I just read Switch: How to Change Things When Change is Hard by Chip and Dan Heath
I have been fascinated and researching more and more about…Willpower. Habits. How to achieve. Tips to change. For myself. And for my clients… How can we make behavior change easier? Etc etc etc…
Turns out that willpower is an exhaustible resource.
Check this one of many examples: College students were asked to fast for 3 hours and report to a study about food taste perception. They were then led to a lab that smelled amazing from freshly baked chocolate chip cookies. In the middle of the room were 2 bowls – one filled with cookies and another with radishes. Half the participants were asked to sample the cookies but not radishes and another half to eat radishes only. Then the researchers left the room. The cookie eaters probably had no issues resisting the urge to eat the radishes! However, despite the temptation, the radish-eaters showed great willpower and did not eat any of the cookies. Here is where another set of researchers came in and declared that the taste perception study was over. But, they were doing another study about problem solving. At that point, they asked the participants to solve a puzzle. Unbeknownst to the participants, the puzzle had no real solution……What the researchers were trying to find out was whether there was difference in a way the cookie-eaters and the radish – eaters approached the puzzle. Well, it turns out there was. The cookie-eaters made 34 attempts at the puzzle and persisted for 19 minutes. The radish-eaters made only 19 attempts and gave up in half the time. …The study shows that the radish-eaters who were tempted to eat cookies but did not, simply ran out of self-control. So when another challenging task – solving an impossible puzzle was given to them – they were simply exhausted. Willpower is indeed finite. It is an exhaustible resource. The authors sum up “what looks like laziness is often exhaustion.”
We use willpower in the multiple decision making processes that occur every moment of every day: which route to take; editing or otherwise controlling our behavior; controlling our emotions, especially negative ones; focusing on instructions given to us by someone else; being careful or deliberate in performing a task; forcing ourselves to push on with a task even though we’re frustrated; engaging in creative thinking; choosing the healthy options instead of junk; choosing to be responsible and do our work instead of slacking off; choose to use proper social etiquette instead of telling people off; etc etc etc!
Using this information that your willpower is like a muscle and can be exhausted….here are a few helpful tips from the book:
1) Do the important things first/Start the day right! Don’t wait until you’ve exhausted your willpower for the day and then start the project you’ve been meaning to tackle. For me…I like to go to the gym first thing in the morning, so that I get it done and don’t have the option of making excuses by the end of the day!
2) Make starting easier/Make things specific: Taking the first step on a project often involves overcoming many mental hurdles, and each of those hurdles requires a bit of willpower to get past. What’s the simplest first step you could take? A phone call? A google search? A quick-and-dirty list that breaks the project down into simple steps? Gathering all the materials you’ll need in one place? Anything that makes you feel like you’ve gotten a grip on the project today can make it easier to do the next step tomorrow. E.g. if you have have to “start eating healthier”…break it into smaller items. How about choose a few recipes, and from there write down a grocery list! That would be the first step…then you take it from there…
3) Eliminate unnecessary choices that exhaust willpower: It’s hard to choose celery sticks over candy bars as a snack — but what if it wasn’t a choice? Bring healthy snacks to work with you. If you need help keeping portions in check, put an appropriate amount of your snack into a ziplock baggie, so you don’t have to think about how much you’ve eaten.
4) Simplify your routines and habits/Plan Ahead: For example, how many choices do you make every morning while you’re getting dressed? I like to have all my workout clothes and supplements laid out for the morning, so I can get up and go! And of course I always have my breakfast and other foods ready for the next day, so I can get up, have my breakfast/supps/change into my workout clothes and GO! …then when I come back, I can have my post workout meal that’s in the fridge and continue to conquer the day…
JUL