Willpower

As the new year begins, and we make the requisite resolutions, we somehow know that most will not be kept. In part, this is due to the gap that exists between what we want and what we actually do. In understanding that gap, we essentially define who we are. When we eat the organic chocolate, which we purchased as a donation to a charity, we are really fooling ourselves that our virtue is more important than our willpower. This understanding of willpower, is the work of our guest Stanford professor Kelly McGonigal. Her work is detailed in The Willpower Instinct: How Self-Control Works, Why It Matters, and What You Can Do To Get More of It. My conversation with Kelly McGonigal: