The One Muscle Great Leaders Must Train Daily
Tierney, drawing on their own research and nearly 100
studies, argued that Willpower works like a muscle,
and that regular “exercise” boosts its strength. We
call on Willpower when we come to a crossroads and
it’s time to make a difficult decision. The Willpower
muscle – just like a physical muscle – then draws
down from our limited supply of energy (mental
energy, in this case) to help us make the decision in
question. These choices can range from seemingly
little (but difficult) decisions (“burger or salad?”) to
incredibly complex (and still difficult) ones (“do I put
my job on the line and tell a leader that what they’re
doing is wrong?”).
Willpower, Baumeister and Tierney contend, can
be used to build character. Just as you do with
a physical muscle, if you wish to strengthen a
Character muscle, feed it your energy until it grows
to the capacity you desire. As our Willpower muscle
gets stronger through repeated use, it becomes a bit
easier to make those difficult decisions. It requires
less energy to make the difficult decisions, leaving
plenty of energy left for the rest of the decisions that
a typical day brings. Those decisions – years and
years of them – define our Character.
So then, what’s the training plan? How do we
strengthen our Character muscles? Here’s how I
recommend tackling this exercise regimen:
First, do some deeply honest reflection on your
treatment of others – your patience, kindness,
gratitude, humility, caring, honesty, trustworthiness,
etc. Override any inclination to become defensive or
to gloss over the truth. Fully acknowledge where your
muscles of moral Character need strengthening.
Next, look for imbalances and strengthen the specific
muscles that need work. If your authenticity muscle
is strong, but your compassion muscle is weak, you
may be predisposed to speaking your truth but hurt
someone’s feelings as you do it. You would need to
strengthen your compassion muscle to even things
out. If your confidence muscle is strong but your
humility muscle is weak, it may appear to others that
you are arrogant. You would need to strengthen your
humility muscle, and so on. (This is very similar to
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