Psychologist's Timely Advice: 'Willpower Is Overrated'

For those thinking about 2026 resolutions, psychologist Angela Duckworth has three words of advice in a New York Times essay: "Willpower is overrated." People who try and fail to establish better habits often blame a lack of willpower, she writes. That's not quite right, she adds. The trick is to set yourself up in situations where you need to exercise as little willpower as possible. Want to stop checking your phone constantly? Leave it in another room, or—gasp—ditch a smartphone altogether.

• "Research shows that achievement has surprisingly little to do with forcing yourself to choose wisely in the heat of the moment. Successful people rarely rely on inner fortitude to resist temptations. Instead, many exercise situational agency, arranging their lives to minimize the need for willpower in the first place."

Duckworth recounts her interviews with top athletes and others who have set up their lives according to this principle. (Sometimes it's not just how they live, but where they live.) "You cannot change the conditions of modern life, but you are the sovereign ruler of what enters your personal space," she writes. "Physical distance creates psychological distance: Draw close what you want more of, push away what you want less." Read the full essay.