Pushing the Limits of Our Willpower

Its the 12th week I’ve been on the road – 68 out of 91 days, 12 long car drives, 12 plane trips, most to different locations for different purposes, many with early morning startups and late evening end times. There is no pattern. I’m in a state of constant change. I can imagine some of the leaders I coach and many of my business partners saying, “What’s unusual about this?” They have been living like this for years.

This new road life is happening at a time when I have started several new self-care habits that will improve my health, my performance and have me walking my talk. I have been very disciplined in eating healthy foods and not drinking too much. But I'm not getting enough sleep to be at my best. I’m not completing 60 minutes of cardio-vascular exercise every day. My journaling practice usually feels rushed. I’m frustrated with my mental chatter as I juggle many clients, projects and ideas. I worry too much about the items on my “to do” list that are behind schedule.

To soothe myself I tell a story that I just don’t have the extra hours I need. But when I look more closely that’s just an excuse. At the end of the day I often find time for mindless activities - scanning blogs and articles on the web (justified as research), checking what my colleagues are saying on Facebook and LinkedIn or playing a video game. As I near the end of the day I’m finding I lack the willpower to stay focused on these new self-care habits.

I wonder how a road warrior like me might realistically practice the self-care habits the research says are needed for optimal performance as an innovation leader or team member? How might I develop the willpower to sustain these healthy habits when I’m on the road?

So I gathered some data about this challenge. From recent neuroscience research David Rock in The Brain at Work reports on our limited mental and physical capacity to resist temptation after we’ve been exerting our willpower on another commitment. The data shows our prefrontal cortex, the part of our brain where our current thoughts reside has a very limited capacity to hold new mental activity. Metaphorically, our willpower operates like a muscle that fatigues through exertion. Physiologically our brain runs out of the metabolic fuel, glucose and oxygen, it needs for us to keep pushing self-control. So maybe I’m trying to change too many habits too quickly.

Dr. Roy Baumeister in Willpower, Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength documents our will’s limitation through a series of psychological experiments. His experiments show that if you overexert your willpower to try to diminish temptation it not only can deplete it, but can make your cravings even stronger afterwards. Yikes!! So his basic recommendation is to make important decisions or anything requiring new thinking earlier in the day when your brain is functioning strongest; to limit how much you try to work on changing in your life at any given time and to shed some things from your list before adding new ones on. A number of studies show that increasing your glucose intake later in the day can help you maintain your willpower. So I’ll keep some Gatorade around. Actually, Baumeister says an apple works even better. Both of these books leave me feeling like there has to be more to it. Many leaders function very successfully under pressure. What do they do?

Paul Sullivan, the New York Times business columnist, conducted extensive research on leaders that were successful under pressure – leaders in sports, the military and business. In his recent book, CLUTCH, Why Some People Excel Under Pressure and Others Don't, he found that these leaders share five behaviors:

1. Focused Concentration - Laser like attention on their goal.
2. Discipline - Winning the inner struggle of staying on their path.
3. Adaptability - They don't let their ego stop them from abandoning the wrong course of action. i.e. they focus on the goal not the plan.
4. Being Present - Not getting lost in thoughts about the past or the future. Full awareness of what is happening now.
5. Fear and Desire - The push-pull of a strong desire for success mixed with a real fear of failure. A strong attachment to the goal.

They take responsibility for their actions, continually strive to be better and practice, practice, practice. They overcome the flaws of arrogance, blaming others and overthinking their role. Wow, this sounds remarkable like the characteristics of the Innovation Leader we promote at New & Improved.

I’m going to explore using Sullivan’s findings to keep laser like focus on my goal and eat more apples in the late afternoon. I’ll keep you posted on what I discover in a future blog. In the meantime if you have suggestions on what has worked for you we’d love to hear from you.

Comments

[Bob Eckert]

@Jay: Current remote sensing technology has determined that your personal willpower quotient is now down to 42.5%. I'm sure some spammer will come along to tell you to buy their product to replenish it.
Seriously, I see no evidence of diminished willpower potential other than that which comes with cognitive decline. Yes, I may be in a cycle of "giving in" to my lesser self, but it is not in response to a willpower capacity issue, it's in response to my mismanagement of my internal pain/pleasure motivational stories. (Which I indulge in mismanagement regularly, I'm afraid)But as long as my cortex maintains normal cognitive function, I have the capacity.

[Bob Eckert]

@Stephanie, We have a linkedin group that is beginning to come together, search innovativebrains on linkedin. Also, there are news aggregators on innovation, search innovation news and you will find them. The most useful, REAL conversation about innovation tends to occur at the conferences. To explore the core of it all, go to the Creative Problem Solving Institute or one of its many spinoffs. We annotate the conferences in out newsletter. The magazine "Fast Company" continues to play in this area as well.

[Stephanie]

Very good website you have here but I was curious about if you knew of any forums that cover the same topics talked about here? I'd really love to be a part of group where I can get comments from other knowledgeable individuals that share the same interest. If you have any suggestions, please let me know. Kudos!

[モンクレール マヤ 定価]

There is only one success-to be able to spend your life in your own way. -Christopher Morley

[Jay]

I submit to prevent "Gator Brain" that we continue to learn and adapt. For instance, the idea that 60-minutes of cardiovascular exercise a day is not only absurd, it's detrimental!
http://chriskresser.com/why-you-may-need-to-exercise-less
http://fitness.mercola.com/sites/fitness/archive/2012/01/25/cardio-may-damage-heart.aspx
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/02/15/how-1-minute-intervals-can-improve-our-health/?src=recg

Less, with more intensity, is more.

And some interesting articles regarding why we work against our willpower, or "Akrasia," had me thinking: do we actually have a 'bank' to withdrawal from and can we eventually run out of willpower? Either we can't, or I have an absurdly huge savings in my 'bank.'
http://www.marksdailyapple.com/page/5/
http://www.marksdailyapple.com/8-reasons-why-you-act-against-your-own-better-judgment/

Thoughts?

[Francine Gordon]

Kelly McGonigal has a great new book called THE WILLPOWER INSTINCT. Drawing on research (like Baumeister's), she covers the challenges of and misconceptions about willpower and, most important, provides specific ways of building your willpower. Highly recommended.

As for your health on the road, Joan Vernikos' new book, SITTING KILLS, MOVING HEALS- provides insights on how to stay healthy and slow down aging. One very simple effective tip: stand up/change positions every 20 minutes. If you're working at a desk (like I am), just stand up every 20 minutes- stretch- and sit down. Vernikos says it's even better than standing all the time. Who knew?