It’s 8 PM. You’ve been in meetings all day. You resisted checking Twitter during presentations. You held back your frustration when that one coworker interrupted you for the third time. You made yourself exercise even though you didn’t feel like it. You ate a salad for lunch instead of pizza.

Now you’re home. You sit down to work on your side project—the one you’re genuinely excited about.

And you have absolutely nothing left. You stare at the screen. You open Twitter (ironically, the thing you resisted all day). You order takeout. You binge-watch Netflix.

What happened?

You didn’t suddenly become lazy. You didn’t lose motivation. Your willpower ran out.

This is ego depletion. And understanding it might be the most important thing for managing your energy and productivity.

What is Ego Depletion?

Ego depletion is the idea that self-control and willpower draw from a limited mental resource that gets depleted with use.

Think of it like a battery:

  • You wake up with a full battery of willpower
  • Every act of self-control drains a bit of the battery
  • Eventually, the battery is dead
  • You can’t exert self-control anymore, even if you want to

The term was coined by psychologist Roy Baumeister in the 1990s, and his research shook the psychology world.

The metaphor: Your willpower is like a muscle. It gets tired with use. It needs rest to recover.

The Famous Experiments

Let me walk you through the research that revealed this phenomenon.

The setup:

Students came to a lab hungry. They were put in a room with two foods:

  • Fresh-baked chocolate chip cookies (smelling amazing)
  • Radishes (not amazing)

Group 1: Could eat cookies Group 2: Could only eat radishes (had to resist cookies) Group 3: No food (control)

Then, all groups were given an impossible puzzle to solve.

Results:

  • Cookie group: Worked on puzzle for ~20 minutes
  • Control group: Worked on puzzle for ~20 minutes
  • Radish group: Gave up after ~8 minutes

The conclusion: Resisting the cookies depleted their willpower. They had less self-control left for the puzzle.

The implication: Self-control in one domain depletes self-control in all other domains.

The Video Attention Experiment

The setup:

Participants watched a video. In the corner, words occasionally appeared.

Group 1: Watch the video naturally Group 2: Actively ignore the words (requires self-control)

Afterward, both groups did a physical stamina test (holding a handgrip as long as possible).

Results:

  • Group 1: Held grip for ~2 minutes
  • Group 2: Held grip for ~1 minute

The conclusion: Mental self-control depleted physical stamina. The effect crosses domains.

The Thought Suppression Experiment

The setup:

“Don’t think about a white bear.”

(Spoiler: You’re now thinking about a white bear.)

Participants were asked to suppress thoughts (a classic self-control task). Then they did an unrelated self-control task.

Result: Thought suppression depleted willpower for the subsequent task.

The pattern: Over dozens of studies, the same result emerged. Self-control depletes a common resource.

What Depletes Willpower?

Here’s what drains your willpower battery:

1. Resisting Temptations

  • Not checking your phone during a meeting
  • Not eating junk food when you’re craving it
  • Not snapping at someone who’s annoying you
  • Not clicking on a distracting link

Every act of resistance costs willpower.

2. Making Decisions

This is called decision fatigue.

  • Choosing what to wear
  • Deciding what to eat
  • Picking which task to work on
  • Determining which approach to use
  • Selecting from options

Every decision, even small ones, depletes willpower.

This is why Mark Zuckerberg wears the same gray shirt every day. It’s not a fashion statement—it’s willpower preservation.

3. Controlling Emotions

  • Staying calm when you’re angry
  • Being polite when you’re frustrated
  • Acting confident when you’re anxious
  • Suppressing fear or sadness

Emotional regulation is exhausting.

4. Performing Tasks You Don’t Want to Do

  • Working on boring tasks
  • Doing chores
  • Administrative work
  • Forced social interactions

The less intrinsically motivated you are, the more willpower it costs.

5. Maintaining Focus and Attention

  • Ignoring distractions
  • Staying on task
  • Resisting the urge to check notifications
  • Sustaining concentration

Every minute of forced focus drains willpower.

6. Self-Monitoring and Restraint

  • Tracking what you eat
  • Watching what you say
  • Being careful about your appearance
  • Monitoring your behavior in social situations

Constant self-awareness is depleting.

How Ego Depletion Shows Up in Tech

Let me show you exactly how this manifests for engineers and knowledge workers.

Pattern 1: The Decision Fatigue Sprint Planning

Morning: Start of sprint planning. Everyone’s engaged, making thoughtful decisions about story points, priorities, and approaches.

Hour 3: People stop caring. “Sure, whatever. Let’s just move on.”

What happened: Decision fatigue. After hundreds of micro-decisions, everyone’s willpower is depleted. The later decisions are worse than the early ones.

Real impact: You make poor architectural choices at the end of meetings because your decision-making ability is depleted.

Pattern 2: The After-Meeting Slump

My experience:

Morning: 3 hours of back-to-back meetings (resisting distractions, controlling frustration, making decisions)

Afternoon: Supposed to do “deep work.” But I have zero energy. I just scroll Twitter, read articles, do mindless tasks.

What happened: The meetings depleted my willpower. I have nothing left for focused, challenging work.

This is why “calendar Tetris” destroys productivity. It’s not just time fragmentation—it’s willpower depletion.

Pattern 3: The Code Review Deterioration

I tracked my code review quality over a day:

Review #1 (9 AM): Thorough, thoughtful feedback. Catch subtle bugs. Suggest improvements.

Review #2 (11 AM): Still good. Catching most issues.

Review #3 (2 PM): Faster, less thorough. Some shortcuts.

Review #4 (5 PM): “LGTM” (I barely looked)

What happened: Each review requires focus and critical thinking. By review #4, I’m depleted.

This is why senior engineers guard their mornings. They know their best thinking happens when willpower is fresh.

Pattern 4: The Evening Side Project Failure

The cycle:

Morning: “Tonight I’ll work on my side project!”

Workday: Meetings, code reviews, problem-solving, resisting distractions, managing emotions

Evening: Sit down to work on side project. Can’t focus. Give up. Watch YouTube.

What happened: Work depleted your willpower. You have nothing left for your passion project.

This is the tragedy of ego depletion: You use all your willpower on work you’re less excited about, and have nothing left for work you actually care about.

Pattern 5: The Diet-Breaking Deployment

The scenario:

You’re on a diet. You’ve been good all day—resisting snacks, eating healthy meals.

Then: Production outage. Stressful debugging session. Deploys fail. Things break.

After you fix it: You eat an entire pizza and a pint of ice cream.

What happened: The stressful situation depleted your willpower. You had nothing left to resist food cravings.

This is why “diet + stressful job” often fails. Both require willpower. You don’t have enough for both.

The Glucose Connection

Here’s where it gets interesting: Ego depletion is linked to blood glucose levels.

Baumeister’s research found:

Low glucose → Worse self-control

Replenishing glucose → Restored self-control

The experiments:

Group 1: Depleted willpower, then given glucose drink → Self-control restored

Group 2: Depleted willpower, then given artificial sweetener drink → Self-control stayed low

The theory: Self-control is metabolically expensive. Your brain needs fuel. When glucose is low, self-control suffers.

The practical implication: This is why you make terrible decisions when you’re hungry.

The “Hangry” phenomenon is real and scientifically validated.

The Controversy: Is Ego Depletion Real?

I need to address this: Ego depletion has faced replication challenges.

The controversy:

Starting around 2016, some studies failed to replicate the ego depletion effect. This sparked a debate:

  • Some researchers say ego depletion isn’t real
  • Others say it’s real but weaker than initially thought
  • Others say the effect depends on beliefs and expectations

The current scientific consensus: It’s complicated.

My take (as someone who’s read the research extensively):

Ego depletion as originally described (a purely biological battery that depletes): Probably too simplistic

The phenomenon of willpower feeling depleted after sustained effort: Absolutely real

The practical implications: Basically unchanged

Whether it’s purely biological or partly psychological, the experience is the same: After sustained self-control, you have less capacity for more self-control.

So for practical purposes, we’ll continue. But know there’s nuance.

What DOESN’T Deplete Willpower

Interestingly, not everything that requires effort depletes willpower:

1. Intrinsically Motivated Activities

Activities you enjoy don’t deplete willpower the same way.

  • Playing with a fun side project
  • Learning something you’re genuinely curious about
  • Having an engaging conversation
  • Working on a problem you find fascinating

This is why flow state (covered in another post) doesn’t feel depleting. When you’re intrinsically motivated, you’re not using willpower—you’re genuinely engaged.

2. Habitual Behaviors

Once something is a habit, it requires minimal willpower.

  • Brushing your teeth
  • Your morning coffee routine
  • Your workout (if it’s truly habitual)

This is why building habits is so valuable. You move behaviors from “willpower required” to “automatic.”

3. Aligned Actions

When your actions align with your values and identity, they’re less depleting.

“I’m the kind of person who writes every day” → Writing feels less like forcing yourself

“I’m a healthy person” → Choosing salad over pizza feels natural, not like deprivation

How to Manage Your Willpower Budget

Alright, practical strategies. How do you work with ego depletion rather than against it?

Strategy 1: Prioritize Your Willpower Spending

Treat willpower like a budget. You have limited amount. Spend it wisely.

The practice:

List your daily activities that require willpower. Then prioritize.

My list:

High Priority (worth willpower):

  • Deep work on challenging problems
  • Learning new skills
  • Side project development
  • Exercise

Low Priority (minimize willpower spending):

  • What to wear (standardize wardrobe)
  • What to eat (meal prep)
  • Which task to do first (plan the night before)
  • Email responses (templates and batching)

The principle: Eliminate or automate low-priority willpower drains so you have more for high-priority activities.

Strategy 2: The Morning Protection Protocol

Your willpower is highest in the morning. Protect it fiercely.

What I do:

Before 12 PM:

  • No meetings (depleting)
  • No email (decision fatigue)
  • No Slack (attention drain)
  • Just: Deep work on the most challenging task

After 12 PM:

  • Meetings (I have willpower for managing emotions and attention)
  • Email (I can make decisions)
  • Administrative tasks (I can force myself)

The result: My most important work happens when I have maximum willpower.

Strategy 3: Decision Minimization

Every decision depletes willpower. Reduce decisions.

Examples:

What to wear: Uniform (same outfit every day, or 3 standard outfits)

What to eat: Meal prep (decide once for the week, not daily)

Morning routine: Identical every day (no decisions)

Task order: Decided the night before (no morning decision paralysis)

Tech stack: Standardized (don’t choose libraries for every project)

My experience: After eliminating ~30 daily decisions, I had noticeably more willpower for important things.

Strategy 4: The Energy-State Matching

Match tasks to your willpower level.

High willpower (morning):

  • System design
  • Complex debugging
  • Learning new concepts
  • Creative problem-solving
  • Difficult conversations

Medium willpower (midday):

  • Code reviews
  • Meetings
  • Responding to questions
  • Standard feature development

Low willpower (evening):

  • Documentation
  • Testing
  • Refactoring familiar code
  • Organizing notes

Don’t try to do high-willpower tasks when you’re depleted. You’ll fail or produce mediocre work.

Strategy 5: The Glucose Strategy (With Nuance)

Keep your blood sugar stable.

What works:

  • Regular meals (don’t skip)
  • Protein + complex carbs (sustained energy)
  • Healthy snacks available
  • Hydration

What doesn’t work:

  • Sugar crashes (candy → spike → crash → worse)
  • Skipping breakfast
  • Long gaps between meals

My implementation: I keep nuts, fruit, and protein bars at my desk. Small, frequent nutrition beats long fasts followed by binges.

Strategy 6: The Recovery Blocks

Just like muscles need rest, willpower needs recovery.

What restores willpower:

1. Sleep (most important)

  • 7-9 hours
  • Consistent schedule
  • Recovery happens overnight

2. Nature exposure

  • Walking outside
  • Green spaces
  • Reduces mental fatigue

3. Physical activity

  • Moderate exercise (not exhaustive)
  • Increases energy
  • Counterintuitive but true

4. Positive emotions

  • Laughter
  • Social connection
  • Enjoyment

5. Meditation / Rest

  • Actual rest (not scrolling)
  • Mindfulness
  • Doing nothing

What DOESN’T restore willpower:

  • Social media scrolling
  • Passive TV watching
  • Low-quality leisure

The practice: Schedule real recovery between high-willpower activities.

Strategy 7: The Temptation Removal

Don’t rely on willpower to resist temptations. Remove the temptations.

Examples:

Don’t resist checking Twitter. Delete the app.

Don’t resist eating junk food. Don’t buy it.

Don’t resist getting distracted by your phone. Leave it in another room.

The principle: Every act of resistance depletes willpower. Eliminate the need for resistance.

I used to resist checking my phone 50 times a day. Each resistance cost willpower. Now my phone is in a drawer during work. Zero resistance required. Massive willpower savings.

Strategy 8: The Implementation Intention (Again)

Pre-commit to actions so you don’t need willpower in the moment.

Format: “If [situation], then [action].”

Examples:

  • “If it’s 9 AM, then I start working on the high-priority task.”
  • “If I’m tempted to check Twitter, then I’ll do 10 push-ups first.”
  • “If I feel depleted after meetings, then I’ll take a 15-minute walk.”

Why this works: You’re deciding in advance (when willpower is high) what you’ll do in a situation (when willpower might be low).

Strategy 9: The Progress Tracking

Visible progress reduces the willpower cost of continuing.

Why:

When you see progress, you get motivation boosts. This reduces the willpower needed to continue.

Implementation:

  • Check off tasks as you complete them
  • Track GitHub contributions
  • Measure learning progress
  • Celebrate small wins

My experience: When I see a streak of completed tasks, continuing requires less willpower. Momentum reduces friction.

Strategy 10: The “Only One Hard Thing” Rule

Don’t stack willpower-intensive activities.

Bad:

  • Start new diet
  • Begin meditation practice
  • Launch side project
  • Quit social media

All at once = massive willpower demand = failure

Good:

Month 1: Start diet (only this)

Month 2: Diet is now habitual, add meditation

Month 3: Both habitual, add side project

The principle: Build one habit to automaticity before adding another willpower-intensive change.

The Ego Depletion Death Spirals

Watch out for these patterns:

Death Spiral 1: The Depletion-Stress Loop

The cycle:

Depleted willpower → Make bad decisions → Create problems → More stress → More depletion → Worse decisions → More stress…

Example:

Depleted after work → Order unhealthy takeout → Feel bad about diet → Stress → Sleep worse → Wake up depleted → Perform worse at work → More stress → More depletion…

Breaking the cycle: Insert ONE positive behavior (e.g., a 10-minute walk) to interrupt the loop.

Death Spiral 2: The Comparison-Depletion Trap

The cycle:

See successful person → “I should do that too” → Add to goals → More willpower required → Fail → Feel inadequate → Compare more → Add more goals → More depletion…

Breaking the cycle: Focus on YOUR priorities, not other people’s achievements.

Death Spiral 3: The Meeting Cascade

The cycle:

Accept one meeting → Willpower depleted → Can’t focus on work → Fall behind → Need meeting to discuss being behind → More depletion → Even further behind…

Breaking the cycle: Guard your calendar. Say no to meetings. Protect willpower.

Special Case: Willpower for Developers

Software engineering has unique willpower challenges:

Challenge 1: Context Switching Tax

Every time you switch contexts (different project, different language, different problem), you pay a willpower tax.

Solution: Batch similar work. Do all code reviews together. Work on one project per day, not five projects in one day.

Challenge 2: The Open Office Drain

Resisting distractions in an open office is constant willpower drain.

Solution: Noise-canceling headphones, “focus time” blocks, work from home for deep work days.

Challenge 3: The Always-On Culture

Resisting the urge to check Slack/email constantly requires willpower.

Solution: Batch communication. Check Slack 3x/day at set times, not continuously.

Challenge 4: The Impostor Syndrome Management

Constantly managing self-doubt and fear of being “found out” is exhausting.

Solution: Externalize validation. Track concrete accomplishments. Trust data over feelings.

The Long-Term Approach: Building a Low-Willpower Life

The ultimate goal: Design a life that requires minimal willpower to maintain.

How:

1. Build Strong Habits

Move important behaviors from “willpower required” to “automatic.”

2. Design Your Environment

Make good choices the default. Make bad choices hard.

3. Pursue Intrinsically Motivating Work

Work you love requires less willpower than work you tolerate.

4. Simplify Your Life

Fewer decisions = less depletion.

5. Optimize for Energy

Sleep, exercise, nutrition. These reduce willpower demand for everything else.

My progression:

Year 1 of career: Every day was a willpower battle. Forcing myself to work, resisting distractions, managing emotions.

Year 5: Built habits, structured environment, found engaging work. Most days flowed naturally.

Year 10: Life requires minimal willpower. Good behaviors are automatic. Work is intrinsically motivating. Energy is stable.

The goal isn’t to have infinite willpower. It’s to need less willpower.

The Belief Effect

Recent research suggests: Your beliefs about willpower matter.

Study (Job et al., 2010):

People who believed willpower was limited showed ego depletion effects.

People who believed willpower was NOT limited showed NO ego depletion effects.

Implication: To some extent, ego depletion might be self-fulfilling.

My take: Even if ego depletion is partly belief-driven, the strategies still work. Whether the limitation is biological or psychological, managing your energy strategically is valuable.

But there’s an additional strategy: Reframe your relationship with effort.

Instead of: “This is depleting my willpower”

Try: “This is training my willpower muscle”

Some people find this reframe empowering.

Final Thoughts

Here’s what I wish I’d understood earlier:

Willpower is not a measure of your character. It’s a resource that gets depleted.

When you’re sitting at your desk, unable to focus, unable to start, unable to resist distractions—you’re not lazy. You’re depleted.

And the solution isn’t “be more disciplined.” The solution is:

  1. Understand what depletes your willpower
  2. Budget your willpower for what matters
  3. Remove temptations rather than resisting them
  4. Restore your willpower through sleep, nutrition, and recovery
  5. Build habits so important behaviors become automatic

The goal is a life that requires less willpower, not more.

Work you enjoy. Habits that serve you. An environment that makes good choices easy.

That’s not weakness. That’s wisdom.

So the next time you can’t seem to make yourself do something you know you should do, ask yourself:

“Is my willpower depleted? What depleted it? How can I restore it? How can I need less of it tomorrow?”

That’s how you work with ego depletion, rather than fighting against it.

What depletes your willpower most? And what strategies have you found to manage your willpower budget?