Willpower Doesn't Work: Discover the Hidden Keys to Success

by Benjamin Hardy

Overview

We rely on willpower to create change in our lives...but what if we're thinking about it all wrong? In Willpower Doesn't Work, Benjamin Hardy explains that willpower is nothing more than a dangerous fad-one that is bound to lead to failure. Instead of "white-knuckling" your way to change, you need to instead alter yoursurroundings to support your goals. This book shows you how.

The world around us is fast-paced, confusing, and full of distractions. It's easy to lose focus on what you want to achieve, and your willpower won't last long if your environment is in conflict with your goals--eventually, the environment will win out. Willpower Doesn't Workis the needed guided for today's over-stimulating and addicting environment. Willpower Doesn't Work will specifically teach you:

• How to make the biggest decisions of your life--and why those decisions must be made in specific settings
• How to create a daily "sacred" environment to live your life with intention, and not get sucked into the cultural addictions
• How to invest big in yourself to upgrade your environment and mindset
• How to put "forcing functions" in your life--so your default behaviors are precisely what you want them to be
• How to quickly put yourself in proximity to the most successful people in the world--and how to adapt their knowledge and skills to yourself even quicker
• How to create an environment where endless creativity and boundless productivity is the norm

Benjamin Hardy will show you that nurture is far more powerful than your nature, and teach you how to create and control your environment so your environment will not create and control you.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780316441339
Publisher:	Hachette Books
Publication date:	03/05/2019
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	256
Sales rank:	215,180
Product dimensions:	5.10(w) x 7.40(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Benjamin Hardy and his wife, Lauren, are the foster parents of three kids. In 2016, Benjamin was the #1 overall writer on Medium.com. His work has been featured at Forbes, Psychology Today, Fortune, Mashable, and others.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Why Willpower Doesn't Work ix

Part I Your Environment Shapes You

1 Every Hero Is the Product of a Situation: Understanding the Power of Surroundings 3

2 How Your Environment Shapes You: The Myth of Willpower 24

3 Two Types of "Enriched" Environments: High Stress and High Recovery 42

Part II How To Make Willpower Irrelevant

4 Reset Your Life: Make Powerful Decisions Outside Your Routine Environment 53

5 Designate a Sacred Space: Establish a Daily Environment to Stay on Course 65

6 Remove Everything That Conflicts with Your Decisions: Subtraction Is Productivity 75

7 Change Your Default Options: Make Positive Choices Automatic 91

8 Create Triggers to Prevent Self-Sabotage: Putting Failure-Planning to Work 110

Part III Outsource High Performance And Success To Your Environment

9 Embed "Forcing Functions" into Your Environment: Make Change Happen 121

10 More Than Good Intentions: How to Adapt to New and Difficult Environments 138

11 Grow into Your Goals: Outsource Your Motivation to High Pressure Environments 158

12 Rotate Your Environments: Change It Up Based on the Work You're Doing 185

13 Find Unique Collaborations: Change Your World Through Who You Work With 197

14 Never Forget Where You Came From: Remember the Environment Where You Began 211

Conclusion: No Matter Where You Are, You Can Change 220

Acknowledgments 227

Index 229

About the Author 235

Editorial Reviews

"If you want to get more done, don't worry about willpower--focus on motivation. Challenging the dominant view of self-control as a muscle. Benjamin Hardy reveals that productivity is really about clarity and commitment."—Adam Grant, New York Times bestselling author of Originals and Give and Take

"Benjamin Hardy is one of the leading voices on well-being and productivity. Willpower Doesn't Work is an insightful guide to help us thrive in today's world."—Arianna Huffington

"Change your environment, change your life. Ben Hardy's book is a prescription for excellence and contains the hidden keys to success."—Ryan Holiday, bestselling author of The Obstacle Is the Way

"If you only read one book in 2018, make it this one. . . . This book will help you accomplish more in less time than any other book--by changing your entire approach to confidence and personal commitment."—Inc.

"A welcome prescription for those striving to overcome challenges and realize their aspirations."—Library Journal

"This is a must-grab book!"—BuzzFeed

"In this immensely practical and useful book, Hardy will teach you everything from how to put 'forcing functions' in your life (so your default behaviors are precisely what you want them to be) to how to create an environment where endless creativity and boundless productivity is the norm. If you're ready to set the conditions for your success, this book is for you."—Forbes

"Uncommonly thoughtful: that's what I think of when I read Benjamin Hardy's work. Get this book and you'll better understand how to be who you truly want to be."—JimmySoni, editor at the Observer and author of Rome's Last Citizen

"In an age when few people think deeply about life, Benjamin Hardy is the exception. Read this book if you want to be better."—Jeff Goins, nationally bestselling author of The Art of Work

"Willpower Doesn't Work debunks so many myths about what truly makes people successful. What Ben reveals in his fantastic book is something that can absolutely transform your life in a matter of moments when you understand what it is and put it into practice."—JoePolish, founder of Genius Network and Genius Recovery

"With the right models and practices found in [Willpower Doesn't Work], you can control your environment. And with a simple decision to get going, you can take all the action required to begin living the life you know you were meant to have. By reading this one book, you can change a million lives, including your own."—MareoMcCracken, Thrive Global

From the Publisher

The author’s personable writing and intuitive ideas more than compensate for his less-than-optimal vocal tone and slightly mechanical phrasing. Yet his narration also has a seductive energy that builds as his ideas unfold, drawing listeners into his optimism as well as his thinking. The paradoxical hook in Hardy’s message is that when we accept that our surroundings have enormous control over our daily activities, we acquire the potential to have more power over how we live and what we achieve. The trick, he says, is not just managing external influences (friends, physical triggers, pernicious routines) but creating radically new influences that push us to become better versions of ourselves. These rationales and suggestions will light a fire in people who have unwittingly ceded too much influence to people and circumstances around them. T.W. © AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine

AUGUST 2018 - AudioFile

The author’s personable writing and intuitive ideas more than compensate for his less-than-optimal vocal tone and slightly mechanical phrasing. Yet his narration also has a seductive energy that builds as his ideas unfold, drawing listeners into his optimism as well as his thinking. The paradoxical hook in Hardy’s message is that when we accept that our surroundings have enormous control over our daily activities, we acquire the potential to have more power over how we live and what we achieve. The trick, he says, is not just managing external influences (friends, physical triggers, pernicious routines) but creating radically new influences that push us to become better versions of ourselves. These rationales and suggestions will light a fire in people who have unwittingly ceded too much influence to people and circumstances around them. T.W. © AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine

AUGUST 2018 - AudioFile