num_pages: 275
description: The first book to explain the new science of self-control and how it can be harnessed to improve our health happiness and productivity.After years of watching her students struggling with their choices health psychologist Kelly McGonigal Ph.D. realized that much of what people believe about willpower is actually sabotaging their success. Committed to sharing what the scientific community already knew about self-control McGonigal created a course called The Science of Willpower for Stanford University's Continuing Studies Program. The course was an instant hit and spawned the hugely successful Psychology Today blog with the same name.Informed by the latest research and combining cutting-edge insights from psychology economics neuroscience and medicine McGonigal's book explains exactly what willpower is how it works and why it matters. 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. People who have better control of their attention emotions and actions are healthier happier have more satisfying relationships and make more money. 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 and that the brain can be trained for greater willpower.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 a healthier life to more patient parenting from greater productivity at work to finally finishing the basement.
language: English
title: The Willpower Instinct: How Self-Control Works, Why It Matters, and What You Can Do to Get More of It
publisher: Avery