How To Build Your Willpower According to The Stoics and Aztecs

Insight #1: Willpower Isn’t One Thing, It’s Three

One paradoxical quality of willpower turns on the way it is unevenly distributed in our lives. For example, I’ve earned a few school degrees, which means that I am able to “knuckle down” and study uninterrupted for long hours. But if you put a chocolate chip cookie in front of me, I buckle after five minutes.

How is it that a person can be both disciplined and undisciplined?

A second paradoxical quality of willpower turns on the absence of a single way to manage it. For example, my wife loves goldfish crackers. To satisfy her cravings, she allows herself to eat one bag a day. It’s a “micro-dosing” tactic. I love Oreo cookies, but if a box is in the house, I will eat every single one of them. To succeed at dieting, then, I must abstain completely.

How, then, are you to build willpower when each person’s approach looks to be so specialized?

These questions matter because, as one prominent psychologist put it,

people who have better control of their attention, emotions, and actions are better off almost any way you look at it. They are happier and healthier. Their relationships are more satisfying and last longer. They make more money and go further in their careers. They are better able to manage stress, deal with conflict, and overcome adversity. They even live longer. (McGonigal, The Willpower Instinct, 12).

This is why every great philosophical tradition from the ancient world prizes moderation as a key to living a happy life. Of those global traditions, two have most helped me solve the puzzles noted above.

The first is Stoicism, which began around 350 BCE in ancient Greece. It was also the first “Western” tradition to organize helpful habits into four key domains that they called cardinal, or primary, virtues. These are prudence, justice, courage, and moderation.

Epictetus (50–135 CE), the slave who became a free man and renowned Stoic philosopher in the Roman empire, devotes an entire chapter in his Discourses to our first paradox: how can a person be both disciplined and undisciplined?

His answer is that willpower isn’t one thing. It’s three (III.2). The ability to “knuckle down” and accomplish unpleasant tasks, like studying for eight hours straight, just isn’t the same thing as resisting a craving. And neither of those are the same as staying on a single course towards a goal in life.

The second is Aztec philosophy, which flourished in what is now central Mexico in the century before the Spaniards arrived (between 1428 and 1519). Because the Spaniards won, they wrote the history books that have tarnished the reputation of this indigenous people. Recent historical research, including Matthew Restall’s work in When Montezuma Met Cortes, has shown most of those views to be in error, the rest wildly exaggerated, and none of them to have the right context. I am part of a small group of researchers which is recovering the philosophy of this culture that has been ignored for nearly five centuries.

The Aztecs provide an answer to the second paradox. While there isn’t just one way to manage willpower, there are still only a handful of successful tactics. As a result, their philosophers developed a series of experiments that can help you to discover your own best solutions.

My philosophical thesis is that these insights are complimentary. They can be synthesized to provide a more accurate view about what moderation is.

Practically, I want to present you with the Aztec and Stoic secrets to building willpower in life. I’ll give you four key experiments to try out.

So let’s start with the general outlook.

Moderation as a Virtue

Virtues are those qualities of your character that enable you to live a happy life. Moderation is the virtue of having strong willpower. I can explain in a story.

When an undergraduate at university, I decided to study philosophy with a special focus on ancient Greece. This meant learning ancient Greek to proficiency, which is not a trivial undertaking.

To begin, I took an intensive Greek summer course which began with 25 students and ended with 4. To keep up with the workload, and meet with my girlfriend (later my wife) on my one free day, Friday, I had to develop a routine.

I would awake at 4:30 am, consume tortillas and Redbull for breakfast, go to class at 9:00, end at noon, workout, shower, eat protein, nap, study and eat more protein, then go to bed. On the weekends I would repeat the same activity only studying continuously until noon. By the end of the summer, I could sight-translate Plato’s Republic.

Moderation is what allowed me to do what I wanted. That’s why the Stoics held that “moderation is prudence in matters requiring choice” (Hellenistic Philosophers, 61C).

Notably, that definition also shows you that the Stoics held that all the virtues were interrelated. Moderation is prudence in matters of choice. This point will help us in a moment to understand why the Stoics divided willpower into three parts.

The Aztecs organized their whole society around the activities of fostering moderation in its people, both for war, and for ordinary work. In the Discourses of the Elders, preserved in the Florentine Codex, a father gives his son advice about moderation as follows:

Above all, you should be moderate in drink and food, for very many things pertain to it. … Additionally prudence in this respect is this: when you are going to eat, do not be hasty, do not be thoughtless … do not gulp your food down like a dog (FC 6.22, 124).

The context of the speech shows that for the Aztecs, moderation is also prudence in specific matters, such as food and drink. The father goes on to discuss moderation in related actions, including not taking so many sexual partners and being industrious.

Just like the Stoics, the Aztecs held that prudence was involved in all the virtues, especially in moderation. So even though these traditions were separated both geographically and temporally, they shared a surprisingly similar view: moderation allows you to act on your best reasons in response to an impulse.

Some Differences

Where the traditions differ looks to concern extra-ethical topics. The Aztecs and Stoics had different views on moral psychology and human agency. The upshot of these differences is that the Aztecs thought that rituals could play a role in helping you to be moderate. The Stoics, by contrast, held that your moderation had to be something that you do on your own.

Having identified where these traditions differ theoretically, a practical synthesis of their views proves relatively simple. Beginning with the Aztecs, since they held that our moral psychology was too complex for anyone to handle on their own, they also thought that people respond differently to situations.

Their philosophers thus developed a whole range of practices to help people recognize how they respond to willpower-draining situations. Here’s a passage on the training of teenaged boys for the calmecac, the schooling that you had to go through if you were going to work in the noble courts.

When they were novices… they went forth when it was midnight or still dark. They started by going to the forest where they gathered wood. They would carry on their backs what they called “logs” which they burned at the calmecac all night as the priests kept watch (FC 3.a.8, 65).

Of course, these were chores that needed to be done, but they also served to help the boys to develop moderation. The teachers wanted to give them an opportunity to build up their willpower.

For the Stoic tradition, the virtue for willpower doesn’t concern one thing, but three. Epictetus divides the topic of ethical study into three parts as follows:

The first has to do with desires and aversions …. The second, with cases of choice and refusal, and, in general, with duty … the third with the avoidance of error and rashness in judgment (III.2, 2–3).

The full implication of this division goes beyond what concerns us here. But if you remember that all the virtues are interrelated, then you’ll recognize that moderation has to be divided into these three domains.

What Epictetus is saying, effectively, is that

1. one part of willpower concerns the ability to do what is disagreeable,
2. another part concerns willing not to do something, and
3. a final part concerns knowing what you truly want in the first place.

These are, in short, your will-to, will-not-to, and want-to powers. When I was studying to learn Greek, I was using will-to and want-to powers, not as much the will-not-to power.

A Final Observation

Let me introduce a further distinction with a story. Several months ago my home’s basement was flooded with about two inches of sewer water. The main pipe at a central intersection had clogged so that all the households in the area had sewage back-up into their homes.

To save what I could, I had to rush downstairs into the poo-water repeatedly to retrieve whatever belongings were worth saving. It was a rancid and highly-disagreeable affair.

That is Epictetus’ will-to power in action, but it concerns a topic of high emotional intensity. That feeling is different from moderately disagreeable activities, such as my daily exercise routine. I dislike doing squats. But the real difficulty I face turns on continuing to do this moderately-disagreeable activity several times a week, forever.

So, there are really two dimensions of willing-to. One concerns high-intensity cases and the other moderate-intensity cases.

When you combine all these insights, you find that you should experiment with four different practices to help you build up your willpower. Let’s take each in turn.

The Intensity Practice

The idea at work here is to hone your ability to face higher-intensity disagreeable activities. This is one feature of the Stoic will-to power. So, how do you practice it?

Above we saw that the Aztec philosophers had their students get up early to perform arduous tasks like fetching firewood. Marcus Aurelius, the emperor of Rome (121–180 CE), also commended getting out of bed, writing:

At daybreak, when you are loth to get up, have this ready in your mind: I am rising to do a human’s work [ergon] (Meditations V.1).

His point was that the special work [ergon] of a human being consists in things other than staying in bed.

You could pick a wide range of challenges to observe how you respond to these scenarios, and the Aztecs included getting cold, getting hot, and physical exertion.

But one of the best is also one of the simplest: get out of bed early for five days in a row.

The point isn’t to change your schedule, but to observe how you respond and learn how to improve. I am not a morning person, though I do get up fairly early — around 6:30 am.

When I recently decided to try this out, I got up at my old Greek study time at 4:30 am. What I discovered were my own psychological “inflexion points,” those points in the process that it’s hardest to cross. Organized temporally they are:

1. getting out of bed itself,
2. that dizzy feeling after standing up,
3. the cold room (I live in the New York),
4. the nausea to follow.

What I noticed was a desire to return to bed at points two and three, while point four makes me generally averse to getting up early. Even thinking about the topic makes me slightly nauseated.

Invariably, a high-anxiety response (alarm clock) releases enough cortisol to get me out of bed and keep me out. So that’s one trick to make me act on these activities, but it’s also not a long term solution. And that brings us to the next practice.

The Consistency Practice

The idea at work here is to practice the other feature of Stoic will-to power, that which concerns lower intensity, but consistent activity.

The Aztecs trained their children in this sort of activity by having them practice daily sweeping. In the Florentine Codex we read that while at the calmecac school:

It was brought about that everyone swept when it was yet dark (FC 3.a.8, 65).

And, of course, they had social rituals to facilitate this: doing it with friends, even singing while working.

Often, you’ll hear that people suggest that you should make your bed every day to practice this sort of consistency. A more Aztec way, though, would involve relating to other people.

To do that, you could do something simple like try saying happy birthday every day on Facebook to all your friends. You’ll at least have to check every day even if you don’t have a friend celebrating a birthday each time. It’s self-reinforcing because you’ll get to make people feel good and work on boosting your willpower.

When I began doing this, I learned that some reminders are better than others for me. I use a boring checklist approach. Basically, it goes in my daily to-dos, and since I do those, I’ve been saying happy birthday to a lot of people.

My wife uses cell phone reminders for activities like these. She just puts them into her daily (Google) calendar. That doesn’t work for me, since I mostly ignore my phone except for the morning and late evening.

I had a student who found that he could do this regularly if he did it during a routine he already had set up, brushing his teeth. Yes. After putting the toothpaste on his brush he would pause to look up birthdays on his phone, do that, and then finish brushing his teeth.

Odd, but it worked. And the whole point is to find what gets you to do something hard. But what about not doing something?

The Craving Practice

At work here is the practice of will-not-to power. It was essential to the Stoic outlook. Here is Epictetus’ statement:

When children stick their hand down a narrow goody jar they can’t get their full fist out and start crying. Drop a few treats and you will get it out! Curb your desire — don’t set your heart on so many things and you will get what you need (Discourses III.9,22).

Of course, wanting less and being able to control yourself are different things. So how can you practice it? Both traditions would say that you have to face what you desire and learn how you respond.

Here’s my Lindt truffle challenge. It’ll work for you if you like chocolate. Buy a box and stick it in various places:

1. plain sight, like a platter in a main room,
2. obscured sight, like a pantry closet,
3. a difficult to reach place, like a basement or outdoor garage.

You get the idea, from easy, to just a real pain to get to.

What I learned from this is that if something sweet is in plain sight I will munch continually until it’s gone. When it’s obscured, I’ll remember it when I have a craving, but relatively more infrequently. When I put the truffles in my garage, it felt like too much effort and I just didn’t eat any. Instead, I ate “good food.”

Cravings are just impulses, so figure out when you give in and what you need to do to overcome that. Of course, identifying something as a craving implies that you have an idea of what you really want anyway, which brings us to the final practice.

The Simulation Practice

The idea here involves figuring out what you truly want. We often think we want one thing, but when we get it, we realize it’s not what we thought it would be.

To help people with this problem, what the Aztec philosopher would do is counsel other people and help them to align their “face” and their “heart,” which is metaphorical language for the seat of your judgment and the seat of your desires. Here’s a description from the Florentine Codex:

Like a watchful physician, the good philosopher is a reputable person… She is a counselor and a coach, fostering sound judgment [i.e. a face] in others.

Like a physician, she is worthy of being taken as an example … She is confided in, trusted, quite affable, satisfying one’s heart, making one content (FC 10.8, 29).

Presumably, the philosopher would give the counseled activities to align their psyche. How are we to do this?

From the surviving Discourses that we have, it looks as though they suggested that you should simulate your desires (my language, not theirs). Here’s what I mean.

A few summers ago, my wife and I visited and stayed with my parents for a little over a month. My father is an (almost) retired small business owner. To fulfill a life-long wish, he bought himself a Porsche sports car.

It is a beautiful and remarkable car and while I lived with them, I was able to simulate the experience of owning it. I drove to restaurants, the grocery store, picked up the mail, and so on.

What I learned was that while it was fun to “drop the hammer” and zoom off in the car, it was still a (very nice) car. I’m not sure what fantasies I thought it would fulfill, but by simulating the experience myself, I learned what the reality of the situation was.

You can do this too. When you think you really want something, or you are contemplating a career change, simulate it first. Participate in a “small scale” version of the activity and see how it actually goes.

When It’s Easier To Do The Hard Thing

The world’s ancient philosophical traditions understood how to build your will power. The Stoics show us that willpower is three things, willing-to, willing-not-to, and truly wanting-to. The Aztecs teach us that everyone has different best techniques so that you need to experiment a little to find what works for you.

We’ve looked over four key experiments that follow from these insights: the intensity practice, the consistency practice, the craving practice, and the simulation practice. In each case, your aim is to put yourself in a situation and observe how you respond.

You might also learn that some of your best benefits come from converting one practice into another. This is when it’s easier to do the hard thing.

For example, for me it’s easier to fast, eating only 800 calories in a day, than to moderate my munching on sweets. Fasting is a high-intensity activity while moderating is a low-intensity activity. By introducing fasting into my diet, I’ve been able to remain healthy and achieve my body target goals.

Another example concerns the reverse idea. After my early 20s, I found it tough to get to the gym regularly to do high-intensity weight training. So I moved to low-intensity consistency. I do daily calisthenic activities. And while I’m not in the ab-rippling shape of my early 20s, I’m fine with the results.

So, sometimes the easier thing is better than the harder thing.

The point in all of these “spiritual exercises” is to give you a way to live a better, happier life. Willpower is crucial for that and improving it is really just a matter of knowing how you respond in specific situations. It’s not a thing that you have or don’t have, but a tool-box that is full or empty.

I’ll leave you with a final quotation from Marcus Aurelius’ advice on the topic: just try to stay on the path.

When first, as it seems, by circumstances you are led into utter confusions, get ahold of yourself quickly. Don’t be locked out of the rhythm any longer than necessary. You’ll be able to keep the beat if you are constantly returning to it (Meditations, 6.11).

I hope you learned something and thank you for reading.

For philosophy as a way of life, using all of the world’s traditions, join my newsletter.

Sebastian Purcell’s research specializes in world comparative philosophy, especially as these ancient traditions teach us how to lead happier, richer lives. He lives with his wife, a fellow philosopher, and their three cats in upstate New York.