Studies suggest that relying on will power to break habits is hopeless (2019)
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Re: Studies suggest that relying on will power to break habits is hopeless (2019)
#2> Wood ends her book with advice for those of us who have become hostages to our smartphones. She offers a stepwise strategy. First, recognize your dependency, and acknowledge how the habit disrupts work, social interactions, and safe driving. Next, “control the context cues,” meaning identify what triggers you to grab the phone
That still requires will power. It could probably be reduced to intention, and not so much the discipline to stick to some habit and avoid others. Even if you need to change your environment, the decision to do so comes from the intention and awareness to want change. I think it's dangerous to dismiss this and think will power is not a factor because it is a self-fulfilling prophecy. If you think you don't have will power you will reduce the chances of having it.
Re: Studies suggest that relying on will power to break habits is hopeless (2019)
#3It’s just like decision fatigue: your capacity for it diminishes the more you use it (within a given time range).
Instead, carefully curate your identity . This is described well in Atomic Habits. Train yourself to think “I am just not the kind of person who does x.”
Re: Studies suggest that relying on will power to break habits is hopeless (2019)
#4It’s just like decision fatigue: your capacity for it diminishes the more you use it (within a given time range). Instead, carefully curate your identity . This is described well in Atomic Habits. Train yourself to think “I am just not the kind of person who does x.”
Whether decision fatigue is a real thing has been called in to question: https://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/cover_stor...
Re: Studies suggest that relying on will power to break habits is hopeless (2019)
#5It’s just like decision fatigue: your capacity for it diminishes the more you use it (within a given time range). Instead, carefully curate your identity . This is described well in Atomic Habits. Train yourself to think “I am just not the kind of person who does x.”
> This is described well in Atomic Habits. Train yourself to think “I am just not the kind of person who does x.”
Is this just basically willpower?
Or perhaps I should read the book to find out.
Re: Studies suggest that relying on will power to break habits is hopeless (2019)
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Re: Studies suggest that relying on will power to break habits is hopeless (2019)
#7Re: Studies suggest that relying on will power to break habits is hopeless (2019)
#8It’s just like decision fatigue: your capacity for it diminishes the more you use it (within a given time range). Instead, carefully curate your identity . This is described well in Atomic Habits. Train yourself to think “I am just not the kind of person who does x.”
The way I like to think of it is that it's possible to have willpower when I'm feeling strong and only have to make a big decision once - what's really hard is having to use that willpower over and over.
Thus, I've always felt it's better to change your environment than trying to improve your willpower. For example, I got a ton of exercise when I lived in a city when the most convenient thing to do was walk everywhere or take public transportation. When I moved out to the suburbs, I tried to force myself to walk more, but it never really worked. Driving was just by far the easier "default" way of getting places in the 'burbs.
The way I think of it is to try to set things up so you don't have to use willpower in the first place.
Re: Studies suggest that relying on will power to break habits is hopeless (2019)
#9[flagged]
Re: Studies suggest that relying on will power to break habits is hopeless (2019)
#10It’s just like decision fatigue: your capacity for it diminishes the more you use it (within a given time range). Instead, carefully curate your identity . This is described well in Atomic Habits. Train yourself to think “I am just not the kind of person who does x.”
> This is described well in Atomic Habits. Train yourself to think “I am just not the kind of person who does x.” Is this just basically willpower? Or perhaps I should read the book to find out.
No. Changing your identity is much more powerful and sort of operates in a background process whereas willpower is more of a conscious foreground one and very difficult to sustain long term.
Read the book. It goes into some detail.
I’ve worked with thousands of people personally over the years to help them with supposedly difficult to treat addictions for instance. Willpower is fine to start, but completely fails in the long term. Identity change is the only thing I’ve found that works long term.