Learning to ration daily willpower
By: John Hansel
Tags: Productivity, Willpower, Mind

Like many of us, I have had my fair share of successes and failures when it comes to making the right choices and staying the course of action. If there is one thing that has the potential to deliver 10X results, it is willpower. I am sharing some of my learning on willpower in a series of posts. Starting with this post on our ability to manage willpower strength through the day.

A popular theory on willpower, ego-depletion theory 1, postulates that we draw upon a finite store of will power. And like a muscle, the more it depletes, the more we are vulnerable to making poor choices. In an experiment conducted by two groups of participants were asked to solve a difficult puzzle. Before starting on the puzzle, one group was provided radishes and chocolates but asked only to have the radishes. The other group was given only radishes. The group that had to resist the chocolate’s temptation gave up much faster than the group that did not have the temptation. It seems the act of exerting willpower also drains it.

We make a lot more decisions every day than we consciously realize — everything from food choices for breakfast to do I check out that meme posted on WhatsApp. Every decision, trivial or major, takes a bite at our willpower.

Here are some ways we can better deploy willpower through the day.

Plan the mornings with the most valuable activities

The night before, make a list of todos or plan the morning calendar. Especially look to slot the big-ticket items in the morning half. That way, the minute you are up, you know exactly what you need to get done & your best energy goes into the most valuable work.

Make one change at a time

Trying to change it all in one go exhausts willpower. Say you take a resolution that you will start meditation from tomorrow, hit the gym, and eat a healthy diet. As well-intended as this may be, this also sets us up to fail — too many willpower challenges for the mind to handle in one go.

A better way could be to make the changes incrementally. Pick one change and after converting that to a habit, take up the next one.

Have pre-loaded decisions — if/when … then

Psychologist Robert Cialdini suggests 2an “if/when … then’ strategy in his book “Pre-Suasion”. Pick a cue, could be a time or place, and then attach the desired action to it.

Say the goal is to exercise regularly. The if/when … then plan could be when I wake up in the morning, then I will put on my sneaker and go for a run.

We become prepared to notice the opportunity (waking up) and pre-fetches the action (put on sneakers and go for a run). The decision becomes more automated vs. having to expend willpower to make it happen.

Summarising

Our willpower wears out over the day.

Plan the day ahead and slot the most valuable work first.

Make incremental changes. Go for small wins first.

Pre-load key decisions with if/when … then plan

References

[1] Baumeister RF, Bratslavsky E, Muraven M, Tice DM. Ego depletion: is the active self a limited resource? J Pers Soc Psychol. 1998 May;74(5):1252–65. doi: 10.1037//0022–3514.74.5.1252. PMID: 9599441.

[2] Pre-Suasion: A Revolutionary Way to Influence and Persuade. Book by Robert Cialdini