Avoiding temptation beats building willpower (opens in new tab)

"successful people set up their lives so they didn't need to use willpower frequently. They exposed themselves to fewer temptations."

Of course we should be skeptical of this result, as with all research, especially in psychology. after all, the previous theory had lots of apparent research support.

But that said, this is the strategy that works for me. If I want to eat less junk, I need to not have junk in the house, so close that it's in my mouth before my prefrontal cortex can call for a review.

It's definitely worth practicing willpower because I can't always avoid temptation. Constant practice with the smaller things helps with the bigger things, like any practice or habit.

AND, avoiding temptation is hugely useful for me. With the right firefox extensions for example I've rid myself of most of the really enticing internet time sinks. I never have sweets or sugar or processed food in the house.

It doesn't have to be one or the other. I'd say for me avoiding temptation is the low hanging fruit that is obviously worth doing, and then practicing the choices I want to make is the real work. But avoiding temptation gives me more spaciousness of mind to practice my choices.

A few related thoughts from my spiritual tradition...

resist evil, but flee temptation.

Build willpower through disciplines, such as fasting, meditation, stillness.

Think about the larger value that a smaller temptation points to - junk candy food is an echo of the celebration food from a community event - the connection of enjoying delicious food together with others is something beautiful, so invest and look forward to that. How can we have more deep celebration times, and less binge snacking?

Life is complex!

Peace

Willpower is the weakest tool in psychology.

Avoidance is much easier

Yeah... I can resist everything, but temptation.