The best practical advice on willpower that I've read is from an old classic, William James's Principles of Psychology. It's a long and dense chapter and resuming it here doesn't do it any justice. But I will try anyway:
1. Holding your attention fixed on an action eventually causes you to do that action. E.g. try relaxing and imagining all the little motions and then the final state of making a fist. Your hand will, after a few seconds, move of its own accord and make a fist.
2. The second part of willpower is to tolerate distractions and difficulties. James's phrase is "I will have it even so". E.g.:
"Do the dishes"
"But the water is cold"
"I will have it even so"
"But there are so many"
"I will have it even so"
"But there's an interesting article on HN"
"I will have it even so"
Your mileage may vary (I'd certainly be interested in hearing back), but personally I've been using this technique to do a number of unappealing but necessary tasks without too much of a feeling of effort.
Regarding the article, I would propose that there are two kinds of willpower. One is "tyrannical", where you simply force yourself to do something; this feels like it requires effort, and is depletable. The other is more "persuasive", using techniques similar to the one described above; it requires more preliminary thought, but reduces or eliminates the feeling of effort and is thus not depletable.
A little off-topic, but does anyone know why Modafinil is so powerful on willpower (i.e. capacity to power through things one doesn't care about)? Anecdotally it's as though it removes all "willpower barriers" - those little objections one uses to avoid doing things (e.g. "but the water is cold").
I initially put it down to it being used when people are sleep-deprived (as I find willpower is easier when sleep-deprived) but it's even more effective when rested.
Are you talking from personal experience or is Modafinil really known to be a powerful willpower booster?
(If it's the first case you might start from it's mechanism of action and figure out YOUR cause for "willpower barriers" and maybe find a better solution for them...)
This "I will have it even so" mindset can work but not forever in my experience. If you want an expanded repertoire of techniques, David Burns' "Feeling Good" has a section on procrastination that pretty much forces you to become aware of the real reasons you procrastinate, and forces you to confront the dysfunctional thoughts at the root of it, making it very difficult to continue procrastinating.
James prepared a popular abridged version of Principles which may be just as useful. (Disclaimer: I've only read the abridged version, so I don't know what's missing from the full two-volume version.) It's a very practical and introspective approach to psychology, somewhere between pop science and intellectual self-help. I think HNers would enjoy it.
The "persuasive" approach is reminiscent of the basic techique in Vipassana meditation: focus on a particular sensation (breath at the tip of the nose, tingling sensations in right toe, ...) and whenever that focus drifts off, just bring it back. Rinse, repeat.
1. Holding your attention fixed on an action eventually causes you to do that action. E.g. try relaxing and imagining all the little motions and then the final state of making a fist. Your hand will, after a few seconds, move of its own accord and make a fist.
2. The second part of willpower is to tolerate distractions and difficulties. James's phrase is "I will have it even so". E.g.:
"Do the dishes"
"But the water is cold"
"I will have it even so"
"But there are so many"
"I will have it even so"
"But there's an interesting article on HN"
"I will have it even so"
Your mileage may vary (I'd certainly be interested in hearing back), but personally I've been using this technique to do a number of unappealing but necessary tasks without too much of a feeling of effort.
Regarding the article, I would propose that there are two kinds of willpower. One is "tyrannical", where you simply force yourself to do something; this feels like it requires effort, and is depletable. The other is more "persuasive", using techniques similar to the one described above; it requires more preliminary thought, but reduces or eliminates the feeling of effort and is thus not depletable.