Willpower by Baumeister & Tierney

Stefan Stefan,
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Stefan

Founder at The Product Insider
Senior Product Manager at Google, founder at The Product Insider. Curious builder.
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This one was a real gem to read. The book is applicable and useful in so many situations, but specifically when you are a Product Manager, this is worth it’s weight in god (or it’s computational effort in BitCoin, if you are an e-reader users).

Willpower takes us on an exciting journey that is deeply rooted in human behavior, neuroscience, and the fundamentals of how humans experience fatigue. Isn’t that incredible? To better understand what makes you exhausted that isn’t going for a run, or spending hours in the gym (maybe these were your usual suspects). What is the number one source of fatigue? Making decisions! What an incredible insight. What helps this fatigue? Well, similar tactics that help when you are fatigued from a workout: glucose (in other words: sugar, or energy!).

Baumeister and Tierney really help motivate why the issue should be top of mind for all of us who are in roles which force us to make decisions constantly. The authors take us on a journey that helps outline what to expect when facing constant decisions, and also dedicate a whole chapter to ‘strengthen willpower’. That is where the true value of the book comes forward: in helping you to get better in being aware of your willpower, how it depletes, and how to increase the capacity of making decisions over the course of a day or week.

I think a lot can be taken away from the book. To me, here are the top three things:

  • Practice discipline
    Practicing discipline does pay off, it helps us be more prepared when we need to make decisions, or face an intersection that requires weighing of different alternatives.
  • Schedule smart
    Making it a habit to acknowledge the weight of a decision. Not just browsing through, but recognizing that making decisions will degrade as the day takes a toll on us. Avoiding situations where I know I am fatigued for critical meetings is now a standard tactic for my scheduling.
  • Don’t procrastinate (too long)
    Probably near impossible as a software product manager, but still important. We are in need to set our own goals, and drive toward our own success moments as we push the boundaries of what is known about our product forward. This is already an active part of my career planning, but now has demonstrated additional benefits.

Get the book on Amazon: Willpower: Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength

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