Neuroscientists and research psychologists are revolutionizing our understanding of why we do the things we do. In particular, they have stumbled upon cutting-edge scientific evidence that most of our problems in life stem from a lack of self-control. And, more importantly, they have found that a lack of self-control is caused when our willpower is at its weakest.
Excersising willpower, it turns out, saps the brain’s precious fuel (glucose) and once depleted it causes you to become irrational, impairing your ability to think clearly. When you overuse your willpower, it drains precious brain fuel, causing you to do things and say things that create most of the problems in your life. Loss of willpower makes you more susceptible to addictions, moral lapses, frivolous spending, outbursts of anger, relationship problems and every sort of lapse in judgement normally prevented by your ability to control destructive impulses. Loss of willpower results in a loss of self-control.
The key to staying on course for a successful life is to preserve your willpower and brain fuel for activities that move you forward in life and help you realize your dreams and accomplish the goals behind those dreams. This is where habits become so important. Habits are automatic behaviors, thinking and decision making that consume very little brain fuel and thus, preserve willpower energy. The more things you can automate in life through habits, the more you free up your brain to exert willpower. Habits preserve willpower.
About Thomas C. Corley
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