Willpower

You have a finite amount of willpower that becomes depleted as you use it.

You use the same stock of willpower for all manner of tasks.

Willpower is much more than a metaphor. It’s a muscle that could be fatigued through use.

Much of self-control is about integrating behavior over time—passing up immediate gratification for future benefits—so playing a game over several days helps toddlers to start thinking longer-range.

Prolonged dramatic play with other children also requires them to exert control over attention and sustain make-believe roles. Even simple pretend games like playing house or soldiers obligate toddlers to stay in character and to follow the game's rules when interacting with other children.

If you're serious about controlling your weight, you need the discipline to follow these three rules: a. Never go on a diet. b. Never vow to give up chocolate or any other food. c. Whether you're judging yourself or judging others, never equate being overweight with having weak willpower.

Evolution favored people who could survive famines, so once a body has gone through the experience of not getting enough to eat, it reacts by fighting to keep all the pounds it has. When you diet, your body assumes there's a famine and hangs on to every fat cell it can.

Instead of going for a quick weight loss today, you're better off using your self-control to make gradual changes that will produce lasting effects, and you have to be especially careful in your strategies.

When you try to ignore unfinished tasks, your unconscious keeps fretting about them in the same way that an ear worm keeps playing an unfinished song. You can't banish them from your brain by procrastinating or by willing yourself to forget them. But once you make a specific plan, your unconscious will be mollified.