Can Willpower Be Depleted?
Can willpower be strengthened with use? Find out how to use your willpower and boost self-motivation to reach goals.
We’ve all been there, that moment when temptation was just too strong and it won out over our self-control. The cookies that call from their tin, the siren call of the glass of wine at the end of a tough week, or the desire to snuggle under the doona when the alarm sounds on a cold and miserable morning, all require willpower to ignore. But why is it that sometimes it’s far easier to resist temptation than others? Why do some people seem to have oodles of the stuff, navigating through life and never seeming to fall afoul of a lack of self-control? Is willpower a muscle or a finite resource? Read on to find out.
How willpower works
Roy Baumeister, a prominent psychologist known for his research into willpower (amongst other things), began conducting experiments to see how self-control works decades ago. His work has led him to discover some surprising things; like why we sometimes have willpower and at other times it deserts us, so we end up blurting the wrong things or eating that slice of cake.
Unlike our unlimited capacity to love or our boundless curiosity, willpower appears to be finite. At least at first glance…
