You Have Enough Willpower
You're just using it to resist constantly instead of using it once to design an environment where resistance isn't required
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A good friend, let’s call him Michael, spent three years trying to get healthy.
Every morning he’d wake up determined. Today would be different. He’d resist the snacks. Skip the late-night ice cream. Ignore the chips in the pantry. He had willpower. He’d use it.
By afternoon he’d given in. By evening he’d eaten everything he’d promised himself he wouldn’t. By night he was wondering why he couldn’t just be disciplined like other people.
Then one Sunday he did something different. He didn’t try harder. He didn’t build more willpower. He just stopped buying the food.
Eighteen months later he’d lost forty pounds. Not because he suddenly became disciplined. Because he stopped needing to be.
If you love this content (please share it), but also check out my Podcast & connect with me on YouTube / Twitter.
We turn your favorite newsletters into podcasts at 10minmindset.org
A good friend, let’s call him Michael, spent three years trying to get healthy.
Every morning he’d wake up determined. Today would be different. He’d resist the snacks. Skip the late-night ice cream. Ignore the chips in the pantry. He had willpower. He’d use it.
By afternoon he’d given in. By evening he’d eaten everything he’d promised himself he wouldn’t. By night he was wondering why he couldn’t just be disciplined like other people.
Then one Sunday he did something different. He didn’t try harder. He didn’t build more willpower. He just stopped buying the food.
Eighteen months later he’d lost forty pounds. Not because he suddenly became disciplined. Because he stopped needing to be.
The Wrong Battlefield
You think disciplined people have more willpower than you. They don’t. They’re just not fighting.
You use willpower every day to resist the cookies on your counter. To ignore the phone next to your bed. To avoid the apps on your home screen. Every single day. Multiple times per day.
This is exhausting. Not because you’re weak. Because you’re using a finite resource to solve an infinite problem. Willpower depletes. Temptation doesn’t.
The people who look disciplined aren’t resisting constantly. They used willpower once—strategically—to design an environment where resistance isn’t required.
They don’t fight the cookies. They didn’t buy them. They don’t resist scrolling. They deleted the apps. They don’t battle distractions. They blocked the sites.
One decision. Then it’s done.
Strategic vs Tactical
There are two ways to use willpower.
Tactical willpower is what you use in the moment to resist. It works once. Then tomorrow you need it again. And the next day. And every day after that. You’re fighting the same battle on loop. Eventually you lose. Not because you’re undisciplined. Because you’re exhausted.
Strategic willpower is what you use once to eliminate the need to resist. Don’t buy the cookies. Don’t download the apps. Don’t put the TV in your bedroom. One act of willpower. Then you’re done fighting.
Michael spent three years using tactical willpower. Resisting constantly. Failing constantly. Blaming himself for lacking discipline.
Then he used strategic willpower. One trip to the grocery store where he didn’t buy junk food. That’s it. No battle at home. No willpower required. No temptation to resist. Forty pounds later, people asked what his secret was.
He didn’t have a secret. He just stopped fighting a battle he’d already lost.
The Compound Effect
Here’s what makes strategic willpower powerful: it compounds.
One decision makes every future moment easier. You don’t buy the cookies once. Now every day for the next month you don’t have to resist them. One act of willpower saves you thirty acts of willpower.
Compare that to tactical willpower. You resist today. Tomorrow you have to resist again. No compounding. No accumulation. Just the same battle. Forever.
The person using tactical willpower gets more exhausted over time. The person using strategic willpower gets more freedom over time.
This is why people who seem effortlessly disciplined aren’t actually effortless. They just front-loaded the effort. They used willpower once to design their life. Now they coast on that design.
What You’re Fighting
Right now you’re probably fighting something. Some temptation. Some distraction. Some habit you’re trying to break through sheer willpower.
Every day you wake up and tell yourself today will be different. Sometimes you win. Often you don’t. Either way, tomorrow you fight again.
Ask yourself: Why are you fighting this battle repeatedly instead of winning it once?
Why is the temptation still in your house? Why is the distraction still on your phone? Why is the obstacle still in your environment?
You have enough willpower. You’re just spending it on the wrong thing. You’re using it to resist constantly when you should use it to design once.
Stop fighting the same battle every day.
Use your willpower once to eliminate the battlefield entirely.
What battle are you still fighting that you should have already won?
Thank you for reading,
Scott
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