same principle—the more you practice, the better at it you will become. Focus AND EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONS Your level of focus will affect the extent of your self-discipline. Neuroscientists believe that your ability to focus is determined by your “executive functions,” including working memory, cognitive flexibility, adaptability, and impulse control. Discipline requires you to set goals, filter distractions, control unhelpful inhibitions, prioritize activities, and pursue the goals that you have set. Research states that these functions operate in a number of brain regions, including the anterior cingulate cortex, the orbitofrontal cortex, and the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. You can improve these brain functions by targeting them. Self-discipline and focus work simultaneously. You can’t master one without the other because discipline is the ability to focus on one course of action until that goal has been accomplished. WILLPOWER FATIGUE In the same way as the body gets tired after it has been put through a strenuous workout, willpower and self-discipline also lose strength when they have been put to work and worn down. Since there is a biological basis to these skills, the brain of a person who said “no” to a slice of cake 10 times is different from the brain of the person who eats the slice of cake each time it is offered to them. This means that even if an individual is extremely self-disciplined with a lot of willpower, it will eventually run out if they are continuously faced with temptation. In the same way it is impossible for a person to lift weights for 24 hours without a break, it is also impossible for a person to exercise their willpower for 24 hours without taking the time out to replenish it. In 1996, psychologist Will Baumeister conducted a study in which he evaluated a phenomenon known as willpower depletion. The study involved leaving 67 participants in a room with freshly baked sweet treats and bitter radishes. One group was allowed to eat the sweet treats, while the other group was told to eat the bitter radishes. They were then taken to another room where they were asked to solve a puzzle to evaluate their persistence. The radish eaters did not have the strength of mind to resolve the puzzle and gave up before the group who had eaten the sweet treats. The radish eaters’ inability to focus on the task resulted from the fact that their willpower had already been depleted in the previous task, and now they wanted to take the path of least resistance.