[skunkworks]

I've thought a lot about willpower since Jason Shen posted his self-help ebook on here a few weeks ago -- oddly, I have become a believer in cold shower therapy -- and I've come to believe that willpower is indeed limited, but that it can be "exercised" in a way by doing uncomfortable things.

However, I think that it's not so much that the exercise is increasing your capacity of willpower, it's that you're training yourself for your activities to use less willpower. Essentially, you can turn what would normally be willpower draining conscious decisions into routine habits that don't require any. Bad analogy, but you're not increasing your MP, you're just making it cheaper to cast Cure.

Part of this process for me is learning and reinforcing new habits, but I think there's also value in building confidence in your ability to form new habits. When you see that you're capable of meaningful change, that little jolt of happy chemical rewards serves to reinforce the metahabit of self improvement.