Willpower is a limited resource

Lord777

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If you are still determined, for example, to run every morning, and are in the mood for a long struggle with yourself, you should know that the biggest danger on your path to excellence is not circumstances beyond your control, but a lack of motivation.

That is, if, say, you run every morning and, as it seems to you, can boast of certain successes, at some point you will want to decide that you deserve a break.

It turns out that the more often and longer people resist their desires, the less willpower they have left to resist the subsequent desire. In psychology, this phenomenon is called "depletion of willpower."

There was one Oxford experiment in which scientists asked one group of people to memorize a two-digit number and the other a seven-digit number. Then the participants from both groups were offered a choice between cake and fruit salad.

Amazingly, participants who memorized the seven-digit number chose cakes twice as often. That is, in order to significantly reduce willpower and throw away the white flag, it is enough to remember some five extra numbers.

Then the scientists conducted another experiment, in which they approached the same problem from the other side: the volunteers were shown two dishes - freshly made biscuits and radishes.

Half of the participants were pre-instructed to take cookies, the other half to take radishes. After that, everyone was asked to solve a complex geometric puzzle. Those who took the radish abandoned the task after eight minutes, and those who got the cookies fought for a full 19 minutes.

Despite the fact that the task did not require any physical effort, the rejection of the delicious cookies took away from the participants some of the energy that could be spent on the task.

And therefore, the conclusion from here is that if you decide to achieve something at all costs, you do not need to constantly think about loopholes and alternatives. Concentrate only on what you want, not “sacrifices”.
 
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