Kyle asked Nir Eyal:

One topic I was unclear on is Ego depletion. For example: "...it’s more productive and healthful to believe a lack of motivation is temporary than it is to tell ourselves we’re spent and need a break)." Can you help me understand the difference between these perspectives? Isn't feeling a need for a break the same as believing in a temporary lack of motivation? Thank you! This book has genuinely changed my life.

Nir Eyal I so appreciate your kind words and your question. Let me explain a bit more about “ego depletion.” This is a pervasive pop-psychology myth that got into the cultural bloodstream, and it basically goes like this: “We have a finite amount of willpower, and when you reach the end of it, you’re depleted and done.”

It turns out, that is likely not true. Our willpower isn’t finite; it’s more like an emotion, waxing and waning in response to what’s happening to us and how we feel and think. Just as we wouldn’t say we “ran out” of feeling happy or sad, we shouldn’t say we “ran out” of willpower.

It’s not that we don’t get tired from doing a task, it’s that we shouldn’t use that as an excuse to lose control by saying our willpower is depleted. So taking a break is fine if you’re tired and that’s what you planned to do, but don’t let that be the excuse for indulging in distraction.

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