Can you?

Ego Depletion Theory suggests that willpower is a finite resource that gets depleted with continued use.

More recent research, particularly from Dr. Veronika Job who notably published the popular paper ‘Ego Depletion — is it all in your head? Implicit Theories about Willpower Affect Self-Regulation’, suggests that this may not be the case.

In her study participants who viewed willpower as a limited resource showed declined performance after a performing series of mentally-taxing tasks whereas participants who viewed willpower as an infinite resource were able to maintain their focus even after performing these same demanding tasks.

Having willpower, it turns out, may be at least in part a matter of believing you’ve got it.

Is this a cure for all matters of the mind? Certainly not. No amount of self-persuasion is going to is going to make up for a lack of sleep, for example.

Nevertheless, this does suggest that our expectations about our ability to maintain a high degree of performance can have a meaningful impact on how we end up performing. Similar findings have been found in Dr. Alia Crum’s research which suggests that we perform better under stress when we perceive stress to be a positive force that enhances our ability to perform.

As Henry Ford once said, “whether you think you can, or you think you can’t — you’re right.”