WHERE’S YOUR WILLPOWER?
There are plenty of different ways those we consider champions separate themselves from everyone else. But if we’re really being honest, one of the most obvious is the champion’s ability to do the things they don’t want to do, but that winning requires them to do. That's a humbling admission because it exposes an area of weakness in some areas of life and performance where many of us say we want to be better. It wouldn't be that hard to compile a pretty substantial list of difficult work we've justified avoiding, but at some point we have to accept the big question winning demands that we answer: "Where's your willpower?"
Even though we recognize this winning quality as critical to achieving something meaningful and significant, it can be easy to feel like willpower is something some people have, and unfortunately for many of us, we aren’t one of them. But recent advances in neuroscience are uncovering some new information about willpower - about where it comes from, about how it can be strengthened and developed, and about how anyone - including each of us here today - can find more of it in our own lives.
In a recent episode of the Huberman Lab podcast, host Andrew Huberman, a professor of neurobiology and ophthalmology at Stanford School of Medicine, was joined for an unfiltered conversation on high performance by David Goggins. Goggins, a former Navy SEAL turned author and motivational speaker, is - as you might know - the poster person for doing hard things. Goggins’ blunt and unapologetic approach to life and performance isn’t for everyone. It's brash and profane, but it's also authentic. His real-life story of courage and discipline and toughness is inspiring, and his discussion with Huberman provides a unique blend of hardcore motivational principles with science-based evidence to support them.
At the 46:00 mark of their conversation, Huberman outlines new research on a specific part of the brain he calls the anterior midcingulate cortex. This is the part of the brain scientists have recently discovered is responsible for willpower. This research provides some fascinating insight into where willpower comes from, and insight into how we can more effectively become the kind of people capable of doing the hard but important things we don't want to do, but that winning requires us to do.
This new research refutes the popular notion that some people are born with willpower, and some aren’t. Of course, like every winning ability, it may come easier for some than for others, but studies reveal that the anterior midcingulate cortex isn't rigid or fixed. In fact, this willpower producer actually grows in size every time we intentionally do something we don’t want to do. (Huberman emphasizes that this isn’t about doing something difficult you enjoy. It’s about doing something you don’t want to do, but know you should anyway.) Essentially, the anterior midcingulate cortex works like a muscle. The more you use it - like David Goggins has - the bigger and stronger it becomes, and the more capable you become of handling something even heavier next time. Similarly, the opposite is true, too. Every time you avoid doing the thing you don’t want to do, that part of the brain shrinks, and in turn weakens itself for the heavy lifting to come.
So if the question today is, where is your willpower? Then the answer is simple: it’s in your anterior midcingulate cortex. More importantly than understanding where it is, though, it's important to understand how it can be strengthened and developed. The truth is, every time you make the decision to do something you don't want to do, you are validating your identity as a champion, and making that difficult choice even easier for next time.
I don’t know what exactly today has in store for you, but I would say it’s possible - and maybe even likely - that at some point, you’ll find yourself challenged to do something you don’t want to do. In that moment, you'll have to determine if you’ve got the the courage, the discipline, and the toughness it takes to do what champions do. Winning will be there in that moment, watching and waiting for your response. “Where’s your willpower?” it will ask. Make sure when it does, that you’ve got an answer.
