This is the Cato Daily Podcast for Friday, July 31st, 2015. I'm Caleb Brown.

The choices we make determine a large share of who we become, but making better choices could be as simple and as challenging as cultivating

our willpower.

John Tierney is a columnist at the New York Times and co-author of willpower, rediscovering

the greatest human strength. We spoke this week during Cato University.

I went to the University of Louisville. Our basketball coach Rick Patino is famous for saying,

I try to get all of my difficult tasks and decisions out of the way first

thing in the morning.

And what does the research tell us about decision-making and the impact that it has on us as people?

That's a great strategy.

I mean, and it's no coincidence I think that a lot of the political scandals we see and a lot of the bad stuff

that goes on in people's lives happens at night. I mean it says nothing good

happens after midnight because what happens is they found that the old Victorian

concept of willpower, it's more than a metaphor

that there really is a source of mental energy

that you draw on to make decisions, to resist temptations.

And as you make decisions, as you resist temptations, as you exert self-control during

the day, you deplete that source of willpower.

And so as the day goes on, you have less willpower to deal with things.

And so what happens, there's some fascinating studies with judges on a parole board where they had to make a decision

whether to let prisoners get parole or not and the harder decision is to let someone

go because then you're taking a risk and where it's easier to leave him in prison and go with the status quo.

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