Willpower Is A LIE

We've been sold on the idea that the way to create positive changes in our lives is through the development and application of our willpower.

This is a huge mistake.

Unravel the /Thread/ if you dare...

Have you ever tried to make a positive change in your life, only to abandon it completely and go back to your old ways within a few days, if not hours?

Did you blame your failure on your lack of willpower and discipline?

"If only I had more willpower..."

Well, not so fast...

The truth is that relying on willpower to create and maintain positive change is one of the most dangerous and unreliable strategies you can use.

Why?

Let's start by understanding what will power is, how it works, and why it's a terrible tool for lasting behavioural change.

First of all, let's be clear: Change is HARD.

In one of my favourite books, The Happiness Hypothesis, @JonHaidt uses the metaphor of The Elephant and The Rider.

The Rider is the rational part of our mind, while The Elephant is the emotional part.

When we try to control our behaviour, it's like The Rider trying to control and direct The Elephant.

You might succeed for a short time, but don't be fooled: you are never fully in control.

At any moment The Elephant can change direction and The Rider will be left powerless.

Changing our behaviour through conscious control and willpower will never be an effective long-term strategy.

We are setting ourselves up to fail by trying to control a 6-ton elephant using a weak, tiny rider.

Is it any wonder we keep losing control?

In @the1thingbook, @garykeller and @jaypapasan talk about the myth of 'Willpower is always on Will-Call'.

Willpower is a depletable resource. We only have a certain amount, and it gets drained the more we use it.

Willpower will not always be available when we need it.

The problem is that we all grossly overestimate how much willpower and self-control we will have in the future.

"Sure, I've been stuffing my face with donuts for the past 3 months straight, but starting tomorrow I'll stop cold-turkey and eat only leafs for the rest of my life."

Basing your master plan of positive change on such an unreliable factor is a bad idea.

The truth is it's impossible to know whether it will be there when you need it.

So what do we do?

We need to find something more reliable we can actually count on.

Enter James Clear.

In #AtomicHabits, @JamesClear talks about the idea of setting up your environment in a way that helps you establish and maintain a positive behavioural change.

Remove distraction, temptation, and negative triggers, so that you never have to call on willpower in the first place.

The truth is that the battle is won or lost way before willpower ever even comes into the picture.

When you understand that your willpower is weak and unpredictable, you should do all you can to avoid putting yourself into a situation that requires you to use it.

Relying on willpower is like gambling at the casino: sure, you might win a couple of times, but if you play for a long enough period of time, the house will always win.

The odds are heavily stacked against you.

Sure, you might be able to put down the bag of chips once or twice, but eventually you are bound to slip up and before you know it you'll be covered in chips holding an empty bag and wondering what went wrong.

The problem is that you are ultimately playing a losing game.

So what can you do?

Stop relying on willpower and self-control, and start stacking the odds in your favour.

How?

By rigging the game.

Below are some ideas of how you can rig the game in your favour so you no longer have to rely on willpower, discipline, and self control:

1. If you struggle with snoozing your alarm and going back to sleep, put your alarm clock far enough from your bed so you have to actually get out of bed and walk over to turn it off.

2. If you struggle with checking your phone first thing in the morning, stop using it as your alarm clock. Instead, keep your phone in a different room and buy yourself a cheap dedicated alarm clock. That way you're no longer tempted to check your phone.

3. If you struggle with spending too much time on social media, decide how much time you'd like to spend and when, and then install a blocker app like @freedom to block access to your social apps during the times you're trying to be productive.

4. If you go on YouTube for work, but end up getting lost in a YouTube cat video spiral, install an extension which blocks YouTube's recommendations.(Thanks @nevmed for the idea!) https://twitter.com/nevmed/status/1339249185074376711?s=20

5. If you get sucked into your phone's notifications when you're trying to work, either keep your phone in another room, or block all of your app notifications so that they don't capture your attention.

6. If you struggle with putting aside 10% of your income, set up an automatic transaction in your bank account and you won't have a chance to spend it all.

7. If you know you can't control yourself around sweets, don't keep them in the house. Or if you're really craving something sweet, stick to single serving sweets so that you don't have leftovers laying around the house to tempt you.

This is where "Work smarter instead of harder" comes in.

We must think strategically instead of blindly hoping for the best.

Avoid relying on willpower alone.

Think about how you can stack the game in your favour.

Find ways to make it impossible for you to lose.

Thank you so much for reading this far!

Do you have any favourite hacks to bypass the need for willpower?

Let's create a massive thread of ideas we can all use to make positive change more effortless.

Share your favourites below!