Day 222: On Your Depleting Willpower
第222天：关于你日渐枯竭的意志力
Self-control is highest in the morning and steadily deteriorates over the course of the day.
早晨的意志力最强，随后就会逐渐减弱。
—Kelly McGonigal
Some scientists (like Kelly McGonigal and Roy Baumeister) believe that willpower is a depleting resource. You wake up with a specific amount of willpower and it steadily decreases during the day until (in the evening) you’re supposedly no longer in control of your actions.
一些科学家（如凯利-麦格尼格尔和罗伊-鲍迈斯特）认为，意志力是一种消耗性资源。
一觉醒来，你会拥有特定数量的意志力，而这种意志力会在一天中逐渐减少，直到（晚上）你再也无法控制自己的行为。
In their research, critics of this theory like Veronika Job and Carol S. Dweck pose that whether willpower is a resource or not largely depends on what you think about the issue. If you believe that your self-control is something that you use up during the day, that will be the case. If you believe it’s something that is with you whenever and wherever you want it, you won’t notice a drop in self-control over the course of the day.
维罗妮卡-乔布和卡罗尔-S-德韦克等这一理论的批评者在研究中提出，意志力是否是一种资源，很大程度上取决于你对这个问题的看法。
如果你认为你的自制力是你在一天中消耗掉的东西，那么情况就会是这样。
如果你认为自制力是一种随时随地与你相伴的东西，你就不会注意到自制力在一天中的下降。
Instead of taking sides, I suggest being neutral about it. Even if your willpower is not a depleting resource, it’s better to perform your habits in the morning — not because your self-control will run out later on, but because things tend to happen during the day that will capture your attention and possibly make you forget about what you vowed to do in the evening. You might also simply get tired and don’t feel in the mood to push yourself once again .
我对此保持中立。
即使你的意志力不会耗尽，也最好在早上养成习惯——这并不是因为你的自制力稍后会耗尽，而是因为白天往往会发生一些事情，吸引你的注意力，可能会让你忘记晚上发誓要做的事情。
你也可能只是累了，没有心情再逼自己一次。
At the same time, don’t limit yourself by making an excuse that you’ve run out of self-control. Try to exercise your willpower muscle, whether it’s in the morning or in the evening. The moment you can’t lift a certain weight or continue running is largely in your head and you can often push it — why that wouldn’t be the case when it comes to self-control?
同时，不要找借口说自己已经没有自制力了，从而限制自己。
尝试锻炼自己的意志力，无论是早上还是晚上。
你不能举起某个重量或继续跑步的那一刻，很大程度上只是你大脑在想象，你是可以让自己继续下去的——为什么在意志力方面就不是这样呢？
