The convergence of two things I was reading today led me to this post:
According to McGonigal, most people struggle with willpower. I know I do. She invites readers to pick a particular "willpower challenge" of one of the following types:
Then she suggests various ways to help meet these challenges. In Chapter One, for example, she advises being uber-vigilant about when you are making a choice--even to the point of carrying a notebook and writing it down. Why? Because we often aren't aware that we're making decisions at all. It turns out that if you ask people in the abstract, "How many decisions do you make about food/eating daily?" they guess about 14. But then if they actually count these decisions, it ends up being over 200! The idea is to get acquainted with how the decision-making moment feels, whether it's the urge to check your email or the urge to order those hot Converse from Zappos. That brings me to my question for you: if you had one month and unlimited willpower, what would you do in that month? What "I will"/"I won't"/"I want" challenges would you take on? These aren't rhetorical questions--I really want to know! You show me yours and I'll show you mine...
8 Comments
8/4/2012 08:40:15 pm
I read this article a few days ago on the New York Times (Its 9 pages, but well worth the read). I originally was interested in the main topic, about how companies are becoming almost psychic about what we want/need and our habits.
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EK
8/5/2012 02:24:27 am
Glad you posted this. This is exactly the sort of thing someone like me needs in her life. By someone like me, I mean the person of tremendous "potential," with so many talents and so many opportunities to try to build on those talents, yet who has fallen short due to a lack of---call it "willpower," if you will. Others might call it different things, but whatever it is, I know I am sorely in need of it.
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Shou Shou
8/5/2012 03:41:02 am
I won't... drink so much during the week, deny my self-worth
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Kali
8/5/2012 10:55:26 am
A very good question, and one I've actually been thinking about a lot recently. I need more willpower, especially when it comes so sticking to longterm projects. So, I won't keep buying crap on impulse, especially at work. I will keep regularly going to the gym and improving my weights/reps, I want to get all our plans in place for long distance travelling with my girl to go see our international friends. All of it takes more willpower than I probably have, but the important thing is trying, right?
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MK
8/5/2012 10:56:42 am
If I had unlimited power for one month, I would become legally recognized as the co-parent of my son and negotiate a custody arrangement with my ex that would keep my son's best interests at the heart of the agreement.
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AH
8/5/2012 09:26:22 pm
Wow what am important post. One I struggle with on the daily. I find there just isn't enough hours in the day! And my sleep schedule is frankly terrible. I work overnights and still need to go to gym, the store, other chores and have some sort of a social life. I am constantly too tired to get it all done, too hard on myself when it all doesn't get done, and lose more sleep worrying about it. It's a vicious cycle. I desperately need to get out of nights. It's goes against the body's normal circadian rhythm and is proven to shorten one's life span. All around bad business. On top of that I'm trying to start an online business to get OUT of nights and just not enough time! Taking baby steps. Sleep first and foremost. It all starts and ends there for me. More willpower to take better care of myself so I can get more done!
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T4Y-DGU
8/8/2012 10:15:56 am
A very important topic... I know very few people who couldn't use more willpower.
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