The Willpower Instinct Book Report

Willpower Instinct

I chose to read the book The Willpower Instinct by Kelly McGonigal because I felt that the power can closely relate to everyone in the world meaning that everyone has something that they may give into whether it is food, money, sex, or drugs. This book was mainly about figuring out your specific mind and body science from the way think to how your environment may influence you to make/settle with decisions you may choose. It starts out with defining willpower and the many fallacies about it. Then chapter after chapter this book hits all angles of how willpower is usually tested, and can be beaten with the right tools and way of thinking. Also if there is any confusion on exactly what Kelly was referring to in a chapter she was always sure to follow each chapter with many analogies and relatable scenarios.

This book allowed you to understand that you are a human being, and by no means are you perfect and will fall prey to willpower eventually, but it does not define who you are and should not stop your progress. However, by having the right mindset, she is trying to convey, will better your chances at a successful journey on fighting the urges to battle negative willpower. Even though this book was heavy on diet and exercise, which I believe most Americans can relate to, it still helped better understand willpower and its control on you.

My favorite chapter by far was chapter four titled License to Sin: Why Being Good Gives US Permission to Be Bad because it was kind of deep into the world of reward, and how our rewards are actually incentives for the justification of being good earlier. See incentives are anticipated eternal stimuli that motivate behavior to occur, which means that we tend to workout; donate time/money/clothes; eat healthy in order to do what we already tend to want to do. For example, when I am really craving a cupcake or anything sweet I would try to workout harder and longer in order to compensate for the calories that I want to ingest, and ultimately since I ended up working out I feel I earned it instead of steadily eating clean in order to lose weight as I first intended. This chapter had all kinds of examples, and I know someone has a friend that they can relate these examples to like when someone donates money they may end up going out later to shop for something new because they view donation as taking away from self, so they deserve to fill that void they donated.

This video allows you to understand that willpower is something you must work at everyday, and how not to be scared of failure. Great video to show that it can be a daily struggle with a hectic schedule.

After reading this book when I leave the gym I purposely bring a healthy snack and a protein shake at minimum in order to curb the hunger I feel after working up an appetite. By doing this I can ensure that I stay on my goal path, and not ingest any unwanted calories to just maintain. I also do not want to be that person the book described as working out in order to eat bad. I want to continue reminding myself why I started in the first place, and not get complacent.