There’s an article in the most recent issue of Bicycling about a fella named Scott Cutshall who defied conventional wisdom and his doctors’ expectations by losing over 300 pounds without surgical intervention. (If that weren’t impressive enough, he’s become my new hero because he refused Oprah’s invitation to fetishize himself on national television.) Buried in the piece is mention of some fascinating research that has demonstrated that the portion of the brain that sorts and makes decisions is also the same area that governs willpower. Our modern, multi-gadget, bluetooth, ADD existence aside, we know that the brain really is a very poor multitasker. Dr Kathleen Voh’s study demonstrated that if too much brainpower is expended making decisions, less is left over to enforce them, via the power of will.
Cutshall was successful in so monumentally changing his own life partly (largely?) because he limited his choices–he put himself on a strict diet and a strict cycling regimen. He didn’t have to decide what to eat or when to ride; those choices were made for him, leaving more energy to put into his will to actually carry them out.
Today’s New York Times offered up a related gem, buried in a piece about kids turning off and tuning out of Facebook. Dr. Walter Mischel’s 1960′s marshmallow experiment demonstrated that preschoolers who are able to delay their own gratification (not eat the marshmallow right away) grew up to be high achievers, adults who were markedly more competent in intellectual, academic, and social spheres than their counterparts who lacked such self-control.
In our modern world, where every choice spawns one hundred more after it, every item can be customized, personalized, and branded in greater and greater detail, what does this tell us about ourselves? With literally hundreds of varieties of toilet paper to choose from, how can we expect our brains to keep up?
I’m thinking it’s no coincidence that at the very moment in history when we have an unprecedented array of choices before us every day–choices of what to wear, eat, buy, drive, hear, watch, smell, send–we are also becoming a culture incapable of delaying gratification. Text messages must be answered immediately, even if it means risking a car crash. Email isn’t fast enough anymore; we twitter and tweet among ourselves all day long. No money down! Don’t pay till 2012! Buy one get one free! Ready in 10 minutes or less, guaranteed! No wonder we have no discipline left to stick to our diets or our principles or our guns. Religion may have long been the opiate of the masses, but the masses have moved on to something far more potent: the cult of options.
Limited-edition, designer altar piece available now, in 37 customizable colors.
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There’s an article in the most recent issue of Bicycling about a fella named Scott Cutshall who defied conventional wisdom and his doctors’ expectations by losing over 300 pounds without surgical intervention. (If that weren’t impressive enough, he’s become my new hero because he refused Oprah’s invitation to fetishize himself on national television.) Buried in the piece is mention of some fascinating research that has demonstrated that the portion of the brain that sorts and makes decisions is also the same area that governs willpower. Our modern, multi-gadget, bluetooth, ADD existence aside, we know that the brain really is a very poor multitasker. Dr Kathleen Voh’s study demonstrated that if too much brainpower is expended making decisions, less is left over to enforce them, via the power of will.
Cutshall was successful in so monumentally changing his own life partly (largely?) because he limited his choices–he put himself on a strict diet and a strict cycling regimen. He didn’t have to decide what to eat or when to ride; those choices were made for him, leaving more energy to put into his will to actually carry them out.
Today’s New York Times offered up a related gem, buried in a piece about kids turning off and tuning out of Facebook. Dr. Walter Mischel’s 1960′s marshmallow experiment demonstrated that preschoolers who are able to delay their own gratification (not eat the marshmallow right away) grew up to be high achievers, adults who were markedly more competent in intellectual, academic, and social spheres than their counterparts who lacked such self-control.
In our modern world, where every choice spawns one hundred more after it, every item can be customized, personalized, and branded in greater and greater detail, what does this tell us about ourselves? With literally hundreds of varieties of toilet paper to choose from, how can we expect our brains to keep up?
I’m thinking it’s no coincidence that at the very moment in history when we have an unprecedented array of choices before us every day–choices of what to wear, eat, buy, drive, hear, watch, smell, send–we are also becoming a culture incapable of delaying gratification. Text messages must be answered immediately, even if it means risking a car crash. Email isn’t fast enough anymore; we twitter and tweet among ourselves all day long. No money down! Don’t pay till 2012! Buy one get one free! Ready in 10 minutes or less, guaranteed! No wonder we have no discipline left to stick to our diets or our principles or our guns. Religion may have long been the opiate of the masses, but the masses have moved on to something far more potent: the cult of options.
Limited-edition, designer altar piece available now, in 37 customizable colors.
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