Meetings are willpower traps: I actively have to restrain myself so I don’t start to run in circles, scream & shout. My willpower depletes during a meeting and will run out quickly.
Willpower is a great resource to have — some say it’s the greatest. But it is limited. Some situations trap our willpower and prevent us from using it to make great stuff — willpower traps.
For example,
- the cookie jar standing in visibility traps our willpower because we have to resist it;
- procrastination traps our willpower because we constantly have to decide not to start yet;
- unclear expectations from others trap our willpower by making us decide about likely expectations first;
- the feeling of inability traps our willpower because we first need to overcome a wall of (learned) helplessness.
Identifying a willpower trap is the first step towards dismantling it. After we dismantled it, we can continue to make great stuff.