How To Stop Squandering Your Willpower (it’s a limited resource!)
We all want to have more willpower.
However, if you are like most people, you probably experience a vicious cycle of giving in, beating yourself up for it, and then giving in again fairly often.
In many cases, though, the problem lies not in the weakness of our characters, but in our lack of understanding what willpower is and how it works, which makes our efforts to control our impulses futile despite our best intentions.
Today, I want to talk about a very important scientific discovery, one that might change the way you think about willpower forever.
How do we know that willpower is a limited resource?
Roy Baumeister, a well-known psychologist, has been asking people to exert their willpower in controlled environment for the last 15 years. He did experiments involving a variety of self-control challenges: ignoring distractions, turning down delicious treats, controlling one's emotions, etc. However, no matter which particular task people did, their self-control decreased over time.
Moreover, it turned out that exerting willpower in a specific way didn't just impair people's ability to successfully perform the same task again: it also decreased their overall self-control. Participants who were told to resist biscuits were more likely to procrastinate, those who tried to control their emotions were more likely to buy things they didn't need, and so on. It seemed that their willpower was getting more and more depleted with each act of self-control.
These ob...
Source: PickTheBrain | Motivation and Self Improvement - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Agota Bialobzeskyte Tags: confidence self improvement strength success willpower Source Type: blogs
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