Dec 30, 2025 · 17 min · 12 segments
Most people quit their New Year's resolutions by March. The reason why might surprise you. University of Chicago professor Ayelet Fishbach has spent decades studying why we fail at goals. Her…
Ayelet FishbachGuestLynn ThomanHostBefore I ask you for the three takeaways you'd like to leave the audience with today, Ayelet, is there anything else you'd like to mention that you have not already touched upon?
There is a lot that you can learn and apply to your own motivation, so I would say ju- just be curious, okay? Just know that we are all work in progress and be curious to learn, to experiment, to try out things, and if they work, you repeat it, and if they don't work, you learn that you need to do something else.
And what are the three takeaways you'd like to leave the audience with today?
It's a tool, it's knowledge, it's something that we practice and constantly adjust.
(bell dings) Number two, set goals that you look forward to doing, not just things that you wish you- you had already achieved.
(bell dings) And number three, your goals need to fit with each other, so organize them, okay? Maybe get rid of some.
Maybe like your closet, some goals need to be donated, okay? Give it to somebody else.
Keep the goals that connect to each other, that make you the happy and fulfilled person that you wish to be next year.
Before I ask you for the three takeaways you'd like to leave the audience with today, Ayelet, is there anything else you'd like to mention that you have not already touched upon?
There is a lot that you can learn and apply to your own motivation, so I would say ju- just be curious, okay? Just know that we are all work in progress and be curious to learn, to experiment, to try out things, and if they work, you repeat it, and if they don't work, you learn that you need to do something else.
And what are the three takeaways you'd like to leave the audience with today?
It's a tool, it's knowledge, it's something that we practice and constantly adjust.
(bell dings) Number two, set goals that you look forward to doing, not just things that you wish you- you had already achieved.
(bell dings) And number three, your goals need to fit with each other, so organize them, okay? Maybe get rid of some.
Maybe like your closet, some goals need to be donated, okay? Give it to somebody else.
Keep the goals that connect to each other, that make you the happy and fulfilled person that you wish to be next year.
Every episode on Radar is fully transcribed, speaker-labeled, and rich with metadata. Here is a taste of this one. Try Radar for free to see the rest.
3 of 5
Willpower Isn't The Problem
First she dismantles the myth of willpower
Stopping 'What The Hell' Spiral
Next she explains surviving inevitable motivation setbacks
Make Hard Goals Feel Good
But what if your goal feels awful
+2 more clips · 4 min 32 sec of audio in all
The rest of this transcript — segmented and speaker-labeled, so you land on the exact moment something was said
All 5 clips — the highlight moments, each cut as its own audio, with a title and a speaker
All 12 segments — the transcript broken into labeled sections, every ad read marked
All 25 topics — jump to every other episode discussing the same subject
Every related episode — other shows Radar links to this one
No account is needed to search Radar.
