I have a bit of a theory. What if our constant viewing of entertainment was actually robbing us of all our willpower?
In reading ‘The ONE Thing’ again, I’ve been thinking about the chapter on willpower. He basically calls it a finite resource that needs to be managed.
Studies have shown that taking a break and having a snack or meal or resting tends to restore blood sugar and also seems to increase levels of willpower.
But what do I (and everyone?) tend to do when I don’t feel like doing anything? Sit on my phone immediately, and find some entertainment. No, we’re not using up any willpower to do that, but what if we’re preventing it from replenishing and starting an endless loop?
I think I need to try literally just taking 20 minute breaks where I maybe have a quick snack and lay down to rest my eyes for a bit. Often times my phone binges last way longer than that anyway, and if I had new willpower, I could get back to doing whatever needed to be done!
For the moment, I think it’s at least worth a shot. So I plan on doing that, and reporting back results.
I posted this as if it were some far-out theory. But I’d say at this point, it’s simply “confirmed”, though possibly for different reasons.
Using your phone and social media floods your brain with dopamine, and over time you become less sensitive to the dopamine you need to get things done. One could argue, having dopamine and being sensitive to it account for the majority of “motivation” and “willpower”.
So yes: avoiding phone use definitely helps.
I think it might be smart to approach those times when you’re sort of just itching to be on your phone or seek entertainment as “charging” back up after using your energy on other tasks.
Like most people, I tend to fill every moment with some form of entertainment and I suspect that’s preventing me from recovering effectively from demanding tasks.
It actually seems wild to me now that this seemed like a novel idea at the time. It’s such an accepted mainstream thought at this point.