Practicing willpower

I just read this New York Times story about developing willpower . Essentially what it is saying is that the brain can only handle so much focus on willpower at a time and when it focuses really strongly on one area, others may slip. It confirms my own experience. Whenever I've really tried to change habits before in the past - staying on a budget or a diet or a workout plan - I've found that while I'm building the new habit, it almost feels like a part-time job to focus on making the change. I suppose it's somewhat comforting to know that is normal and that it will get easier. It's interesting that increasing your practice of willpower in one area will, over the course of time, make it easier to increase it in other areas. That will be helpful since I'm currently trying to commit to an exercise schedule and work on my finances at the same time. In the meantime though I may need to let go of my housecleaning.