THE SCIENCE OF SELF-CONTROL: 53 Tips to stick to your diet, be more productive and excel in life

238 Pages·2.184 MB·English

by  Menno Henselmans

THE SCIENCE OF SELF-CONTROL
53 Tips to stick to your diet, be more productive and excel in life

MENNO HENSELMANS
Copyright © 2021 Menno Henselmans
All rights reserved.
CONTENTS
FOREWORD
INTRODUCTION
CHAPTER 1: 2-SYSTEM THEORY
CHAPTER 2: THY WILL BE DONE
T
HE EVOLUTION OF SELF-CONTROL
CHAPTER 3: HOW TO BE MORE PRODUCTIVE
W
HY WILLPOWER IS NOT LIKE A MUSCLE
P A
RODUCTIVITY TIP 1: LETHAL ILLUSION
P T
RODUCTIVITY TIP 2: HE LOCUS OF CONTROL
P F
RODUCTIVITY TIP 3: RAMING FOR SELF-EFFICACY
P H Z
RODUCTIVITY TIP 4: OW TO USE THE EIGARNIK EFFECT TO STOP PROCRASTINATING
P T
RODUCTIVITY TIP 5: HERE’S NO SIN WITHOUT TEMPTATION
P H
RODUCTIVITY TIP 6: OW TO DO MORE WORK WHILE WORKING LESS
Exercise
Hydrotherapy
Work hard, play hard
Power napping
Meditation
Prayer
The imaginary break
P H
RODUCTIVITY TIP 7: OW (NOT) TO INCENTIVIZE YOURSELF AND OTHERS
P V
RODUCTIVITY TIP 8: ARY UP YOUR STIMULUS MODALITIES
P T
RODUCTIVITY TIP 9: O MULTITASK OR NOT TO MULTITASK?
Productivity tip 9.1: “Do not disturb”
Productivity tip 9.2: No peeking
Productivity tip 9.3: Batching
Productivity tip 9.4: The right number of projects to take
on
P H
RODUCTIVITY TIP 10: OW TO OPTIMIZE YOUR TO-DO LIST
Productivity tip 10.1: Beware of overuse
Productivity tip 10.2: How to structure your to-do list
Productivity tip 10.3: How to set deadlines
Productivity tip 10.4: The most important time to consult
your to-do list
P W
RODUCTIVITY TIP 11: IPE THE BUREAUCRACY FROM YOUR MIND
P S
RODUCTIVITY TIP 12: CHEDULE YOUR WORK IN LINE WITH YOUR CIRCADIAN RHYTHM
P W O
RODUCTIVITY TIP 13: HY BAMA ONLY WORE 2 COLORS OF SUITS
P T
RODUCTIVITY TIP 14: HE OPTIMAL WORK ENVIRONMENT
P T Y D
RODUCTIVITY TIP 15: HE ERKES– ODSON LAW
P M
RODUCTIVITY TIP 16: ENS SANA IN CORPORE SANO
CHAPTER 4: HOW TO STICK TO YOUR DIET
D T
IET TIP 1: HE FLESH IS STRONG, BUT THE MIND IS WEAK
But what about blood sugar?
Postprandial somnolence
D H
IET TIP 2: USTLE
D W
IET TIP 3: HY ‘TRYING HARDER’ DOESN’T WORK
D T
IET TIP 4: HE BEST MACROS FOR ADHERENCE
D H
IET TIP 5: OW TO INTERPRET YOUR PERSONAL PREFERENCE
D H
IET TIP 6: OW EMPTY REWARDS CAN HELP US STICK TO OUR DIET
D H
IET TIP 7: OW NOT TAKING BREAKS CAN BREAK YOUR DIET
D D
IET TIP 8: “ ON’T BIND BACON TO THE CAT’S BACK”
D M
IET TIP 9: AKE A MEAL PLAN
D E
IET TIP 10: AT IN LINE WITH YOUR CIRCADIAN RHYTHM
D C
IET TIP 11: ONSTANT MACROS
D P
IET TIP 12: ROJECTION BIAS
D D
IET TIP 13: ON’T TRY TO BE A ROBOT
Diet tip 13.1: Failure is a learning experience
Diet tip 13.2: Adopt a sustainable lifestyle perspective
Diet tip 13.3: View your calories as a budget
Diet tip 13.4: You don’t always have to spend everything
Diet tip 13.5: Think outside the lunchbox
D H
IET TIP 14: OW TO STOP FOOD CRAVINGS
Diet tip 14.1: Mindfulness training
Diet tip 14.2: Episodic future thinking
The forbidden fruit effect
Diet tip 14.3: How to teach yourself to like healthy, low-
calorie foods
D H
IET TIP 15: OW TO CHEAT YOUR DIET
Diet tip 15.1: IIFYM
Diet tip 15.2: Think about food like an economist
Diet tip 15.3: Learn to prepare low-calorie comfort
foods
Diet tip 15.4: How to fit indulgent cheat meals into your
lifestyle
Diet tip 15.5: Eat out
Diet tip 15.6: Take a lesson from Japanese sushi
etiquette
D D
IET TIP 16: O THIS BEFORE EVERY MEAL
D D
IET TIP 17: O THIS AFTER EVERY MEAL
D H
IET TIP 18: OW TO MANAGE YOUR APPETITE
Diet tip 18.1: Eat more, not less
Diet tip 18.2: More protein, but not too much
Diet tip 18.3: How much fiber you need
Diet tip 18.4: Eat mindfully
D M
IET TIP 19: INIMIZE DECISION FATIGUE
D H
IET TIP 20: OW TO BUILD ACTIVITY HABITS
D U
IET TIP 21: SE ACTION TRIGGERS
D H
IET TIP 22: OW TO CHANGE BAD EATING HABITS
D G
IET TIP 23: ET A STANDING DESK
D U
IET TIP 24: SE AVAILABILITY EFFECTS
D T
IET TIP 25: HE MOST USEFUL SKILL THAT NOBODY REGARDS AS A SKILL
Diet tip 25.1: Shop satiated
Diet tip 25.2: Your grocery list is sacrosanct
Diet tip 25.3: Stay in the safe zones
Diet tip 25.4: How to organize your grocery list
Diet tip 25.5: Order online
D U
IET TIP 26: MAMI PRELOADS
D L
IET TIP 27: EARN HOW OFTEN TO WEIGH YOURSELF
CHAPTER 5: HOW TO MAKE EXERCISE LESS EFFORTFUL
W U
ORKOUT TIP 1: SE CAFFEINE (MORE) STRATEGICALLY
W L
ORKOUT TIP 2: ISTEN TO THE RIGHT MUSIC
W I
ORKOUT TIP 3: NTRA-WORKOUT DRINKS
W O
ORKOUT TIP 4: PTIMIZE YOUR TRAINING FREQUENCY
W O
ORKOUT TIP 5: PTIMIZE YOUR TRAINING INTENSITY
W U
ORKOUT TIP 6: SE FREE WEIGHTS
CHAPTER 6: HOW TO MOTIVATE YOURSELF
W
HAT IS MOTIVATION AND HOW DO WE GET IT?
M C
OTIVATION TIP 1: ULTIVATE COMPETENCE
Motivation tip 1.1: Research
Motivation tip 1.2: Tracking
M H
OTIVATION TIP 2: OW TO SET GOALS
M H
OTIVATION TIP 3: OW TO BECOME MORE AUTONOMOUS
M C
OTIVATION TIP 4: ONNECT
Motivation tip 4.1: Find a community
Motivation tip 4.2: How purpose motivates us, even
when it’s nonsense
AFTERWORD
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
REFERENCES
C
HAPTER 1: 2-SYSTEM THEORY
C T
HAPTER 2: HY WILL BE DONE
C H
HAPTER 3: OW TO BE MORE PRODUCTIVE
C H
HAPTER 4: OW TO STICK TO YOUR DIET
C H
HAPTER 5: OW TO MAKE WORKING OUT LESS EFFORTFUL
C H
HAPTER 6: OW TO MOTIVATE YOURSELF
FOREWORD
By Dr. Mike Israetel

Motivation books are a dime a dozen. Every other book promises to launch
you from your seat and into your most productive life. Of course, most fail
to work as intended, and that’s often because they ask you to radically
change who you are without concretely telling you how to do so. That big,
life-altering change, which is both the premise and the requisite buy-in for
most self-help books, is completely absent from The Science of Self-Control.
Instead, you get lists of effective actions that can improve your ability to
actually accomplish your goals. Many of them are so effortless, so simple,
and require so little buy-in to pull off, that you might, as I did, read them and
hit yourself over the head for not trying them sooner. In this book you’ll find
take-home strategies that work, not because of their miraculousness, but
because of their simplicity and ease of implementation. The tips are insanely
practical, down to matters like how to do your grocery shopping. If you end
up integrating all the tips in this book on how to get things done, you’ll
become an unstoppable version of yourself. Even with a casual read, you’ll
be sure to pick up a few tips that will instantly make a big difference in your
life, such as the use of the Zeigarnik effect. Yep, this book is that useful.
Enjoy it!
- Mike Israetel, PhD, professor & professional athlete
INTRODUCTION
Our species has it made these days. Instead of facing frostbite during winter,
we live in comfortably heated houses. Instead of being forced to hunt to
avoid starvation, we can go to supermarkets, where our biggest problem is
deciding which of the 50 brands of cereal to buy. Yet our conquest of nature
has imposed on us new challenges of life. Rather than fight starvation, we
now face an obesity pandemic. Without artificial diet and exercise programs,
our health is threatened not by scarcity and war but by abundance and
leisure. Without being forced to build shelter or find food, many people
struggle to motivate themselves to work. More freedom brings with it more
decisions. In making these decisions, we often encounter a conflict between
our primal instincts and our conscious will. We intend to get some work
done, but we end up procrastinating on Instagram. We intend to stick to our
diet, but we end up eating pizza. Our intentions give way to hunger and other
forms of instant gratification. We have difficulty enforcing our conscious
will: our self-control fails us.

Self-control has been a unifying theme in my own life as well. I first started
studying behavioral psychology and cognitive neurosciences at Utrecht
University’s honor’s college, UCU, and then further at Warwick. While I
learned a great deal about willpower and how our minds work, like most
students, I personally still struggled enormously with procrastination. If I
had known what I know now, I could have finished my studies in half the
time. I still managed to graduate both with distinction and I started working
as a business consultant. Like most office workers, there I struggled to stay
motivated and productive during the whole workday. I realized I was on the
career path that society and my parents expected of me but not the path I was
most passionate about. So I traded in my company car to pursue my passion
in fitness. I also started traveling the world as a digital nomad and have lived
in over 50 countries since then. My career as an evidence-based fitness
educator became more successful than I ever dreamed: I currently own a
multinational Personal Training certification company with almost a
thousand students per year across courses in 5 languages. I also work as a
scientific researcher. While optimizing my own physique and productivity as
an entrepreneur, I again realized how important willpower is. Whether I was
grinding out that last rep in the gym, trying not to succumb to hunger before
a photoshoot or optimizing my methods to answer over a hundred messages
per day, it all came down to self-control. Self-control is key to self-
improvement and success.

After over a decade of studying the science of self-control and improving my
own self-control, I decided to write this book to share what I’ve learned. My
goal is to help you take control of your body and mind to develop an iron
will, top productivity, effortless diet adherence and ultimately excellence in
life.

Ready?

To control something, you must first understand it. Before we can take
control of our minds, we must first understand the brain.
CHAPTER 1: 2-SYSTEM THEORY
We like to think we are aware of everything that happens in our brain, but
that is not always the case. For example, why are we sexually attracted to
certain people? I’m sure you can come up with many reasons. Their
personality, their body, maybe their bank account. But you probably didn’t
list circumstance. Yet the circumstances in which we meet someone
significantly influence how attractive we find someone.

In 1974, a team of psychologists set up a clever experiment to demonstrate
the importance of circumstance, and in doing so, taught us something very
important about how our brains work [1]. An attractive woman approached
men privately either on a high, shaky suspension bridge or on solid ground.
She thought her task was to survey them. In reality, the researchers were
interested in how attractive the men found her. As it turned out, high up on
the shaky bridge, the men gave more sexually themed answers during the
survey and were more likely to call the female interviewer for ‘follow-up
questions’ than the men that were interviewed on solid ground. Replication
of the experiment with a male interviewer showed no differences between
footing conditions. Why were the men more attracted to the female
interviewer on a shaky bridge than on solid ground?

This experiment demonstrates what psychologists call a ‘misattribution
effect’. Being on a suspension bridge makes us anxious. When we then meet
a potential romantic partner, we misinterpret the arousal we feel as
attraction. Other research shows similar misattribution effects. For example,
men perceive women as more attractive when the men are exercising [2]. So
if you’re in the gym and ‘love at first sight’ hits you, you may want to hold
off on buying a wedding ring until your heart rate has calmed down.

And no, it’s not just men. Women rate men as more attractive and dateable
when arousing music is playing during their encounter [3]. Misattribution
effects are part of the success recipe of night clubs: arousing music, dim
lights and alcohol all help stimulate attraction. Studies have reported similar
misattribution effects by administering adrenaline to subjects and by giving
them electric shocks. (Science is serious business).