Kelly McGonigal

speaker

787 appearances 1 recordings 1 series first heard Jul 2026 last heard 24 Jul

Kelly McGonigal’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.

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recordings per month · last 12 months

Recordings per month over the last 12 months — 1 in all, peaking in Jul 2026 with 1.

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The School of Greatness · The Real Reason Stress Is Hurting You | Kelly McGonigal · 24 Jul 2026 podcast

It's just, it's cruel.

And exercise seems to be one of the only things that makes us feel good in the short term that teaches the brain to become more responsive to every other kind of reward in life.

And whereas a lot of the things that we get addicted to in a negative way actually undermine your capacity for joy.

And you can get addicted to exercise too, but for most people, it's this kind of positive dependence where they realize that it's actually...

is keeping their brain in a state that supports their ability.

And I know, so, you know, I first started, I got hooked on exercise when I was a kid.

because I discovered that exercise and I was doing like aerobics at home with VHS tapes.

I discovered it was one of the only things that actually helped me manage my own inner anxiety as a little kid.

There is a real genetic vulnerability in my family to addiction.

And I am sure that if I hadn't somehow like by miracle gotten hooked on exercise at that early age, I would have absolutely been hooked on things much more destructive than that.

So yeah, so if you're gonna pick something to get addicted to,

Exercise.

Yeah, or rescuing animals, although that can be a bad institution when you've got 70 cats poop everywhere.

Yeah.

Well, so I define willpower as the ability to make choices that are consistent with your most important goals and values.

even when some part of you does not want to.

So when some part of you has another desire, agenda, whatever.

And then it's not willpower.

So I'm not somebody who says willpower is defined by

you never, and then fill in whatever behavior you judge.

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