Willpower

opposite occurred. Those in the postponement condition actually ate significantly less than those in the self-denial condition. The findings would have been impressive if people had merely eaten equal amounts in the postponement condition and the refusal condition. After all, the ones in the postponement condition were fully expecting to enjoy the treats later.
    The fact that they ate less than the others is remarkable. The result suggests that telling yourself I can have this later operates in the mind a bit like having it now. It satisfies the craving to some degree—and can be even more effective at suppressing the appetite than actually eating the treat. During that final part of the experiment, when all the people were left alone with a bowl of M&M’s, the ones who’d postponed pleasure ate even less than the people who had earlier allowed themselves to eat the candy at will. Moreover, the suppression effect seemed to last outside the laboratory. The day after the experiment, all the people were sent an e-mail with a question: “How much do you desire M&M candies at this very moment, if someone offered them to you?” Those who had postponed gratification reported less desire to eat the candy than either the people who had refused the pleasure outright or those who had eaten their fill.
    It takes willpower to turn down dessert, but apparently it’s less stressful on the mind to say Later rather than Never. In the long run, you end up wanting less and also consuming less. Plus, you may derive more pleasure because of another effect that was demonstrated in a different sort of experiment: asking people how much they’d be willing to pay to kiss their favorite movie star today, and how much they’d pay for a kiss three days from now. Ordinarily, people will pay more for an immediate pleasure, but in this case they were willing to spend extra money to postpone the kiss, because it would let them spend three days savoring the prospect. Similarly, delaying the gratification of crème brûlée or molten chocolate cake gives time to enjoy the anticipation. As a result of that advance pleasure, when you ultimately do indulge, you may find less of a need to binge and more of an inclination to eat moderately. In contrast, when you swear off something altogether and then finally give in, you say, What the hell, and gorge yourself.
    So when it comes to food, never say never. When the dessert cart arrives, don’t gaze longingly at forbidden treats. Vow that you will eat all of them sooner or later, but just not tonight. In the spirit of Scarlett O’Hara, tell yourself: Tomorrow is another taste.

CONCLUSION:
    THE FUTURE OF WILLPOWER—MORE GAIN, LESS STRAIN
    (As Long as You Don’t Procrastinate)
    Give me chastity and continence, but not yet.
    —Prayer of St. Augustine during his pre-saintly youth

    L ike the young Augustine, everyone appreciates the benefits of self-control—someday. But when, if ever, is that day ever going to arrive for the nonsaints among us? If willpower is finite and temptations keep proliferating, how can there be a lasting revival of this virtue?
    We don’t minimize the obstacles, but we’re still bullish on the future of self-control, at both the personal and the social level. Yes, temptations are getting more sophisticated, but so are the tools for resisting them. The benefits of willpower are appreciated more clearly than ever. You could sum up a large new body of research literature with a simple rule: The best way to reduce stress in your life is to stop screwing up. That means setting up your life so that you have a realistic chance to succeed. Successful people don’t use their willpower as a last-ditch defense to stop themselves from disaster, at least not as a regular strategy, as Baumeister and his colleagues have observed recently on both sides of the Atlantic. When they monitored Germans throughout the day (in the beeper study we mentioned earlier), the researchers were surprised to find that people with strong self-control spent less time resisting desires than other people did.
    At first Baumeister and his German collaborators were puzzled. Self-control is supposedly for resisting desires, so why are the people who have more self-control not using it more often? But then an explanation emerged: These people have less need to use willpower because they’re beset by fewer temptations and inner conflicts. They’re better at arranging their lives so that they avoid problem