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Willpower Is Not a Limited Resource
Willpower as emotion
According to the psychology professor Michael Inzlicht, the individual is able to control his or her willpower, taking into account current feelings and events.
This is perceived as a decision-making tool that enables its owner to have full disposal of the mental energy and, therefore, to accomplish even the most challenging tasks.
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Key Ideas
The Ego-Depletion myth
One of the most popular folk psychology may be the belief that self-control is somehow "spent."
The idea received support in the late 1990s and has been cited over three thousand times by academic peers.
The ego-depletion study error
A recent study that involved over 2,000 participants attempted to reproduce the experiment that led to the ego-depletion theory but found no evidence of ego depletion.
Scholars looked into a 2010 meta-analysis of nearly 200 experiments and discovered that the meta-analysis showed a "publication bias" in which studies that produced contradictory evidence were not included.
Looking at willpower differently
The idea of ego depletion may have caught on because it satisfies a need to justify why we sometimes do things we know we shouldn't.
Instead of looking for an excuse, we should perhaps accept that we are fragile, distractible beings and cut ourselves some slack. Maybe our waning energy and wandering minds are trying to tell us something.
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Key Ideas
Ego Depletion
Ego depletion happens when people use up their available willpower on one task.
We all have natural urges, desires, and tendencies that demand attention. When we curb those urges, it requires willpower. Even small decisions to delay gratification require huge mental, emotional, and cognitive effort. As willpower is a limited resource, when it is used up, we experience mental exhaustion and fatigue.
Self Control
People having a high level of self-control experience better relationships and have higher achievement levels. Lack of self-control is associated with social conflict and low-grade academic performance.
Example: While following a diet regime, a person spends a lot of willpower the whole day trying to avoid junk food, but by the end of the day, all his mental energy has been exhausted, and there is no self-control left, resulting in snacking on unhealthy food.
Causes of Ego Depletion
Many emotional and physical factors contribute to ego depletion, like:
- Emotional distress
- Struggling to learn something new
- Mental fatigue due to anxiety
- Low levels of blood sugar
- Too much choice
- Conflicting beliefs and actions (cognitive dissonance)
- Heart Rate
- Hormonal imbalance
- Being young and immature.
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Key Ideas
Copying successful people
Putting highly successful people on a pedestal can unknowingly hinder our own efforts. We get caught in comparisons and it’s easy to forget that they’ve had and still have their own set of struggles and challenges on their path.
Use highly successful people as inspiration, not idols.
Maximize every moment
Working well is not about maximizing every waking moment of the day, in order to get more done. And the focus on maximizing time may actually diminish our creativity.
Instead, try identifying and focusing on the few hours of the day you are most productive.
Setting Big Goals
To achieve sustainable productivity habits, it’s best to build up with easily achievable tasks.
Small chunks of accomplishment will amount to something big eventually.