During
the two months, each time I decided to quit smoking and smoke again, I pulled the
wrench or manually recorded the time I made this decision. And every time I pull it,
one of the two printers on the corresponding side will print out one line as “I decide
to quit smoking for the XX times” or “I smoke again for the XX times”. In the end, the
paper on each side is 3.5 meters long and is 7 meters long in total. “The elusiveness
of the will as a concept has historically come from the fact that it isn’t an organ but a
bargaining situation.” (Ainslie, 2001)
The frequency I vacillate noticeably increases when I set up the will to overcome the weakness of my will by quitting smoking. To demonstrate that I attach importance to certain moments, I demonstrate my loyalty by smoking. When tackling with serious jobs, I smoke to show I am taking the work much more seriously than the will to quit smoking. Therefore, quitting smoking no longer appeared as a goal of will to overcome the weakness of will, but turned into a scale, a measuring unit of my will. I used it to compare and measure my will towards other things and used smoking to attach importance to a certain moment in every present.
Similar to the paradox of active forgetting, attempts to suppress an already existing trace are often futile. Every will of being continent commands a wholehearted complete will, this will that cannot be complete by commands becomes fatigued and disappointed in the commands, and turns to a more retaliatory weakness of will which not only appears as acting against one’s best judgement but also in the infinite generation of commands to make the last will complete due to the inability to achieve the previous commands, leading to constantly shifting and changing of decisions.
That is the paradox of the weakness of will, and the most likely question to be raised is whether successful continent actions prove the paradox is nonsense. That's not the case as most successful transitions from incontinence to continence are not achieved through the will to overcome the weakness of will itself but through other strategies such as eating sugar to divert attention during smoking cessation and adding an hour of walking after meals during the process of quitting alcohol.
Pulling the wrench to the two sides symbolizes the struggle of my will: when I emphasize to myself the significance of overcoming the weakness of will, my rational judgment at many moments refuted this will from different perspectives: “Isn't overcoming the weakness of willpower a scam?”, “Isn’t the urgent need for a cigarette now more real and intense than overcoming the weakness of will?”, or even worse, “I admit that I am a weak-willed person, what can you do with me?”
The frequency I vacillate noticeably increases when I set up the will to overcome the weakness of my will by quitting smoking. To demonstrate that I attach importance to certain moments, I demonstrate my loyalty by smoking. When tackling with serious jobs, I smoke to show I am taking the work much more seriously than the will to quit smoking. Therefore, quitting smoking no longer appeared as a goal of will to overcome the weakness of will, but turned into a scale, a measuring unit of my will. I used it to compare and measure my will towards other things and used smoking to attach importance to a certain moment in every present.
Similar to the paradox of active forgetting, attempts to suppress an already existing trace are often futile. Every will of being continent commands a wholehearted complete will, this will that cannot be complete by commands becomes fatigued and disappointed in the commands, and turns to a more retaliatory weakness of will which not only appears as acting against one’s best judgement but also in the infinite generation of commands to make the last will complete due to the inability to achieve the previous commands, leading to constantly shifting and changing of decisions.
That is the paradox of the weakness of will, and the most likely question to be raised is whether successful continent actions prove the paradox is nonsense. That's not the case as most successful transitions from incontinence to continence are not achieved through the will to overcome the weakness of will itself but through other strategies such as eating sugar to divert attention during smoking cessation and adding an hour of walking after meals during the process of quitting alcohol.
Pulling the wrench to the two sides symbolizes the struggle of my will: when I emphasize to myself the significance of overcoming the weakness of will, my rational judgment at many moments refuted this will from different perspectives: “Isn't overcoming the weakness of willpower a scam?”, “Isn’t the urgent need for a cigarette now more real and intense than overcoming the weakness of will?”, or even worse, “I admit that I am a weak-willed person, what can you do with me?”