The Willpower Instinct: How Self-Control Works, Why It Matters, and What You Can Do To Get More of It

by Kelly McGonigal

When your mind is preoccupied, your impulses—not your long-term goals—will guide your choices.

Our reward system gets much more excited about a possible big win than a guaranteed smaller reward, and it will motivate us to do whatever provides the chance to win. This is why people would rather play the lottery than earn a guaranteed 2 percent interest in a savings account, and why even the lowest employee in a company should be made to believe he could someday be the CEO.

Our brains mistake the promise of reward for a guarantee of happiness, so we chase satisfaction from things that do not deliver.