The traditional belief that willpower is an inborn trait…

The traditional belief that willpower is an inborn trait that you either have a lot of or you don't (but cannot do much about it either way) is false. Instead, self-control skills, both cognitive and emotional, can be learned, enhanced, and harnessed so that they become automatically activated when you need them.

— from The Mind in the Cockpit

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Confucius said it in seven words — the man who believes he can, and the man who believes he can't, are both right — and the most powerful single word you can add to "I can't do this" is the word yet. The old idea that willpower or ability is simply an inborn trait you either have or don't is, the research now shows, plainly false; the brain itself is plastic, and behavior is far more malleable than we were ever taught. But beliefs are tricky instruments, because you cannot simply will one into existence — you cannot decide to believe something the way you decide to raise your hand — and worse, anything you merely imagine often enough, left unchallenged, quietly hardens into a belief you mistake for fact. — The Mind in the Cockpit

You identify the one trait you want to change, set small goals, act the part of the person who already has it, write the actions down like a to-do list, and track your progress in a log. Even the things we treat as fixed gifts are not as fixed as we think: willpower is not an inborn trait you either have or lack, and creativity is not something a lucky few are born with but a capacity that lives inside all of us, waiting to be exercised. Even the readiness itself can be cultivated: it is not that some people have willpower and others simply don't — it is that some people are ready to change and others are not yet. — The Relationship With Yourself (Traits/Reflection)

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