What is Willpower? “Willpower is the ability to gain control of ourselves and do the things we need to do for ourselves or in some cases stop doing to ourselves”, say, Roy F. Baumeister, social psychologist and John Tierney, the New York Times science columnist in their 291-page book, Willpower: Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength. The two authors perform experiments to reflect their argument that willpower is like a muscle that can be strengthened with a constant supply of glucose to the bloodstream.
Oscar Wilde struggled with willpower, he once stated, “I can resist everything except temptation.” Lack of willpower is the reason humans give into temptations; overeating, alcohol and drug addictions, slothfulness, impulsive sex, and spending.
Many believe that once humans learn to strengthen self-control every area of our lives improves. To begin, we must accept the fact that we all have this innate power that can be outwardly expressed as the positive results we want in our lives. Yes, we can overcome our addictions, low vibrational habits and unlock our blocks.
“There is no gainsaying the fact that we have an obesity problem in the United States.”, Amitrajeet A. Batabyal points out on the Buffalo News on 9 Dec. 2015,.Therefore, numerous experts continuously prescribe diets to eradicate weak willpower along with the extra pounds to accentuate the importance of using their innate willpower to gain control over their food intake to lose weight.
Baumeister argues that we should avoid diets because with diets one has a constant denial of certain foods; diets set up unrealistic goals, such as give up eating ice cream forever.
The authors’ large body of research contradicts diets and weak willpower as concluding factors of failure to lose weight.
Studies have proven that denial takes a lot of energy. As a matter of fact, it depletes the glucose in our bloodstream, thus we need to continuously supply our blood levels by intake of food with simple glucose in order to spark our energy to strengthen our willpower to activate our weight loss.
Contrary to the presumption and assumption that overweight people have weak willpower, Baumeister opposes. He justifies his position by using the Oprah paradox. Many are aware of Oprah’s battle with her weight, she dieted and lost weight only to gain more pounds than she lost. Oprah went as far as hiring a fitness trainer, nutritionist, and a cook; again she lost she gained it all back with additional pounds. So would you say she is a person with weak willpower? Through some of her accomplishments, Oprah has proven that she has exceptional willpower.
Many believe that exceptional manifestation of willpower is shown in Eric Clayton’s accomplishments as a singer and musician, yet he struggled with drinking. He placed himself in a rehabilitation center, and with the protection and direction of the program’s staff, he stopped drinking. Once released he joined AA to maintain his sobriety.
Researchers are as skeptical as well as curious about the power of AA and how it aspires to elicit change in human behaviors. Active members of AA give up their self-sabotaging behaviors.
A scientific research study led by John McKellar of Stanford University has found some evidence that AA works. After tracking more than two thousand men with drinking problems for two years, it was found that alcohol does not increase the impulse to do reckless or destructive things; instead, it simply removes restraints. It lessens self-control in two ways: by lowering blood glucose and reducing self-awareness.
Therefore, it mainly affects behaviors marked by inner conflict, as when part of you wants to do something and part of you does not. This is one way AA appears to help human transformation.
Researchers skepticism is mitigating because evidence shows that AA offers fellowship and social support. The individuals who were better at getting support from other people ended up abstaining from their self-sabotaging behaviors.
Also, Baumeister uses celebrities to demonstrate the positive effect of his research findings to reflect upon the powerful effects of strengthening the willpower muscle. The familiarity with celebrities: Oprah Winfrey and Whitney Houston captures the reader’s attention about the celebrities’ lives and how “Willpower” can be effective for lay people.
The social scientist studies contributions to, Willpower, the greatest strength to fight fatigue weakness and win by feeding glucose into your bloodstream again and again
