Book Review of Willpower Instinct

[Rob C 826]

Review and short summary of the Willpower Instinct by Kelly McGonigal.

I read this book from a recommendation from Tommy and would definitely recommend it. The book explains the current discoveries how/where in the brain willpower is created and how to improve it. I actually listened to the book so my quotes may not be exact.

1)    Willpower is from the Prefrontal Cortex, the part of the brain that “helps you do the hard thing.” The Prefrontal Cortex has three parts and thus so does willpower. The three compartments of the Prefrontal Cortex can be split into what controls “The Will”, “The Want”, and “The Won’t”.

2)    The Prefrontal Cortex can be strengthened and weakened. It’s a cliché but it is a mental muscle. It needs to be given a workout and tested every day. But not to extreme, or like a muscle it can be over worked. Since we have only one willpower reservoir to be used for all endeavors, the week you to try quit eating cheesecake, your willpower to stop overtrading will be reduced. Work the muscle, but do not overwork it. I like the example the book gave, ”don’t try and resist cheesecake forever, just try and resist it for 10 minutes.”

3)    Diet, exercise and meditation can strengthen the Prefrontal Cortex (let’s call it the PC). This sounds obvious, but the book mentions a couple of interesting things. We all have felt our willpower drop when our blood sugar is low. But recent research has shown it is the decreasing of the blood sugar, not the low blood sugar that causes the PC to start shutting down. Once the brain detects that sugar levels are dropping it starts to shut down lower priority functions like the PC. Evolution probably found it useful to have your willpower drop when you are hungry, so you can take more risks to find food.

4)    The books discussion on meditation was worth the read. Though I have read a few books on meditation (none very good) I have never come across the technique discussed in this book. That is to slow your breathing down to 4 to 6 breathes a minute. It will increase your heart variability and be a short term reduction of stress. It works. It’s a great technique in the middle of a trade.

Just a personal note: I can recommend a book that motivates you to meditate. 10% Happier is a worth a read for entertainment value alone and got me motivated to start meditating.

5)    The book also discusses we give ourselves licenses to be bad. Example: I went running in the morning so I am going to take the elevator for the rest of the day and splurge on dessert.

Sorry, that was supposed to be a short summary. But I do recommend the book and found it applies to trading, especially overtrading…