Help lies in seeing willpower as a muscle, recent research suggests. The "moral muscle", as it has been called, powers all of the difficult and taxing mental tasks that you set yourself. It is the moral muscle that is flexing and straining as you keep attention focused on a dry academic article, bite back an angry retort to your boss, or decline a helping of your favourite dessert. And herein lies the problem: these acts of restraint all drain the same pool of mental reserves.
Thursday, August 3, 2006
An interesting article about how to exercise your willpower - and how to give it sufficient rest.
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I enjoyed this. But the results seemed contradictory - does using your self control deplete it, or does it make it stronger? Does it only deplete it temporarily, but make it stronger in the long run? I.e., is it better to eat the chocolate cake if you're planning to work on your novel right away, but skip it if you're planning to write that novel next week?
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