The Willpower Instinct: How Self-Control Works, Why It Matters, and What You Can Do To Get More of It

UNDER THE MICROSCOPE: WHO DO YOU THINK YOU
ARE?
When you think about your willpower challenge, which part of you feels more like the “real”
you—the part of you who wants to pursue the goal, or the part of you who needs to be
controlled? Do you identify more with your impulses and desires, or with your long-term goals
and values? When you think about your willpower challenge, do you feel like the kind of person
who can succeed—or do you feel like you need to fundamentally suppress, improve, or change
who you are?

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THE LAST WORD
In the quest for self-control, it is a mistake to frame every willpower challenge in moral terms. We
are too quick to give ourselves moral credit for good deeds done or merely contemplated, and too
good at justifying giving in. Thinking in terms of “right” and “wrong” instead of remembering what
we really want will trigger competing impulses and license self-sabotaging behavior. For change to
stick, we need to identify with the goal itself, not the halo glow we get from being good.
CHAPTER SUMMARY
The Idea
: When we turn willpower challenges into measures of moral worth, being good gives
us permission to be bad. For better self-control, forget virtue, and focus on goals and values.
Under the Microscope
• 
Virtue and vice.
Do you tell yourself you’ve been “good” when you succeed at a
willpower challenge, then give yourself permission to do something “bad”?
• 
Are you borrowing credit from tomorrow?
Do you tell yourself you will make up for
today’s behavior tomorrow—and if so, do you follow through?
• 
Halo effects.
Do you justify a vice because of one virtuous aspect (e.g., discount savings,
fat-free, protects the environment)?
• 
Who do you think you are?
When you think about your willpower challenge, which part
of you feels like the “real” you—the part of you who wants to pursue the goal, or the part
of you who needs to be controlled?