TJ Walker reviews and endorses an op-ed by psychologist Angela Duckworth arguing that willpower is overrated and that successful people redesign their environments to minimize temptation. Walker summarizes behavioral-research findings (e.g., keeping phones out of reach correlates with higher grades; randomized trials show distance reduces unhealthy choices), gives concrete examples (remove TV from bedroom, power off and store phones, don’t buy junk food, place gym shoes by the bed, choose enjoyable exercise like pickleball), and recommends designing situations and paying for ad-free services to reduce temptation. He frames this approach as a more reliable path to lasting change than relying on willpower alone.
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January 1st is around the corner for many people. That means time for New Year's resolutions. Maybe take off 10 pounds, maybe become more disciplined, maybe get to the gym, workout more. All things that many people associate with willpower and grit. Interestingly, the New York Times today featured a front page op ed piece by psychologist Angela Duckworth, author of the book Grit and somebody I admire, I respect. I've read that book and other writings of hers. People often associate her with having more willpower. The difference between wildly successful people and those who just sort of amble along and end up in the middle or lower middle classes or absolute failure is grit. It's not iq. And people think of it as just self discipline and willpower. So, so fascinating that in her column today she points out that no, it's not about willpower. Willpower is wildly overrated. It's often ineffective. She is drawing her conclusions based on decades of behavioral research that shows successful people don't really rely on willpower. They redesign their environments so that temptation never has a fair fight. This is such an important fact. It's something I do stress in all of my personal development courses online and in person. The real secret to lasting change isn't trying harder. It's changing the situation. It's changing context. She does point out the American site lack of willpower is the top behavior change barrier. She's saying we're looking at the wrong thing. I agree with her. Self control ranks lowest among positive traits worldwide. That people have willpower feels psychologically averse. The research shows most New Year's New Year's resolutions fail by February because people have not changed their environment, they haven't changed the context. And if all you do is rely on willpower, it's not going to work. So she gave examples such as students who have their phone nearby. If you have your phone right next to you while you're in the library reading, you can focus, focus, focus on your willpower. Don't pick it up and check text. Don't pick it up and check Facebook. Don't pick it up and check email from friends and family. It's the wrong way of doing it. The solution? Put your cell phone further away. Put it out of sight. Put it in another room. That was the association that was most connected to higher grades. Just keeping your phone away. This is, on the one hand, counterintuitive to a lot of people, but also simple. And it just kind of makes sense too. Randomized trials confirm distance reduces unhealthy choices. Let's face it, if you live anywhere other than the absolute poorest places on earth right now. And if you're not one of the unfortunate few who have to the 800 million people who live on $2 a day or less. If you're above that, you probably have access to every kind of Coke candy junk food imaginable. If you're relying on willpower to avoid eating junk food all day long and becoming wildly obese, that's not a good strategy. The single this was not mentioned in her article, but I think she's mentioned in her books before. It's certainly based on her theories, which is, if you want to not eat junk food, the biggest factor in that is not letting it into your house. Don't put it into your grocery cart. That's where the decision is made. That's going to have an impact. So go to the grocery store, perhaps on a full stomach, buy healthy food and just tell yourself, I'm not going to buy that bag of Snickers bar and bring them into my house. Because if they're in your house, it's late at night and you're watching a great show and there's that little bit of rumble in your tummy at that point, willpower just doesn't work. It is not effective. Now, I often have people say, tj, you seem so disciplined. You have such great willpower. And I can see that. No, I don't have great willpower. I have a great desire to have good habits because I want to live a long time and be successful. So I specifically try to design every aspect of my life to make it easier to make good decisions. So, for example, I know, I've read all the research that it's not a good idea to be watching TV late at night, to fall asleep watching tv, to have that stimulation of noise and sound and images and text going in front of your brain as you're falling asleep in your bedroom. So how do I do that? It's not that I have so much discipline to turn that remote off. No, it's I don't put a TV in my room. I do not have a tv and I have one in my house. I But I don't have a TV in my bedroom and I haven't in many more than a decade because I want to stack the deck in my favor with habits. I want more time to think my own thoughts and be creative. But I also love checking text and checking email and asking questions to chatgpt. If it were up to me, I would just be on this all day long if I had it in my hand. That's why I specifically literally power my phone off as I'm doing right there, and put it away for certain parts of the day. Certainly when I go for a walk each day, I'm going to play pickleball. If I'm doing other things, I literally power the phone off, put it away. That way I don't need any willpower to keep from checking it obsessively. I don't need willpower to focus on my own thoughts. It's the only. These are the only thoughts I have. So what Duckworth points out in this article I would recommend you read it, is that successful people minimize temptations proactively. You've heard atomic experts or atomic habits expert James Clear talk about this. You want to go to the gym, put your gym shoes right next to your bed so when you get up you're practically tripping over them. It just makes it easier to do it. Better yet, rather than going to the gym, why don't you find an activity you really enjoy, a sport you enjoy? Now I do try to go to the gym to lift weights every day, but that's not my primary source of exercise. Why? I don't really like going to the gym and I don't like using my willpower to do that. But today, this morning at 8:30, I went and played pickleball for an hour and a half. So I got exercise, I went running, I got cardio, I was sweating. Guess what? Didn't take any willpower because it was fun. So I urge you, try to figure out a way to build fun into your life so that you're doing things that are good for you rather than trying to force yourself into having willpower because it just doesn't really work. One of the quotes she mentions is successful people rarely rely on inner fortitude to resist temptations. So I'll give an example. She did not bring this out. And forgive me if this offends anyone, I'm not saying this based on personal experience, but if you want to remain faithful to your spouse, for example, it's not about going to the house of ill repute, shall we say. It's not about going to a house of prostitution with all of your friends and just sitting there on the couch saying no thank you, no thank you, no thank you. That's not the time to use your willpower. Time to your willpower is just you don't go to places like that. You don't have the temptation. That's the decision that's really significant. Now a couple of Other things to think about. Willpower centered morality ignores structural behavioral science. The entire world is structured now to get you to do things that are not good for you. Every day on the Internet you're being besieged with ads saying please gamble your money away instead of saving it and investing it. Please eat lots and lots of junk food. Please go into massive debt. Buy buying junk you don't really need. So how do I avoid the temptation of going to the mall and buying tons and tons of stuff I don't need? It's pretty easy. I just don't really go to the mall. I'd rather go for a hike. If you're not around stuff and getting constant bombardment, it's not particularly tempting. Certainly when I was a kid I went to the movie theater. I would like to get a popcorn and a Coke. And look, I don't want to sound like a Grinch occasionally, that's fine. But when I was a kid, a box of popcorn, a bag of popcorn was tiny. It was about the size of this glass. Now you go and it's the size of a barrel. There's no such thing as getting an 8 ounce coke anymore. It's a 64 ounce or a swimming pool worth of Coke. So what do I do to avoid that? I realize this may be breaking the rules I try to bring in with me. I go to the movie theater. A bag of nuts, a bag of trail mix, some healthy snack, perhaps an orange and some water. And that way I'm not tempted to go stand in line. Because hey, I'm like you. If I see a giant box of M&M's or Nestle's crunch, wow. Yeah, I want to be there. So willpower is overrated. What's a lot more important is the environment you're in, the advertising you accept. Now we're all bombarded with advertising constantly. It is one reason why I do believe that if you can afford it, you are much better off paying for ad free versions of things. Whether it's on Netflix, whether it is hbo, whether it is Apple tv. There's a million streaming platforms out there. Some of them have ads and some are thinking about adding ads. I try to spend money on things where I am not subjected to advertising so that I don't have the impulse to buy more junk that could harm my investment portfolios and harm my savings. So I'm not constantly bombarded with more ads to drink sugary beverages. Now it is true, if you go to the movie theater, you are going to see a lot of ads for Coca Cola. Typically. But if you time things to go right when the movie starts, not when the ads start, you can bypass that. And unless it's a product placement in the middle of the movie, you can typically avoid ads within the movie. So listen to Angela Duckworth. She's an esteemed psychologist, best selling author and realize that Just telling yourself I have willpower. I have grit. I'm about hustling harder. I am better than other people. It doesn't really work. Figure out the design. I'm here today. Sometimes people say, tj, you're the hardest working pundit out there. And podcaster, you're there seven days a week. Well, why is that? It's not because I really have any more willpower or discipline than anyone else. It's because I took the time to design a system that works for me and my preferences and what I like. I like talking about the news and analyzing business stories and technology stories and personal development stories through the lens of communication skills and personal development. So to me, it's as easy as breathing. It's kind of hard not to opine and pontificate on these things. So that's my challenge to you. Figure out a way to make it easier for you to eat healthy, an easier way for you to move and exercise, an easier way for you to create and generate value. If you do that, the rest of the world will see you as someone full of grit and self discipline, and you will see yourself as someone who's simply living a productive, fruitful life.
