

In the short term, you should spend your limited willpower budget wisely - divia
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/02/opinion/02aamodt.html?em&ex=1207281600&en=93063bbf6c0470e8&ei=5087%0A

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bilch
I happen to just have read most of the literature on this topic. The first
part of the article is well substantiated, but the second part (about training
your willpower) seems to be based on very little data. So far I've been able
to find only one source, I think, in Muraven/Baumeisters "Does Self-Control
Resemble a Muscle?"). The title is phrased as a question for a reason. Afaik
no one knows if your newly found willpower will last and if so, how long.

~~~
lg
Mouni Sadhu (kind of a new-age crackpot, but a very to-the-point and
convincing writer) wrote about this in his book Samadhi, which I think was
published in the 50s. He talked about starting off restricting small aspects
of your behavior (like eating dessert), keep at it for 8 weeks or so at which
point it becomes habitual, and then move onto tougher restrictions. But, if
you start to ease back into the things you've already conquered, believing
that "oh i'm strong enough to do this in moderation now", your tower of
willpower will collapse. I don't know his methodology for getting this info,
but it probably wasn't rigorous.

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lg
from my experience (quitting drinking), you can hack willpower with mantras.
reminding yourself of something every morning and night, in a motivational
way, keeps it alive as a goal over the months-long slog. the tricky part is
forcing yourself to do this...so one of your mantras should be "i love saying
mantras."

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paul_reiners
I've noticed that the most effective way to get a programming project finished
is to just let everything else slide for a few weeks: paying bills,
exercising, being social. Probably not a very healthy way to live in the long
run, though.

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divia
This paper is a more detailed examination of this phenomenon:
<http://www.sss.ias.edu/publications/papers/econpaper69.pdf>

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m0nty
"Other activities that deplete willpower include resisting food or drink,
suppressing emotional responses, restraining aggressive or sexual impulses,
taking exams and trying to impress someone."

Can't for the life of me think why you'd want to do any of those things. Gotta
have some fun somewhere ...

