Читать онлайн «Maximum Willpower: How to master the new science of self-control»

This book is dedicated to everyone who has ever struggled with temptation, addiction, procrastination or motivation – which is to say, all of us.

The intelligent want self-control; children want sweets.

– RUMI

CONTENTS

Introduction: Welcome to Willpower 101

 1.   I Will, I Won’t, I Want: What Willpower Is, and Why It Matters

 2.   The Willpower Instinct: Your Body Was Born to Resist Cake

 3.   Too Tired to Resist: Why Self-Control Is Like a Muscle

 4.   Licence to Sin: Why Being Good Gives Us Permission to Be Bad

 5.   The Brain’s Big Lie: Why We Mistake Wanting for Happiness

 6.   What the Hell: How Feeling Bad Leads to Giving In

 7.   Putting the Future on Sale: The Economics of Instant Gratification

 8.   Infected! Why Willpower Is Contagious

 9.   Don’t Read This Chapter: The Limits of “I Won’t” Power

10.   Final Thoughts

Acknowledgements

Notes

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to Willpower 101

Whenever I mention that I teach a course on willpower, the nearly universal response is, “Oh, that’s what I need. ” Now more than ever, people realize that willpower – the ability to control their attention, emotions and desires – influences their physical health, financial security, relationships and professional success. We all know this. We know we’re supposed to be in control of every aspect of our lives, from what we eat to what we do, say and buy.

And yet, most people feel like willpower failures – in control one moment but overwhelmed and out of control the next. According to the American Psychological Association, Americans name lack of willpower as the number-one reason they struggle to fulfill their goals and the same is almost certainly true in the UK. Many feel guilty about letting themselves and others down. Others feel at the mercy of their thoughts, emotions and cravings, their lives dictated by impulses rather than conscious choices. Even the best-controlled feel a kind of exhaustion at keeping it all together and wonder if life is supposed to be such a struggle.

As a health psychologist and educator for the Stanford School of Medicine’s Health Improvement Program, my job is to help people manage stress and make healthy choices. After years of watching people struggle to change their thoughts, emotions, bodies and habits, I realized that much of what people believed about willpower was sabotaging their success and creating unnecessary stress. Although scientific research had much to say that could help them, it was clear that these insights had not yet become part of public understanding. Instead, people continued to rely on worn-out strategies for self-control. I saw again and again that the strategies most people use weren’t just ineffective – they actually backfired, leading to self-sabotage and losing control.

This led me to create “The Science of Willpower”, a class offered to the public through Stanford University’s Continuing Studies programme. The course brings together the newest insights about self-control from psychology, economics, neuroscience and medicine to explain how we can break old habits and create healthy habits, conquer procrastination, find our focus and manage stress. It illuminates why we give in to temptation and how we can find the strength to resist. It demonstrates the importance of understanding the limits of self-control, and presents the best strategies for training willpower.