I think the difficulty is that we all have many desires that are in equilibrium. We might say that we want to quit smoking, or lose weight, or whatever, but in

I think the difficulty is that we all have many desires that are in equilibrium. We might say that we want to quit smoking, or lose weight, or whatever, but in practice that desire has to overcome other desires, and particularly the individual's time preference, to come to a new equilibrium. The fact that the new equilibrium doesn't shut out all other desires in favor of a single focus shouldn't be surprising at all.