The truth about motivation: Why willpower is more reliable than motivation

Changing the brain must precede changing the body; otherwise, the change will not last. Since the brain requires long-term, sustained action to change, the question becomes: how can we persist in a particular action? We can deduce the answer.

Willpower and motivation are two mechanisms that enable us to consciously take action (not out of habit). Motivation is the "desire" to act (our most frequently used mechanism), while willpower is the "decision" to act regardless of feelings. Almost every self-help book today (including those on weight loss) suggests that we should generate as much motivation as possible and treat willpower as a backup plan; however, prioritizing motivation is unwise.

"Inspiring Motivation" is a misnomer.

I bet you've heard speeches about motivation. But out of curiosity, how many speeches about self-discipline or willpower have you heard? There are countless books, websites, and podcasts about motivation, making other self-help and motivational topics (except perhaps for weight loss) pale in comparison.

I want to clarify that the reason motivation is so popular is because people's perception of its effectiveness is inaccurate. Behind every story of successful motivation use lies a multitude of failures. If a strategy only has a 2% success rate, but the remaining 98% are ignored, then our understanding of its effectiveness is (and already is) severely distorted. Nobody wants to write stories about failures, but I have one here: I spent 10 years "generating motivation," and it had absolutely no effect.

Everyone's situation is different, so success rates can be deceptive. Even the same person might be fooled by their own false sense of success. There may be a period when you feel highly motivated and are working hard to achieve your goals. It is during this time that you notice changes in yourself, and you then believe that motivation is the key to getting you to take action.

It's normal to notice factors that contribute to the effect, so when you're motivated to achieve your weight loss goals and eat a healthy meal, you attribute that behavior (eating healthy food) to the motivation you just felt. This strategy worked today, so it will work in the future, right? Yes, but if you consider all the data, not just one piece, you won't think that way.

It's dangerous to draw conclusions based on isolated cases. For example, in a roulette game, you bet $5 that the bead will land on number 20. If you win, you get $175. But can you say that the bead will always land on number 20? Or that the probability of the bead landing on number 20 is higher? If you think like that, you'll lose everything at the casino. Similarly, if you happen to feel "energized" on one or ten out of 20 mornings, can you say that this motivational strategy is effective? It's possible that you don't know of any other strategies, or it's possible that you're overconfident and think you can "generate motivation" easily.

To clarify, I'm not against motivation; in fact, I felt very motivated while writing this. Motivation is beneficial, but I'm simply saying that motivation alone is insufficient to form a basis for behavioral change. The foundation must be solid and reliable; motivation is not reliable enough, that's all. So, why do we consider motivation reliable?

Familiarity deceives us

Pulitzer Prize winner Daniel Kahneman wrote in *Thinking, Fast and Slow*: “There is a reliable way to convince people of a fallacy: repeat it over and over, because people have a hard time distinguishing between familiarity and truth.” Once a theory becomes deeply ingrained, people take it for granted as truth, and no amount of reasonable objection can completely refute it. This is why we mistakenly take “finding motivation” as a strategy for changing behavior (everyone once believed the earth was flat, but that's easier to falsify than motivation).

Motivated and successful people often confuse results with causes, saying, "My desire motivated me." But the truth is, success and good habits are more likely to inspire desire, not the other way around.

Are our desires strong enough?

Mainstream motivation theory posits that a sufficiently strong desire is necessary to make changes; if you fail to achieve your goals, it's because your desire isn't strong enough. Since people are still plagued by obesity and related diseases, it suggests our desire for change isn't strong enough. It's pathetic that we lack sufficient motivation to save our lives and improve our health. But wait a minute, the entire weight loss industry earned $64 billion in 2014! People have spent so much money on weight loss; doesn't that mean their passion for it has transcended the Earth?

Sadly, even today, thousands of people who want to lose weight are still wondering what's wrong with them. There's nothing wrong with them! These people are willingly suffering and spending money to lose weight, yet some people tell them their desire to change isn't strong enough! That's utter nonsense. People's desire is strong enough; they just need a smart strategy, one that doesn't rely on the impossible.

To fully understand what power is, we need to distinguish between two different types of power.

Two types of power

Please look at these two sentences: I am motivated to quit smoking. I am motivated to smoke a cigarette right now.

The motivations expressed in these two sentences are not only opposite, but also belong to two different types. Quitting smoking is a holistic desire, while smoking a cigarette is an immediate desire.

Immediate motivation is far more complex than holistic motivation. Your desire to do or not do something at a particular moment is influenced by many immediate and holistic desires. For example, your current urge to eat a donut is influenced by the following motivations:

Stay healthy: No, you don't want to eat donuts!

Eat something nice: Yes, you want to eat donuts!

Make yourself happy: You want to eat a donut!

All your friends are eating donuts, and to fit in, say: You want to eat donuts!

Don't gain weight: You don't want to eat donuts!

Summer is coming, time to show some skin: You don't want to eat donuts!

Other factors include stress, self-talk, and emotional state. Think about your everyday experiences: If you have a bad day, how does your motivation to do positive and beneficial things change? It decreases. If you have a good day, your motivation increases. Have you ever experienced a sudden drop in motivation for no apparent reason? I have, because emotions largely control immediate motivation. Immediate motivation is chaotic, complex, and unpredictable because the factors influencing it are constantly changing.

Conversely, overall motivation is remarkably simple and stable. The immediate decision to eat a donut is made within a specific context, while the overall decision to eat foods like donuts is unaffected by that context. Your overall motivation is your theoretical perspective. My overall motivation for not eating foods like donuts is that I believe they are unhealthy. But that being said, if you gave me $5,000 to eat one donut, I'd eat two.

When perfect ideals fall from the bridge

Without specific context, we would always make choices based on our overall desires. However, our flawless ideals must first cross a shaky bridge called "context" to reach the other side called "reality," and ideals often fall off the bridge.