What’s Up with Willpower?
We’ve all experienced that scenario – you wake up feeling super motivated to crush your goals for the day. You resist that morning latte, power through some work, and stick to your meal plan. But by evening, all bets are off. The willpower reserves have been tapped, and suddenly you’re binging Netflix and polishing off a bag of chips. What gives?
Willpower is that inner strength that helps us stay disciplined and on track towards what we want, rather than impulsively giving in to every temptation. And boy, do we need it for achieving our goals – whether it’s health, productivity, finances, you name it. But as many of us have experienced, willpower can be a fickle thing.
You start the day fueled with motivation to finally clean out that overflowing inbox and make progress on your big project. By lunchtime? You’re replying to emails lightning-fast and cranking out quality work. Evening rolls around, and focus goes out the window – you’re suddenly refreshing social media every 5 minutes and abandoning tasks left and right.
Or maybe you start the day with a nutritious breakfast and easily decline your coworker’s offer of donuts. You even hit the gym after work. But then nighttime cravings kick in, and soon you’re elbow-deep in a gallon of ice cream, wondering what happened to your discipline.
The Willpower Rollercoaster
From personal observations and research studies on ego depletion and decision fatigue, it’s clear willpower fluctuates in a predictable pattern over the day. You wake up feeling energized and in control, able to easily resist cravings, distractions and make thoughtful choices. But as you go about making numerous decisions and exercising self-control through the day, that metaphorical muscle gets fatigued.
By evening, the limited reserves of willpower are running low – explaining why evenings tend to be the time for unhealthy splurges, giving in to impulses like excessive social media use, and abandoning goals like that daily workout routine. It’s a willpower rollercoaster!
A study from the University of Nottingham found willpower depletion kicks in faster for people who have demanding jobs requiring intense self-regulation and decision-making all day long. No wonder that evening slice of cake or mindless Instagram scroll feels irresistible!
This concept of ego depletion – that willpower acts as a finite resource that can be drained by making repeated decisions and exerting self-control – is backed by numerous studies. Researchers have found that participants who had to force themselves to remain disciplined on certain tasks performed poorly on subsequent tests requiring willpower.
Factors that Make or Break Your Willpower
Of course, there’s more at play than just the time of day and number of decisions made. Certain physiological, psychological and environmental factors can seriously bolster or sabotage your willpower reserves.
On the physical side, things like lack of sleep, poor nutrition, and high stress levels can quickly deplete your self-control. Have you ever noticed how much harder it is to resist that 3pm candy bar craving when you’re running on empty from a rough night’s sleep and missed lunch?
Then there are the mental roadblocks – self-doubt, mood swings, lack of motivation. If your mind isn’t in the right headspace, staying disciplined becomes an uphill battle. When you’re feeling down, squashing the urge to emotionally eat or splurge can feel impossible.
Finally, our environments play a huge role. Temptations and distractions are everywhere – from enticing junk food commercials to endless newsfeeds and video rabbitholes. It’s easy to get derailed when willpower pitfalls lurk around every corner of modern life.
Willpower Workout: Build Your Self-Control Muscles
But don’t throw in the towel just yet! Just like physical muscles, we can train and strengthen our willpower over time. Here are some exercises to try:
First, work on being mindful and present. When you notice an urge or craving, pause and observe it instead of instantly giving in.This mental muscle helps make you less reactive.
Next, build habits and routines around priorities to reduce decision fatigue. For instance, meal-prepping healthy food eliminates those night-after-night choices about what to eat amid hunger and fatigue. Likewise, planning and prepping healthy meals ahead of time means you don’t have to make depleting food decisions amid hunger, fatigue, and a plethora of temptations after work.
Or create a system to limit tempting tech distractions when you need to concentrate. Apps like Freedom allow you to block distracting websites and apps for set periods.
Celebrate small wins and set achievable goals to keep motivation up. Willpower is fueled by feeling successful. Text a friend about your intentions for the evening (“I’m not up late tonight as I want to get to the gym early”) – having to explain cheating motivates commitment.
Be proactive about sidestepping willpower traps too. Identify your pitfalls (I’m looking at you, Instagram blackhole) and implement barriers. Or temporarily remove triggers like junk food from your surroundings so you’re not sorely testing willpower until it’s strengthened.
Willpower Put to the Test
OK, let’s see willpower in action across different life domains:
Nutrition: Whether you want to lose weight, have more energy, or just feel better, willpower is key for saying no to cravings and making nutritious choices instead of impulsive, unhealthy picks.
Need to resist splurges and stay the course with your budget and savings goals? That’s putting willpower through its paces too!
Procrastination: We all know the struggle of mustering discipline to start and complete tasks, despite short-term discomfort or distractions. Willpower helps us power past procrastination paralysis.
Vices and impulses: Morning you can easily resist social media, gambling, drinking, etc. Evening you? Not so much. Willpower is crucial for managing these “wants.”
Productivity: From being productive at work to checking off that household to-do list, willpower allows you to stay focused amid a sea of distractions and motivational ebbs.
Self-Compassion: The Willpower Refresh
Inevitably, even the most disciplined person will experience lapses in willpower from time to time. That’s OK! The key is being kind and compassionate with yourself instead of beating yourself up.
Shaming and negativity after a willpower slip-up only depletes motivation and self-control further. Instead, create a “willpower refresher” routine with activities like meditation, exercise, or your favorite self-care rituals.
It’s also important to have a growth mindset during willpower struggles. See it as gaining insight into your own patterns, triggers and motivations. From there, you can adjust your strategies as needed – that’s empowering!
The Bottom Line
Willpower is a fascinating thing. When we have it in abundance, we feel unstoppable and capable of conquering the world (or at least resisting the late-night ice cream binge). But when depleted, even small temptations feel overwhelming.
The good news? We can absolutely build up our self-discipline over time through practices like mindfulness, pre-commitment, and prioritizing self-care. It’s a constant practice of flexing that willpower muscle.
Research shows strengthening willpower in one area of life tends to boost it across the board. So keep exploring different tips and tricks to start building up that reservoir.
And go easy on yourself during the process! Mastering discipline is a life-long journey of patience, self-awareness and growth. As long as you keep working on it, you’re making progress.
I’ve covered a ton about willpower in this post, but I’d love to hear your experiences, challenges and wins as well. Share your thoughts and tips in the comments!