WILLPOWER INSTINCT Flashcards
How does the reward system compel us to act?
When the brain recognizes an opportunity for reward it releases a neurotransmitter called dopamine. Dopamine tells the rest of the brain what to pay attention to and what to get our greedy little hands on.
What do neuroscientists call the reward system?
The brains most primitive motivational system. One that was evolved to propel us toward action and consumption.
What triggers the reward system?
Anything we think is going to make us feel good. The flood of dopamine marks this new object of desire as critical to your survival
What is my dopamine trigger?
Food.
What happens to your brain when you get hooked by the promise of reward?
When dopamine sends out our brains on a reward seeking mission, we become the most risk taking, impulsive and out of control version of ourselves.
Even if the reward never arrives, the promise of the reward – combined with a growing sense of anxiety when we think about stopping – is enough to keep us hooked.
We have two minds, what is the willpower challenge?
Every willpower challenge is a conflict between two parts of ourselves.
Part of me wants one thing, and another part of me wants something else. Or my present self wants one thing, but my future self would be better off if I did something else.
Willpower challenge: describe my competing minds.
My impulsive version wants immediate gratification from whatever is at hand. I call it “THE COOKIE MONSTER”. My impulsive mind also seeks distractions to avoid engaging an activity that I need to do to advance my goals and live my core values. I call it “THE PROCRASTINATOR “.
My WISER SELF wants a future reward that furthers my Goals and is faithful to, and aligned with, my Core Values.
What is the first rule of Willpower?
Know Thyself. I possess Self Awareness: the ability to realize what I am doing while I am doing it, and understand why I am doing it. I can also predict what I’m likely to do before I do it, giving myself ample opportunity to reconsider
What happens with my choices when my mind is preoccupied by something else?
My impulses, not my goals, will guide my choices.
What first thing do I need to have more self control ?
I need to develop more self awareness.
A good first step is to notice when I am making choices related to my willpower challenge.
Exercise #1. Develop self awareness.
For at least one day track my choices. At the end of the day try to analyze when decisions were made that either supported or undermined my goals.
Trying to keep track of my choices will also reduce the number of decisions I make while distracted - a guaranteed way to boost my willpower.
What willpower training techniques can I do to increase my brain’s self control capacity?
Meditate. When I ask my brain to meditate, it gets better not just at meditating, but at a wide range of self-control skills, including attention, focus, stress management, impulse control, and self-awareness.
Over time my meditators brain becomes a finely tuned willpower machine.
What is a powerful five minute brain training exercise?
For any “I will” and “I want” challenge, a five minute meditation is a powerful brain-training exercise for boosting my willpower.
What is Willpower?
Willpower is actually three powers-I will, I won’t, and I want- that help me be a better version of myself.
What is the “harder thing”?
Every willpower challenge requires doing something difficult, whether it’s walking away from temptation or not running away from a stressful situation.
I have the capacity to do the harder thing. It’s harder because I also have the desire to do exactly the opposite. Two minds.
Alcohol, sleep deprivation and distraction hinder willpower. Why?
Because these things inhibit my brain’s frontal cortex, my willpower center, just like brain damage to my cortex.
What was my body doing?
Self control is a matter of physiology, not just psychology. It’s a temporary state of both mind and body that gives me the strength and calm to override my impulses.
How do I know when I’ve met a real willpower challenge?
I feel it in my Body. It’s a battle between my impulsive self and my Wise Self.
What happens biologically when my brain craves a junk food?
At the sight, or smell or thought, of the junk, my brain launches dopamine into my reward center that controls my attention, motivation, and action.
At the same time my blood sugar drops because my brain releases a neurochemical that tells my body to pull the blood sugar out of my bloodstream to make room for the coming blast of sugar and fat.
The drop in blood sugar makes me feel shaky and crabby making me crave the junk even more.
The craving comes from inside, not outside. Identify the inner impulse that needs to be restrained.
What is the thought or feeling that makes me want to do whatever it is I don’t want to do?
When I am tempted turn my attention inward.
Self control has a biological signature. What is it?
The need for self control sets in motion a coordinated set of changes in the brain and body that help you resist temptation and override destructive urges. The Pause and Plan Response.
What is the pause and plan response ?
The perception of an internal conflict triggers changes in the brain and body that help me slow down and control my impulses.
What does my pause and plan response do?
My pause and plan response detects warning signs, in the form of emotions, thoughts, and sensations, that I am about to do something I will regret.
When I recognize the warning my prefrontal cortex jumps into action to make the right choice.
To help my prefrontal cortex, my pause and plan response redirects energy from my body to my brain.
My prefrontal cortex communicates the need for self control to lower brain regions that regulate my heart rate, blood pressure, breathing, and other automatic functions.
Where does the pause and plan response take me?
In the opposite direction of the fight or flight response.
My heart slows down, my blood pressure stays normal, instead of hyperventilating I take a deep breath.
What is the main benefit the pause and plan response gives me?
The pause and plan response gives me Time for more flexible, thoughtful action by keeping me from immediately following my impulses.
What is the very best measurement of my pause and plan response?
Heart rate variability. When I’m under stress my heart rate speeds up and variability goes down.
When I successfully exert self control my heart rate slows down and variability goes up. This gives me a sense of focus and calm.
How do I achieve focus and calm?
Exercise self control with the pause and plan response which increases my heart rate variability.
What do physiologists call heart rate variability?
The body’s “reserve” of willpower- a physiological measure of my capacity for self control. If I have high heart rate variability, I have more willpower available for whenever temptation strikes.
What is one of the easiest, most effective ways to increase heart rate variability, the biological basis of willpower and thus increase my willpower reserve?
Meditation.
What activities improve my body’s willpower reserve, my heart rate variability?
Exercise, good nights sleep, eat better, spend quality time with friends and family, participate in a religious or spiritual practice, and, one of the best- meditate
How can I immediately boost my willpower?
Slow my breathing down to 4-6 breaths per minute for a few minutes.
How does Slow Breathing boost my willpower?
It activates my prefrontal cortex and increases my heart rate variability, which helps shift the brain and body from a state of stress to self control.
A few minutes if this technique will make me feel calm, in control, and capable of handling cravings or challenges.
It only takes 1-2 minutes slow breathing to boost my willpower reserve- heart rate variability.
What practice has been shown to reduce cravings and depression among adults recovering from substance abuse and PTSD?
A 20min daily practice of slow breathing.
What practice has helped reduce stress and increase self control of cops, stock traders and customer service operators?
Heart rate variability training programs, including slow breathing.
What two self control strategies give me the biggest bang for my buck?
First-EXERCISE: willpower benefits are immediate; relieves stress, powerful antidepressant, increases heart rate variability, trains my brain.
Second-SLEEP:a good nights sleep. For better willpower go y sleep. A short nap can recharge your willpower.
What is the Five Minute Green Willpower Fill-up?
Five minute outdoor exercise. Shorter bursts have a more powerful on my mood than longer workouts.
How do I recover from stress and my daily self control demands?
One of the best ways to recover from stress and the daily self-control demands of my life is relaxation. Relaxing – even for just a few minutes – increases heart rate variability by activating the parasympathetic nervous system and quieting the sympathetic nervous system.
What kind of relaxation do I want?
The kind of relaxation I want is the physiological relaxation response taught by Harvard cardiologist Herbert Benson. Tighten then relax tense muscles.
Why do I need to find my “I want power”?
My biggest “want” power is the motivation that gives me strength when I feel weak and I need to bring it to mind whenever I am most tempted to give in or give up.
How do I exercise my self control muscle?
Pick one thing to do, “I will power” (or not do, “I won’t power”)
Eg meditation for five minutes a day or not swearing.
What happens when I frame willpower challenges in moral terms, ie, I was “good” or I was “bad” or I was “right” or I was “wrong”?
If I give myself credit for being “good” I am likely to allow myself a “reward” or I might give in to the next vice that pops up because I earned it.
I want to think of my goals and values and identify with them, not the “ Halo” glow from being “ good”.
Do not borrow credit from tomorrow.
Do not tell myself I will make up for today’s cheating tomorrow. I probably won’t.
The “halo effect” is justifying a vice because of one virtuous aspect. Eg gluten-free, fat free, sugar free, discount saving, big sale, etc.
Do not justify a vice because of one virtuous aspect.
“License to cheat”. What should I do when I find myself using my past “good” behavior to justify indulging.
I should pause and think about why I was “good” ie what is my goal, not whether I deserve a self defeating “ reward”
What is the dopamine lie?
My brain mistakes the promise of reward for a guarantee of happiness, so i chase satisfaction from things that do not deliver, eg, pigging out.
What does the dopamine “want” trigger besides wanting?
The dopamine “want” triggers stress and anxiety caused by fear of stopping trying to get what I want or not getting what I want.
How do I dopaminize my “I will” power challenge?
If there is something I have been putting off, motivate myself by linking it with something that gets my dopamine neurons firing.
