I have heard that willpower is finite and every person starts their day with a limited capacity.

On the other hand there are people like gym goers or sportspersons saying that they can muster up more will power if they have the right mentality at the right time.

I don’t know which one is right, but is it possible to increase one’s capacity for will power ? If so what kind of exercises or training methods do they have to use ?

  • benni@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    This blog post summarizes the science nicely: https://scopeblog.stanford.edu/2023/10/30/a-conversation-about-the-science-of-willpower/ TL;DR: You can train your willpower. It does act like a limited resource [Edit: Science is inconclusive on this claim]. But most importantly, it is strongly affected by your sleep, nutrition and stress level.

    I found that mindfulness meditation was helpful for me. Practically, you can achieve an effect that is similar to having strengthened willpower by organizing your life in such a way that you don’t encounter many temptations in the first place.

    • gac11@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      No wonder I have terrible willpower. I’m tired, constantly stressed, and both of those drive me to eat junk all day

      • Num10ck@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        start documenting yourself doing otherwise and then share the results occaisionally