Good thing I didn’t read such a bullshit defeatist conclusion before I dropped 40 lbs 7 years ago (adopted sane diet, never gained it back) and dug myself out of a deep hole of alcohol dependence.
haven’t beaten the habit of falling for engagement baiting headlines though i suppose
do not let yourself believe you are weak or a victim
I didn't read this particular article but I've heard of other studies that express the same idea. The point isn't that you can't beat bad habits, its that the best way to beat bad habits is making them harder to do.
If you want to quit smoking you get rid of your cigarettes.
if you want to lose weight you throw away your junk food.
Keeping junk food in your house when you're trying to lose weight relies on self control and willpower to avoid eating in a caloric surplus. Same logic applies to not going grocery shopping when you haven't eaten all say since you're likely to indulge and buy some stuff you don't need for example
I did have luck once by keeping some candy I didn't like all that much on my desk at work. It was ok, but not great. I think my thought was generally "I could go get a snack, meh, I've got this candy right here! Double meh, doesn't sound that good back to work."
Misunderstanding. Claim here is that some techniques don’t work as well as others. When I was young, someone told me that if I lifted with my back I’d injure myself. I lifted with my back and didn’t injure myself. Now I know it’s a probabilistic thing. So I lift properly, force through the legs, back straight.
I’m no more a victim now than I was before and I’m not weaker for using the better technique.
But everyone can try what makes it tick for them. Once upon a time, I stored a big tub of ice cream in my freezer. Avoiding it gave me a dopamine hit. So for months I’d eat well and my identity of being someone who could resist it made me eat well. Now I don’t have that identity so I use other techniques. That’s just how it is.
No need to be a Luddite. Science gives us tools to be better.
If you had failed at losing 40lbs of weight and quitting alcohol dependence, would you be here writing that the only reason you failed was lack of willpower?
Rich people always think they worked hard to be rich, while poor people rarely think they deserve being poor.
Attributing success to internal factors while externalizing failure is actually psychologically healthy, at least much more than the reverse, but it still leads to certain cognitive biases. Yes, some level of magical thinking, "You just need to want it" is actually sometimes helpful on the PERSONAL level but it is just a convenient lie we tell ourselves to keep pushing on. It is a very harmful lie when people try to understand society in general with this.
The truth is that we can only break habits when external and internal circumstances align to allow us to do so.
Something I've been exploring for the past year or so are means to increase biological energy, and brain energy in particular. If one finds themselves unable to escape their routine, brain energy could be a bottleneck.
It seems likely to me that some point along the lines of "sane diet" increased your brain energy, which gave you the presence of mind to do all those other things.
Really, I think that the premise of the article ought to inspire hope, by suggesting that simple materialistic interventions alone could be sufficient to produce change.
I agree with this comment 100%. I stopped drinking and lost 20kg by changing my diet and taking up exercise.
There is one caveat:
You can make it easier by making better decisions sooner. I stopped buying shit food. I started making better food more often. I planned my day around exercise.
No temptation from being at the pub. No temptation from snacks and sweets at home. Not temptation to skip a day because I had already exercised and would exercise further.
We are powerful and building structures in our life is arbitrage from when we have excess power to when we need our power most.
what a bizarre comment. the conclusion is hardly defeatist.
the TLDR of the article is that if you (for example) are struggling with focus, a strategy that is basically telling yourself to focus (while loud music is playing around you) will not yield as much success as removing distractions (turning off the music) in your environment, then trying to focus again.
the efficacy of the two strategies is dependent not entirely on ones fortitude, rather ability to craft an environment that plays to the strength of will, so to speak.
> Studies suggest that relying on will power is hopeless. Instead, we must find strategies that don’t require us to be strong.
nothing defeatist about it.
not to mention, why judge such a long article which is summarizing a long book by the subtitle which generally isn't even written by the author of the article...
>Instead, we must find strategies that don’t require us to be strong.
Similar to the title, is is again framing it as an either/or situation.
Reality is that strategy+ willpower is the winning approach. Making change will almost always require strength, but strategy can make that requirement lower.
Throwing out your cigarettes/beer/ junk food makes abstinence easier, but it doesnt make abstinence easier than buying more.
Willpower is effective as one component among many. Which means you're not relying on willpower alone. Much like you don't build a table with a single leg.
haven’t beaten the habit of falling for engagement baiting headlines though i suppose
do not let yourself believe you are weak or a victim