Rapt Chapter Twelve:

"Thus, says Mesulam, “an item in a pastry shop window that’s easily ignored when you’re full becomes irresistible when you’re hungry."

"Most reasonable people would say that their nutritional goal is to stay healthy and eat right, yet many simply don’t focus on their food and how much they actually consume."

"The goal of a healthy diet is to stop eating when you’re no longer hungry,” says Posner. “If you don’t pay attention to what you eat, however, that sense of fullness won’t kick in. Some people pick that up, and some never do.” "

"YOUR MOTIVATIONS—GET THAT promotion, throw the best parties, run for public office—aren’t impersonal abstractions but powerfully reflect and affect who you are and what you focus on."

"power-oriented subjects are drawn to nonconfrontational visages, such as “surprise faces,” rather than to those that suggest dominance, as “anger faces” do."

"while those who have naturally aggressive dispositions are likely to be driven by and concentrate on the need to dominate."

"telling children they’re geniuses has very little effect on their performance, especially compared to the motivation they derive from focusing on their own concrete accomplishments and self-control."

"“Life is relatively short, so don’t labor under the delusion that you can keep switching your focus from goal to goal and get anywhere.”"

"It’s often said that the age of thirty is the “new twenty,” but the trend for young people to change jobs every year or two in search of the perfect career has costs as well as benefits. “That’s how you become a superficial dilettante,” says Duckworth. “Do you want to go to a surgeon who has done lots of different interesting operations or the one who specializes in the procedure you need?”"

"Conventional wisdom has it that if you really wanted to, you could save instead of squander, be kind to your impossible in-laws, and run a marathon, yet as Paul plaintively observes, desire alone isn’t always enough."

"Deciding beforehand what you’ll focus on when sticking to your goal becomes difficult can even be a better strategy than trying to rev up your motivation."

"The idea of cultivating willpower—the capacity to choose and follow a course of action despite obstacles—would not have surprised Epictetus, Augustine, Nietzsche, and other philosophers who have embraced what William James called “the art of replacing one habit for another.” Through most of history, gluttony, concupiscence, drunkenness, and sloth were regarded as vices rather than sicknesses, and replacing them with temperance, chastity, sobriety, and enterprise required an act of the will. The sages of old would be amazed to hear modern Americans blame their expanding middles on the genes or habits they inherited from their parents, rather than on their own lack of “self-control”—another anachronistic term. In a culture that increasingly can’t just say no, overweight individuals may resort to stomach-stapling surgery, and groups lobby for statutes to make trans fats illegal and tax junk foods."

"Offering a historical perspective on the cultural decline of what he regards as an important human faculty, Claremont psychologist Mihály Csíkszentmihályi says that when mid-twentieth-century scientists decided that the stimulus/response dynamic was the foundation of most behavior, will became the baby that got thrown out with the bathwater. If what induces you to act this way or that depends on either positive or negative reinforcement, will is no longer influential in explaining why you do what you do. “It still crops up in a deus ex machina way, he says, “as in ‘It’s my will to do this,’ or in the subtler voice of a Skinnerian reinforcement or a drive that you’re not even aware of, but the term was essentially obliterated from psychology’s lexicon.” Nevertheless, the venerable concept sometimes shines through modern research, he says, as when psychologists speak about “‘effective motivation,’ because there are people who feel motivated to do something but never get around to doing it.”"

"Will comes into play when a competition arises between two or more conflicting goals and motivations."

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grok:

"Chapter Twelve of Rapt explores the intricate relationship between attention, motivation, and willpower, emphasizing how focused awareness shapes our ability to pursue and achieve personal goals. Drawing on insights from psychologists like M. Marcel Mesulam, Michael Posner, Angela Duckworth, and Mihály Csíkszentmihályi, the chapter argues that our motivations are not abstract ideals but deeply personal forces that direct our focus and influence our behavior, often in ways that reflect our underlying dispositions.

The discussion begins with how internal states drive attention: for instance, hunger can transform an ignorable pastry into an irresistible temptation, illustrating that focus is not static but modulated by physiological and emotional needs. This extends to everyday challenges like maintaining a healthy diet, where failing to pay attention to eating leads to overconsumption because the body's signals of fullness go unnoticed. Posner highlights that true nutritional goals require mindful awareness to stop eating when satiated, a skill some people cultivate while others overlook.

Motivations are portrayed as extensions of identity—ambitions like seeking promotion or dominance aren't impersonal but profoundly shape what we prioritize. The chapter critiques superficial praise, noting that labeling children as "geniuses" yields minimal performance gains compared to encouraging focus on effort, accomplishments, and self-control. Duckworth warns against the modern trend of frequent job-hopping among young people, likening it to becoming a "superficial dilettante" rather than an expert, as true mastery demands sustained attention on a single path: "Life is relatively short, so don’t labor under the delusion that you can keep switching your focus from goal to goal and get anywhere."

A key theme is the insufficiency of mere desire for change—whether saving money, tolerating difficult relatives, or training for a marathon. Instead, pre-committing to specific focuses during tough moments proves more effective than relying on fleeting motivation. The chapter delves into the historical and cultural evolution of willpower, contrasting ancient philosophers like Epictetus, Augustine, and Nietzsche, who viewed self-control as a deliberate act of replacing vices (e.g., gluttony with temperance) with virtues, against modern tendencies to blame genetics, habits, or external factors for failures. In today's society, where willpower is often medicalized or outsourced (e.g., through surgeries or laws banning trans fats), the concept has faded from psychological discourse. Csíkszentmihályi provides historical context, explaining how mid-20th-century behaviorism reduced actions to stimulus-response mechanisms, sidelining will as an explanatory force. Yet, he notes, it persists implicitly in ideas like "effective motivation," where people feel driven but fail to act.

Ultimately, willpower emerges as crucial in resolving conflicts between competing goals and motivations, enabling us to override impulses and align actions with long-term aspirations. The chapter advocates reclaiming this "important human faculty" through intentional focus, suggesting that without it, personal growth remains elusive amid distractions and excuses."