Is Willpower Overrated?

Try This Instead

The beginning of a new year feels like a fresh start: a new workout routine, eating healthier or committing to getting your financial house in order. These are all laudable goals, but how do we ensure we’ll stick with them next week, next month and next year?

In surveys, people cite lack of willpower as the top barrier to changing behaviour. I feel that way every time I shop at Trader Joe’s (I’m in Miami at the moment) and I’m tempted by all of their fun, seasonal treats! Research also shows that exercising willpower feels pretty bad, whether you’re resisting something fun or forcing yourself to do something you’re dreading.

Yet we tend to believe that achieving our goals, whether exercising regularly, eating cleaner, saving money or spending less, comes down to self-discipline and willpower.

I was excited to discover that research suggests the opposite.

Situational Agency

According to Angela Duckworth, professor of psychology and author of Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance, “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.”

“It can feel embarrassing or even shameful to admit you lack the fortitude to make farsighted choices when temptation beckons,” she writes. “But interviews with some of the most disciplined people on the planet have taught me that you do hard things more consistently when you put yourself in situations that make the pursuit easier.”

Rather than fighting temptation head-on, they remove it, distance themselves from it, or replace it with something better. Shopping apps are deleted from phones. Junk food stays out of the house. The gym bag is packed and ready for the morning. Small environmental changes reduce the need for constant self-control.

Applying Situational Agency to Money

A lot of personal finance advice still assumes that people struggle to take control of their finances because they lack discipline:

• If only you budgeted better…

• If only you stopped impulse spending…

• If only you had more self-control…

But we don’t struggle with money because we lack willpower. We often fail because our systems are working against us.

Financial success rarely comes from resisting temptation every time it appears. Instead, try setting up structures that make good financial behaviour automatic. For example:

• Automate regular transfers to savings or investment accounts

• Automate monthly, recurring bills

• Unsubscribe from marketing emails that encourage “browsing” and then spending

• Remove shopping apps that trigger impulse purchases

Situational agency is about intentionally shaping your environment so that certain behaviours are easier and others are harder. Over time, these repeated behaviours become habits, actions that happen with little conscious effort. In The Wisest Investment: Teaching Your Kids to Be Responsible, Independent and Money-Smart for Life, I outline 11 Healthy Habits of Financial Managements — simple, common-sense guidelines that can help you get your financial house in order while also modelling good behaviour for your kids.

Why This Matters for the Next Generation

This idea is especially important when we think about teaching kids and young adults about money.

Today’s financial environment is engineered for spending. One-click purchases, digital wallets, buy-now-pay-later. Temptation is always within reach. Telling young people to “strengthen your willpower muscle” isn’t enough.

What is powerful is teaching them how to:

• Pay yourself first
  As discussed above, automating transfers to savings or investment accounts turns saving and investing into default behaviours and takes the self-discipline out of the process. Because we tend to stick with whatever option is easiest or already in place, it requires effort to stop the transfer. Behavioural economists call this Nudge theory: the idea that people can be encouraged to make decisions that are in their long-term self-interest through subtle changes in their “choice architecture” (the way choices are presented).

• Separate money by purpose
  Use distinct “buckets” for different goals, such as an emergency fund, a vacation fund, an account for household expenses, and a tax-advantaged retirement savings account. Applying “mental accounting” to your money reduces emotional decision-making and clarifies purpose.

• Create friction around impulse purchases
  Add small barriers like 24-hour waiting periods, deleting shopping apps, or requiring a transfer before spending. These steps can dramatically reduce impulse purchases you may soon regret.

As this year unfolds, maybe the most useful question isn’t How do I try harder? Rather, it’s What systems can I put in place so I don’t have to rely on willpower? For me, that means not buying as many treats from Trader Joe’s. I’d love to hear what you’re doing in the comments below!