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

THE NO-DIETING DIET
Is it even possible to lose weight or improve your health if you don’t outlaw fattening foods? A new
approach suggests that it is—and I’m not talking about some miracle pill that claims to help you burn
fat and lift weights in your sleep. Researchers at Laval University in Quebec have been studying a
unique intervention that focuses on what participants 
should
eat. The program doesn’t hand out a list
of forbidden foods, and it doesn’t focus on cutting calories. Instead, it emphasizes how foods can
create health and provide pleasure. It also asks participants to think about what they 
can
do to
improve their health—like exercise—instead of thinking in terms of what they shouldn’t do or eat.
In essence, the program turns an “I won’t” power challenge into an “I will” power challenge.
Instead of waging war against their appetites, they make it their mission to pursue health.
Studies of this approach show that turning “I won’t” into “I will” works. Two-thirds of the
participants who have been followed lost weight and maintained that loss at a sixteen-month follow-
up. (Compare that with the results of your most recent diet; I believe it takes the average dieter
sixteen 
days
to be back where he or she started.) They also report fewer food cravings after
completing the program, and are less likely to lose control around food in situations—like stress and
celebration—that typically trigger overeating. Importantly, the women who developed the most
flexible attitudes toward food lost the most weight. Ending prohibition gave them more, not less,
control over what they ate.
WILLPOWER EXPERIMENT: TURN YOUR “I WON’T”
INTO “I WILL”
Even nondieters can take a lesson from the success of turning an “I won’t” challenge into an “I
will” challenge. For your biggest “I won’t” power challenge, try one of the following strategies
for flipping your focus:
• 
What could you do instead of the “I won’t” behavior that might satisfy the same needs?
Most bad habits are an attempt to meet a need, whether it’s reducing stress, having fun, or
seeking approval. You can get the focus off of prohibiting your bad habit by replacing it
with a new (hopefully, healthier) habit. One of my students was trying to quit coffee and
turned to tea as a substitute. It had all the same benefits—being a good excuse for a
break, giving him more energy, easy to get anywhere—without as much caffeine.
• 
If you weren’t doing the bad habit, what might you be doing instead?
Most of our
addictions and distractions take time and energy away from something else we could be
doing. Sometimes focusing on that missed opportunity is more motivating than trying to
quit the bad habit. One of my students felt like she was wasting her time getting sucked
into reality television shows. She had more success at turning off the TV when she set a
goal for what she should use the time for instead—learning to be a better cook. (She
started by substituting cooking shows for the shows she had been watching—a good first
step—then transitioned from couch to kitchen.)
• 
Can you redefine the “I won’t” challenge so that it becomes an “I will” challenge?

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Sometimes the very same behavior can be thought of in two different ways. For example,
one of my students redefined “not being late” as “being the first person there” or
“arriving five minutes early.” This may not sound like much of a difference, but he found
himself far more motivated—and less likely to be late—when he turned being on time
into a race he could win. If you focus on what you want to do, instead of what you don’t
want to do, you sidestep the dangers of ironic rebound.
If you take on this experiment, commit to spending this week focusing on positive action rather
than prohibition. At the end of the week, consider how well you did with both the original “I
won’t” challenge and the new
“I will” challenge.

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