Willpower

From “The Optimizer”, Inspiring Wisdom Daily

WILLPOWER: THE MOST IMPORTANT TOOL
“Very few models of human growth accept this, let alone give you a way to build your willpower. Instead, they pretend it’s easy to change your life. It isn’t. Our approach is the opposite: we’re telling you the truth about how difficult it’s going to be—and we’re going to make you strong enough to face the challenge. Doing that means increasing your willpower—which is what the fifth tool does. In a sense it’s the most important one—the tool that makes sure you keep using the other tools. It won’t matter how effective the other four are if you don’t use them.” Barry Michels and Phil Stutz from The Tools.

Willpower. It’s the heart of optimal living. We need to translate big ideas into consistent, powerful action.

We’ve covered a number of awesome books focused on the science of willpower. Check out the notes on Baumeister’s Willpower, McGonigal’s The Willpower Instinct and Duhigg’s The Power of Habit for a quick intro to the field.

Here are some gems to drive the wisdom home:

Baumeister tells us: “Improving willpower is the surest way to a better life.”

McGonigal tells us: “We may all have been born with the capacity for willpower, but some of us use it more than others. People who have better control of their attention, emotions, and actions are better off almost any way you look at it. They are happier and healthier. Their relationships are more satisfying and last longer. They make more money and go further in their careers. They are better able to manage stress, deal with conflict, and overcome adversity. They even live longer. When pit against other virtues, willpower comes out on top. Self-control is a better predictor of academic success than intelligence (take that, SATs), a stronger determinant of effective leadership than charisma (sorry, Tony Robbins), and more important for marital bliss than empathy (yes, the secret to lasting marriage may be learning how to keep your mouth shut). If we want to improve our lives, willpower is not a bad place to start.”

Duhigg puts it this way: “Dozens of studies show that willpower is the single most important keystone habit for individual success. In a 2005 study, for instance, researchers from the University of Pennsylvania analyzed 164 eighth-grade students, measuring their IQs and other factors, including how much willpower the students demonstrated, as measured by tests of their self- discipline. Students who exerted high levels of willpower were more likely to earn higher grades in their classes and gain admission into more selective schools. They had fewer absences and spent less time watching television and more hours on homework. “Highly self-disciplined adolescents outperformed their more impulsive peers on every academic-performance variable,” the researchers wrote. “Self-discipline predicted academic performance more robustly than did IQ. Self-discipline also predicted which students would improve their grades over the course of the school year, whereas IQ did not.... Self-discipline has a bigger effect on academic performance than does intellectual talent.” And the best way to strengthen willpower and give students a leg up, studies indicate, is to make it into a habit.”