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Where coulds go

mindingourway.com · 881 words · saved by 1 readers

Most people don't think they "could" cure Alzheimers by snapping their fingers, and so they don't feel terrible about failing to do this. By contrast, people who fail to resist overeating, or who fail to stop playing Civilization at a reasonable hour, feel strongly that they "could

Most people don't think they "could" cure Alzheimers by snapping their fingers, and so they don't feel terrible about failing to do this. By contrast, people who fail to resist overeating, or who fail to stop playing Civilization at a reasonable hour, feel strongly that they "could have" resisted, and take this as a license to feel terrible about their decisions. As I said last week , most people have broken "coulds." Willpower is scarce in this world. Sometimes, you can will yourself out of a mental rut you're in, but only rarely; more often, sheer force of will alone is not sufficient. If yo

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