2741: How to Increase Willpower and Stay on Track Financially by Emily Guy Birken with PT Money

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[00:00:40] This is Optimal Finance Daily, episode 2741.

[00:00:44] How to increase willpower and stay on track financially.

[00:00:48] By Emily Guy-Burken with PTMoney.com.

[00:00:51] And I'm your host and personal finance enthusiast, Diana Merriam.

[00:00:55] We're going to get right to today's post as we optimize your life.

[00:01:03] How to increase willpower and stay on track financially.

[00:01:06] By Emily Guy-Burken with PTMoney.com.

[00:01:11] It's happened to all of us, no matter how committed we are to our frugal goals.

[00:01:16] We start the day by brewing our own coffee at home instead of stopping by our favorite

[00:01:21] coffee shop on the way to work. We manage to say no thanks to the group at work who's going

[00:01:26] out for lunch and eat our bologna sandwich alone at our desk. Then we drive virtuously past the

[00:01:33] fruit stand with our favorite summer produce because we've already made our grocery purchases

[00:01:38] for the week. Then later that same night, we find ourselves spending $150 on Amazon

[00:01:45] and ruining the good work we've done all day. Why on earth would it be so much harder to avoid

[00:01:50] the Amazon purchases after turning down the smaller purchases all day? According to psychologists,

[00:01:56] it all comes down to how willpower works. Apparently, instead of being a constant state

[00:02:01] of mind, willpower is more like a muscle. And like a muscle, you can tire it out so it's very

[00:02:07] difficult to keep using it. That's why the dieter might find himself ordering an entire pizza for

[00:02:13] himself after eating nothing but salad and lean protein all day long. And the money saver might

[00:02:19] end up blowing a couple of Benjamins on something she doesn't want after saying no to smaller

[00:02:24] purchases. However, even though willpower can be used up like muscle strength, the news isn't

[00:02:30] all bleak. Just like a muscle, your willpower can also be strengthened through exercise.

[00:02:37] If you're having trouble staying on track, here's what you need to know about willpower

[00:02:41] and how to increase willpower to reach your financial goals. Understanding Willpower

[00:02:47] Willpower is a type of self-regulation. When the donuts are passed around at the morning meeting,

[00:02:53] your willpower is what prompts you to pass the box along without taking a chocolate glaze for

[00:02:58] yourself. It's also what prompts you to forego favorite little luxuries when you're trying to

[00:03:03] save money. You're entirely in control over whether you eat the donut or spend the money,

[00:03:09] as no one will force you to do either one. But as anyone who's ever struggled with a New Year's

[00:03:15] resolution can attest, it can feel so much more difficult to regulate yourself than it should.

[00:03:20] Since no one's forcing you to take the donut, why does it sometimes feel as though you don't

[00:03:25] really have a choice in the matter? That's because self-regulatory behavior, which includes everything

[00:03:31] from exercising willpower to making decisions, exhausts us. According to psychologists,

[00:03:37] the act of making a decision, whether it's one in line with your goals and requires willpower

[00:03:42] or one that simply needs to be made, saps mental energy in a process known as ego depletion.

[00:03:48] As it happens, we become weaker in the face of temptation and we experience things more intensely.

[00:03:55] John Tierney, co-author of the book Willpower, described ego depletion to Audie Cornish of NPR.

[00:04:03] Basically, it's that everything feels more intensely to you, good things and bad things.

[00:04:09] You suddenly feel everything a little bit more intensely because your brain has lost some

[00:04:13] ability to regulate emotions and so you therefore respond more strongly to everything.

[00:04:21] That's enough to make it seem as though you have no control over your ability to say no.

[00:04:26] How to increase willpower? Of course, just as we know people who are capable of running an

[00:04:32] 8-minute mile and bench pressing 200 pounds, we also know people who seem completely immune

[00:04:37] to temptation. What's their secret? It's actually not that different from the secret of athletes.

[00:04:44] Willpower can be depleted in the short term, but it will strengthen over time if you regularly

[00:04:49] exercise it. For instance, John Tierney mentions a study conducted by the University of Michigan

[00:04:55] in which students were asked to watch their posture for an entire week.

[00:05:00] After the end of the week, the students who had practiced good posture performed better

[00:05:05] in situations that tested their self-control, even though the tests had nothing to do with posture.

[00:05:11] This study and other findings by psychologists have determined that practicing willpower in

[00:05:16] small ways can help you to improve your overall willpower, at least when it counts most to you.

[00:05:23] How to increase willpower in the short term? Unfortunately, knowing that sitting up straight

[00:05:29] for a week will help you avoid the spending temptations down the road doesn't really help

[00:05:33] if you're currently feeling ego depletion. Luckily, there are tricks that can help you

[00:05:38] self-regulate in the short term, even if you've just come from a long day of resisting temptation.

[00:05:45] Number one, distract yourself. The famous Stanford marshmallow experiment from the late 1960s

[00:05:52] tested willpower and the ability to delay gratification in small children.

[00:05:57] In this experiment, four-year-old children were given a marshmallow and told they could eat it

[00:06:02] right away, but if they could wait 15 minutes, they would receive a second marshmallow. The

[00:06:08] children who were able to wait for the second treat distracted themselves by singing songs

[00:06:13] or hiding their eyes, thereby distracting themselves from the temptation of the marshmallow.

[00:06:18] Those little kids were onto something! People with excellent willpower often simply remove

[00:06:24] temptations from their path. Think of the dieter's house with no ice cream or cookies in it.

[00:06:29] Or they'll focus on something else in order to ignore the temptation.

[00:06:33] If you're tempted to spend money, start focusing on the reason why you're saving.

[00:06:38] It'll help to motivate you to stay on track while giving your brain something else to think about.

[00:06:43] Number two, have some juice or a snack. According to recent research, self-regulation actually

[00:06:50] depends on available blood glucose levels. This is part of the reason why you may feel more alert

[00:06:56] and able to work right after lunch as opposed to right beforehand, and why it's impossible to stick

[00:07:02] to a grocery list if you're shopping while hungry. If you're feeling tempted by something you know

[00:07:07] you shouldn't have, take the time to have a piece of fruit or other complex carbohydrate.

[00:07:13] It can help you get back your willpower mojo. Number three, force yourself. We've all experienced

[00:07:21] the sudden burst of energy you get when you start a task you've been putting off. Whether it's washing

[00:07:26] the dishes or writing that term paper, just taking the first step can be enough to get us going.

[00:07:32] That's because we often need less self-regulation than we think we do to complete a task. So forcing

[00:07:38] ourselves to simply get started can be enough to bring on extra willpower reserves. When it comes

[00:07:44] to avoiding temptations, simply forcing yourself to ignore them can be enough to get you through

[00:07:49] that particular situation, although you'll still feel depleted for the next one until you've had

[00:07:55] a chance to rest and start anew. And number four, remember your motivation. The Boston marathoners

[00:08:03] who finish up a 26.2 mile race and then continue running an additional two miles to donate blood

[00:08:10] at Massachusetts General Hospital must have been completely exhausted by the marathon,

[00:08:16] and yet they found the physical strength to keep running and donate blood. On any other day,

[00:08:22] these marathoners might have said they couldn't possibly run another step after the end of the

[00:08:26] race. The difference, of course, was motivation. According to Timothy Pitchell of Psychology Today,

[00:08:33] ego depletion seems to reduce motivation. Quote, given that depleted self-regulatory strength

[00:08:40] may leave us feeling like we won't succeed or we're too tired to try, it may be that the reduced

[00:08:46] expectancy of success undermines our willingness to exert effort. It's not that we're so impaired

[00:08:53] that we can't respond, it's that we don't feel like it. End quote. Basically, remembering your

[00:08:59] motivation for avoiding temptation can help you find the strength to overcome your ego depletion.

[00:09:10] You just listened to the post titled, How to Increase Willpower and Stay on Track Financially

[00:09:15] by Emily Guy-Burken with PTMoney.com, and I'll be right back with my commentary.

[00:09:22] Maintaining willpower and staying motivated while pursuing a financial goal over a long period of

[00:09:27] time is no easy task. This to me is one of the key challenges of pursuing financial independence.

[00:09:33] When we're first interested in the idea, it's really exciting to optimize our expenses,

[00:09:38] increase our income, and come up with our investment strategy. I know for myself,

[00:09:43] I spent a ton of time figuring out my FI number and estimating how long it would take me to get

[00:09:48] there. This is the time where we're reading all the books and the blogs and listening to

[00:09:53] all the podcasts about money. It's new, exciting, and there's so much to learn.

[00:09:58] But then we settle into what I call the boring middle. We're steadily accumulating our nest egg,

[00:10:04] but there isn't much left to optimize, and our financial literacy is at a point

[00:10:09] where most of what we read or listen to is repetitive. When I reached this point,

[00:10:14] only one thing helped me maintain motivation and willpower, and that was tapping into the amazing

[00:10:20] FIRE community. I started going to in-person events like Camp FI and Camp Mustache,

[00:10:26] and I even created my own event called The Economy Conference. In-person connection with

[00:10:32] other people pursuing FI has been game-changing for me because it's helped me see that there's

[00:10:38] no right way to do this, and there's a ton of variability on how people reach financial freedom.

[00:10:44] As I always say, FI is so much better with friends.

[00:10:48] But that should do it for another edition of Optimal Finance Daily. I'll be back tomorrow

[00:10:53] as usual, so I'll see you there for the Wednesday show where your optimal life awaits.