We've all been there: trying to ditch sugar, hit the gym, resist that extra glass of wine... and willpower just CRUMBLES. But guess what? Turns out, willpower might not be the superhero we thought it was.
This episode dives into some cool research that shows willpower is more like a wave than a muscle. Sometimes it's there, sometimes it's...well, MIA.
So how do we resist that afternoon donut (or that extra glass of wine!) when willpower takes a vacation? Let's talk practical tips!
We'll talk about:
Why relying on willpower is kinda setting yourself up to fail
How to understand willpower as an emotion
Practical tips for adjusting your environment and mindset for success
By the end, you'll have a toolbox of strategies to handle cravings confidently, no matter how moody your willpower is.
Are you ready to drink 95% less in 30 days without committing to the nevers, forevers, and always so you can have more time and freedom to create a life that you love? Fill out this brief application to schedule a free 30-minute call.
Love the show? Leave a 5-star review, and let me know what hit home for you.
We've all been there: trying to ditch sugar, hit the gym, resist that extra glass of wine... and willpower just CRUMBLES. But guess what? Turns out, willpower might not be the superhero we thought it was.
This episode dives into some cool research that shows willpower is more like a wave than a muscle. Sometimes it's there, sometimes it's...well, MIA.
So how do we resist that afternoon donut (or that extra glass of wine!) when willpower takes a vacation? Let's talk practical tips!
We'll talk about:
Why relying on willpower is kinda setting yourself up to fail
How to understand willpower as an emotion
Practical tips for adjusting your environment and mindset for success
By the end, you'll have a toolbox of strategies to handle cravings confidently, no matter how moody your willpower is.
Are you ready to drink 95% less in 30 days without committing to the nevers, forevers, and always so you can have more time and freedom to create a life that you love? Fill out this brief application to schedule a free 30-minute call.
Love the show? Leave a 5-star review, and let me know what hit home for you.
Have you ever run out of willpower? You desperately want to change a habit in your life, like exercising or not eating sugar or drinking less only to find you cave in by the end of the week. If not by the end of the day, and today's episode, I'm going to share why willpower doesn't work and the research to back it. So you can practice moving through a craving without white knuckling it and instead move through it with power and confidence, let's go to the show. Back in the day, I secretly envied and a little bit hated people who I thought had willpower of steel. You know, those people, right? Who always ordered the salad and the salad dressing on the side, who only eat like one chip or fry from the shared appetizers in the center of the table. The people who like never, ever miss a workout, not even on vacation or who goes to the party, but doesn't have an alcoholic drink because the next day is their long run. But what if this had nothing to do with willpower at all? What if they just knew something we didn't or just thought differently than we did about willpower? That's what we're going to talk about in today's episode. What's probably been going on with you up until now, because it is super common. I see it. all the time, within myself and within others. You swear off sweets, you swear off drinking, only to find by the end of the day your wellpower has completely melted, and you are scouring the pantry for forgotten Halloween candy, or you're driving to the Wine store on your way home and okay, so maybe some of you can last longer than just a day. So maybe a few days in you cave, but the moment you give in to the moment of weakness, you're all in, you're all into the same habits and behaviors as before. Does this sound at all familiar? And if you're like most people, you do have willpower in some areas of your life. I mean, if you didn't have willpower, you'd just be like this pile of mush living in your mom's basement. But you do have willpower in other areas of your life, maybe even really strong willpower. Like you never get distracted or go for instant gratification when you're focused on a work project. That's Or, you're never late for work, you're always on time, no matter what, you get to work on time. Or maybe you're one of those people who never eats processed food. It's a really strict rule that you have within yourself, but that takes willpower. So how is it possible that you can have willpower in some areas of your life but not others? Or maybe you have willpower of steel in the morning, you can easily send it to Donuts in the break room. But by 3 p. m. You know, there's always that one doughnut left in the box, and maybe you cut that doughnut in half, and then an hour later you see it still sitting there, and then you grab it and gobble it down, and then you grumble about why you don't have any willpower, and why is the sugary, carby crap in the break rooms anyway? You may even think you've blown it for the day, and you start dreaming of eating out for dinner that night instead of making what you have at home. I get it. We have all been there. Well, except for that self control Barbie that I described above. So you promise yourself you're going to start again tomorrow or on Monday, and you set aside some time over the weekend to go to the grocery store, meal prep, and you have all the good intentions in the world to sticking to your healthy goals. You think you can do this. You can strengthen your willpower by just trying harder if you just build up that muscle. Well, in a Penn State article I read, it noted that lack of willpower is the largest barrier to making change. So what is this thing called willpower, after all? It's our ability to resist temptation to reach a set goal. In essence, willpower is the ability to resist short term temptation in order to meet long term goals. And when studies have been done around willpower, And MRI is used to really look at the brain and which part of the brain is activated when willpower is turned on. And what they saw in these MRI studies is that willpower activates your prefrontal cortex, which is that front part of your brain near your forehead. This part of your brain plays a significant role in making decisions, especially when it comes to inhibition. And inhibition is the ability to stop yourself from doing something that may not be the safest, healthiest, or most productive. And did you know that alcohol affects the prefrontal cortex after one to two drinks? That is why it can seem like such a great idea to have one more drink! Or maybe even get in your car and drive your willpower is buzzed. So up until about a decade ago, willpower has been viewed by social neuroscientists as a finite resource. You only have so much of it in a day before it runs out. And if you use your willpower to make these difficult decisions through the day, your next decision will be even harder to make. And therefore it's more like a muscle, right? That needs to be strengthened. However, a new line of thought has been created by this man named Michael Inslick, a professor of psychology at the university of Toronto. And he says, and believes that willpower is not a finite resource, but instead it acts more like an emotion. Just as we don't run out of joy or anger, willpower ebbs and flows based on what's happening to us and how we feel. And what we're working on and what kind of projects that we're into. Viewing willpower through this lens, I believe has a profound implication. And when we have this decrease in willpower throughout our day, it really gives us this beautiful hint or picture about what's going on in our world in that moment. Are we bored with a project? Do we need to take a break? Do we need to close down our computer? Or do we need to simply check in with ourselves and say. Why am I wanting to do these things like not finish my project or eat the doughnut in their break room or drink the wine at this time? Why is my willpower waning? If we believe that it is an emotion and emotions ebb and flow, then we can ask these questions. These are the questions you would ask of any emotion. If we view willpower as something we either have or don't have, or that it runs out, the research shows we are more likely to give into temptation at the end of the day. It becomes an excuse. I just don't have any willpower. It's just part of who I am. I'm a person who doesn't have any willpower. And if I tell myself, no, I want it even more. But if we view willpower as an emotion, rather than this limited supply of energy, when our motivation and willpower drop, it's a sign you should take note. If our willpower to do a task is Decreasing, or we're tempted by the brownie in the break room at 3 p. m., when at 8 a. m. we couldn't care less. Then it's simply a sign that maybe you need to shift your focus. Go on a walk, do something different, work on another project, close your computer for the day. You may have simply just lost interest in your project that you're doing for the moment, rather than stuffing your face with a near sugar fat carb combo or drinking a bottle of wine when you get home. Or you need a break or just to change your emotion. In other words, doing what you love requires no willpower whatsoever. So at the end of the day, your mind starts to deviate and tell stories about how you have no willpower. You can't stick to your plan of not drinking, of not eating sugar, of going to the gym and instead remind yourself that willpower ebbs and flows just like an emotion. It will change again with time. Sometimes it feels stronger and sometimes it's less strong, but like they say in Texas, if you don't like the weather, wait five minutes. So let's take this personal power back. Let's stop blaming willpower. Let's regain control of our lives by being aware of our thoughts, the stress that might be producing some of this decrease in willpower, how boring maybe some activities in our life are, and let's make changes. You've got this. I believe in you. What is 100 percent possible for me is 100 percent possible for you. So I'm going to leave you with a question today. So let's say that this whole willpower is an emotion thing is real. How would this help you resist the desire to drink at the end of the day? If you believed willpower was an emotion, how would that change the way that you looked at your desire to drink? And just to sum up this episode, if you believe you have a limited amount of willpower, You do. If you believe you don't have any willpower, you're right, you do. But if you believe your willpower is infinite, then it is. If you believe that your willpower sometimes can be a little stronger, sometimes can be a little less strong, but it all can happen and fluctuate within a 20 minute period, you're right. So look around at the evidence in your life where you indeed have willpower right now. Where you don't really even have to work at it because you do it because you love it, you do it because you're a responsible human, like getting up and going to work every day, or finishing your projects on time, or taking your kids to school, or making them dinner at night, you do that because you love it. You like it in some way or because you get paid and maybe consider if your willpower is waning in the moment of the day, maybe what if you just changed your scenery just to see how that changed your emotion of willpower instead of reaching for that cookie or a bottle of wine, let me know how this goes. Have you ever wanted to commit to eating healthier or losing weight, but at dinnertime, you order a pizza or you desperately want to not drink during the weekdays, but then you order cocktails at dinner that exact evening, you know, deep inside that you want to change. Yet, you always seem to be self sabotaging. Do you ever wonder, how can this be? Well, in next week's episode, we will talk all about this. See you then.