THE SCIENCE OF SELF-CONTROL: 53 Tips to stick to your diet, be more productive and excel in life

"If you end up integrating all the tips in this book on how to get things done, you'll become an unstoppable version of yourself. Even with a casual read, you'll be sure to pick up a few tips that will instantly make a big difference in your life, such as the use of the Zeigarnik effect. Yep, this book is that useful. Enjoy it!"

- Mike Israetel, PhD, professor & professional athlete

Have you ever intended to get some work done but ended up on Instagram?
Have you ever intended to stick to your diet but ended up microwaving a pizza?
Have you ever intended to get to bed early but ended up seeing your laptop clock hit 02:00 AM?
Then I have good news and bad news.
The bad news is you lack self-control.
The good news is you’re human.
My goal is to make you superhuman.

In this book you’ll learn how to take control of your body and mind by drawing on cognitive neurosciences and behavioral psychology. I've distilled the knowledge of 542 scientific references into 53 practical tips to improve your willpower. In 6 chapters I cover the essentials of how the human mind works, what willpower is, how to be more productive, how to stick to your diet, how to make your workouts less effortful and how to motivate yourself.

After reading this book, you should experience higher work productivity, better diet adherence and ultimately more success in life.

Self-control has been a unifying theme in my life. I first started studying behavioral psychology and cognitive neurosciences at Utrecht University's honor's college, UCU, and then further at Warwick. While I learned a great deal about willpower and how our minds work, like most students, I personally still struggled enormously with procrastination. If I had known what I know now, I could have finished my studies in half the time. I still managed to graduate both with distinction and I started working as a business consultant.

Like most office workers, there I struggled to stay motivated and productive during the whole workday. I realized I was on the career path that society and my parents expected of me but not the path I was most passionate about. So I traded in my company car to pursue my passion in fitness. I also started traveling the world as a digital nomad and have lived in over 50 countries since then.

My career as an evidence-based fitness educator became more successful than I ever dreamed: I currently own a multinational Personal Training certification company with almost a thousand students per year across courses in 5 languages. I also work as a scientific researcher. While optimizing my own physique and productivity as an entrepreneur, I again realized how important willpower is. Whether I was grinding out that last rep in the gym, trying not to succumb to hunger before a photoshoot or optimizing my methods to answer over a hundred messages per day, it all came down to self-control. Self-control is key to self-improvement and success.

After over a decade of studying the science of self-control and improving my own self-control, I decided to write this book to share what I've learned. My goal is to help you take control of your body and mind to develop an iron will, top productivity, effortless diet adherence and ultimately excellence in life.

My tips are very practical and as concrete as possible, not your typical unactionable self-help vague advice like: "Be more positive." I tell you how to organize your day, how to build good habits and how to break bad ones; I even go into how to write your grocery list (yes, it matters).

If you care about your diet, your productivity or your wellbeing in general, I'm confident this book will add value to your life. In fact, I believe objectively this book is easily worth over a thousand dollars. Just calculate it. If the productivity advice alone increases your average lifetime income by 3%, over the next 20 years that's a net gain of 18.000 dollars on a 30k yearly income. Not to mention the value of being leaner, having less stress over your diet and being happier.

Honestly, what are you still doing reading this page? Go read my book!

• Introduction
• Chapter 1: 2-System theory
• Chapter 2: Thy will be done
  • The evolution of self-control
• Chapter 3: How to be more productive
  • Why willpower is not like a muscle
  • Productivity tip 1: A lethal illusion
  • Productivity tip 2: The locus of control
  • Productivity tip 3: Framing for self-efficacy
  • Productivity tip 4: How to use the Zeigarnik effect to stopprocrastinating
  • Productivity tip 5: There's no sin without temptation
  • Productivity tip 6: How to do more work while working less
  • Exercise
  • Hydrotherapy
  • Work hard, play hard
  • Power napping
  • Meditation
  • Prayer
  • The imaginary break
  • Productivity tip 7: How (not) to incentivize yourself and others
  • Productivity tip 8: Vary up your stimulus modalities
  • Productivity tip 9: To multitask or not to multitask?
  • Productivity tip 9.1: "Do not disturb"
  • Productivity tip 9.2: No peeking
  • Productivity tip 9.3: Batching
  • Productivity tip 9.4: The right number of projects to take on
  • Productivity tip 10: How to optimize your to-do list
  • Productivity tip 10.1: Beware of overuse
  • Productivity tip 10.2: How to structure your to-do list
  • Productivity tip 10.3: How to set deadlines
  • Productivity tip 10.4: The most important time to consult your to- do list
  • Productivity tip 11: Wipe the bureaucracy from your mind
  • Productivity tip 12: Schedule your work in line with your circadian rhythm
  • Productivity tip 13: Why Obama only wore 2 colors of suits
  • Productivity tip 14: The optimal work environment
  • Productivity tip 15: The Yerkes-Dodson law
  • Productivity tip 16: Mens sana in corpore sano
• Chapter 4: How to stick to your diet
  • Diet tip 1: The flesh is strong, but the mind is weak
  • But what about blood sugar?
  • Postprandial somnolence
  • Diet tip 2: Hustle
  • Diet tip 3: Why 'trying harder' doesn't work
  • Diet tip 4: The best macros for adherence
  • Diet tip 5: How to interpret your personal preference
  • Diet tip 6: How empty rewards can help us stick to our diet
  • Diet tip 7: How not taking breaks can break your diet
  • Diet tip 8: "Don't bind bacon to the cat's back"
  • Diet tip 9: Make a meal plan
  • Diet tip 10: Eat in line with your circadian rhythm
  • Diet tip 11: Constant macros
  • Diet tip 12: Projection bias
  • Diet tip 13: Don't try to be a robot
  • Diet tip 13.1: Failure is a learning experience
  • Diet tip 13.2: Adopt a sustainable lifestyle perspective
  • Diet tip 13.3: View your calories as a budget
  • Diet tip 13.4: You don't always have to spend everything
  • Diet tip 13.5: Think outside the lunchbox
  • Diet tip 14: How to stop food cravings
  • Diet tip 14.1: Mindfulness training
  • Diet tip 14.2: Episodic future thinking
  • The forbidden fruit effect
  • Diet tip 14.3: How to teach yourself to like healthy, low-calorie foods
  • Diet tip 15: How to cheat your diet
  • Diet tip 15.1: IIFYM
  • Diet tip 15.2: Think about food like an economist
  • Diet tip 15.3: Learn to prepare low-calorie comfort foods
  • Diet tip 15.4: How to fit indulgent cheat meals into your lifestyle
  • Diet tip 15.5: Eat out
  • Diet tip 15.6: Take a lesson from Japanese sushi etiquette
  • Diet tip 16: Do this before every meal
  • Diet tip 17: Do this after every meal
  • Diet tip 18: How to manage your appetite
  • Diet tip 18.1: Eat more, not less
  • Diet tip 18.2: More protein, but not too much
  • Diet tip 18.3: How much fiber you need
  • Diet tip 18.4: Eat mindfully/li>
  • Diet tip 19: Minimize decision fatigue
  • Diet tip 20: How to build activity habits
  • Diet tip 21: Use action triggers
  • Diet tip 22: How to change bad eating habits
  • Diet tip 23: Get a standing desk
  • Diet tip 24: Use availability effects
  • Diet tip 25: The most useful skill that nobody regards as a skill
  • Diet tip 25.1: Shop satiated
  • Diet tip 25.2: Your grocery list is sacrosanct
  • Diet tip 25.3: Stay in the safe zones
  • Diet tip 25.4: How to organize your grocery list
  • Diet tip 26: Umami preloads
  • Diet tip 27: Learn how often to weigh yourself
• Chapter 5: How to make exercise less effortful
  • Workout tip 1: Use caffeine (more) strategically
  • Workout tip 2: Listen to the right music
  • Workout tip 3: Intra-workout drinks
  • Workout tip 4: Optimize your training frequency
  • orkout tip 5: Optimize your training intensity
  • Workout tip 6: Use free weights
• Chapter 6: How to motivate yourself
  • What is motivation and how do we get it?
  • Motivation tip 1: Cultivate competence
  • Motivation tip 1.1: Research
  • Motivation tip 1.2: Tracking
  • Motivation tip 2: How to set goals
  • Motivation tip 3: How to become more autonomous
  • Motivation tip 4: Connect
  • Motivation tip 4.1: Find a community
  • Motivation tip 4.2: How purpose motivates us, even when it's nonsense
• Afterword
• References

Menno Henselmans is a former business consultant turned international public speaker, scientific researcher and educator. His works have been published in over a dozen languages and his website was ranked the #1 fitness website by The Huffington Post.