Willpower never beats environment

”In the long-run (and often in the short-run), your willpower will never beat your environment. The more disciplined your environment is, the less disciplined you need to be. Don’t swim upstream." – James Clear

Interestingly, this is also why I’m planning to leave Singapore for my son’s education.

Because we can say, “Oh we won’t be that kind of kiasu parents who will hothouse our kid to have perfect scores in his exams. We will never do that. We’ll do fun stuff, and go for tuition that truly enriches our child.”

Famous last words.

I’m sure every well-meaning Singaporean parent had said that when their kids enroll into Primary One.

Cue Primary Six, when PSLE exams loom.
Those same parents turn into tiger mums and dads.

Because despite their good intentions and willpower, the environment works against them, every day, every week. Willpower is limited, but system momentum is almost infinite. System momentum like peer pressure amongst students, pressure from teachers, peer pressure from other parents, relatives, media, society.

Those run 24/7, grinding against your good intentions, paving its way to hell.

Sure, not everyone can just up and leave Singapore. I acknowledge that privilege. So just because others can’t doesn’t mean I have to kick my own kneecaps to lower myself. I’ll take the opportunity and privilege, to improve the qualifty of my family’s life.

No permission required.

Not even the Government.