angelofthe0dd 's review for:

The Willpower Instinct: How Self-Control Works, Why It Matters, and What You Can Do to Get More of It by Kelly McGonigal

4.0

---

An easy to read, but very thought-provoking book. What the author is ultimately bringing to the table is, "What are your goals? What are your temptations? What are your excuses?" For anything thinking the book is a magical "willpower pill" - forget it. The book outlines how willpower is a potential that we as humans possess - but exercising it requires mentally and emotionally pushing yourself in that direction. Willpower can help us create new, positive habits. Lack of willpower can often keep us in vicious, self-defeating cycles of overeating, gambling, sex addition, internet addiction, etc. I'm going to read this book again in the near future, and take notes as I go to better understand the book as a kind of "syllabus" for a personal willpower-building program.