giving participants a sugar boost turns them back into the best versions of themselves: more persistent and less impulsive; more thoughtful and less selfish.

When neuroscientists have peered inside the brains of new exercisers, they have seen increases in both grey matter – brain cells – and white matter, the insulation on brain cells that helps them communicate quickly and efficiently with each other.

Physical exercise – like meditation – makes your brain bigger and faster, and the prefrontal cortex shows the largest training effect.

there is one way to immediately boost willpower: slow your breathing down to four to six breaths per minute. That’s ten to fifteen seconds per breath –

If you never seem to have the time and energy for your “I will” challenge, schedule it for when you have the most strength.

run into difficulty. Self-knowledge – especially of how we find ourselves in willpower trouble – is the foundation of self-control.

Breath focus is a simple but powerful meditation technique for training your brain and increasing willpower. It reduces stress and teaches the mind how to handle both inner distractions (cravings, worries, desires) and outer temptations (sounds, sights and smells).

you know you could use more sleep but you find yourself staying up late anyway, consider what you are saying “yes” to instead of sleep. This same willpower rule applies to any task you are avoiding or putting off – when you can’t find the will, you might need to find the won’t.

And because it takes only one to two minutes of breathing at this pace to boost your willpower reserve, it’s something you can do whenever you face a willpower challenge.