 hedonic adaptation results in us never feeling satisfied or proud of ourselves for long, even when we are objectively doing great. Another factor working against us is our brain's negativity bias, which again evolved from a good place. Our brains are constantly, scanning the environment looking for threat. So, you know, we don't die, which is great. But it means that we are wired to be far more likely to notice negative things than positive ones, because the negative ones might literally be the difference between life and death. In fact, research shows our brains give three to five times more weight to negative information than positive information. You can hear about a million planes landing successfully, but man, oh man, will you remember the very

Starting point is 00:08:08 few and far between ones that crash. I know I do. You can hear a million compliments, but that one criticism will stick in your brain like gum. So we are in this tricky situation where our brain is wired for progress and needs to acknowledge that progress in order for us to access the motivation that we need to keep going. And our brain is wired to not notice that progress. It is no wonder that so many of us feel stuck and unmotivated and like our habits just fall off quickly after we start them. Our brains are literally working against us, which is why we need to override that wiring. We need to create new wiring with some practical tactics. You know, I love my practical tactics, my pragmatic action step. So let's get right into those. The first thing is to track

Starting point is 00:08:56 your micro-winds. I had Oliver Bergman on the pod. He's the author of 4,000 weeks. We actually have a new episode with him coming out very soon. So make sure that you're subscribed for that because it is one of my favorite episodes that I have ever recorded. It's existential and philosophical, but also grounded in real tactical tools that you can use to create the life of your dreams. In general, he takes a really unique approach to productivity. And one of the tools that he suggests is a done list. Basically, at the end of the day, you write down everything that you completed. This can be replied to a bunch of emails. It can be did my workout. It can be went for a cirque walk. It can be said sorry to my husband. Oliver typically uses it in a more work-type environment, but I would encourage you to widen the scope to your full life.

Starting point is 00:09:46 Did you take your kid to the park? Did you feed yourself a healthy meal? Did you meditate for five minutes? Write it all down. We accomplish so much more than we think every single day just by being humans in today's world. By reflecting on those daily winds, we're going to kickstart that dopamine cycle, which is going to massively increase our motivation. One big caveat here is that, first of all, we're not making a to-do list. We're making a done list, and we are not tracking big goals. Something like I wrote 500 words today would go on a done list. We're not looking for things like wrote a book because these big looming goals can be really demotivating. They don't kickstart that dopamine loop. This is about celebrating tiny wins, celebrating the journey along the way.

Starting point is 00:10:34 A bonus is that it forces you to actually break down your big goals into these daily trackable microactivities, which is going to make you way more likely to accomplish them just tactically, even outside of all of this neuroscience that we are hacking today. There are also some other fun ways to think about adding done lists into your life. One of my girlfriends has a birthday tradition with her family where on their birthday each year, they reflect on whatever age they are in little wins. So if you're turning 30, you would reflect on 30 little wins and your family would help you reflect on those wins. And they can be really tiny, like started taking walks regularly or started eating salad. It's just a way of reflecting, wow, I have come so far this year.

Starting point is 00:11:17 I have accomplished so much. This also boosts our self-efficacy because we are hyping ourselves up and our family or our friends are hyping us up too, which is the key to starting that dopamine loop and finding the motivation to keep going. I would actually love if you would pause this episode right now and just comment a micro win that you have. Take a second to notice it and then bask in it and then share it with me so I can cheer you on. When you think about strength and resilience, like your ability to feel energized, to recover well, to stay strong as you get older, what do you think that actually comes from? Most people say working out or good nutrition, and yes, of course that matters. But there is a biological foundation underneath all of that that most people

Starting point is 00:12:01 are completely overlooking. I have been diving deep into this lately with the team at timeline, and what I've learned has genuinely shifted how I think about my own health. Every single movement that your body makes, every step, every workout, every muscle contraction depends on energy produced at the cellular level. And at the center of that is your mitochondria. Here is the thing that nobody tells you, certainly nobody told me, starting around age 30, our mitochondria naturally become less efficient. More get damaged, more become sluggish, and over time that impacts your energy, your strength, your recovery, and your resilience.

Starting point is 00:12:37 Most of us respond by pushing more. We're like noticing these things and we're adding in more protein. We're trying to fix it with more supplements. We're trying to do harder workouts. And those things do help. But timelines research suggests that we also need to be supporting these. cellular machinery underneath. And that is exactly what their supplement, Mitopure, does. It contains Erolithin A, which helps your body clear out damage mitochondria

Starting point is 00:13:00 and support healthier ones so that your cells can produce energy more efficiently. Because this is happening to your cells, it's going to impact your entire body, your immune system, your muscles. One study found that taking Mitopure increased muscle strength by 12% in four months with no change in exercise routine, it's going to impact your energy, your sleep, your skin, your cell health impacts all of this, and urolithin A keeps your cells healthy. Timeline has done over 15 years of research and testing on this one product, urolithin A, which, by the way, most of us lack the gut bacteria to synthesize naturally. That's why many of us need to supplement it to get the benefits.

Starting point is 00:13:39 This has become a staple supplement for me. It is my top way to support how I want to look and feel as I age. Support your cells and how you age with mitopure gummies from Timeline. Visit timeline.com slash Liz and save up to 39% on your mitochondere gummies. That is timeline.com slash Liz. I'm genuinely confused how masterclass gets literally the absolute top people in every single field to teach every single one of their classes. I use it when I want to learn things directly like the cooking class from Thomas Keller

Starting point is 00:14:12 has all of the wisdom that you would normally have to go to culinary school for. But also, I'm being honest, this is like a use case I don't hear a lot of people talking about. I'll just watch it for. when I want to do something that's far more interesting than scrolling. Christina Aguilera taught me to sing. Shan Boudrum's Art of Mastering Confidence and Sex Appeal class is 10 out of 10. There's menopause classes with leading doctors. There's script writing with Mindy Kaly.

Starting point is 00:14:36 Literally, you name it, they're on masterclass and it is such a good way to get off your phone but have something that's like not quite as long or hard to get into as a TV show or a movie and that it just keeps you entertained and interested. And you are learning. There are over 200 classes from the world's best, all for just $10 a month when billed annually, and you get unlimited access to every class on the platform so you can learn at your own pace whenever you want on your phone, your computer, or even in audio mode like a podcast. If you're looking to stop scrolling and start consuming entertaining content that makes you feel

Starting point is 00:15:10 excited and helps you learn, masterclass is it. And the best part, every membership comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee so you can start learning risk-free. Right now our listeners get an additional 15% off any annual membership at masterclass.com slash Liz Moody. That's 15% off at masterclass. com slash Liz Moody. Masterclass.com slash Liz Moody. Look, I'm never going to make everything that I wear organic.

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Starting point is 00:16:05 That's why I love bowl and branch so much. Their signature organic cotton sheets are incredibly soft. You notice that the first night and they are so breathable, which is a godsend if you sleep hot like I do. But what massively impresses me is that in an era where every, everyone is greenwashing everything, Boland Branch takes the safety and the quality of their products so seriously. They're got certified,

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Starting point is 00:17:13 Get 15% off your first order, plus free shipping at Bowlenbranch.com slash Liz Moody with code Liz Moody. That's Bull and Branch, B-O-L-L-B-L-Branch.com slash Liz Moody. Use code Liz Moody to unlock 15% off. Exclusions apply. To that point, the next thing that I want you to experiment with is celebrating the wins along the way. B.J. Fogg is the best-selling author of Tiny Habits.

Starting point is 00:17:40 He's the founder of the Stanford Behavior Design Lab. And a big part of his work is focused on the idea that positive emotions wire in habits by creating a positive feedback loop. So he'll talk about like doing a fist pump after you floss or saying, yes, great job to yourself after you do a weightlifting set. And I love this because it's exactly what we're talking about. It's celebrating tiny winds. It's cultivating awareness around progress and celebrating that progress.

Starting point is 00:18:10 It can feel a little bit silly, but there's a lot of research behind it working. If doing like a fist pump or talking to yourself, feel like, to out there. Celebrate with a friend. Maybe a colleague at work, you can set up a deal together where you can share and celebrate wins on a daily or weekly basis. The key is to associate positive emotion with the tiny win to kickstart that positive feedback cycle. So you want to do it all again. And this is not BJ Fog advice. It's Liz Moody advice. But I also love to celebrate wins along the way in a bit of like a bigger way too, like more than a fist pump. I always do this with my author friends, the publishing industry kind of teaches us to celebrate the success of a book when it's

Starting point is 00:18:53 published. And specifically when it's successful, if it sells a certain amount of copies or gets on the New York Times bestseller list. And first, that time is just a really terrible time to celebrate. You're usually flying around the country for tour and you're doing all this press and you're working 18-hour days and you still don't feel like you're doing enough no matter what TV shows or podcasts or print press that you get. Everybody is like, what's next? What's next? What's next? What's But more importantly, it's mostly out of our control. A lot of the life wins that society pushes us to celebrate are out of our control to a certain extent. Getting a dream job, meeting a dream partner, having a bestselling book, which is why I really encourage my friend and I really try

Starting point is 00:19:36 myself to celebrate the journey. You wrote a book. Oh my gosh, that's incredible. You applied for your dream job. Amazing. You went out on a date. These are are all worthy of celebrating. I love to pop some great champagne or do a spa day just to reinforce that these things matter, that our effort matters outside of external affirmation or reward. Not only is that the part that's in our control, but again, celebrating those wins, celebrating that progress is going to motivate us to keep going. Next, I basically want to take advantage of my sister's advice, so shout out Katie, thank you, and use somebody else to mirror back your progress to you. Maybe you have a friend that you check in with every few months and

Starting point is 00:20:23 you share each other's progress with each other. So again, they are telling you your progress and you are telling them theirs. The point is that they can sometimes see things that you might not. Maybe it's less ritualized, but you can ask your partner to share. Hey, can you reflect some of my progress from the last year back to me? Or you ask a good friend or you ask a family member. Or you can do this with a therapist. A good therapist should. regularly be incorporating this into sessions, but you can definitely just explicitly ask for it. You can also just do it with a journal. You can read back on maybe where you were at a similar date the previous year. I know a lot of people who would like read January 1st, 2024 before

Starting point is 00:21:03 writing January 1st, 2025. And then you can write about the progress that you have made since then. I also love to intentionally build little look back rituals into my life. Once a month or once a year, scroll back through your old photos. Really look it past you. What progress have you made in your relationships? Maybe you're better at being vulnerable now. Maybe you've made some recurring plans with friends. What progress have you made it work? This doesn't have to be raises or promotions. It could just be like I became more resilient to change or I learned to set better boundaries. What progress have you made in your health? It is wild to me when I think back just five years ago, I ate a ton of food that made me feel terrible. I didn't have any type of workout routine. I had never been to couples therapy, which has been a huge win in my relationship. This podcast was a side project. I was still getting drunk multiple times a week. I hated my body. I have made so much progress. But in the turn of my daily life, my attention is always just focused on the next goal, the next goal, the next goal, which is, ironically,

Starting point is 00:22:15 getting in the way of my motivation, my achieving those goals, but also just how good I feel every day. We have so, so many wins in our life. We just need to take a step back and give ourselves the chance to really see them and appreciate them. You are already doing so much right. You're already building the life that you want step by tiny step, even if it doesn't always feel like it. Your brain might try to convince you that you're behind, that you need to do more, that the wins only count when it's big enough to post about on social media. But the science could not be clearer. Progress is the point. Every small action, every moment that you show up is literally rewiring your brain to make the next step easier. You are training yourself to be consistent.

Starting point is 00:23:05 You are proving to yourself that you can trust yourself. So notice that. Celebrate it. Write it down. Tell somebody about it because this is how we create the kind of motivation that lasts. This is how we create our dream life, one micro win at a time. Send this episode to your partner, to your friends, to your family so we can all celebrate our progress and be that much closer to unlocking the type of motivation that we all deserve. I would also love to know your micro win if you haven't shared it yet.

Starting point is 00:23:36 Or if you're down to try one of these approaches to supercharge your motivation, I would love if you would share which one you're going to experiment with in the comments. And if you're new here, or even if you're not, take a quick second to hit that subscribe or follow button. We have new episodes on Spotify, Apple, and YouTube every Monday and Wednesdays. Mondays are short solos with tips and stories from me like this episode. And then Wednesdays are longer episodes where I sit down with one of the world's leading experts to dive deep into a subject. I know that 50% of you listening right now are not following the podcast. And it is the best way. way to both support the podcast and to make sure that you never miss out on an episode that could

Starting point is 00:24:16 change your life. You can also find all of my favorite partner codes from the skincare that I swear by to the creatine and fish oil that I take every single day at Liz Moody.com slash codes. Supporting our brand partners keeps our show completely free for you. And it allows you to save money on products that I have vetted that I truly believe in. All right. I love you guys. And I will see you on the next episode of the Liz Moody podcast. Oh, just one more thing. It's the legal language. This podcast is presented solely for educational and entertainment purposes. It is not intended as a substitute for the advice of a physician, a psychotherapist, or any other qualified professional. If you have headaches, allergies,

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The Liz Moody Podcast - Harvard Researchers Found The Secret to Staying Consistent—And Actually Achieving Your Goals

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