Overcoming "National Quit Day" by Exploiting the Power in WillPOWER
Today is “National Quit Day,” the day most people quit their New Year’s Resolutions. In this blog post, you will learn what willpower is, when it works best, and how understanding this key resource can help you become a better leader.
What is willpower?
Many different activities rely on willpower: resisting impulses, making decisions, taking initiative and any form of self-control.
In a 2007 study, researchers asked hungry students to sit in a room full of biscuits they were not allowed to eat before completing a series of difficult tasks.
What they found was that the students that used their willpower to resist the biscuits had less willpower and persistence when completing the subsequent tasks.
This and other studies have found that willpower is a form of energy that can get “used up” over the course of a day. That is to say, it’s a limited resource.
We can manage this by saving up this energy and willpower to use when we really need it. For example, if you have to write an important and tricky email you've been avoiding, prioritize using your willpower to do that and don't use it up resisting the biscuits in the office kitchen.
It's important to note that willpower can be used for regulating thoughts, emotions and moods as well. We need it to bolster us up before a big presentation, to stop us from being rude to our colleagues when we are stressed and for managing the speed and accuracy of our work.
When this resource is depleted, people are shown to be worse at decision making, fall back on irrational biases, show higher levels of aggression, and have lower problem-solving capabilities.
The good news is that the muscle of willpower can be trained and strengthened with practice. Even though it’s weakened immediately after use, when used over time in different situations, it slowly becomes more and more resilient.
How can leaders use this information?
You can harness the power of willpower in your team by:
Thinking about the time of day when you ask people to do tedious tasks or make complex decisions. Willpower is strongest first thing in the morning, so earlier in the day is likely to be better.
Considering how a lack of psychological safety in a team means people may be “spending” their willpower regulating their emotions and the emotions of others. Putting effort into making everyone in the team feel safe and free being themselves means that they can put their energy into their work instead of managing negative emotions about work.
Encouraging people to work reasonable hours and to really rest and recover in their off time. Having an exhausted team is expensive in the long run because they struggle to be productive, make decisions, resolve problems, and be creative.
And finally, building your own willpower muscle. You can get started by being strategic in how you prioritize and plan your activities. For example, it might not make sense to start a difficult new workout routine on the morning of a big meeting. Start new habits when work is going well and you have space to use your willpower muscle on other things.
How coaching can help
Coaching can be a great tool for prioritizing what is important to you and building your willpower. Speak to your coach about how you can go about developing strategies that work for you with regards to setting up your day, regulating your emotions and conserving your willpower.
Resources and further reading material
Baumeister, R.F., Vohs, K.D. and Tice, D.M., 2007. The strength model of self-control. Current directions in psychological science, 16(6), pp.351-355.
Baumeister, R.F., 2012. Self-control—The moral muscle. The Psychologist.