[lootsauce]

Our will power is like a muscle and can get tired. What if we have free will that is not actually "exercised" all that often. Say 85% or more of our actions are basically pre-ordained by decisions we have previously fully internalized and so are basically automatic, but which still alighn with our general will. Thats like an inexpensive (cached) result from the will banks. Then actual "exercise" of free will comes about when the patterns for these cache lookups fail and we must decide. But not only that, it is not exercised unless our desire and our will diverge. If I desire a second slice of pie, but my will is to not over-eat, it requires effort (will-power) to follow through with my will. That is the exercise of free will and does not actually happen as often as we might think.

[lootsauce]

This is basically a very simplified picture of free will described by Aquinas https://www.iep.utm.edu/freewi-m/#H4

[theNJR]

I’ve always thought of free will as something that happens in the past. Your “in the moment” response to anything will be based on your choices in the past. Those you have an opportunity to decide through overt habit and routine. Do you come home from work and drink some beers or work on a project? Wake up early and go to the gym or sleep in (because of those beers last night)? These casual chains can be broken in moments of free will. Or not.