Uncovering The Secret To Success

That's what we'll be doing in the next few weeks, where we will be taking a closer look at a book entitled Willpower. Why Self-Control is the Secret to Success by Roy F. Baumeister and John Tierney, a psychologist and a science writer who have teamed up to show the importance of self-control in all of our lives. Their subtitle is a pretty bold proposition to make, but the authors are not ashamed to state their case right in the introduction to their book. According to them, psychologists all over the world

"...have found that improving willpower is the surest way to a better life. They've come to realize that most major problems, personal and social, center on failure of self-control: compulsive spending and borrowing, impulsive violence, underachievement in school, procrastination at work, alcohol and drug abuse, unhealthy diet, lack of exercise, chronic anxiety, explosive anger. Poor self-control correlates with just about every kind of individual trauma: losing friends, being fired, getting divorced, winding up in prison. It can cost you the U.S. Open, as Serena William's tantrum in 2009 demonstrated; it can destroy your career, as adulterous politicians keep discovering. It contributed to the epidemic of risky loans and investments that devastated the financial system, and to the shaky prospects for so many people who failed (along with their political leaders) to set aside enough money for their old age." (p. 2)

And we're only on page 2, folks. :-) But if you choose to believe them, having willpower becomes essential to being able to lead a happy and successful life. Take the famous marshmallow experiment as an example. Yeah, the one with the little kids who had to choose between eating one marshmallow now or waiting for a certain period of time before being allowed to eat two. Those who had shown the most willpower at age four (the ones who waited so they could have a second marshmallow) went on to get better grades and achieve higher test scores in high school and college.

A variety of other experiments has shown the following:

"People with good self-control seemed exceptionally good at forming and maintaining secure, satisfying attachments to other people. They were shown to be better at empathizing with others and considering things from other people's perspectives. They were more stable emotionally and less prone to anxiety, depression, paranoia, psychoticism, obsessive-compulsive behavior, eating disorders, drinking problems and other maladies. They got angry less often, and when they did get angry, they were less likely to get aggressive, either verbally or physically." (p. 12)

I could probably quote some more from the introduction to what promises to be a great read and a highly fascinating book, but I think you're getting the point. In case you haven't, I'll give you one more line from Baumeister and Tierney: "Self-control is a vital strength and key to success in life." (p. 13) There you have it. Are you intrigued? Curious? I am. Hope you decide to join me in the following weeks as we discover how to develop and improve our self-control and willpower; in other words, as we uncover the secret to success...