Here is a pertinent wikipedia article with some links: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ego_depletion

It's interesting how this applies to more trivial things, like trying to keep yourself from laughing.

Would it be a stretch to say that this supports the idea that we should automate as much of our lives as possible? If I don't have to decide to put a certain amount of my paycheck in savings every time I get it, and it happens automatically, I could potentially reserve that energy for another decision-based task.

Not a stretch at all-I have become massively more productive since automating the simple things in my life, not because it saved any amount of time (maybe 45 mins/day), but because it saved so much of my mental energy.

Even getting a GPS made me more productive at work, because figuring out directions is mentally exhausting for me.

Willpower is also directly linked to glucose. I tried eating more low glycemic index foods and eating somewhat sugary stuff when I was mentally exhausted, and it has worked wonders.

Absolutely. If you want to be good at something, or to do it continually, then make it a habit that requires no thought (or as little as possible).

TL;DR: Sleep/rest well, exercise, possibly avoid caffeine, try to put yourself in a good mood.

Caffeine: "improves our willpower for some things, such as concentrating on a boring and detailed task, but it has no effect or actually impairs our willpower for other things, such as being polite under trying circumstances."

Sounds good enough to me and probably most coders... I can continue to stick to my 5-8-mugs-a-day habit of 13 years then. My willpower hasn't suffered much I think, although it's hard to tell without some experimental withdrawal period.

Ditching caffeine did wonders for me. While I tend to feel a little less "manic" when I'm focused on something, I'm also way more clear headed so I'm certain I'm actually more effective and thus able to reach a much deeper level of concentration.

And don't even get me started on how much better I feel first thing in the morning, or how I can get through a whole week now without headaches, or how my energy levels don't spike and crash like crazy through the day, or how much better my digestive system feels without all that coffee in it... and what all those things do to one's concentration.

It's insidious as well, because you gradually drink more over time; nobody goes from a standing start to 5-8 mugs a day. If they did, they'd feel like hell. So as you seem to acknowledge, after over a decade you're not even making an informed choice any more; there's not been a single moment in all that time that you haven't either been affected by caffeine or it's temporary withdrawal.

I'm sure your heart will thank you in 15-20 years for your caffeine habit. Its incredible how much energy just some simple daily exercise can give you, allowing you to skip all the caffeine.

Willpower and the problem of the lack thereof are pretty hazily defined here. Poor personal performance is a complicated issue that "Get sleep and exercise" is a poor prescription to. Poor organization, personality conflicts, attitude issues, perfectionism, and poor self image will make even the most well-rested and healthy person underperform at work.

I highly recommend "Procrastination: Why You Do It, What To Do About It" by Jane B. Burka and Lenora M. Yuen and "Getting Things Done" by David Allen for a deeper examination of these issues and some solutions.

I agree that there are plenty of possible reasons for poor personal performance, and it would be foolish to assume that more sleep/exercise is a universal solution. But the article never even went there. It's specifically talking about willpower - getting it back or getting more of it. I'd say that the concept of willpower is more of a subcategory to the larger idea you mentioned about underperformance. In that sense, it's about solving a piece of the problem, not the whole thing.

"A good deal of willfulness must be inborn, because it's common to see families where one sibling has much more of it than another. Circumstances can alter it, but at the high end of the scale, nature seems to be more important than nurture. Bad circumstances can break the spirit of a strong-willed person, but I don't think there's much you can do to make a weak-willed person stronger-willed." - http://www.paulgraham.com/determination.html

I would love to see citations for all of these very general claims about some of the fundamental debates in modern science (such as nature/nurture). Its great to quote pg (especially on this board), but hold off on taking his word as that of a prophet.

Touche, though I still wouldn't knock pg's insights, even if they're just general inferences. His track record at identifiying winners speaks for itself.

Totally off topic to the discussion, but I couldn't find any contact info for you. Are you still living in Columbia, SC? I am there as well.

Did my mother write this article? "Sleep well, eat your vegetables, and work hard!!!"

Article forgot to mention amphetamine.

I am actually interested in the eventuality of caffeine (which they did mention) causing adrenal depletion. Those findings would apply even more violently to a more violent stimulant such as amphetamine.

I agree with their idea that one can get a spurt of willpower (and brainpower in general, in my experience) from a stimulant but the crash can be debilitating.

And no matter how much caffeine you have, unless you're taking it intravenously, you're spiking and crashing constantly throughout the day.

Meditation

scientific keyword here is "executive function"

One of the things I've learned from meditation is that the "depletion" model of willpower is bogus.

The Happiness Trap is a good model for the development of willpower. http://www.thehappinesstrap.com/

What exactly do you mean when you say you've learned "the 'depletion' model of willpower is bogus"?

There is always capacity to choose not to act on a reactive impulse. The notion that that capacity is a finite resource which can be depleted is an illusion.

Resisting reactive impulse is one thing, but do you not find that you have a limit when it comes to willing yourself to do difficult things? Assuming that these things come one after another, of course. I'm willing to agree that capacity for hardship is infinite in a sense, but I would also contend that it gets harder and harder to call on your willpower/self-control if you've already had to do so many times in the same day.

Do you have any research to support this claim? Because there is lots of research that supports the depletion model.

blessed potion of willpower

Be careful though. Once I drank a cursed potion of willpower and wound up lying on the couch for an entire weekend.

On second thoughts it was twelve margaritas.

Replace "willpower" with "gumption" and go read the relevant chapters in Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.