Veteran social psychology researcher and professor at Florida State University, Roy F. Baumeister, with journalist John Tierney, joined forces to write Willpower: Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength [ http://amzn.to/1eTrs7h ]. This is supposed to be a definitive guide on self-control, which many consider the heart of personal productivity. If you can control your self, then performance improvement potential is a sky’s the limit proposition, right? Well, here are the most salient points that I lifted from Dr. Baumeister and Mr. Tierney’s book, so you can make your own decision on the matter.
What matters with self-control is the exertion, not the outcome. If you struggle with temptation and then give in, you’re still depleted because you struggled. Also note that giving in does not replenish the willpower you have already expended. The key is to concentrate on changing a habitual behavior. Building self-control in one area seemed to improve all areas of life.
Successful people use their willpower as a first line of defense to better arrange (that is, plan for) life’s challenging situations so they default into predetermined paths toward success.