I feel like my whole life has built up to this moment. It is truly make or break time.

I have spent the last 5 years researching the science behind how normal people used their willpower to achieve extraordinary success. Then writing about the simple, proven ways you can follow their lead.

I claim to have the answers to the equation of what it takes to will yourself through the hard times and come out the other side victorious.

So it is time for me to put my money where my mouth is and prove it.

For those of you who don't know, Kickstarter is "all or nothing". If we don't reach the goal in time, we don't receive any funding to publish the book. 

All the two Israeli men could do was hope.

Hope that the judge would hear their cases thoughtfully and free them to return to society as reformed convicts.

Each case was the same:

They both committed fraud.

They both were serving 30-month sentences.

They both were well-behaved during their 18-months in prison.

The only difference – at least on paper – was the time of their parole hearing. One was at 8:50am and the other was at 4:30pm.

What fuels our willpower?

That was the question on researchers minds as they tested the impact of a healthy breakfast on high school students. They split the students into 3 groups with different foods to see which would lead to the best behavior and academic performance.

The first group of students was given a healthy breakfast of low-glycemic foods like eggs, fruit and oatmeal. 

The second group of students was given an unhealthy breakfast of high-glycemic foods like bagels muffins and Pop-Tarts.

How can this be?

The researchers thought. They were testing to see whether people who were half way to completing their overall goal would be more likely to finish it if they were focused on how far they had come, or how far they still had to go.

The researchers thought they had a sure winner in the group that focused on their progress. After all, wouldn’t feeling good about how far you have come make you that much more committed to seeing the goal through to the finish?

Apparently not.

I was standing in the gym in early February, 2013. It was empty.

A month before I could hardly move there were so many people. All of them with enthusiasm. All of them with ambition. And all of them with the hope that 2013 is the year that they finally summon the willpower to become the person that they truly want to be.

The one who is fit.

The one who is healthy. 

The one who creates a goal and sticks with it to completion.

Yet there I stood. Looking around to empty treadmills, empty bikes, empty benches and merely a handful of people who exercise regularly.

It was then that it hit me. It shouldn’t be this way. 

"Can we help students who are struggling in class turn things around by helping to boost their self-esteem?" 

It seemed like a good idea in theory. After all, there is a correlation between getting good grades and having a high self-esteem. [1] 

But which comes first? 

Do students with a high self-esteem naturally try harder because they believe in themselves? Or is it just natural that those who work hard and get good grades have a high self-esteem from achieving great results? 

Willpowered Day 1 Task List: 

- Establish principles that I will not break under any circumstances

That is what I penned in my journal on September 26th as I was about to embark on this new adventure with Willpowered.  

I knew that before there were any subscribers, before there were any customers, before there was even an article written, I was going to need to establish a higher standard that I would always live up to. 

One day in Bentonville, Arkansas, Sam Walton sat down for breakfast with a friend. Despite his wild success as the founder of Wal-Mart, Sam lived a very simple lifestyle. This included frequenting this tiny, neighborhood Arkansas diner for many of his meals.  

As he and his friend were eating, a man entered the diner. Sam turned to his friend and said, “that’s Joe. I really admire Joe. He used to be a truck driver, but decided to go into business for himself and raises chickens. Now his business is extremely successful. I have a lot to learn from Joe.” 

“I’ve done 20 Ironman Traithlons, who needs this?”

Said Joe DeSena, founder of The Spartan Race, as he was in the middle of doing the Utah Ironman Triathlon. Joe is renowned for pushing his body to the limit, but this time he felt like he had pushed his body as far as it could possibly go

There it is. That slice of cheesecake on the dessert cart that seems all so tempting. Despite your goals of health and fitness, it feels like your entire body is willing you to say, “YES!! Eat the cheesecake!! Get it before the dessert cart leaves!!”

Then another part of you comes into the frame. It says, “But wait! This is a new year! And I promised myself that I would resist cheesecake!”

In 1970, psychologists Walter Mischel and Ebbe B. Ebbesen invited a group of 4-year olds into a laboratory for what may have been the toughest test of their short lives. They sat down at a table by themselves with a delicious, tempting, marshmallow on a plate in front of them.

They were told that they could eat the marshmallow if they wanted to right now, but if they could wait 15 minutes, they would be able to have 2 marshmallows. As a 4 year-old, this was painful to say the least. 

“Humans are remarkably weak and vulnerable creatures.”  - Robert Greene

As the top of the food chain, it is hard for us to imagine that for millions of years humans were weak and vulnerable. We were less than 5 feet tall, slow, and our muscles were exceptionally weak compared to our predators.

“What have I done to deserve this?!”

Said Amanda Palmer as a frat boy tried to shove his head into her crotch. Palmer, an up and coming musician, was spending her days as a living statue in order to help pay the bills. She would spend hours in a bridal costume on top of a box in the middle of Harvard Square and would not move an inch.

Some people would insult her, others would try to make her laugh, and some would threaten to steal the money she had been collecting. But through it all, she remained completely still.