Willpower, brains, and David Goggins

I'm not much of a YouTube watcher or podcast listener. But last weekend I was referred to this 13-minute clip of the Huberman Labs podcast in which Dr. Andrew Huberman (a neurobiology professor) and David Goggins (a retired Navy SEAL, author, & ultramarathoner) were discussing willpower, and I found it fascinating.

Goggins drops more than a few f-bombs, so maybe don't watch the final nine minutes when you're at work. 🙂

In the clip, Huberman brings up some data about the anterior midcingulate cortex, a newly discovered area of the brain that "scientists are starting to think of... not just as one of the seats of willpower, but perhaps actually the seat of the will to live".

There's a lot more in the clip, but the basic gist is that this area grows when we do things that we don't want to do and shrinks when we regularly avoid doing such things. In other words, it appears to be one of our primary willpower "muscles" and, just like a muscle, becomes bigger when we use it and gets smaller when we don't. (That's the basic SAID principle at work.)

As Huberman explains: "Anything you like to do is not going to enhance this area of willpower. And it seems so obvious once you hear it. You kind of go, 'Oh yeah, of course.' ... The friction is the critical ingredient."

He goes on to say that while knowing the name of something doesn't change us, understanding that there's actual biology supporting our willpower means that anyone can improve their willpower with practice. That is, by regularly disciplining ourselves to do things we don't really want to do.

Of course, we also want to enjoy life, so we need to regularly do fun things such as play too. The trick is in finding the right balance that works for each of us.

That might not be (or, rather, almost definitively isn't) Goggins' approach of doing lots of difficult things for extended periods every day.

However, if we can discipline ourselves to do something — anything — that we don't want to do, on a daily basis, especially when we're generally feeling "in charge" of our lives, which means our overall stress load is low enough that doing something we don't want to do doesn't "fry" us, then our willpower "muscle" is likely to grow stronger.

And that enhanced willpower is certain to be a boon not only during the good times in our lives when we're actively striving toward our most important goals but also during those challenging times we'll all inevitably face.

Putting It Into Practice

I couldn't help but chuckle toward the end of the clip when Huberman said, "Goggins is a name, and it's a verb. People go, 'I'm going to Goggins that." (With the context being that they're about to do something challenging that they don't exactly want to do.)

But then I immediately added "Goggins something" to my personal list of daily commitments.

And, this week, I'm going to encourage you to do the same. Make a commitment to do something on a daily basis that you don't want to do. It can be the same thing or something different from day to day, and it can be big, small, or something in between.

Eat a carrot. Get out of your comfortable bed and go to the gym. Do the dishes. Ask for a raise. Whatever you choose simply needs to be something that you know you should do but don't particularly want to do.

I'm fully confident that doing so will make almost everything else we do in life just a little bit easier.