I wanted to read the article, but I just couldn't make myself do it.
How to Build Willpower for the Weak
11–20 of 58 posts
Re: How to Build Willpower for the Weak
#12Fine, my comment was apparently irritating some people. I deleted it. It's unfortunate I can't discuss something that's been bothering me with the HN crowd.
This is a difficult discussion to have without examples. I've given up plenty of values from when I was a teenager. It wasn't because of weak willpower, it was because I eventually realized those values were silly.
Another thing that comes to mind; "a plan never survives first contact with the enemy". Values/morals like to be black & white, but the world is grey.
Edit: I had no problem with your original comment, and as it was still positive I doubt many people had a problem with it at all. I see, what, all of 1-2 mildly negative replies? Don't needlessly play the victim, it is unseemly.
Re: How to Build Willpower for the Weak
#13Something I've yet to see explored is the difference between negative and positive willpower. For example, I find it very difficult to motivate myself to do something I don't want to do, and easy to procrastinate. But it is relatively easy for me to have the willpower not to do something that I do want to do. On the other hand, many people seem to have the opposite problem; they find it relatively easy to do things t…
When the task requires some effort, it's obvious that it's easier to just not do it, even if desirable. The least effort it requires, the harder it is to deny it (e.g. smoking).
Re: How to Build Willpower for the Weak
#14Willpower is a fascinating subject. It often boils down to what Dan Ariely calls 'Ego Depletion' whereby you are competing with yourself. Eventually you will lose.
If you haven't seen it, it's worth watching the marshmallow experiment. You can see that some young children seem to have an ability to enhance their willpower at even a very early age. Adults who seem to be strong willed often exhibit this behaviour in the form of routines.
There's more about the subject with tips on improving your will power here: http://www.startupclarity.com/blog/people-dont/
Re: How to Build Willpower for the Weak
#15I always see the best way to develop will power towards doing something is to try and take the smallest step possible in doing it. I've had tremendous success with it. Can't stay awake till 3 AM in the morning to code? Try doing it till 22:00, then try pushing until 22:15, then till 22:30. In short your objective should be not giving up for the next 15 minutes, and when that is over; the next 15, and when that is over; 15 minutes after than... till you get to where you were aiming.
Chances are you will break, but with time and patience you can only get better.
I had this challenge once with a friend. He told me being a nerd I had the worst fitness ever; after a good debate why workout doesn't matter he told me I wouldn't last 5 minutes on a thread mill- The very next day I ran(more like walking very fast) for 45 minutes. Of course I was nearly collapsing after that. By my point was never to run 45 minutes. It was to run the next 3 minutes without giving up, slow down when its overwhelming and keep going at a steady speed and aim to not give up for the next immediate 3 minutes.
I've tried everything else. Drinking sugar cane juice, eating a snack, sipping tea. Nothing has worked apart for that 'Don't give up in the next x minutes' strategy. I'm lead to believe this is common in sports too, Test cricket for that matter is believed that, can be excelled by players who can play from a session to session. Just focus on playing this session well.
Re: How to Build Willpower for the Weak
#16Fine, my comment was apparently irritating some people. I deleted it. It's unfortunate I can't discuss something that's been bothering me with the HN crowd.
Wow, you are so special. Edit: I think you took it down for your own sake, not ours.
You're not the friendliest person around. Do you delight in making me feel bad?
Re: How to Build Willpower for the Weak
#17I can confirm the article's introduction: willpower behave somehow like a muscle. Or, at least, you can act as if it was so.
From my own (little and personal) experience, I've found it usefull to get into the habit of flexing it whenever I can, if possible in public. Just something like "ok, I'll go with you eating there, I'll just take a salad if you don't mind". Sometime people don't take the opportunity to discuss it further, but when they do it's an easy way to play the role of the guy who's aim in life is to improve his willpower. Incarning a role is, from what I've found so far, the best path to really become that person you want to be.
With time, I've found that there's a pattern that occurs when I'm placed in front of a bad looking choice, and it seems more easy to counter that pattern when it pops to mind, along with the memory of previous "willpower workout".
Re: How to Build Willpower for the Weak
#18I do the same. I don't eat chocolate or any other sugar sh*t when I have mangoes, apples, oranges or any other delicious fruit.
In Spain we have a selection of fantastic food, like "jamon" or cheese or fish or nuts(don't eat Californias's ones, they don't taste at all, the best nuts are the ugliest and dirty in the outside ones) so I prepare mini dishes in the refrigerator so five times a day I open it and there is something delicious and healthy. No need for pizzas or hamburgers(nothing wrong about good pizzas, the Italian ones or good hamburgers from time to time).
Eating well gives you energy along the day that nothing is going to give.
Exercise is also not a problem in sunny Madrid, but when I travel to Europe or Boston or Illinois I find it super hard to exercise while is freezing cold out there and cloudy, even going to the gym is so much work.
Re: How to Build Willpower for the Weak
#19"Researchers say we humans have a limited supply of willpower" -- it's an interesting idea but worth noting there are counter-claims.
Particularly, it turns out that this may be self-fulfilling prophecy -- people who subscribe to the limited willpower hypothesis tend to run out of willpower more quickly[1]
What's interesting here, for those looking to practically increase their willpower, is that treating your willpower as delicate and fundamentally limited might be part of the problem.
Personally, I'd like to subscribe to the 'abundant willpower' hypothesis, if that turns out to be the more powerful premise. (But then, I'd also like some cake. What can you do? ;) )
[1] http://www.livescience.com/38980-willpower-is-not-a-finite-r...
Re: How to Build Willpower for the Weak
#20Something I've yet to see explored is the difference between negative and positive willpower. For example, I find it very difficult to motivate myself to do something I don't want to do, and easy to procrastinate. But it is relatively easy for me to have the willpower not to do something that I do want to do. On the other hand, many people seem to have the opposite problem; they find it relatively easy to do things t…
I see that sort of thing in myself.
I find myself to be a fundamentally 'enthusiastic' person -- I love to act, and hate to refrain. Which shows up in things like health; I'll exercise like a dog and eat like a pig, because run is an action, but moderation is a lack of action (don't eat)