In this episode, Wendy is joined by Paul Grantham, Consultant Clinical Psychologist, Hon Professor of Clinical Psychology, Director of SDS Seminars Ltd and an Accredited CBT Therapist. Together, they explore the science and psychology behind motivation.
Paul shares practical strategies for building habits, overcoming setbacks, and understanding what truly drives us. Discover the roles of self-efficacy, rituals, and technology in creating lasting change, and learn how to turn motivation into meaningful action.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Most people know what they need to do to make the changes they want, but they rarely know how to stay motivated for long enough.
Negative goals focus on eliminating a problem rather than pursuing a positive change e.g. wanting to "stop being depressed" instead of "feeling happier." They make you concentrate on what you want to avoid which keeps your attention on the problem itself and makes it harder to move forward.
If you doubt your ability to change, remind yourself where you’ve shown resilience or skill before, those strengths can help you succeed in new challenges.
Telling yourself, or others, off doesn´t work. You go into a siege mentality and disengage.
The right AI tools can help you with motivation. But the wrong ones can negatively impact you. Paul explains the difference.
Once you have made a change you need to maintain it until it becomes a habit. Paul explains how to motivate yourself through this stage.
BEST MOMENTS
“If we want to change, we need to focus on how what we are doing creates a problem for us.”
“We've got very good evidence indeed that actually doing things with someone else makes an enormous difference.”
“It's a bit like saying, are chainsaws good or bad? Well, they're both. It depends on whether you use them to cut off your leg or not.”
ABOUT THE GUEST
Paul Grantham, Consultant Clinical Psychologist, Hon Professor of Clinical Psychology and an Accredited CBT Therapist. He is Director of SDS Seminars Ltd, a UK-based international psychotherapy and behaviour change training organisation. He is also the author of a number of books including Practical Approaches to Motivating Clients (2017) and FREE YOURSELF FROM IMPOSTOR SYNDROME (2025).
Paul is based in Sussex, England and can be contacted via :
info@sds-seminars.com and www.skillsdevelopment.co.uk
Paul´s books - https://www.amazon.co.uk/stores/Paul-Grantham/author/B01N9GGGAA
VALUABLE RESOURCES
www.wendycastelino.com
https://www.instagram.com/wendycastelino/
https://www.youtube.com/@wendycastelino798
https://twitter.com/WendyCastelino
ABOUT THE HOST
Wendy Castelino has been working as a psychotherapist for over thirty-five years. As an accredited CBT and EMDR practitioner, she is committed to upholding the rigorous standards required for these accreditations and helping thousands of people reach their full potential.
Wendy currently runs a private practice where her focus is on CBT. Therapy is constantly evolving into developing new techniques, so she studies hard to integrate them into her therapy, to provide a rich and effective experience.
Wendy is aware that working in one-to-one therapy limits the number of people she can see. She has, therefore, created a range of online resources. These resources are designed to be easy to follow and provide clear, step-by-step instructions. This can help the individual to master skills and gain confidence, therefore optimising the therapy sessions. They are also suitable to be used on their own.
Further details are available at: WendyCastelino.com.
This Podcast has been brought to you by Disruptive Media. https://disruptivemedia.co.uk/
