I sometimes wonder whether there's just a fixed amount of willpower in my life or in anyone's life. I worry that whenever we can get some self-control in this corner of our life our need to to misbehave skulls over somewhere else do you ever heard is that a thing in in your work? You know what does seem to be true is that fatigue matters so when we're really tired it's harder to do the right thing but that's different than like self-control itself being depleted by temptation.
Behavioral scientist Katy Milkman of the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania talks about her book How to Change with EconTalk host Russ Roberts. What can we learn from research in psychology and behavioral economics about breaking the habits we want to change? Is that research reliable? And should Russ Roberts accept being overweight or keep working at finding the thinner man trying to get out?