Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2023 March 5

= March 5 =

Is there any way to increase your willpower to do stuff?
Is there any way to increase your willpower to do stuff?

When talking about willpower they fit into two categories, being able to stop doing fun things that is bad for you and the second category is doing unfun stuff that is good for you.

When talking about the first type category of willpower I have tons of this type of willpower but I have a hard time with the second cateogory of willpower, is there any way to increase my second category of willpower?

Before you talk about thinking about what you want or your goal, like some sites do. I was able to lose 26.46 pounds in 17 weeks easily as hell by using the first category of willpower. I reduce extremely the amount of unhealthy food I eat, but didnt eaten a single fruit or vegetable and didnt spend a single second at a gym. So, this "think about your goals" doenst work for increasing the second category of willpower.

Also I have Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder predominantly inattentive (NOT self diagnosted), if that helps with anything when trying to come with an answer.2804:1B3:9703:621A:809:9338:EC62:6B2E (talk) 21:37, 5 March 2023 (UTC)


 * Does Motivation help? Shantavira|feed me 09:10, 6 March 2023 (UTC)
 * Having motivation increases one's will to do stuff, so it does not increase willpower itself but decreases the barrier it needs to overcome. To a certain extent, this is kicking the can down the road, replacing the question by another one, "How can one increase one's motivation to do stuff?" This may be a more fruitful approach to the issue, though, than suggested by the original question. --Lambiam 10:03, 6 March 2023 (UTC)
 * Sometimes I can get through it by thinking "I can't do all that! But I can just focus on the first little step, and live in the moment." Repeat until, surprise! somehow all the steps got done. Can't promise it will work for you, and doesn't always work for me if the dragon is spouting too much flame. &mdash; Cheers, Steelpillow (Talk) 10:28, 6 March 2023 (UTC)
 * Psychologists prefer to use the term "self-control". There is widespread scepticism that self-control is intrinsically more than something you can measure, like a subject's height. For a long time, the dominant psychological theory regarding self-control was that of ego depletion. But when it turned out that the results of earlier experiments supporting the theory could not be reproduce, most psychologists stopped embracing the theory. Perhaps this article "Why willpower is overrated" contains some hints that may be helpful. A trick that may help you is to set concrete goals, like milestones, and enjoy reaching these goals, or, rather, enjoy the effort of leaning into reaching these goals. --Lambiam 10:33, 6 March 2023 (UTC)
 * Steelpillow wrote a nice thing, and I'd like to, too, but I can't focus right now. I would like to help because I think of myself as generally very motivated to do things and a hands-on person, hard working and generally positive. I can tell you this: I consider it fun and enjoyable to achieve things, squeezing every second out of each minute life gives you, and being able to do more having achieved a little. Think of it this way: getting to a small goal in many cases opens up possibilities and opportunities that weren't hitherto achievable. Maybe that's the way to think of it: not a can down the road, but a ladder or stepping stone to further options. --Ouro (blah blah) 13:16, 6 March 2023 (UTC)
 * An approach that my Dad adopted, finding himself demotivated after both retirement and my Mum's death, is to write down daily realistic 'to-do' lists and tick off entries as they're done. Even if one doesn't achieve everything on the list (because unexpected complications or interruptions arise), ticking off each one when achieved give a little morale boost. (NB: one of the items should always be "write tomorrow's to-do list"!) {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 51.198.55.125 (talk) 15:00, 6 March 2023 (UTC)
 * Again "thinking about the goal" related things, is not the answer it didnt helped me to gain willpower to do unfun stuff that is good for the goal, I did this goal by stopping to do fun stuff that worked towards the goal (not eating certain tasty foods) and so, using an type of willpower I already had. Also this "there is no such thing was willpower" is bullshit, I literally had one type of willpower while not having the other type of willpower while doing this weight loss thing.2804:1B3:9703:621A:D4C0:D7C9:8DBC:3E2E (talk) 22:51, 6 March 2023 (UTC)
 * Searching "how to stop procrastinating" came up with some helpful information and advice on this. For example: here (Psychology Today), and here (WikiHow). Modocc (talk) 23:22, 6 March 2023 (UTC)
 * No one here said "there is no such thing as willpower", but it may be an illusion that individuals have the power to will more willpower. Accept that your willpower is as it is. Lacking externally driven motivation, your best hope (IMO) is to find "fun" in tasks you now find "unfun". --Lambiam 10:36, 7 March 2023 (UTC)
 * That has also worked for me. For example, when photocopying documents in an office, I tried to do so as well as it could possibly be done: aligning them perfectly, choosing just the right contrast setting, arranging the pile to help get through it as efficiently as possible, etc. Achieving all this gave me satisfaction.
 * Although I'm not and was never a 'believer' in Christianity, I found a hymn sung regularly at my School quite inspirational, Teach me, my God and King. Verse four runs "A servant with this clause, makes drudgery divine: who sweeps a room, as for thy laws, makes that and the action fine." (As an amateur astronomer, I also liked verse two.) {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 51.198.55.125 (talk) 15:24, 7 March 2023 (UTC)
 * In terms of advanced willpower literature I submit Peter Sloterdijk's You Must Change Your Life --Ouro (blah blah) 15:49, 7 March 2023 (UTC)
 * And if one overdoses on all this, there is Svend Brinkmann's Stand Firmː Resisting the Self-Improvement Craze- Polity (2017), which says
 * In its original iteration, one of the steps in this seven-step guide was ‘Never trust a seven-step guide’. I still think this is good advice, but I realised that it was a little too flimsy to form the basis for a whole chapter. The seven steps are now:
 * • Cut out the navel-gazing
 * • Focus on the negative in your life
 * • Put on the No hat
 * • Suppress your feelings
 * • Sack your coach
 * • Read a novel – not a self-help book or biography
 * • Dwell on the past
 * John Z (talk) 19:15, 8 March 2023 (UTC)