Willpower is the ability to resist short-term temptations to meet long-term goals. But what are the secrets to increasing willpower?
According to the American Psychological Association, we have many common names for willpower: determination, drive, resolve, self-discipline, self-control. But psychologists characterize willpower, or self-control, in more specific ways.
In her book Maximum Willpower, Kelly McGonigal, Ph.D., brings together the newest insights about self-control from psychology, economics, neuroscience, and medicine, explaining how we can break old habits and create healthy habits, conquer procrastination and manage stress and emotions. This book focuses on strategies that can help you transcend limitations, strengthen self-control, and escape the grip of chronic stress and procrastination.
They also sell the book as The Willpower Instinct in some countries, so we keep to that in our opening slide.
Please remember this is just a series of slides in the form of picture-quotes and not an abridgment of the book. However, if you like it, buy the book.
And do share this with all of your friends and family.
Willpower Secrets and Self-Discipline
Final Words
A few insightful words from Kelly McGonigal in an interview on TED blog:
One of the big lessons from The Science of Willpower is if you really fight the inner experiences, it’s not going to end well. If you decide you’re going to fight cravings, fight thoughts, fight emotions, you put all your energy and attention into trying to change the inner experiences.
People tend to get more stuck, and more overwhelmed. When you try to control the things that aren’t really under your control, you get to feeling more out of control. Whereas where you really have the freedom is in your choices.
Here’s a short video you will enjoy:
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Author Bio: Written and reviewed by Sandip Roy – a medical doctor, psychology writer, happiness researcher. Founder of Happiness India Project, and chief editor of its blog. Writes popular-science articles on positive psychology and related topics.
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