Becoming Superhuman

Why Willpower Doesn’t Work

And what to do about it

Willpower Doesn’t Work: Discover the Hidden Keys to Success on Goodreads

Keywords and ideas

1. Willpower → the energy “you” have to do something you want;
2. “You” → your consciousness is 10% of your whole brain, which is located in the prefrontal cortex;
3. Consciousness → is limited by a finite working memory capacity;
4. Working memory → located in the prefrontal cortex;
5. Subconsciousness → makes up the remainder 90% of your brain;
6. Illusion of separation → we are not independent of our environment;
7. Ego → default mode network;
8. Triggers → things in the environment that increase the probability for you to perform certain actions and/or have certain thoughts and feelings.

Abstract

W e will talk about willpower and the many misconceptions around it. We will also talk about the illusion of separation as well as the neurophysiological structures creating that illusion.

We will discuss how and why willpower isn’t enough by taking, again, the neurophysiological structures into account.

Finally, we will present alternative solutions besides willpower.