I thought I’d already written a post on procrastination this year, but I couldn’t find it. I must have decided to put it off until later.Â
Last week, someone–please speak up if it was you–pointed to this post on the science behind willpower.
It discusses the concept that willpower is like a muscle: if you exercise it frequently, it will get stronger, and if you overdo it in any one session, it’ll be weaker for a time until it recovers.
For example, here’s one study described in the article:Â
Researchers gave three groups of people plates of chocolate cake and radishes. One group was told they could only eat the radishes, another group could only eat the cake, and the third group could eat either. Later, the groups were given an solvable task. The radish group gave up in half the time as the other two groups–in avoiding the cake, they’d worn out their stay-on-task muscle.
This sounds related to the idea that it takes three weeks to form a habit. Are you actually forming a habit of writing for 15 minutes at 7 am every day, or are you strengthening your willpower so you can force yourself to get up and write every day?
It also strikes me as a great excuse. It took willpower for me to get up and write blog posts this morning, and I’ll need more to get a scene written this evening. If I spend the afternoon avoiding chocolate, I won’t have enough self-control left over to make myself sit down and write. Remember the radish people!
How about three bites of chocolate cake, put all the raddishes on the salad, and write 15 minutes prior to each food session? 😀 Willpower is a strange thing. There are times when it’s easier to do what discipline requires, and sometimes it’s a struggle.
I like your plan.
Wouldn’t it be nice to figure out why it’s sometimes easy to, say, sit down and write, and other times it’s like you’re a dog in a roomful of squirrels?
I planted radishes and the squirrels keep digging them. The few that are left are growing slowly. Guess it’s chocolate cake for a few more weeks.