Yesterday, I shared my summary of the book “why willpower doesn’t work” by Benjamin Hardy. In this post, I’ll reflect a bit on the book as a whole and share my main takeaways.
As the title implies, the book argues that relying on willpower for personal growth is a waste of resources. (Interestingly, I argued for something similar in the context of free will in a previous post!) Unfortunately for us, most of the personal development books are founded on this very idea.
Hardy convincingly argues that you do not change your thoughts and behaviours, but your environment does. You will adapt—read: change into—a person only when this is what your environment demands.
Hence, to change your thoughts and behaviours, you need to change your environment. Place yourself in, or create an environment that demands you to be the person you want to become.
You do not first become this person, and then act as it, rather, by acting as that person, you become it. We need environments that require us to act this way.
However, we also need environments of complete rest and recovery where our body and mind are in a state of calm. It is in these environments that we internalise our adapted behaviour. It is in these environments that we learn.
To ease this process, we should spend time reflecting on our life and the progress on our aspirations. Particularly, I learned that we should ponder two questions concerning the aspirations we are working on most:
- When did you act in line with your aspirations—why?
- When did you not act in line with your aspirations—why?
We can use both why‘s to then re-adapt our environment. Further exploiting or removing things that help or prevent us from acting in line with our aspirations, respectively.
The environment in which you decided you needed to change is the environment you need to recreate to make change happen. Embed that environment in your morning routine. Journal about your goals, and how you will act on them during the day.
Before doing anything to our environment specifically for our aspirations, we should eliminate…
- excess ‘stuff’ from our direct environment,
- distractions,
- options/choices,
- people (from your life), and
- working memory; take notes!
We also need Implementation intentions: “if-then”-responses when you encounter tough conditions. An example: “If I open the fridge to get a beer, I will drink a big glass of water instead.”
These automated responses work because they divert your attention from your triggered temptation. Furthermore, by living in alignment with your goals, you will get a boost of confidence that is far more long-lasting than a shot of dopamine.
I have previously referred to these “if-then”-responses as principles. I also authored an article about how you can define them in a more effective way, which you can find via this box's icon. After reading the book, I find 'choice cues' a more appropriate name and agree that they are different from principles.
Overall, I found the book a remarkably interesting read, with a very convincing case against willpower. However, the structure of the book feels a bit off. It is almost as if the author finished the book, and later added a few extra bits to the end rather than to the appropriate chapters.
So, the content is great, but the structure not so much. Nevertheless, of all the personal development books I have read, this is definitely one of the better ones!
