Willpower
Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength
- Meaningful self regulation requires goals
- Frequent self monitoring of behavior relative to goals is critical for effective self control
- Willpower is a generic, finite resource
- the same reserves that we use to avoid junk food or pursue a fitness goal fuel our drive to stay on task at work or stick to a new bedtime routine
- Glucose replenishes willpower
- sweet drinks are often used in scientific experiments to demonstrate the replenishment of willpower reserves
- but it may be more practical in life to habitually rely on slower dietary fuels, like protein, than to rely on the fast boost from sugary drinks
- Practice can improve our willpower capacity. Some examples include
- Maintaining good posture
- a right-handed person brushing their teeth with their left hand
- People with the strongest willpower tend to rely on it less often
- Use willpower to proactively develop good habits and shape our environments such that we don’t need much willpower to do the right thing on a regular basis