“We may think that guilt motivates us to correct our mistakes, but it’s just one more way that feeling bad leads to giving in.”Forgiving yourself for your failures is a step-by-step process. The first step will help you acknowledge what you are feeling, instead of running away from it. The second step will help you gain a healthy perspective on failure and remove the voices of unhealthy self-criticism (which don’t help you at all!) from your mind.The third and final step will help you comfort yourself, so you can be up and ready to face another day.

What the Hell: How Feeling Bad Leads to Giving In

“Willpower failures might be contagious, but you can also catch self-control.”It is very easy to fall back into old, negative habits when we are around others indulging in the same ones. Reminding yourself of your goals, and surrounding yourself with others who share your commitment to your goals, will keep you on track.

Infected! Why Willpower Is Contagious

“If you try to control and change too many things at once, you may exhaust yourself completely.”We use self-control for many things all day long. For example, getting out of bed the first time the alarm rings instead of hitting the snooze button, skipping dessert at lunch, choosing which brand of detergent to buy from the store—we have to use our self-control for all of these things! It’s no wonder that we feel exhausted at the end of the day.

Too Tired To Resist: Why Self-Control Is Like a Muscle

“All too often, we use our fancy brains not to make the most strategic decisions, but to give ourselves permission to act more irrationally.”All of us have experienced temptation for something counterproductive to our aims. For example, if you are on a strict diet, you might feel tempted to eat a burger. The good news is, this temptation can be fought! All you need to do is put some distance between you and said temptation.

Putting the Future on Sale

“To say no when you need to say no, and yes when you need to say yes, you need a third power: the ability to remember what you really want.”Giving a name to the impulsive/negative version of your mind will make it easier to identify your detrimental habits as soon as you engage in them. You can then call on the wiser version of your mind and correct those habits so you can achieve your goal and be productive.

I Will, I Won’t, I Want: What Willpower Is, and Why It Matters

“Progress can be motivating, and even inspire future self-control, but only if you view your actions as evidence that you are committed to your goal.” Rewards and punishments can help us stay on track with our goals, but they can also distract us from them. If rewarding or punishing yourself for certain behaviors causes you to forget what your actual goal is, or it causes you to indulge in bad behaviors as a “reward,” it’s time to stop doing that and remind yourself to stay on track. Focus less on rewards and more on the goal you are trying to achieve.

License to Sin: Why Being Good Gives Us Permission To Be Bad

“When you are chronically stressed, your body continues to divert energy from long-term needs such as digestion, reproduction, healing injuries, and fighting off illnesses to respond to the constant stream of apparent emergencies.”Stress will cloud your mind and keep you from being productive. However, if you help rejuvenate your mind and body, you can get into the right mindset to do what you need to do.

The Willpower Instinct: Your Body Was Born to Resist Cheesecake

Based on Stanford University psychologist Kelly McGonigal's wildly popular course "The Science of Willpower," The Willpower Instinct is the first book to explain the science of self-control and how it can be harnessed to improve our health, happiness, and productivity. Informed by the latest research and combining cutting-edge insights from psychology, economics, neuroscience, and medicine, The Willpower Instinct explains exactly what willpower is, how it works, and why it matters. For example, readers will learn: • Willpower is a mind-body response, not a virtue. It is a biological function that can be improved through mindfulness, exercise, nutrition, and sleep. • Willpower is not an unlimited resource. Too much self-control can actually be bad for your health. • Temptation and stress hijack the brain's systems of self-control, but the brain can be trained for greater willpower • Guilt and shame over your setbacks lead to giving in again, but self-forgiveness and self-compassion boost self-control. • Giving up control is sometimes the only way to gain self-control. • Willpower failures are contagious—you can catch the desire to overspend or overeat from your friends­­—but you can also catch self-control from the right role models. In the groundbreaking tradition of Getting Things Done, The Willpower Instinct combines life-changing prescriptive advice and complementary exercises to help readers with goals ranging from losing weight to more patient parenting, less procrastination, better health, and greater productivity at work.

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Based on Stanford University psychologist Kelly McGonigal's wildly popular course "The Science of Willpower," The Willpower Instinct is the first book to explain the science of self-control and how it can be harnessed to improve our health, happiness, and productivity. Informed by the latest research and combining cutting-edge insights from psychology, economics, neuroscience, and medicine, The Willpower Instinct explains exactly what willpower is, how it works, and why it matters. For example, readers will learn:    •  Willpower is a mind-body response, not a virtue. It is a biological function that can be improved through mindfulness, exercise, nutrition, and sleep.    •  Willpower is not an unlimited resource. Too much self-control can actually be bad for your health.    •  Temptation and stress hijack the brain's systems of self-control, but the brain can be trained for greater willpower    •  Guilt and shame over your setbacks lead to giving in again, but self-forgiveness and self-compassion boost self-control.    •  Giving up control is sometimes the only way to gain self-control.    •  Willpower failures are contagious—you can catch the desire to overspend or overeat from your friends­­—but you can also catch self-control from the right role models. In the groundbreaking tradition of Getting Things Done, The Willpower Instinct combines life-changing prescriptive advice and complementary exercises to help readers with goals ranging from losing weight to more patient parenting, less procrastination, better health, and greater productivity at work.

Kelly McGonigal, PhD, is a health psychologist and lecturer at Stanford University, an award-winning science journalist, and a leading expert on the mind-body relationship. Her teaching and writing focus on the applications of psychological science to personal health and happiness, as well as public policy and social change. She is the author of The Upside of Stress (Penguin Random House/Avery 2015), The Willpower Instinct(Penguin/Avery 2012), Yoga for Pain Relief (New Harbinger 2009), and The Neuroscience of Change: A Compassion-Based Guide to Personal Transformation (Sounds True Audio, 2012).

I Will, I Won’t, I Want: What Willpower Is, and Why It Matters

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