As the leaves begin to change, students head back to school, and our summer plans come to a close, let’s take this opportunity to align for the upcoming season. As we continually strive to look inwards at our responses and reactions to life’s common problems, we have the opportunity to grow and improve our entire lives.
As Stronger U members, we’re often confronted with challenges that require us to consider what’s most important to our plan. Things like:
- Professional and personal stress
- Social lives and eating out
- Balancing our goals with our family at home
Many of our Stronger U members come to the community to ask how to have better willpower. Whether it’s eating less sugar, not drinking with friends, or committing to a movement schedule that supports their goals. Let’s focus our conversation on willpower in September by reading a book together that focuses on what willpower is and how to harness it without getting burned out.
The Willpower Instinct by Kelly McGonigal explores willpower a scientific, psychological, and personal experience to help illuminate what willpower is and how we can make it work in our own lives.
About the Book
As much as we wish it could be true, willpower is not a product of genetics. The good news? Even if we feel like we have no willpower, there are ways that we can practice it and develop it. Through mindfulness, exercise, nutrition, and sleep, the habit of practicing willpower can become easier and more manageable. When people experience increased control over the things that challenge their willpower, they experience increased health and happiness.
The Willpower Instinct explores the idea of creating and harnessing willpower for overall life improvement. It highlights the importance of balance and how too much rigorous self-control can lead to higher temptation and stress. With scientific data, Kelly McGonigal offers prescriptive advice and exercises to support the development of personal willpower to help readers approach their common willpower triggers with confidence and clarity.
About the Author
Kelly McGonigal is a health psychologist and lecturer at Stanford University who specializes in understanding the mind-body connection. As a pioneer in the field of “science-help,” her mission is to translate insights from psychology and neuroscience into practical strategies that support personal well-being and strengthen communities.
She is the best-selling author of The Willpower Instinct and The Upside of Stress. You might also know her from her TED talk, “How to Make Stress Your Friend,” which is one of the most viewed TED talks of all time, with over 20 million views.
Through the Stanford Center for Compassion and Altruism, she helped create Stanford Compassion Cultivation Training, a program now taught around the world that helps individuals strengthen their empathy, compassion, and self-compassion.
In January 2020, Oprah Magazine honored her ability to “transform scientific data into wisdom” by naming McGonigal the first ever O! Visionary, people whose groundbreaking way of seeing the world mean a better future for us all.
Let’s Get Stronger Together
Ready to jump into the fall with a clearer mindset and tangible practices to help strengthen your willpower? Join the Stronger U Community as we read “The Willpower Instinct” together!
To participate:
- Order your copy of “The Willpower Instinct” (Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Indie Bound)
- Join the Stronger U Community and aim to complete the book by September 29th.
- Join the conversation! Use the #StrongerUsBookClub in the Stronger U Community to share your thoughts, reflections, and questions.
- Participate in the Live Community Discussion in the Stronger U Community on September 29th at 7:00pm EST (More details to come).
