Building Willpower | R' Yaakov Asher Sinclair

Until [Music] recently, psychology proposed that willpower was like a battery. You start the day with a full charge, but each time you have to control your thoughts, your feelings, or your behavior, you zap the batteries energy, and without the chance to rest and recharge, your resources run lower and lower, and eventually you can't resist any longer. Laboratory tests appear to prove this. But in 2010, psychologist Veronica Job published a study that questioned the foundations of this theory with some intriguing evidence that willpower depletion depended on people's underlying beliefs. She found that people who believed that willpower is weakened by constantly being challenged indeed had less and less stamina to continue the challenge. But people who believe that applying self-control strengthens you did not need a breather to recover and replenish. It turned out that your mindset about willpower is a self-fulfilling prophecy. If you believe that willpower is easily depleted, then your ability to resist temptation quickly dissolves. But if you believe that mental stamina refuels itself, then your willpower doesn't run down like a battery. Every time you guard your eyes, don't think I'm wearing down my battery. Think to yourself, "My effort now is recharging my willpower, and every time I resist, I'm getting stronger and stronger. [Music]