

Self-control is a limited resource, use it sparingly. - kungfooey
http://www.miller-mccune.com/blogs/news-blog/the-down-side-of-self-control-3922/

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kmavm
A similar study of weight-lifting would conclude that it weakens you: after
all, doing some squats leads to fatigue. Frequently an activity that causes
effect X in the short term leads to its opposite when repeated over long
periods; see drug habituation, the effects of physical exercise, the effects
of intellectual efforts, etc.

This study tells us that self-control might be a bit like a muscle, in that
its use acutely makes it weaker. But do we chronically adapt to its use, and
become stronger once the temporary fatigue has passed, as with so many other
forms of stress? Intuitively, from my experience, we do, but it might be
interesting to study. Either way, this possibility makes this study
insufficient basis for advice to "use it sparingly."

~~~
GHFigs
We don't gain a greater capacity for self-control, though, do we? It appears
to me that what happens is that at some point, a thing that once required an
exercise of self-control to resist no longer does. It is as though the weight
has been lifted, not that our strength has increased.

The chronic adaptation, in other words, is habit. The process of intentionally
breaking old habits and establishing new ones seems to always be particularly
taxing, but maintaining an established habit, regardless of what it is, is
easy. (Ignoring external factors, of course.)

With that in mind, it would be good advice to conserve the limited resource,
or at least acknowledge it's variable availability and adjust your
expectations of your own abilities in accordance. I'm certain there are many
among the ambitious folk of HN who have taken on too many new and exciting
challenges at once only to find that they turn into new and exciting chores
that we can't even force ourselves to do, instead turning to the things that
_don't_ require self-control instead.

We call that procrastination and treat it like a challenge to overcome, too,
but if it's a symptom of _depleted_ self-control (and not a weak self-control
"muscle"), then we'd be better served by being miserly about how we spend it
than by taxing it unnecessarily. In that sense, there is a meta-adaptation in
how you consciously manage your attention.

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CapitalistCartr
"We don't gain a greater capacity for self-control, though, do we? It appears
to me that what happens is that at some point, a thing that once required an
exercise of self-control to resist no longer does."

I find that I do gain ability in self-control. As you mention, the same task
becomes effortless, but also, new ones become easier to confront. Practicing
self-control has, for me, led to it becoming easier in general.

~~~
GHFigs
I'm wondering if most of that is attributable to conscious/rational factors,
though, and not the ego depletion phenomenon examined in the study. How much
of it is learning to recognize patterns that presage tests of will and dealing
with them by some optimized heuristic that doesn't tax willpower much at all?
A sense of temptation. An awareness of our position on a slippery slope.
Experience.

The test would be to see how you perform with novel depleting tasks (like
writing without certain letters) where no such learned heuristics might apply.

That's what I mean by a meta-adaptation. It just makes more sense to me that
you can learn to manage the demands on your self-control than to boost the
total supply of it. It's more like time, to me.

It may of course be some mixture of both, but I always find it interesting
when people's mental models of seemingly universal experience differ.

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Cayenne
There is a lot more evidence.

<http://lesswrong.com/lw/10x/the_physiology_of_willpower/> \-- exerting
willpower leads to glucose-depletion.

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=848839> \-- this topic has been on here
before, though it was a different paper.

~~~
andrewcooke
thanks!

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apitaru
I’ve experienced what the article describes first hand when my son was born
two months ago. For whatever it’s worth, here are my 2c for other HN readers
who are babying a startup while starting up a baby:

Even after my sleeping patterns returned to normal, it was harder to deal with
some of the more annoying parts of startup-life. Here’s what it took to get my
work stamina back on track:

I’m now doing one thing at a time, wholeheartedly. I don’t think of work when
with baby. I don’t think of baby when at work. Sounds trivial, but easier said
then done. I use whatever self-control I have left on this.

I separate work and home with an indulging buffer activity. Preferably
something that also nourishes the body like mild exercise (but even if not
that’s ok). What works now is biking a few miles between home and work, with a
short pit stop at my favorite coffee shop.

Took me a couple months to get this to work, and it takes energy to keep it
optimized. But when it clicks right, be prepared for a powerful feedback loop
of goodness.

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andrewcooke
interesting. i realise that there must be much more evidence and study than is
contained in that article, but it struck me that for the particular experiment
they gave the people with the harder task may have a stronger sense of being
"owed" something, since they made more effort, and that maybe this stronger
sense of entitlement leads them to take more rewards...?

~~~
cmdctl
I agree, there must be more. It occurs to me that one might simply have a
greater incentive to cheat on the second test as it involves money.

~~~
btilly
The incentive to cheat on the second test is the same no matter how hard the
first task was.

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pinneycolton
This explains some aspects of corporate politics quite nicely.

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rcavezza
Interesting. Anyone think this correlates to top athletes cheating on their
wives? Most notably, Tiger Woods and Michael Jordan.

Also, with a small n of 84, I think more experiments should be conducted in
this area.

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tungstenfurnace
My speculation is that 'willpower' or 'vitality' relates directly to the
available reserves of neurotransmitter(s) in your nervous system.

Notes:

If you try to do something bad (that part of you knows is wrong), this will
set up repetitious, conflicting thoughts which act to deplete willpower.

Willpower is replenished by sleep.

Activities seemingly opposite to those activities which require willpower are
known as _pleasures_. However, my guess is that these also drain
neurotransmitters, rather like revving an engine in neutral.

Therefore the way to maximise useful activity is to:

(a) do something that is genuinely in accordance with your highest wishes and
values (b) _decide_ that it will be your sole source of pleasure and
entertainment

