Make fewer decisions!
When we want to develop a new good habit, we usually make use of our willpower to stay on track. I imagine that like me, you can recall times when your willpower didn’t serve you and you gave in to temptations.
I recently read the book “Willpower: Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength” co-authored by Roy Baumeister, a social psychologist especially known for his work on the subjects of willpower, self-control, and self-esteem. In the book Baumeister presents practical tips and the latest scientific research on self-control, explaining how willpower works and what we can do to improve it.
The two postulates that impressed me the most are:
- You have a finite amount of willpower that becomes depleted as you use it.
- You use the same stock of willpower for all types of tasks
That means that if we use our willpower to do things at work, we’ll have less to complete personal things. There is a way around it. Willpower is necessary to make “the right decisions”. That means, deciding that we’ll do the activity that will make us reach our goals instead of seating in front of the TV. The less decisions we have to make, the more we conserve our willpower. I find this to be a very powerful tool.
The way I use it is that I list the activities that I need to do to accomplish a particular goal. Then I estimate the time each of them will take, and block that time in my calendar. When the scheduled time comes, the decision is already made: when the time comes I do it. There is no pondering “do I feel like doing this now?” or “Can I do this tomorrow?”. That wastes energy and consumes willpower.
If you decide to go to the gym on Wednesday, take your gym clothes with you to work and put them on at the end of your work day. Decision is already made, your calendar is blocked, so the only thing for you to do it to go to the gym. No doubt, no decision to make. Just follow your schedule.
Many people apply this to their life. Steve Jobs famously wore a black turtleneck, blue jeans and New Balance sneakers every day. Mark Zuckerberg wears plain grey T-shirts. One less decision every day.
So this is the key takeaway: if you make too many decisions in too short a time frame, you significantly reduce your decision-making ability and deplete your willpower.
I invite you to make as many decisions ahead of time as you can, so you can preserve your willpower!
