If you’ve ever felt like something was wrong with you because you “can’t” stop scrolling/spending/[insert your thing here], please stop trying to use willpower. There’s a better tool for the job!

It’s called a Ulysses Contract, and I learned about it when I had a famous neuroscientist on the pod. Here’s how it works: Ulysses wanted to hear the sirens' song, but he knew the song would seduce him into crashing his ship. So before they got close, he had his men tie him to the mast.

A Ulysses Contract allows you to make a deal with your future self NOW, in a moment of clear thinking, to protect future-you from a choice you know current-you will regret.

You are a different person moment to moment. As your circumstances change, like your fatigue level, you'll end up making different decisions."

The exhausted, 9 pm-on-a-Thursday-you is not going to make the same decisions as well-rested, Saturday-morning-you.

A Ulysses Contract turns a willpower problem into a logistics problem.