INCREASING YOUR WILLPOWER
“willpower is illusion. reduce temptation instead.”
The Lesson
Willpower is a myth. Science can't find it. What exists is varying levels of temptation. Some people seem to have willpower around gambling because they're simply not tempted by it. Jerry Hall (married to Mick Jagger) understood this: to reduce his temptation to cheat while away, she would reduce his temptation before he left. For food: don't fight cravings with willpower. Eliminate trigger foods. Cut out French fries but keep everything else. You're never fighting temptation because you've removed it. The less you eat craving foods, the less you crave them. Manage temptation, not willpower.
Real-World Example
A founder wants to stop checking social media during deep work. Willpower approach: resist the urge every time. Temptation approach: phone in another room, apps deleted, website blocker on. There's nothing to resist because the temptation is eliminated. The 'willpower' to focus appears automatically because you engineered the environment.
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