Books like The Willpower Instinct

01

Willpower: Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength

Roy Baumeister and John Tierney · Psychology

Willpower is social psychologist Roy Baumeister's synthesis of decades of laboratory research on self-control, translated into practical guidance by science journalist John Tierney.

Shares willpower and self-control with The Willpower Instinct.

02

Atomic Habits

James Clear · Self-help

Atomic Habits is James Clear's framework for how very small changes — habits so minor they seem to make no difference on any given day — compound into remarkable results over months and years.

Both dig into habits.

03

The Power of Habit

Charles Duhigg · Psychology

The Power of Habit is Charles Duhigg's investigation into why habits exist and how they can be changed.

Shares willpower and neuroscience with The Willpower Instinct.

04

Full Catastrophe Living

Jon Kabat-Zinn · Health

Full Catastrophe Living is Jon Kabat-Zinn's foundational text on Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), the eight-week clinical program he developed at the University of Massachusetts Medical School in 1979.

Both dig into mindfulness.

05

Tiny Habits: The Small Changes That Change Everything

BJ Fogg · Self-help

Tiny Habits is BJ Fogg's distillation of more than two decades of research at Stanford's Behavior Design Lab.

Both dig into habits.

06

Mini Habits

Stephen Guise · Self-help

Mini Habits is Stephen Guise's case for starting habits so small they are almost impossible to fail.

Shares willpower and habits with The Willpower Instinct.

07

The Miracle Morning

Hal Elrod · Self-help

The Miracle Morning is Hal Elrod's account of how a structured early-morning routine transformed his life after a near-fatal car accident left him with brain damage at age twenty, and subsequently saved him from near-bankruptcy during the 2008 financial crisis.

Shares habits and mindfulness with The Willpower Instinct.

08

Good Habits, Bad Habits

Wendy Wood · Psychology

Good Habits, Bad Habits is social psychologist Wendy Wood's account of what decades of research actually shows about how habits form and change.

Shares self-control and habits with The Willpower Instinct.

09

Hardwiring Happiness: The New Brain Science of Contentment, Calm, and Confidence

Rick Hanson · Psychology

Rick Hanson is a neuropsychologist and meditation teacher, and this book is his attempt to explain why wellbeing is so hard to sustain and what the brain science suggests you can do about it.

Shares neuroscience and mindfulness with The Willpower Instinct.

10

Mindsight: The New Science of Personal Transformation

Daniel J. Siegel · Psychology

Mindsight is Daniel Siegel's case that humans have a distinct capacity he calls "mindsight" — the ability to sense and shape one's own mental processes and to perceive the inner lives of others.

Shares neuroscience and mindfulness with The Willpower Instinct.

11

The Emotional Life of Your Brain

Richard J. Davidson and Sharon Begley · Psychology

Richard Davidson spent decades in a field where discussing emotions in relation to brain science was considered soft and suspect.

Shares neuroscience and mindfulness with The Willpower Instinct.

12

The Marshmallow Test: Mastering Self-Control

Walter Mischel · Psychology

Walter Mischel designed the marshmallow test at Stanford in the late 1960s: a child is left alone in a room with a marshmallow and told that if they can wait for the researcher to return without eating it, they'll get two.

Shares willpower and self-control with The Willpower Instinct.