Master Self Control & Overcome Procrastination | Dr. Kentaro Fujita
5/11/20262 hr 28 min
Dr. Kentaro Fujita, PhD, is a professor of psychology at The Ohio State University and an expert in the science of self-control and motivation. We discuss the best tools for developing strong self-control: to do more of what you aspire to and cease doing things you would like to avoid. We discuss why you need more than one form of willpower to achieve sustained motivation and overcome procrastination. Dr. Fujita also clarifies the data on the 2-marshmallow test, delayed gratification and intrinsic vs. extrinsic motivation. Read the show notes at hubermanlab.com. Thank you to our sponsors AG1: https://drinkag1.com/huberman David: https://davidprotein.com/huberman Lingo: https://hellolingo.com/huberman LMNT: https://drinklmnt.com/huberman Function: https://functionhealth.com/huberman Timestamps (00:00:00) Kentaro Fujita (00:03:08) Marshmallow Tests, Self-Control; Adult Modeling (00:08:24) Criticism of Marshmallow Tests, Learning Self-Control (00:15:08) Sponsors: David & Lingo (00:17:34) Movement & Motivation (00:21:42) Doing Hard Things; Exhaustion & Depletion Effect (00:29:02) Willpower vs Self-Control, Improving Self-Control (00:34:27) Aspiration or Fear for Motivation, Long- vs Short-Term Outcomes (00:40:55) Self-Control Toolkit, Tool: Failure & Exploration (00:46:44) Sponsor: AG1 (00:48:28) Motivation Warm-Up?, Tools: Mindset; Motivation Orientation (00:57:30) Imperfect Conditions, Self-Control Conflicts, Tool: Why vs How (01:05:25) Tool: "Whys" & Motivation Goals (01:11:26) Competition, Tool: Motivation Types (01:17:13) Sponsor: LMNT (01:18:33) Abstinence vs Moderation, Consistency vs Rigidity (01:27:48) Burnout; "Invisible" Goals, Single Goal & Trade-Offs (01:35:17) Intrinsic Motivation for Sustained Goals (01:40:16) Sponsor: Function (01:41:53) Meaning in Simple Tasks, Ikigai (01:49:03) Self-Control Failure, Tools: Distancing, 3rd Person & Heros (01:55:04) Words as Motivation, Visualization, Social Validation (02:03:51) Music, Anchors, Nostalgia (02:06:46) Intrinsic vs Extrinsic Motivation, Job & Salary (02:14:11) Mindfulness & Taking Breaks, Wabi-Sabi & Imperfection, Ikigai (02:20:56) Future Directions (02:25:19) Zero-Cost Support, YouTube, Spotify & Apple Follow, Reviews & Feedback, Sponsors, Protocols Book, Social Media, Neural Network Newsletter Disclaimer & Disclosures Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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First 90 secondsKentaro Fujita· Guest0:00
In my own research, we have shown that if we can get people to think about their whys, the purposes behind their decisions, the broader purposes behind their, what they're doing, they're much more likely to be able to overcome the temptation. So if there's a piece of chocolate cake in front of me and I'm trying not to eat it, if you said, "Oh, I'm, I'm not supposed to eat that because I'm on a diet," that doesn't have much magic to it. But if instead I'm saying things like, "I need to do this for my family," "I want to look good for my children's wedding photos," or, you know, "My children are looking at me," or, "I want to be a good example," or all these other kinds of reasons that you might, these higher order reasons that you might have for getting healthier, being fitter or whatever, not eating the cake, we show that that increases the odds that people will avoid the, the cake. And we think it's 'cause it's giving people meaning. These are higher order things that I care about, and these are what's gonna motivate me to hold out.
Andrew Huberman· Host0:49
[upbeat music] Welcome to the Huberman Lab Podcast, where we discuss science and science-based tools for everyday life. I'm Andrew Huberman, and I'm a professor of neurobiology and ophthalmology at Stanford School of Medicine. My guest today is Dr. Kentaro Fujita, professor of psychology at Ohio State University, and an expert in the science of self-control and motivation. If you're somebody who has ever struggled with procrastination, sticking to a goal, or coming up with the goals for your life, today's episode is for you. We start off today's discussion talking about the famous two marshmallow experiment, the one where they placed kids in a room with a marshmallow and told them that if they