Willpower Flashcards

Question

Willpower Experiment:Wait ten minutes

Answer 1

Ten minutes might not seem like much time to wait for something you want, but neuroscientists have discovered that it makes a big difference in how the brain processes a reward. When immediate gratification comes with a mandatory ten-minute delay, the brain treats it like a future reward. The promise-of-reward system is less activated, taking away the powerful biological impulse to choose immediate gratification. When the brain compares a cookie you have to wait ten minutes for to a longer-term reward, like losing weight, it no longer shows the same lopsided bias toward the sooner reward. It’s the “immediate” in immediate gratification that hijacks your brain and reverses your preferences. For a cooler, wiser brain, institute a mandatory ten-minute wait for any temptation. If, in ten minutes, you still want it, you can have it— but before the ten minutes are up, bring to mind the competing long-term reward that will come with resisting temptation. If possible, create some physical (or visual) distance as well. If your willpower challenge requires “I will” power, you can still use the ten-minute rule to help you overcome the temptation to procrastinate. Flip the rule to “Do ten minutes, then you can quit.” When your ten minutes are up, give yourself permission to stop— although you may find that once you get started, you’ll want to keep going. When “never again” seems too overwhelming a willpower challenge to tackle, use the ten-minute delay rule to start strengthening your self-control.

Answer 2

Fortunately, a person’s discount rate is not an immutable law of physics. It can be lowered just by changing how you think about your choices. Imagine I give you a $ 100 check that is good in ninety days. Then I try to bargain you down: Would you be willing to trade it in for a $ 50 check that is good today? Most people would not. However, if people are first given the $ 50 check, and then asked if they’d be willing to exchange it for a $ 100 delayed reward, most will not. The reward you start with is the one you want to keep. One reason is that most people are loss-averse— that is, we really don’t like to lose something we already have. Losing $ 50 makes people more unhappy than getting $ 50 makes them happy. When you think about a larger, future reward first and consider trading it in for a smaller, immediate reward, it registers as a loss. But when you start with the immediate reward (the $ 50 check in your hand) and consider the benefits of delaying gratification for a larger reward, it also feels like a loss. Economists have found that you will come up with more reasons to justify choosing whichever reward you think about first. People who start by asking themselves, “Why should I take the check for $ 50?” will think of more reasons to support immediate gratification (“ I can really use the money,” “Who knows if the $ 100 check will even be good in ninety days?”). People who start by asking themselves, “Why should I take the check for $ 100?” will think of more reasons to support delaying gratification (“ That will buy twice as many groceries,” “I’m going to need money just as much in ninety days as I do now”). Future-reward discounting drops dramatically when people think about the future reward first. You can use this quirk of decision making to resist immediate gratification, whatever the temptation: 1. When you are tempted to act against your long-term interests, frame the choice as giving up the best possible long-term reward for whatever the immediate gratification is. 2. Imagine that long-term reward as already yours. Imagine your future self enjoying the fruits of your self-control. 3. Then ask yourself: Are you willing to give that up in exchange for whatever fleeting pleasure is tempting you now?

Answer 3

Ready to put the squeeze on your future tempted self? This week, commit yourself from a clear distance. Pick one of the following strategies and apply it to your willpower challenge. 1. Create a new default. Make choices in advance and from a clear distance, before your future self is blinded by temptation. For example, you can pack a healthy lunch before you’re hungry and salivating over take-out menus. You can schedule and prepay for anything from personal training sessions to dental visits. For your willpower challenge, what can you do to make it easier for your future self to act on your rational preferences? 2. Make it more difficult to reverse your preferences. Like Cortés sinking his ships, find a way to eliminate the easiest route to giving in. Get rid of temptation in your home or office. Don’t carry your credit cards when you go shopping, and only bring as much cash as you want to spend. Put your alarm clock across the room so you’ll have to get out of bed to turn it off. None of these things make it impossible to change your mind— but they will at least make it damn inconvenient. What can you do that would put a delay or roadblock between your feelings of temptation and your ability to act on them? 3. Motivate your future self. There is no shame in using a carrot or a stick to nudge yourself toward long-term health and happiness. So argues Yale economist Ian Ayres, who created the innovative website stickk .com to help people precommit their future selves to change. His site emphasizes the stick— finding a way to make immediate gratification more painful if you give in. Whether it’s taking bets on whether you’ll gain weight (something Ayres did, to great success) or donating money to a charity if you don’t meet your predetermined goals, you can add a “tax” to the immediate reward. (Ayres even recommends choosing an “anti-charity”— an organization you don’t support— so the cost of failure is more painful.) The reward’s value may stay the same, but the cost of giving in makes One reason this intervention works is that the participants are held accountable by someone who supports their goals. Is there someone you can share your goals with and call on for support when you’re feeling tempted?

Answer 4

It is one of the most puzzling but predictable mental errors humans make: We think about our future selves like different people. We often idealize them, expecting our future selves to do what our present selves cannot manage. Sometimes we mistreat them, burdening them with the consequences of our present selves’ decisions. Sometimes we simply misunderstand them, failing to realize that they will have the same thoughts and feelings as our present selves. However we think of our future selves, rarely do we see them as fully us. Princeton University psychologist Emily Pronin has shown that this failure of imagination leads us to treat our future selves like strangers. let the present self to take care of his future self

Answer 5

Is there an important change or task you’re putting off, hoping that a future you with more willpower will show up? Do you optimistically overcommit yourself to responsibilities, only to find yourself overwhelmed by impossible demands? Do you talk yourself out of something today, telling yourself that you’ll feel more like it tomorrow?

Answer 6

When reflecting on the future self, the brain’s activation is identical to when it is considering the traits of another person. 25 It’s as if we are observing a person from the outside to decide what is true about them, rather than looking within to decide what is true of ourselves. when it comes to getting other people to commit their money, time, or effort, you can take advantage of the future-self bias by asking them to commit far in advance.

Answer 7

You can help yourself make wiser choices by sending yourself to the future (DeLorean not required 27). Below are three ideas for making the future feel real, and for getting to know your future self. Pick one that appeals to you and try it out this week. 1. Create a Future Memory. Neuroscientists at the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf in Germany have shown that imagining the future helps people delay gratification. You don’t even need to think about the future rewards of delaying gratification— just thinking about the future seems to work. For example, if you’re trying to decide between starting a project now or putting it off, imagine yourself grocery shopping next week, or at a meeting you have scheduled. When you picture the future, the brain begins to think more concretely and immediately about the consequences of your present choices. The more real and vivid the future feels, the more likely you are to make a decision that your future self won’t regret. 2. Send a Message to Your Future Self. The founders of FutureMe.org have created a way for people to e-mail their future selves. Since 2003, they’ve been holding on to e-mails people write to themselves, and delivering them on a future date chosen by the writer. Why not take advantage of the opportunity to think about what your future self will be doing, and how he or she will feel about the choices you’re making now? Describe to your future self what you are going to do now to help yourself meet your long-term goals. What are your hopes for your future self? What do you think you will be like? You can also imagine your future self looking back on your present self. What would your future self thank you for, if you were able to commit to it today? Psychologist Hal Ersner-Hershfield says that even if you just briefly contemplate what you’d write in such a letter, you will feel more connected to your future self. 3. Imagine Your Future Self. Studies show that imagining your future self can increase your present self ’s willpower. One experiment asked couch potatoes to imagine either a hoped-for future self who exercised regularly and enjoyed excellent health and energy, or a feared future self who was inactive and suffering the health consequences. Both visualizations got them off the couch, and they were exercising more frequently two months later than a control group that did not imagine a future self. For your willpower challenge, can you imagine a hoped-for future self who is committed to the change, and reaping the benefits? Or a future self suffering the consequences of not changing? Let yourself daydream in vivid detail, imagining how you will feel, how you will look, and what pride, gratitude, or regret you will have for your past self ’s choices.

Answer 8

Do you have a hard time taking a break from work because there is always more to do? Do you feel so guilty or anxious about spending money that you find it hard to purchase anything beyond the absolute basics? Do you ever look back at how you have spent your time and money, and wish you had been more focused on your present happiness instead of always putting it off? If so, take the willpower experiments in this chapter and turn them into strategies for self-indulgence. (And try not to put if off, will you?)

Answer 9

When we contemplate the future, our imaginations fail us in predictable ways. Far-off rewards seem less compelling, so we choose immediate gratification. We fail to predict how we will be tempted or distracted, so we fail to protect ourselves from abandoning our goals. To make wiser decisions, we need to better understand and support our future selves. And we need to remember that the future self who receives the consequences of our present self’s actions is, indeed, still us, and will very much appreciate the effort. Main idea Our inability to clearly see the future clearly leads us into temptation and procrastination.

Answer 10

Spread from person to person like germs, and nobody is completely immune

Answer 11

Not every willpower challenge is the result of a social “infection,” but with most challenges, there is a social influence. For your own willpower challenge, consider: • Do others in your social network share your willpower challenge? • Looking back, did you pick up the habit from a friend or family member? • Are there certain people you’re more likely to indulge with? • Have other people in your network recently attempted to improve on this willpower challenge too?

Answer 12

It makes it easier to influence the person they are mirroring. This is our tendency to behave like our social influences to fit in.

Answer 13

This week, keep your eyes open for any evidence that you are mirroring other people’s behavior— especially behavior related to your willpower challenge. Is a common indulgence the social glue that’s holding a relationship together? Do you go overboard when others around you are doing the same?

Answer 14

We don’t always catch other people’s goals. Sometimes seeing someone else give in to temptation can actually enhance our self-control. When you are firmly committed to a goal (e.g., losing weight), but aware that you have a conflicting goal (e.g., enjoying a deep-dish pizza), seeing someone do something that conflicts with your strongest goal will put your brain on high alert. It will activate your dominant goal even more strongly and start generating strategies to help you stick with it. Psychologists call this counterac-tive control, but you can think of it as an immune response to anything that threatens your self-control. The best way to strengthen your immune response to other people’s goals is to spend a few minutes at the beginning of your day thinking about your own goals, and how you could be tempted to ignore them. Like a vaccine that protects you from other people’s germs, reflecting on your own goals will reinforce your intentions and help you avoid goal contagion. Importantly, we don’t even need to see people in action. Like germs that linger on a doorknob long after a sick person passed through, an action can be passed on to us when we merely see evidence that others have done.

Answer 15

Research shows that thinking about someone with good self-control can increase your own willpower. Is there someone who can serve as a willpower role model for your challenge? Someone who has struggled with the same challenge and succeeded, or someone who exemplifies the kind of self-control you would like to have? (In my class, the most frequently nominated willpower role models are accomplished athletes, spiritual leaders, and politicians, though family members and friends may provide even more motivation, as you’ll see in a little bit.) When you need a little extra willpower, bring your role model to mind. Ask yourself: What would this willpower wonder do?

Answer 16

complex contagion . It is not enough to come into contact with a person who is a “carrier” of the behavior. Your relationship to that person matters. diseases— it’s as if your immune system could only defend itself against a virus you caught from someone you didn’t know or didn’t like. To stretch the immune system analogy a little further, we could say that our immune system only rejects the goals and behavior of other people if it recognizes those other people as “not us.”

Answer 17

Take a few moments to consider who your “close others” are. Who do you spend the most time with? Who do you respect? Who do you feel most similar to? Whose opinion matters most to you? Who do you trust or care about the most? Can you think of any behaviors— helpful or harmful— that you’ve picked up from them, or that they have caught from you?

Answer 18

example of what psychologists call social proof. When the rest of our tribe does something, we tend to think it’s a smart thing to do. What other people want must be good. What other people think must be true. If we don’t yet have an opinion, we might as well trust the tribe. Social proof can strengthen self-control when we believe that doing the right thing (or the harder thing) is the norm.

Answer 19

Just convince people it’s the habit of a group they would never want to be a member of. These two interventions demonstrate the importance of social proof for supporting behavior change. We may be willing to give up our vices and cultivate new virtues if we believe that it will more firmly secure us a spot in our most cherished tribe. When it comes to social proof, what we think other people do matters even more than what they actually do.

Answer 20

Social proof can interfere with change if we believe that everyone else does whatever behavior we are trying to change. Do you ever tell yourself that your willpower challenge is no big deal, because it’s the norm? Do you remind yourself of all the people you know who share the habit? If so, you may want to challenge this perception. The best way to do this is to find the folks who share the behavior you aspire to. Look for a new “tribe” you could join. It could be a support group, a class, a local club, an online community, or even subscribing to a magazine that supports your goals. Surrounding yourself with people who share your commitment to your goals will make it feel like the norm.

Answer 21

When contemplating a choice, we often imagine ourselves the object of other people’s evaluations. Studies show that this can provide a powerful boost to self-control. People who imagine how proud they will feel when they accomplish a goal— from quitting smoking to donating blood— are more likely to follow through and succeed. Anticipated disapproval works too: People are more likely to use condoms when they imagine feeling ashamed if others knew that they had unprotected sex. David Desteno, a psychologist at Northeastern University, argues that social emotions like pride and shame have a quicker and more direct influence over our choices than rational arguments about long-term costs and benefits. Desteno calls this hot self-control. Usually we think of self-control as the triumph of cool reason over hot impulses, but pride and shame rely on the emotional brain, not the logical prefrontal cortex.

Answer 22

As a preventive measure, shame may work. But once the deed is done, shame is more likely to inspire self-sabotage than self-control.

Answer 23

One reason pride helped is that it took people’s minds off the cake. In contrast, shame paradoxically triggered anticipatory pleasure, and the participants reported more temptation-related thoughts like “It smells so good,” and “It will taste great.” Another reason boils down to biology: Laboratory studies reveal that guilt decreases heart rate variability, our physiological reserve of willpower. Pride, on the other hand, sustains and even increases this reserve. Go public with your willpower challenges. If you believe that others are rooting for your success and keeping an eye on your behavior, you’ll be more motivated to do the right thing.

Answer 24

Put the basic human need for approval to good use by imagining how proud you will feel when you succeed at your willpower challenge. Bring to mind someone in your tribe— a family member, friend, coworker, teacher— whose opinion matters to you, or who would be happy for your success. When you make a choice you’re proud of, share it with your tribe by updating your Facebook status, Tweeting about it, or— for the Luddites among us— sharing the story in person.

Answer 25

You don’t have to conquer your willpower challenge alone. Is there a friend, family member, or coworker who could join you in your willpower goals? You don’t have to have the same goals; just checking in and encouraging each other can provide a boost of social support to your self-control. If you like your social support with a touch of competition, enlist others in a willpower face-off. Who will be the first to finish a procrastinated task, or the person to save the most money in one month?

Answer 26

To a remarkable degree, our brains incorporate the goals, beliefs, and actions of other people into our decisions. When we are with other people, or simply thinking about them, they become one more “self” in our minds competing for self-control. The flip side is also true: Our own actions influence the actions of countless other people, and each choice we make for ourselves can serve as inspiration or temptation for others. The Idea: Self-control is influenced by social proof, making both willpower and temptation contagious.

Answer 27

“I won’t” power fails miserably when it’s applied to the inner world of thoughts and feelings. As we enter that inner world, we will find we need a new definition of self-control— one that makes room for letting go of control.

Answer 28

You push a thought away, and— BAM!— it boomerangs back.

Answer 29

The monitor (energy bunny) is constantly scanning your environment for threats while your operator steers you away from goal - sabotaging behavior. If, for any reason, the operator runs out of steam, the monitor is going to become a self-control nightmare. As the monitor search for the forbidden content it continuously brings to mind what its searching for. The consequence of this is... When you try to push a thought away, and it keeps coming back to your mind, you are more likely to assume that it must be true.

Answer 30

Is there something you try to keep out of your mind? If so, examine the theory of ironic rebound. Does suppression work? Or does trying to push something out of your mind make it come back stronger? (Yes, you are going to give the monitor the job of monitoring the monitor.)

Answer 31

giving up control of our inner experiences gives us greater control over our outer actions. see, if we want to save ourselves from mental suffering, we need to make peace with those thoughts, not push them away.

Answer 32

When an upsetting thought comes to mind, try the technique that Goldin teaches his subjects. Instead of instantly trying to distract yourself from it, let yourself notice the thought. Oftentimes, our most disturbing thoughts are familiar— the same worry, the same self-criticism, the same memory. “What if something goes wrong?” “I can’t believe I did that. I’m so stupid.” “If only that hadn’t happened. What could I have done differently?” These thoughts pop up like a song that gets stuck in our heads, seemingly out of nowhere, but then is impossible to get rid of. Let yourself notice whether the upsetting thought is an old, familiar tune— that’s your first clue that it is not critically important information you need to believe. Then shift your attention to what you are feeling in your body. Notice if there is any tension present, or changes to your heart rate or breathing. Notice if you feel it in your gut, your chest, your throat, or anywhere else in your body. Once you’ve observed the thought and feelings, shift your attention to your breathing. Notice how it feels to breathe in and breathe out. Sometimes the upsetting thought and feelings naturally dissipate when you do this. Other times, they will keep interrupting your attention to your breath. If this happens, imagine the thought and feelings like clouds passing through your mind and body. Keep breathing, and imagine the clouds dissolving or floating by. Imagine your breath as a wind that dissolves and moves the clouds effortlessly. You don’t need to make the thought go away; just stay with the feeling of your breath. Notice that this technique is not the same thing as believing or ruminating over a thought. The opposite of thought suppression is accepting the presence of the thought— not believing it. You’re accepting that thoughts come and go, and that you can’t always control what thoughts come to mind. You don’t have to automatically accept the content of the thought. In other words, you might say to yourself, “Oh well, there’s that thought again— worries happen. That’s just the way the mind works, and it doesn’t necessarily mean anything.” You’re not saying to yourself, “Oh well, I guess it’s true. I am a terrible person and terrible things are going to happen to me, and I guess I need to accept it.” This same practice can be used for any distracting thought or upsetting emotion, including anger, jealousy, anxiety, or shame. After trying this technique a few times, compare it with the results you get from trying to push away upsetting thoughts and emotions. Which is more effective at giving you peace of mind?

Answer 33

DO it bitch

Answer 34

The science suggests that when we outlaw a food, we increase desire. Is this true in your experience? Have you ever tried to lose weight by cutting out a food group or favorite snack? If so, how long did that last— and how did it end? Is there anything on your do-not-eat list right now? If so, how has outlawing it influenced your cravings for it? If you don’t diet, is there anything you’re prohibiting? Has it killed your desire, or fed it?

Answer 35

remember that they didn’t have to act on those thoughts and feelings. While not controlling their thoughts, they still had to control their behavior. In the Hershey’s Kisses study, students who learned about the white-bear rebound effect were given the following four-step advice for handling their cravings. This week, try applying this advice to your own most challenging cravings, be they chocolate, cappuccinos, or checking e-mail. 1. Notice that you are thinking about your temptation or feeling a craving. 2. Accept the thought or feeling without trying to immediately distract yourself or argue with it. Remind yourself of the white-bear rebound effect. 3. Step back by realizing that thoughts and feelings aren’t always under your control, but you can choose whether to act on them. 4. Remember your goal. Remind yourself of whatever your commitment is, as the students reminded themselves of their agreement not to eat the Hershey’s Kisses.

Answer 36

Even nondieters can take a lesson from the success of turning an “I won’t” challenge into an “I will” challenge. For your biggest “I won’t” power challenge, try one of the following strategies for flipping your focus: • What could you do instead of the “I won’t” behavior that might satisfy the same needs? Most bad habits are an attempt to meet a need, whether it’s reducing stress, having fun, or seeking approval. You can get the focus off of prohibiting your bad habit by replacing it with a new (hopefully, healthier) habit. One of my students was trying to quit coffee and turned to tea as a substitute. It had all the same benefits— being a good excuse for a break, giving him more energy, easy to get anywhere— without as much caffeine. • If you weren’t doing the bad habit, what might you be doing instead? Most of our addictions and distractions take time and energy away from something else we could be doing. Sometimes focusing on that missed opportunity is more motivating than trying to quit the bad habit. One of my students felt like she was wasting her time getting sucked into reality television shows. She had more success at turning off the TV when she set a goal for what she should use the time for instead— learning to be a better cook. (She started by substituting cooking shows for the shows she had been watching— a good first step— then transitioned from couch to kitchen.) • Can you redefine the “I won’t” challenge so that it becomes an “I will” challenge? Sometimes the very same behavior can be thought of in two different ways. For example, one of my students redefined “not being late” as “being the first person there” or “arriving five minutes early.” This may not sound like much of a difference, but he found himself far more motivated— and less likely to be late— when he turned being on time into a race he could win. If you focus on what you want to do, instead of what you don’t want to do, you sidestep the dangers of ironic rebound. If you take on this experiment, commit to spending this week focusing on positive action rather than prohibition. At the end of the week, consider how well you did with both the original “I won’t” challenge and the new “I will” challenge.

Answer 37

Whatever your drug of choice, surfing the urge can help you ride out cravings without giving in. When the urge takes hold, pause for a moment to sense your body. What does the urge feel like? Is it hot or cold? Do you feel tension anywhere in your body? What’s happening with your heart rate, your breathing, or your gut? Stay with the sensations for at least one minute. Notice whether the feelings fluctuate in intensity or quality. Not acting on an urge can sometimes increase its intensity— like an attention-seeking child throwing a temper tantrum. See if you can stay with these sensations without trying to push them away, and without acting on them. As you practice surfing the urge, the breath can be a wonderful source of support. You can surf the sensations of breathing— noticing how it feels to inhale and exhale— alongside the sensations of the urge. When you first practice this strategy, you may surf the urge and still give in. In Bowen’s smoking study, everybody smoked as soon as they left the torture chamber. Don’t use your first few attempts as a final verdict on the value of this approach. Surfing the urge is a skill that builds with time, like any new form of self-control. Want to practice the skill before a craving hits? You can get a good sense of the technique just by sitting still and waiting for the urge to scratch your nose, cross your legs, or shift your weight. Apply the same principles of surfing the urge to this impulse— feel it, but don’t automatically give in. Surfing the urge is not just for addiction; it can help you handle any destructive impulse.

Answer 38

Trying to control our thoughts and feelings has the opposite effect of what most people expect. And yet rather than catch on to this, most of us respond to our failures with more commitment to this misguided strategy. We try even harder to push away thoughts and feelings we don’t want to have in a vain attempt to keep our minds safe from danger. If we truly want peace of mind and better self-control, we need to accept that it is impossible to control what comes into our mind. All we can do is choose what we believe and what we act on. The Idea: Trying to suppress thoughts, emotions, and cravings backfires and makes you more likely to think, feel, or do the thing you most want to avoid.

Answer 39

Self-awareness, people who have better control of their attention, emotions and actions are always better off

Answer 40

What is the harder thing? What makes it "Difficult"? How do you feel when doing it?

Answer 41

The master procrastinator

Answer 42

Take advantage of system one and not fight it, Know thyself, use awareness, recognize what req's willpower or your brain will default to the easiest

Answer 43

Sit still and don't move, attention to breath, notice how you breath and how your mind wonders

Answer 44

This system makes you more impulsive.

Answer 45

Turn your attention inward (what is the threat)

Answer 46

It slows you down, not speed you up

Answer 47

Your heart rate variability (Higher = better)

Answer 48

Anything that puts stress on your mind and body

Answer 49

Slow your breathing to 4-6 breathes per minute

Answer 50

If you answer no to these two questions it's exercise. Are you sitting down, standing up, or laying down? Are you eating junk food while you do it? Then its exercise

Answer 51

Exercise restores energy, not depletes it, no matter how it feels in the immediate, long term it restores energy and increases the capacity for such energy. Try a five minute green willpower fill-up

Answer 52

Try stocking up, catching up, or napping

Answer 53

You might need to find the won't

Answer 54

Trying to use stress for short-term goals leads to long term problems. It's all about energy management. Notice when stress strikes and then pay attention to how it affects your self control. does it put off things you know?

Answer 55

Lie done on your back. Elevate you feet, Close your eyes and take a few deep breaths, if you feel any tension in your body, squeeze or contract then let go of effort, repeat for five minutes.

Answer 56

It causes us to be stressed and drained.

Answer 57

Self control is highest in the morning and slowly degrades over time

Answer 58

Alter your thoughts where you just don't need it

Answer 59

it will spend when resources are high or increasing, but save when resources are low or decreasing

Answer 60

they are hungry

Answer 61

Lean proteins and all natural foods

Answer 62

Challenge the self control muscle by asking people to control one small thing that they are not use to controlling. Like maintaining a clean house. Notice what you doing and take the more difficult route instead of the easiest. Just the slightest of effort req'd

Answer 63

I want, I will, and the self-monitoring pattern

Answer 64

practice self control that strengthens your willpower, but doesn't overwhelm it completely

Answer 65

sensation or emoting that can be surpassed with the right amount of motivation

Answer 66

Challenge yourself to go beyond the first feeling of fatigue (second wind)

Answer 67

how will you benefit from succeeding at this challenge? Who else will benefit if you succeed at this challenge? Imagine that this challenge will get easier for you over time if you are willing to do what is difficult now.

Answer 68

Look for a want that holds more power

Answer 69

It's not just a matter of caring. Change requires DOING

Answer 70

Rather then hope our nation will have more willpower we must reduce or eliminate the need to use it.

Answer 71

think about how we can but support our most exhausted versions and not the ideal us we expect to save the day

Answer 72

It follows the use it or lose it rule. Our challenge is to train like an intelligent athlete, pushing our limits but also pacing ourselves. And while we can find strength in our motivation when we feel weak, we can also look for ways to help out tired selves make good choices.

Answer 73

good enough, which then gives us permission to do whatever we want, this is called moral licensing. Not only does it give us permission to be bad; it also lets us off the hook when were asked to do something good

Answer 74

gives us permission to be bad. Because w are quick to view self-indulgence as the best reward for virtue, we forget our real goals and give into temptation. We can even give ourselves credit for what we COULD of done, but didn't

Answer 75

good enough

Answer 76

Guilt and shame, but lets not be silly. we really are motivated by getting what we want and avoiding what we don't want. Never do it because its the right thing to do, do it for our own personal desires and goals

Answer 77

Do you tell yourself you've been "good" when you succeed at a willpower challenge, and "bad" when you give into temptation or procrastination. Do you use your "good" behavior to give yourself permission to do something bad? Is this a harmless reward or is it self-sabotaging your larger willpower goals?

Answer 78

Goal supportive action. You are not off the hook just because you did one thing consistent with your goal. Notice if you are giving yourself credit for positive action, that makes you forget what your actual goal is

Answer 79

Progress towards that goal

Answer 80

Succeeding the long term and suppressing the immediate want. Once you succeed on the long term goal, the immediate want is all we have left, leaving the temptation stronger (this is called goal liberation). In practical terms we take one step forward and two steps back

Answer 81

We must be committed to our goal. To stop looking for reasons to stop, committed so much that you want to do even more once you reach it. You have to stay power hungry. Tell yourself " I did that because I WANTED TOO, not "I did that,great, now i can do what i really want"

Answer 82

Pause and remember why.

Answer 83

Simply the intention of doing something can lead to licensing. Sometimes the mind gets so excited b the opportunity to act on a goal, it mistakes that opportunity with the satisfaction of having to actually accomplish the goal.

Answer 84

Different decisions tomorrow then we do today. Are you borrowing credit from tomorrow?

Answer 85

To reduce the viability in your behavior, not the behavior itself. Next time you ask, would I rather do this today or tomorrow, ask you yourself, Do i really want the consequences of always putting this off? Seeing the temptation as a new rule and not the exception will make the temptation less appealing.

Answer 86

Is there a rule you can live with that will help you end the kind of inner debate that talks you right our of your goals?

Answer 87

Giving yourself permission to indulge by sole focusing on its most virtuous quality. To fix this look for the most concrete measures of whether a choice is consistent with your goals

Answer 88

When you think about your willpower challenge which part of you feels like the "real" you- that part of you who wants to pursue the goal, or the part of you who needs to be controlled.

Answer 89

You brain has a "promise of reward" system that allows it to release dopamine which grabs your attention and makes you want. we feel let, awake, and captivated. We recognize the capability of feeling good and we will work towards that goal

Answer 90

want, to crave, it doesn't care about your happiness

Answer 91

Pay attention to what grabs your attention. what unleashes the promise of reward. This can be combined with a growing sense of anxiety when we think about stopping

Answer 92

novels and variety. Also throw in any kind of time pressure or scarcity cue and your done for

Answer 93

Look for cues that make you want

Answer 94

big win than a guaranteed smaller reward

Answer 95

Can you motivate yourself by linking it to something that its your dopamine neurons firing? Try visualizing the best possible outcome of your handwork to make the far way rewards seem more real.

Answer 96

To PURSUE happiness not be it

Answer 97

Most of us pay far more attention to the promise of feeling good than the actual feeling bad that accompanies dopamine desires. Notice when wanting triggers stress and anxiety. If you give in to temptation, do you feel like your responding to the promise of reward or are you trying to relieve the anxiety?

Answer 98

you will be best able to make the smart decision about whether or not to do it and how to correctly "reward" yourself.

Answer 99

We often find that thing we were seeking happiness from was the main source of our misery (The smell of movie butter on 14 day old popcorn)

Answer 100

Indulge in a dopamine craving act but closely monitor yourself. is the promise of reward truly making you happy? or are you still unsatisfied or think you need more?

Answer 101

If we are to have any self control, we need to separate the real rewards that give our lives meaning from the false rewards that keep us distracted and addicted.

Answer 102

The brains strategy for action.

Answer 103

Environmental trigger

Willpower Flashcards

(130 cards)