Science of self-control: is it possible to develop willpower?

Most of us regularly say to themselves: "If only I had more willpower." However, is it possible to actually develop it? And if so, where is the best place to start?

Some of these situations will seem familiar to you:

• You want to turn into a “lark” , but when the alarm clock rings, you give yourself a break and continue to sleep.
• You decide to switch to a healthier diet, but unexpectedly you make an order at McDonalds.
• You think that it would be nice to go to the gym and lose a few extra pounds before the start of summer, but after a long working day you find yourself on the sofa in front of the TV.

Yes? You are not alone. Science has several answers to the question of how to develop willpower, which will probably surprise you.
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Why should we care about willpower?

Roy Baumeister, one of the leading researchers of willpower, notes:

The main cause of most of the problems plaguing our contemporaries - addictions, overeating, crime, domestic violence, sexually transmitted diseases, prejudices, debts, unwanted pregnancies, lack of education, low academic performance at school and at work, lack of funds, lack of exercise - is in varying degrees, low levels of self-control.
Psychology revealed 2 main parameters that seem to provide an extremely wide range of advantages: intelligence and self-control. Despite years of trying, psychology has not figured out what a person can do to persistently increase the level of mental abilities. But the strengthening of self-control is quite affordable. Consequently, self-control is a rare and powerful tool, using which psychology is able to make tangible and useful changes in the lives of ordinary people.

Research in this area strongly supports the idea that the growth of human willpower has a positive effect on all spheres of his life. People who are more prone to self-control, health is stronger, relationships are more stable and happier, salary is higher, and career is more successful . Not surprisingly, the owners of a stronger will are also happier.

Therefore, a declaration of readiness to work on your willpower may be one of the best decisions in your life.

What is will power?

To understand how willpower works, we first need to figure out what we mean using this word. It seems to all of us that we understand what we are talking about. However, how do scientists studying this subject determine willpower?

In the book “Maximum Willpower”, Professor Kelly McGonigal, leading the course “Science of Willpower” (“The Science of Willpower”) at Stanford, mentions three different aspects of this phenomenon:

• The power of "I will not" - the ability to resist temptation.
• The power of "I will" - the ability to do what is necessary.
• The power of “I want” is the awareness by the individual of his long-term goals and desires.

According to McGonigal, will power is directly related to the use of power over these “I will,” “I will not,” and “I want” to achieve their own goals and avoid trouble.

Where do we have willpower?

Willpower is an amazing phenomenon. Indeed, some scientists even say that it is perhaps she who makes man a man. This is logical, because there are no other animals that have such an advanced ability to control their impulses. What made us so special?

The ancients lived in a society where the survival of each individual was very much dependent on the group. In order to get along with others , everyone had to watch their impulses. This had a huge impact on the brain and led to the development of methods to control impulses, because of which a person could get into trouble.

Our current ability to fight our impulses is the result of the adaptation to the ever-growing social environment that lasted for several thousand years.

Brain and Willpower: Meet the Prefrontal Cortex

The prefrontal cortex is a part of the brain located immediately behind the frontal bone and eyes. Over the course of evolution, it mainly controlled physical movements (walking, running, climbing, etc.). Over time, it not only increased, but also strengthened connections with other parts of the brain and began to perform some new functions. Now the prefrontal cortex is responsible for your actions, thoughts and even feelings.

In the prefrontal cortex, there are 3 independent departments that control various aspects of willpower:

• The left lobe of the prefrontal cortex is responsible for the “I will” part.
• The right share in charge of the "I will not."
• And the lower middle share serves "I want."

Together, these departments provide our self-control and self-awareness or, in other words, our will power.

Best of all, the importance of the prefrontal cortex is illustrated by cases in which people received injuries affecting precisely this part of the brain. In 1848, Phineas Gage, a calm, polite and hardworking brigadier, was in a situation that resulted in a very serious head injury that damaged the prefrontal cortex. The injury changed him forever. Friends could not recognize Gage: he turned into an irritable, impulsive person - literally in opposition to himself.

The case of Phineas is one of many examples of what happens when a person suffers from damage to the prefrontal cortex. This makes it obvious that willpower is not something mystical, but only one of the functions of our brain.

Why our grandparents were more disciplined than we

One of the most shocking discoveries concerning willpower is this: willpower is like a muscle that gets tired of overuse.

Roy Baumeister conducted many experiments, during which he asked people to exercise willpower in controlled laboratory conditions (abandon cakes, hide his anger, keep his hands in ice water, etc.). It turned out that the details of these requirements did not matter much: people who had to use their willpower faced with a weakening of their ability to control themselves. This was expressed in different ways: those who were asked to restrain emotions were more likely to buy unnecessary things, the rejection of sweets led to procrastination and so on. In the end, Baumeister concluded that, in the process of using, willpower becomes impoverished.

Moreover, the study showed that there are many factors that can deplete willpower, and we would never have thought about some of them. Presence at a boring meeting, an attempt to make an impression on a date, an unsuitable workplace - all this drains willpower. Every time you are forced to hold back a rush or make a decision - no matter how mundane - you use your “will-power muscle” and, therefore, empty the corresponding reserves.

Kathleen Wons, associate professor of marketing at the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minesota, notes:

There is a study that demonstrates: the level of self-control of people remains the same as it was decades ago, but more and more temptations are attacking us. Our psychology is not designed to interact with all current potential pleasures.

We could look at people belonging to previous generations and admire their self-discipline. As a master of martial arts, I remember reading once stories about past masters and reproaching myself for the fact that, unlike them, I didn’t spend hours working the same technique for hours.

But it seems that the reason that our generation is not as diligent as the previous ones is not at all the weakness of the characters, but the surrounding stimuli. Would these martial artists be as committed if they had access to Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube? I'm afraid we will never get an answer to this question.

Steroids for Willpower: Meditation

The good news is that we will be able to increase our willpower and will be able to use it regularly if we start training our brain .

Meditation has established itself as one of the most effective methods of increasing willpower. Studies of this issue show that 3 hours of meditation improves self-control and ability to concentrate, and after 11 hours of practice, you can see real changes in the brain. Why is it so effective?

Meditation enhances blood flow to the prefrontal cortex. It seems that the brain reacts to the exercises in the same way as the muscles: squeezing out, you get strong hands, and while meditating, you improve the neural connections between the parts of the brain responsible for self-control. What is the best way to meditate if you want to develop your willpower?

Kelly McGonigal says that the described meditation technique will cause the blood to rush to the prefrontal cortex, and this is perhaps the simplest thing we can do to speed up the evolution and bring our brain's potential to the maximum.

1. Sit and do not move. You can sit on a chair with your feet on the floor, or sit on the floor with your legs crossed. Try to restrain motor impulses: find out if you can ignore the itch and the need to change the position. Immobility is an important part of meditation, it teaches not to give way automatically to impulses.
2. Switch attention to breathing. Close your eyes and concentrate on breathing. Silently say “inhale”, drawing in the air, and “exhaling”, releasing it out. Noticing that the brain began to wander, return it to its place and continue to focus on breathing. This activates the prefrontal cortex and calms down brain centers that respond to stress and desires.
3. Record feelings when breathing and moments when the mind "wanders." After a few minutes, discard the words “inhale” and “exhale” and concentrate solely on the sensation of breathing. Your mind may get lost a little without these words. But noticing that you are thinking about something else, again return attention to the breath. You can repeat “inhale” and “exhale” several times if it is difficult for you to concentrate. This part helps to train both self-awareness and self-control.

At the very beginning of practice, meditation can seem very difficult. This is quite normal: in everyday life, we often do not notice how distracted and noisy our mind is, and stillness during attempts to concentrate on breathing clearly demonstrates this. However, it does not matter how inept you think you are: research suggests that even a 5-minute daily meditation will be beneficial in the form of increased self-control and self-awareness. Do not be afraid to start small.

Conclusion: do not reproach yourself too much!

I think one of the most important conclusions that we can draw from a recent study of willpower is this: we should stop feeling guilty and reproach ourselves every time when we fail to use it successfully.

Most often, the lack of willpower hides chemical processes in the brain, rather than the natural weaknesses of character. As it makes no sense to expect unlimited physical strength from the muscles, so it’s unreasonable to hope that the mind will show unlimited willpower. You need to understand that you need to train to increase your willpower just as you do to increase your physical abilities. Meditation to help you!

PS We recommend another article on the topic - Why do the descriptions of priorities and values ​​matter?

Translated by Vyacheslav Davidenko, founder of MBA Consult .