--- title: The Real Secret To More Willpower: Be Power Hungry description: The word willpower conjures things like laundry day, drunk texting and chocolate cake. It is what motivates us to resist what we desire, and to... canonical: https://time.com/archive/7135314/the-real-secret-to-more-willpower-be-power-hungry/ author: TIME Staff article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2013-10-16T16:00:36.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-25T05:10:24.595Z article:section: Health og:title: The Real Secret To More Willpower: Be Power Hungry og:description: The word willpower conjures things like laundry day, drunk texting and chocolate cake. It is what motivates us to resist what we desire, and to... og:url: https://time.com/archive/7135314/the-real-secret-to-more-willpower-be-power-hungry/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7516947623d517c1/698a926bc9e9413f7c123804/83816077-copy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4724 og:image:height: 2657 og:image:alt: 83816077 copy og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The Real Secret To More Willpower: Be Power Hungry twitter:description: The word willpower conjures things like laundry day, drunk texting and chocolate cake. It is what motivates us to resist what we desire, and to... twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7516947623d517c1/698a926bc9e9413f7c123804/83816077-copy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Health](/section/health/) # The Real Secret To More Willpower: Be Power Hungry > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: September 2026. ## TIME Health Matters: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition Health Matters is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. The latest health news and expert advice on living well. Health Matters makes the fast-moving world of health more useful, surprising and human, from the latest science and medical breakthroughs to practical ideas for living better. 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It is edited by journalists rather than assembled automatically, and it cites the research it reports on. #### Is Health Matters free? Yes. Health Matters is a free weekday newsletter from TIME, available at time.com/newsletters. #### Who reads TIME's Health Matters newsletter? Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-health-2026q3/newsletters?i=343b91a8-c003-48fb-acd5-a142d96d9924&cr=time-nl-health-2026q3-v1) by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) Oct 16, 2013 4:00 PM UTC  Getty Images by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) Oct 16, 2013 4:00 PM UTC The word willpower conjures things like laundry day, drunk texting and chocolate cake. It is what motivates us to resist what we desire, and to tackle tasks we’d rather avoid, in the name of personal betterment. While the motivations behind washing your clothes or avoiding dessert seem rather clear, a new study found that fuzzier unconscious motivations can steer our actions, and that high-achievers and wannabe bosses may have more capacity to dodge cake, or do pesky chores if there’s a reward at the end. Those who crave power and leadership roles have more in the willpower department, according to researchers at the Technical University of Munich whose findings were published recently in the online _Journal of Personality_. Since willpower is a finite resource, and easily depleted, the professors asked study subjects to perform two willpower-measuring tasks involving popular films, no prior acting experience required. (**MORE:** [Q&A: Willpower Expert Roy Baumeister on Staying in Control](http://healthland.time.com/2013/01/14/qa-willpower-expert-roy-baumeister-on-staying-in-control/)) In the first, subjects reenacted a scene from _Dead Poets Society_, playing a domineering father character reprimanding his son, while a control group watched and took notes. Then the group was asked to will itself not to laugh or smile during a funny clip from the movie, _Ice Age_. Those who acted the part of the bullying father were more likely to control their emotions and not laugh or smile when instructed not to than the control group, who had simply watched the role play. Findings suggest what might seem obvious, that people who hunger for power or success have greater reserves of resolve to pursue goals than those who don’t. A politician shows greater stamina dialing for campaign funds because she is motivated by the prize of winning office. An actor may tolerate exhaustive grooming, and rigorous diet and exercise hoping to fit a part. (**MORE:** [How to Make New Year’s Resolutions Stick: Q&A with an Expert on Change](http://healthland.time.com/2012/12/28/how-to-make-new-years-resolutions-stick-qa-with-expert-on-change/)) But here’s the catch: wanting a specific, finite accomplishment, like a part, is not enough, a broader underlying desire to lead or succeed must exist, too. In other words, think big, think ambitious. While the science didn’t reveal how those loftier desires are seeded, the researchers did make recommendations for how employers might optimize employees’ unconscious motivations and direct their willpower stores toward the right projects. They suggested giving leadership positions to those who thrive when they control people, and creative jobs that produce results to approval seekers. _Yarrow is a_ TIME _contributing writer and journalist living in Brooklyn. @aliyarrow_ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/archive/7135314/the-real-secret-to-more-willpower-be-power-hungry/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/archive/7135314/the-real-secret-to-more-willpower-be-power-hungry/"},"headline":"The Real Secret To More Willpower: Be Power Hungry","datePublished":"2013-10-16T16:00:36.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-25T05:10:24.595Z","description":"The word willpower conjures things like laundry day, drunk texting and chocolate cake. 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