An Area Of The Brain Controls Willpower And Tenacity: Science Says You Can Improve It
It confirms what philosophy and experience have said for thousands of years
The defining characteristic of being human must be facing resistance. At least for me, even getting out of bed in the morning requires effort. And life throws more endless obstacles your way as the day goes on.
Author Ryan Holiday likes to remind us thousands of years ago the Stoic philosopher Epictetus told his students they must “persist and resist.” In other words, fight to keep on course and struggle to avoid things which take you away from this.
So, resistance has always been with us.
That’s why our society considers willpower and tenacity virtues. They’re cherished due to their difficult nature; gyms recognize this.
NPR once explained how a Planet Fitness gym signed up 6,000 clients for memberships in a single year. Just one problem: their building only holds 300 people. Fortunately, the gym owners know at the first sign of physical struggle, most of the new members won’t come back.
So, are we all destined to fold like a pair of unused gym shorts when resistance appears?
Not according to neurologist Dr. Andrew Huberman. The Stanford University professor recently explained on his podcast that there’s an area of the brain which specifically deals with tenacity and willpower.
It’s called the anterior midcingulate cortex. Moreover, the labs studying it have developed science-based solutions for improving willpower and tenacity. But we need better understanding of this area before we begin our battle against resistance.
A Quick Tour Of Our Brain’s Tenacity Center
Dr. Huberman says the anterior midcingulate cortex (AMC) sits about a third of the way back from your forehead towards the rear of the brain. There’s also two of them, each occupying a hemisphere. It’s also a bit of an oddity.
He says many sections of the brain don’t individually control a function but are a partner in that activity’s performance. The AMC is different. Dr. Huberman says many high-quality studies show this section of the brain to be the primary driver of willpower and resilience.
The AMC hooks to other brain areas which release testosterone. One of this neurochemical’s purposes is to make “effort feel good.”
This section of the brain also connects to “premotor centers,” which organize and suppress behaviors.
It also connects with areas that release dopamine (the brain’s feel good chemical).
Brain scans also show the AMC is activated when performing difficult tasks, and the resting rate of activity in this brain region is greater in higher achievers. Moreover, when this region is damaged, increased apathy and depression are the result. So, less tenacity.
Even successful dieters show increased activity levels in their AMC. Dr. Huberman also documents a study of “super agers,” or those above 60 that show levels of cognitive ability on par with much younger brains. While brains tend to shrink with age, the super ager’s AMC stayed larger than those of comparable age.
The most unique study was done when this area of the brain was stimulated by electrical probes during brain surgery when patients were awake. The patients reported feeling like trouble was coming, and they had to marshal resources to get ready, but were confident they could handle it.
Although the most interesting research shows this brain area can be activated and grown with intentional effort.
Growing Your Willpower And Tenacity Brain Region
“This brain area is highly subject to plasticity. There are specific things we can do, and there are specific mindsets we can adopt that allow us to increase the particular activity of this brain area…so we can call on tenacity and willpower not just in one circumstance…but call on this area in context of any and all circumstances.”
— Dr. Andrew Huberman, How To Increase Your Willpower & Tenacity
Dr. Huberman explains the AMC works under the principle of “allostasis,” or allocation of resources to complete a task. In other words, it functions like a “dimmer switch” for a light.
Tenacity can’t be “on” going nonstop in every area, all the time. The AMC ramps it up and down. And its area of focus is resistance.
Dr. Huberman details a study that conducted brain scans on subjects from 60 to 79 that did a triple dose of 1 hour cardio sessions per week at 75% lung capacity. This group did not exercise previously. After three months, their AMC grew, but a control group that did less strenuous exercise didn’t have the same result.
So, this brain area grows by working it like a muscle. But its primer is resistance. Therefore, if it’s easy for you to do cardio sessions like this 3 times a week, you don’t see the same benefit. It also extends beyond exercise.
The super agers previously mentioned tended to engage in difficult activities, learning new skills, and seeking novel environments. They weren’t “complacent or sedentary,” and were continually “foraging.”
So, Dr. Huberman recommends we use “micro-sucks.”
In other words, seek “deliberate engagement in the behaviors we least want to do at a given moment.” It could also involve suppressing wanted actions. Obviously, both should involve positive things. But he specifically recommends:
Adding an extra set to the end of an exercise session, just when you really want to stop.
After finishing a lesson on anything, stopping, and sitting still for 5 minutes to contemplate what you learned — especially when you want to look at your phone.
Resisting the urge to turn on Netflix before a task is complete.
Seeking out specific endeavors that have “no endpoint,” requiring continual improvement and work.
Dr. Huberman sees this area of the brain as an evidence-based manifestation, which proves tenacity and willpower can be grown, and cross-applied from one difficult task to another. Although philosophy and experience have been saying this for thousands of years.
Philosophy And Life’s Advice On Building Tenacity
While Epictetus said to persist and resist, in modern times comedian, martial artist, and podcaster Joe Rogan says, “All difficult things aid you in developing your human potential.” He sees overcoming adversity as a transferable skill and thinks we should seek it out for growth.
Rogan realized this through personal experience, and by reading the words of the philosopher and samurai Miyamoto Musashi. This swordsman wrote A Book of Five Rings, where he states, “If you know the way broadly you will see it in everything.”
More specifically, overcoming one difficult thing enables you to build resources which will help you overcome many.
The Navy SEALS use this idea as a selection and growth tool. Their “Hell Week” takes 6 days, requires a candidate to run 200 miles carrying boats, then doing physical exercise, with little sleep. During the process they consume 8,000 calories a day, and still lose weight.
In an interview, former SEALS Mike Sarraile and Andy Stumpf claim this extreme test is the only thing that can weed out those who don’t belong. Completing the test also instantly increases their resilience.
But they note one other odd aspect of the candidates: those who faced major adversity as children are more likely to pass. The childhood trauma can be an early training course, or “X-factor” for overcoming adversity.
Dr. Craig Wright says this also holds true for great artists and scientists in his book The Hidden Habits of Genius. He notes the following figures lost a parent at an early age:
“Michelangelo, Leonardo Da Vinci, Isaac Newton, Bach, Beethoven, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, William Wordsworth, Abraham Lincoln, Mary Shelley, Marie Curie, Charlotte and Emily Bronte, Virginia Woolf, Sylvia Plath, Paul McCartney, and Oprah Winfrey”
Wright hints that “independence and resilience,” may be “forged in the crucible of an early life trauma.” It may also alter their vision. This could drive a genius to see the world differently enough to change it.
A few generations after Epictetus, the Stoic philosopher and Emperor Marcus Aurelius claimed struggle could be used like kindling to build an internal fire. In his Meditations he says:
“The blazing fire makes flames and brightness out of everything thrown into it.”
Consider this all a more eloquently stated version of “micro-sucks.” It also takes us back to our beginning: resistance.
Resistance Is The Ultimate Endeavor With No End Point
We’re always encouraged to seek the path of least resistance, and are blessed to live in a world which continually finds ways to make our lives easier. So, why is our society overwhelmed with anxiety?
Could it be because our brains are designed by nature as struggle-overcoming devices?
Our present view of resistance needs to change. It’s not something to be avoided; it can be a friend that makes us better and more coherent. Moreover, it isn’t just the realm of far-flung philosophy, or talking heads in the media.
As Dr. Huberman points out, there’s a section of the brain specifically designed to take on challenges. It can also grow and thrive by engagement. This is wonderful news.
It means the “micro-sucks” we take on can prepare us for the challenging times on the horizon. Not only this, but the resistance can aid us in developing our “human potential,” like Rogan notes.
Moreover, while trauma isn’t something to be sought out, we’re not destined to be its eternal victims if we can frame it properly. It can become an “X-factor” in conquering future challenges if used correctly. Perhaps it can even aid us in seeing the world differently enough to change it.
Finally, there is one thing always present to be that endeavor with “no endpoint” Dr. Huberman talks about — it’s resistance itself.
This stayed in mind as I’ve struggled to write this article, and it’ll come to me again tomorrow morning as I fight to get out of bed.
-Originally posted on Medium 12/6/23