工作低效？情感纠葛？减肥总是反弹？控制不住乱花钱？沉溺于社交媒体和在线娱乐？天天熬夜时间也不够用？这一切都与意志力相关！
决定一个人能否成功的后天因素中，意志力排在第一位。
长期以来，意志力似乎是超凡人物才具有的美德。
但世界顶尖的心理学家告诉我们：意志力既不是魔法，也不是空洞的励志口号，而是让人生更美好的科学。
《意志力》的两位作者强强联合，一位负责从心理学的角度探索意志力运用的规律，一位负责将书写得好懂、好玩儿。意志力不再说不清、道不明，人人都可以修炼意志力。
《意志力》一书认为，意志力像肌肉一样，经常锻炼就会增强，过度使用就会疲劳，这是为何人们会在一些时候难以抵挡诱惑的原因。书中还介绍了一系列增强意志力的办法，解释了如何设置切合实际的目标（列任务清单真是门学问），如何监控进展（这样你就可以经常奖励你自己），如何在动摇之际坚定信念。
当今世界，诱惑无处不在，人类的意志力时时刻刻在接受考验。《意志力》指出，一旦养成了正确的习惯，找到了适合的方法，自控就会更容易一些，人们就只需要较少的心智能量来回避诱惑。

Based on Stanford University psychologist Kelly McGonigal's wildly popular course "The Science of Willpower," The Willpower Instinct is the first book to explain the science of self-control and how it can be harnessed to improve our health, happiness, and productivity.

Informed by the latest research and combining cutting-edge insights from psychology, economics, neuroscience, and medicine, The Willpower Instinct explains exactly what willpower is, how it works, and why it matters. For example, readers will learn:

• Willpower is a mind-body response, not a virtue. It is a biological function that can be improved through mindfulness, exercise, nutrition, and sleep.
• Willpower is not an unlimited resource. Too much self-control can actually be bad for your health.
• Temptation and stress hijack the brain's systems of self-control, but the brain can be trained for greater willpower
• Guilt and shame over your setbacks lead to giving in again, but self-forgiveness and self-compassion boost self-control.
• Giving up control is sometimes the only way to gain self-control.
• Willpower failures are contagious-you can catch the desire to overspend or overeat from your friends­­-but you can also catch self-control from the right role models.
In the groundbreaking tradition of Getting Things Done, The Willpower Instinct combines life-changing prescriptive advice and complementary exercises to help readers with goals ranging from losing weight to more patient parenting, less procrastination, better health, and greater productivity at work.

Kelly McGonigal, Ph.D., is an award-winning psychology instructor at Stanford University, and a lecturer and program developer at the Stanford Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education. She is also the author of
The Joy of Movement,
The Upside of Stress, and
Yoga for Pain Relief. McGonigal lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.