Beliefs, rather than motivation, are the key drivers of perseverance. Dieting can be viewed as a pseudo-religious belief ...

Think of your willpower as a muscle that gets tired with use. You may push yourself to get the report done at work, push yourself to choose salad over pizza at lunch, and then push yourself to call ...

Answer by Dan Ariely, Professor of Psychology and Behavioral Economics at Duke University, on Quora: One of the main things that people don’t understand about motivation is the pleasure principle.