Temptation – Willpower

I just read a HBR blog on how to grow a bit stronger by using your temptations to your advantage. Great to read and makes you think a bit more on how to improve yourself and have a bit more willpower. Original post is behind the link, here I just list the most interesting sentences of the text.

How to Use Temptation to Strengthen Your Willpower
by Peter Bregman, Harvard Business Review  |  12:00 PM March 27, 2013
Link to original post

Think about any good movie you've seen recently. I bet the first few minutes introduced a problem and the rest of the movie was devoted to the tension of a protagonist who wants something, usually with some urgency, that she does not get. Then, it was only in the last few minutes that the tension was resolved and she achieved whatever it was she was seeking. 

The reason good movies follow that formula is that there is no way to keep an audience engaged once that tension is dissipated. 

That's because ninety-five percent of our pleasure is in that tension. It's the tension of suspense, of anticipation, and it feels at least as good and lasts much longer than the resolution. In fact, we only care about the resolution because of the anticipation.

But consider how much time I spend anticipating the dinner, compared to eating it.

This, it turns out, is the key to strengthening our willpower. Willpower is mastering the tension of not getting what we want in the moment. How much easier would it be if, instead of withstanding, we could actually enjoy?

 Next time you feel tempted by something, take a moment to feel the pleasure of that tension. Don't think of it as temptation; feel it as anticipation. 

Indulge yourself fully — think about what you want and feel the emotions of wanting it. Then realize that as soon as you give in to the temptation, as soon as you release the tension, all the pleasure will be gone. 

We know from research that people who delay their gratification succeed more on a number of different criteria — relationships, finances, achievements. 

I'd like to add one more: Pleasure.