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According to marines, will power depletion is bs. This is anecdotal, sure, but I believe in momentum. If you have momentum, at some point, you don't want to f

According to marines, will power depletion is bs. This is anecdotal, sure, but I believe in momentum. If you have momentum, at some point, you don't want to fail at any will power task, because you are on a winning streak.

dwaltrip 9y ago
So perhaps the real metric is "motivational momentum"?
- opportune 9y ago
  I think the real metric is "it's complicated" and that we shouldn't be hasty to draw over-generalized, innaccurate analogies.
  - dwaltrip 9y ago
    I can agree with that.
raverbashing 9y ago
More likely you will hit physical exhaustion at some point before being "will depleted"
mirimir 9y ago
Indeed. Also, if you transform what you want, you reduce need for will power.
ORioN63 9y ago
I agree with momentum. I've been using the anology for years. There are only so many points in life where it changes direction. Most of the time is doing what you did the past months/years, whatever is staying home getting drunk or working non-stop. Sure you can change direction, but it's not easy to fight inertia. You gotta apply some force to change direction!
eeZah7Ux 9y ago
You are confusing the [in]ability to take more and more decisions with momentum/inertia. Often momentum is kept by NOT taking more difficult decisions. Also, if you don't trust psychologists you should trust the marines even less.
travjones 9y ago
Interesting. There is actually a concept from behavior analysis called "behavioral momentum." [1] 1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Behavioral_momentum https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Behavioral_momentum
- dwaltrip 9y ago
  Reminds me of how the hardest part of many tasks is simply getting started.
danschumann 9y ago
Here's the anecdotal video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OyakvZgU_gk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OyakvZgU_gk NVM it was former navy seals who said it
percival_krusen 9y ago
There are several reasons I am a skeptic of accounts of willpower from elite military sources: * Military life has social aspects -- like powerful authorities and close knit teams -- that may affect willpower. Advice on improving your own willpower often includes accountability techniques with other people. * More on social effects: anecdotes from soldiers include transcendent experiences of groups bonding over common survival interests and outgroup hostility. The kind of cohesion experienced by a platoon stranded in a hostile Afghanistan valley probably isn't possible in your Weight Watchers group. * More generally, note that a military is an organization whose success relies on convincing people to act against their own interests. I assume they have plenty of tricks they use to modify soldier behavior. That doesn't mean those tricks will translate easily for us civilians. * People that make it onto elite military teams probably already have abnormally high willpower. Just because Michael Jordan says it's easy to dunk a basketball doesn't mean it will be easy for you to dunk a basketball. It just means Michael Jordan is an outlier. * Publication bias (of a sort) and/or lying. Who wants to be the Navy SEAL that says, "yeah there's a point at which I wimp out just like normal people"? Such a person would be tempted to keep their mouth shut or lie about their opinion.

dwaltrip 9y ago

So perhaps the real metric is "motivational momentum"?

opportune 9y ago
I think the real metric is "it's complicated" and that we shouldn't be hasty to draw over-generalized, innaccurate analogies.
- dwaltrip 9y ago
  I can agree with that.

raverbashing 9y ago

More likely you will hit physical exhaustion at some point before being "will depleted"

mirimir 9y ago

Indeed. Also, if you transform what you want, you reduce need for will power.

ORioN63 9y ago

I agree with momentum. I've been using the anology for years. There are only so many points in life where it changes direction. Most of the time is doing what you did the past months/years, whatever is staying home getting drunk or working non-stop. Sure you can change direction, but it's not easy to fight inertia. You gotta apply some force to change direction!

eeZah7Ux 9y ago

You are confusing the [in]ability to take more and more decisions with momentum/inertia. Often momentum is kept by NOT taking more difficult decisions. Also, if you don't trust psychologists you should trust the marines even less.

travjones 9y ago

Interesting. There is actually a concept from behavior analysis called "behavioral momentum." [1] 1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Behavioral_momentum https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Behavioral_momentum

dwaltrip 9y ago
Reminds me of how the hardest part of many tasks is simply getting started.

danschumann 9y ago

Here's the anecdotal video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OyakvZgU_gk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OyakvZgU_gk NVM it was former navy seals who said it

percival_krusen 9y ago

There are several reasons I am a skeptic of accounts of willpower from elite military sources: * Military life has social aspects -- like powerful authorities and close knit teams -- that may affect willpower. Advice on improving your own willpower often includes accountability techniques with other people. * More on social effects: anecdotes from soldiers include transcendent experiences of groups bonding over common survival interests and outgroup hostility. The kind of cohesion experienced by a platoon stranded in a hostile Afghanistan valley probably isn't possible in your Weight Watchers group. * More generally, note that a military is an organization whose success relies on convincing people to act against their own interests. I assume they have plenty of tricks they use to modify soldier behavior. That doesn't mean those tricks will translate easily for us civilians. * People that make it onto elite military teams probably already have abnormally high willpower. Just because Michael Jordan says it's easy to dunk a basketball doesn't mean it will be easy for you to dunk a basketball. It just means Michael Jordan is an outlier. * Publication bias (of a sort) and/or lying. Who wants to be the Navy SEAL that says, "yeah there's a point at which I wimp out just like normal people"? Such a person would be tempted to keep their mouth shut or lie about their opinion.