Will and Attention (Meghan O'Gieblyn)

This book isn’t out yet, but based on this excerpt published in Harper’s, I have little fear I’ll regret recommending it. The way O’Gieblyn expresses our conundrum with willpower — that it is the act of overcoming the simultaneous desire for two things that stand in direct opposition to each other — really hit me. You can feel this tension whenever you try to will your way through something large or small, and that it’s rather something to do with paying attention that can clear a path for you.