How to Increase Willpower & Tenacity (Huberman #159)

This week we've distilled Huberman's episode on Tenacity & Willpower.

He breaks down a few tools to optimize tenacity & willpower in the short-term and as we age, as well as the controversy around whether willpower is finite.

 All takeaways and protocols are databased & searchable on Human3 Wiki.

Tenacity and willpower are linked to motivation

• Tenacity: willingness to persist under pressure and resistance

• Willpower: motivation to do things and resist certain things

Tenacity and willpower can be expressed in two ways

• Energy in this context refers to neural energy

• The level of energy can be high depending on how much resistance is felt internally or externally

Controversy exists around the belief that tenacity and willpower are limited by glucose

• 20-25 years ago, Roy Baumeister and colleagues showed that willpower depleted with each successive attempt to engage it

• Experiments then showed that when subjects were given glucose between tasks requiring willpower, their levels of willpower maintained or increased - brain is a metabolically active organi requiring a lot of flue (glucose)

• Carol Dweck study then showed that if we believe tenacity & willpower are limited by glucose, that’s exactly what happens

• The current focus is whether willpower is indeed a limited resource and whether each decision or effort to engage or resist a behavior drains this resource

Engaging in some form of physical exercise, particularly cardiovascular training, can increase tenacity and willpower across cognitive, physical, and emotional domains.

• If you enjoy a task, it’s unlikely to increase your level of tenacity and willpower

• You need to add or subtract something that makes it harder to engage in or resist a behavior

Micro Sucks: do things that suck a little bit to build tenacity and willpower

• You can build up tenacity and willpower as a capacity within you, or within your anterior mid cingulate cortices, by engaging in tasks that are either physically and/or psychologically hard

• i.e. if you already exercise consistently: doing one extra set at the end of a round of three to five sets of a given exercise, or doing 100 jumping jacks at the end of a hard run

• Huberman refers to as “micro sucks” - things that suck a little bit and require some effort, but are safe

• Hazards of this approach include potential psychological, emotional, and physical harm

• Can lead to unhealthy realms if taken to extremes (e.g., eating disorders) 

Engaging in hard activities with no clear endpoint can help build tenacity and willpower

• Examples: martial arts, sports, music, academics, relationships

SuperAgers: individuals aged 60 and above with cognition levels of 40-year-olds, 30-year-olds, or even mid-20s individuals

• Continually engage in activities that are hard for them

• Seek out friction points and novel environments

• Possible link between the anterior mid cingulate cortex and the will to live

  • SuperAgers continually reinforce the circuits that give rise to tenacity and willpower

Tenacity and willpower are affected by autonomic function

• When sleep-deprived, in pain, emotionally distressed, or distracted, tenacity and willpower are diminished

• Importance of maintaining autonomic functions through adequate sleep, nutrition, social connections, etc.

Occasionally rewarding oneself after successfully engaging tenacity and willpower can reinforce the behavior

• Rewards should be health-promoting and safe

• Not recommended to reward oneself every time