What I've Been Reading

The Willpower Paradox: Why we evolved to have less willpower than we need by Geoff Alexander. Simple and well written focusing precisely on the psychology of willpower - great read.

Willpower:

Willpower is a form of mental strength drawn upon to put plans or ideas into action, or to abstain from action, for some form of perceived net benefit, and to overcome emotions and feelings which may be in the way of doing so. To do things which one has not attempted before, willpower is often required (via deferred gratification).
Willpower is not merely required to enact a complex plan, it is required ti implement a difficult plan in terms of emotional or sensory resistance - even if it is only one or two steps.

Freedom Inefficiency & Willpower Paradox:

The inconsistency between the potential actions or omissions of actions which one perceives as most preferential, and those actions or omissions of actions which one performs in reality.
If everyone always want what is most preferential, so how is it possible that freedom inefficiency exists? It is logically unjustifiable to ever act another way. It seems on the surface that it is a paradox. Freedom inefficiency is not a paradox, it just appears that way. It exists because the conscious mind is not the only force to hold sway our actions. We are also influenced by our subconscious mind influencing our instincts and habits. We are not holistic entities even though we may think of ourselves as such.

Mental Capability vs. Intelligence:
Mental capability is the quality of ones thinking taking into account intelligence and knowledge. High mental capability equates to maximizing the benefits of intelligence (but correlation between willpower and mental capability is distorted than it seems to be).

Meditation vs. Media:

Meditating can prove significant stress release and is generally perceived very positively, and as such, may be one of the the most hassle free ways to boost ones willpower.
It is possible that a limited exposure to media is useful for growing the willpower.

Improving Willpower:

• The closest terminology that can be used to describe what we need to do to increase our willpower is trust. We need to get our subconscious mind to trust that our conscious mind is a responsible steward of our actions in comparison to acting directly out of instinct or habit.
• When wilful activity leads to positive experiences that are the intended result of a initial wilful activity, the growth of willpower will be the greatest. This shows the subconscious brain that the conscious brain can accurately predict the consequences of its plans.
• Our conscious mind is just one of many that our subconscious mind can listen to, but it is the one that is always with you and it is the one which almost guaranteed to be thinking in our best interests.
• Unless you have strong will power like few do, your emotions doesn't always allow you control, it overwhelms you, it runs in unwanted directions at times. Train your emotional predispositions as best you can (by forming advantageous habits) and don't expose yourself to contexts where you are emotionally pre-disposed to want to do things against your interests.
• Willpower is not a muscle - The growth of willpower depends on the perceived results of the use of willpower, not merely its use.
• Low future expectations are perhaps optimal for willpower growth but may have some negative consequences. On the other hand, because people have a willpower deficit, a unrealistic concrete belief in a future outcome is likely to motivate one to attempt to achieve it more than otherwise.