Stanford Psychologist: This Simple Technique Will Help You Never Lack Willpower Again!
Summary
TLDRThe transcript discusses the concept of willpower challenges as internal conflicts between different aspects of oneself. It highlights five experiments that demonstrate how small interventions can significantly influence behavior. A key example is 'surfing the urge,' a technique that teaches individuals to tolerate physical discomfort without acting on it, proven effective in studies with smokers and those with food cravings. The technique involves mindfulness, accepting cravings, and reconnecting with goals, which can improve willpower in various challenges, including weight loss and managing negative thoughts.
Takeaways
- π§ A willpower challenge is a competition between two parts of oneself, reflecting the dual nature of the human mind as described by neuroscientists.
- π± Small interventions can lead to significant changes in behavior, suggesting that minor adjustments in our approach can yield substantial long-term benefits.
- π« Holding one's breath for 15 seconds is a simple willpower challenge that can predict an individual's ability to succeed at difficult goals, highlighting the concept of distress tolerance.
- π A study on smokers used the 'surfing the urge' technique, which involves acknowledging and tolerating cravings without acting on them, leading to a 40% reduction in smoking rates.
- π« In another study, individuals with self-control issues around food were taught to 'surf the urge', resulting in zero instances of giving in to cravings over a 48-hour period.
- π 'Surfing the urge' is a mindfulness technique where one fully experiences and accepts cravings or emotions, trusting that they will pass, which can be applied to various willpower challenges.
- π€ The acceptance of cravings or negative thoughts without acting on them is shown to improve weight loss and reduce the connection between stress and unhealthy behaviors.
- π§ββοΈ Mindfulness involves acknowledging feelings or thoughts, using breath as a stabilizing factor, and then broadening attention to recommit to one's goals.
- π The script suggests five strategies for willpower: training willpower physiology, forgiving oneself after setbacks, making friends with one's future self, predicting failures, and surfing the urge.
- π‘ The 'surfing the urge' technique is presented as a practical intervention that can be applied to any willpower challenge, promoting self-control and goal achievement.
Q & A
What is a willpower challenge according to the transcript?
-A willpower challenge is a competition between two parts of oneself, where different systems of the brain have competing goals.
What are the tiny interventions mentioned that can shape people's behavior?
-Tiny interventions refer to small changes in how we think or approach a willpower challenge that can lead to significant outcomes.
Why is holding one's breath for 15 seconds considered a willpower challenge?
-Holding one's breath is a willpower challenge because it tests the ability to tolerate physical discomfort, which is a predictor of success at difficult goals.
What is distress tolerance and how is it related to willpower?
-Distress tolerance is the ability to stay put when things get uncomfortable. It is related to willpower as it helps in enduring difficult situations without giving in to impulses.
What is the 'surfing the urge' technique and how does it help with willpower challenges?
-The 'surfing the urge' technique involves paying attention to the physical discomfort of wanting something without acting on it, trusting that the craving will pass with patience and breathing.
In the smoking cessation study, what was the 'torture chamber' experiment?
-The 'torture chamber' experiment involved smokers abstaining from smoking for 24 hours and then enduring a series of delays while handling a pack of cigarettes without smoking.
What was the result of the 'surfing the urge' technique in the smoking cessation study?
-Smokers who learned the 'surfing the urge' technique reduced their cigarette consumption by 40% in the following week, and the link between stress and smoking was severed.
How was the 'surfing the urge' technique applied in the food self-control study?
-In the food self-control study, participants were given a transparent container of Hershey's Kisses and taught to surf the urge, carrying the container for 48 hours without eating any.
What was the outcome for those who surfed the urge in the food self-control study?
-Participants who surfed the urge did not eat a single Hershey's Kiss during the 48-hour period, while those using other strategies were more likely to give in.
How can the 'surfing the urge' technique be applied to other willpower challenges?
-The technique can be applied to any willpower challenge by practicing mindfulness, allowing oneself to feel the craving or thought, using breath as a source of stability, and looking for opportunities to recommit to the goal.
What are the five willpower rules mentioned in the transcript?
-The five willpower rules are: train your willpower physiology, forgive yourself for setbacks, make friends with your future self, predict your failure, and think about surfing the urge when facing temptation.
Outlines
π§ Understanding Willpower Challenges
The speaker defines a willpower challenge as a competition between two parts of oneself, reflecting the idea that we have two minds within one brain. These two minds can lead to different behaviors depending on which is more active. The speaker shares five favorite experiments that demonstrate how small interventions can have significant impacts on behavior. An example given is holding one's breath for 15 seconds as a willpower challenge, which is linked to the ability to succeed at difficult goals. This is referred to as distress tolerance, the capacity to withstand discomfort. The speaker then introduces two studies: one with smokers trying to quit and another with individuals struggling with food cravings, specifically sweets. Both studies teach participants a technique called 'surfing the urge,' which involves acknowledging and tolerating physical discomfort without acting on it.
π Overcoming Cravings with 'Surfing the Urge'
The first study involves smokers who are asked to abstain from smoking for 24 hours and then endure a series of delays while handling a pack of cigarettes, meant to increase their craving. Half of the participants are taught 'surfing the urge,' a technique to manage cravings by fully focusing on the physical discomfort and trusting that it will pass. The second study involves individuals with self-control issues around sweets, who are given a transparent container of Hershey's Kisses and instructed not to eat any for 48 hours. They are also taught 'surfing the urge.' The results show that smokers who learned this technique reduced their smoking by 40% in the following week, and the link between stress and smoking was severed. In the food study, those who learned the technique did not give in to eating any sweets, unlike those taught other strategies. The speaker emphasizes the importance of acceptance over suppression of cravings and how this technique can improve various willpower challenges, including weight loss.
Mindmap
Keywords
π‘Willpower challenge
π‘Neuroscientists
π‘Tiny interventions
π‘Distress tolerance
π‘Surfing the urge
π‘Mindfulness
π‘Cravings
π‘Long-term weight loss success
π‘Willpower rules
π‘Predicting failure
Highlights
Willpower challenge is a competition between two parts of oneself with competing goals.
Tiny interventions can shape behavior and have large outcomes.
Holding breath for 15 seconds is a willpower challenge and a predictor of success at difficult goals.
Distress tolerance is the ability to stay put when things get uncomfortable.
Surfing the urge is a technique to tolerate physical discomfort and cravings.
Smoking study shows that 'surfing the urge' reduces cigarette consumption by 40%.
In the food study, people taught to surf the urge didn't give in to cravings for sweets.
Surfing the urge technique can be applied to various willpower challenges.
Acceptance is a powerful strategy for dealing with difficult emotions and cravings.
The technique of accepting cravings has been shown to improve weight loss success.
Intrusive thoughts can be managed with the same technique used for cravings.
Mindfulness allows you to feel and attend to your experience without immediate escape.
Breathing can be used as a source of stability during willpower challenges.
Broadening attention and recommitting to your goal is part of the technique taught.
Five willpower rules are provided to help with willpower challenges.
The small dose intervention can be applied to any willpower challenge.
Transcripts
I Define a willpower challenge as
something that is basically a
competition between two parts of
yourself
neuroscientists are famous for saying
that even though we have one brain we
actually have two minds and we are
completely different people depending on
which mind is active or which systems of
the brain are more active and so
willpower challenge is anything where
those two versions of yourself have
competing goals so I thought today that
I would share with you five of my
favorite experiments from the class and
from the book and I chose experiments
that I like because they use tiny
interventions really really small
interventions to shape people's behavior
and they have very large outcomes and I
think this is the kind of thing many of
us are looking for one small change we
can make whether it's a change in how we
think or change in the way that we're
approaching a willpower challenge that
can have huge payoffs down the road
making it easier to do what it is we
really deep down want even when it's
sometimes difficult cult or part of us
doesn't want let's all do it together
unless you have health problems and then
you know I don't want anyone to pass out
or have a stroke so it uh if you if you
are willing to take this challenge we're
just going to hold our breath for 15
seconds take a deep breath in
go to take a deep breath out now exhale
exhale exhale exhale it out stop
breathing timeless
remember you can breathe anytime you
want to if you need to I just want you
to notice how this feels
three two one breathe so holding your
breath obviously that's a little bit of
a willpower challenge some of you maybe
need to hold your breath for two minutes
to feel it but I did not want anyone
passing out so would you believe that
this ability to hold your breath is one
of the best predictors of people's
ability to succeed at difficult goals
psychologists call this distress
tolerance the ability to stay put when
things get uncomfortable so I want to
tell you now about a small intervention
that teaches people how to sort of hold
their breath but not exactly how to
basically ride out physical discomfort
that gets in the way of making a
difficult change and to tell you about
two different studies that are basically
using the same technique so you can kind
of pick your willpower challenge here
the first I call the the torture chamber
this was a study of smokers who wanted
to quit but had been unable to and the
researchers asked the smokers to abstain
from smoking for 24 hours sort of a
first Challenge and then to come into
the laboratory with a fresh unopened
pack of their favorite brand of
cigarettes so all the smokers show up
they've got their pack they are
desperate for a smoke and they even like
carbon monoxide tested them to make sure
they hadn't smoked so they had all they
were really they were ready for a
cigarette they seated at a long table
and asked to put away all distractions
except for a lighter or match and their
cigarette so we got a bunch of smokers
now they're ready and then the
experimenter is about to begin the
process of allowing them to smoke and
she says through actually a microphone
like that you hear this voice that says
take out your pack of cigarettes and
everyone does they're all excited woo
stop okay they have to wait two minutes
now and they're not allowed to do
anything except look at their pack of
cigarettes
pull off the cellophane okay great
stop
two minutes they have to wait pack it oh
there's Patsy I don't smoke I forget
some of these steps I had to pack the
pack too and they got the cellophane
open okay take out a cigarette finally
stop they have to wait two minutes and
this goes on and every two minutes they
they're writing down how intense their
Cravings are and how much they want to
smoke but other than that they're not
allowed to do anything take a cigarette
out stop two minutes look at the
cigarette stop two minutes smell the
cigarette stop two minutes
put the cigarette in your mouth stop two
minutes take out a lighter look at it
stop two minutes
this went on for over an hour nobody was
actually allowed to light the cigarette
okay so here's what the I didn't tell
you what the actual intervention was yet
half of them before this happened had
been taught a technique called surfing
the urge in which you learn to pay
attention to the physical discomfort of
wanting something
you give it your full attention and you
trust that you can tolerate those
physical Sensations and if you just wait
with patience they will go away that any
craving any emotion will eventually pass
if you can just breathe and wait wait it
out that you don't have to act on every
impulse or emotion so that's the
technique they were taught they were
surfing the urge they were imagining
those Cravings as a wave that they were
getting on and they were just going to
breathe and they knew that it would
eventually end just like a wave before I
tell you the results of this study let
me just give you the food one the food
went a little bit different they took
people who had problems with
self-control around food especially
sweets gave them a clear container of
Hershey's Kisses transparent container
and they had to carry that box of
Hershey's Kisses around with them for 48
hours and we're not allowed to eat a
single one and they were all carefully
marked a little pin scratch so that the
researchers would know if they ate them
and restocked it which would not be cool
and they were taught the same technique
about how to handle Cravings how to surf
the urge allow yourself to feel the
craving and yet remember you don't need
to act on it and the craving will go
away eventually okay so the result in
this study the smokers who had been
taught how to surf the urge in that that
one hour torture test they ended up
reducing their cigarette smoke by 40
percent in the very next week even
though the researchers had not asked
them to the control group did not reduce
their cigarettes at all and
interestingly in that the people who had
learned to surf the urge there was now
no longer a connection between
psychological stress and smoking which
is actually that that's the main
connection for a lot of people who are
trying to quit they're stressed out
they're anxious and so they need a
cigarette and in this particular group
with this intervention it cut that link
between stress and giving in probably
because they had a tool for dealing with
difficult feelings and emotions in this
study the people who had trouble with
self-control around food if they were
taught to surf the urge zero had a
single Hershey's Kiss over the entire 48
Hours whereas those who've been given
other strategies including distraction
ended up much more likely to give in and
also really stressed out about it so
these are just two different examples of
how surfing the urge can give us a lot
of willpower for the things where we
need willpower you know a lot of times I
hear people talk about how important it
is to build good habits but the reality
is sometimes you need strength to do
something difficult and there's no habit
in the world that's going to make you
not want a cigarette when you see it or
want a donut when you see it or make you
want to avoid something because you're
anxious there's a real impulse and a
real feeling that you need to deal with
and this power of acceptance seems to be
the best strategy for dealing with these
difficult emotions these difficult
thoughts and these difficult cravings
and any attempt to kind of push them
away or get rid of them backfires but
being able to ride them out and imagine
them as passing experiences that you
don't need to act on has been shown to
help a lot of different willpower
challenges including the kind of anxiety
that leads us to not do things we know
we should do
intrusive thoughts you know that's a
real willpower challenge sometimes our
mind goes places we don't want it to go
to Memories or to things we're imagining
or to negative thoughts about ourselves
and others and research shows you can
apply the same technique to a negative
thought without having to act on it it's
been shown to improve weight loss this
technique of learning how to accept your
own Cravings tripled the long-term
one-year weight loss success rate among
people who are in a really standard
weight loss program if you want to apply
this technique to any willpower
challenge yourself here's what that
small intervention would look like for
yourself here's what people were taught
in both of those studies and the first
is this mindfulness to allow yourself to
feel what you're feeling or think what
you're thinking and to actually attend
to the experience rather than
immediately try to escape it so if
you're hungry actually notice like what
does hunger feel like in my body where
if you're anxious what does anxiety feel
like in my body right now and then to
actually just breathe breathe it out use
the breath as a source of stability you
know what you're feeling take a few
breaths and then broaden your attention
out and look for the first opportunity
to recommit to your goal that's what
they were taught in both the smoking
study and in the Hershey's Kiss study
and it's a technique that you can
practice it takes like 30 seconds and
and it can help with any sort of
willpower challenge five willpower rules
and I would just invite you to think if
you heard anything today that might be
relevant to your willpower challenge to
give yourself this short dose the small
dose intervention and and see how it
works so those five strategies one is to
train your willpower physiology by
meditating by sleeping by exercising or
by eating a diet that's going to sustain
your energy forgive yourself the next
time you have a willpower setback make
friends with your future self kind of
think about the future in a way that
feels real predict your failure even
though it's really nice to imagine
success really get interested in the
process of how you fail and then finally
think about surfing the urge when you
are facing temptation
[Music]
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