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Consider two people. One loves action. The busier she feels, the more energetic she gets. She doesn’t burn down; she burns brighter. Get her going, and she doesn’t stop, often for days.

The other person likes to be busy, but within limits. He’s fine with a tightly scheduled morning, but struggles if the productivity pressure continues after lunch; things he planned for later in the day or evening, like working on a side project, fall by the wayside.

Since self-discipline requires willpower, and willpower is a finite resource, clearly one of them possesses greater willpower than the other.

Or not. According to a study published in Psychological Science, willpower may largely be a result of one of two mindsets:

• Limited mindset: You feel that strenuous mental activity exhausts your resources and you need to refuel; when situations accumulate that create temptation, it gets harder and harder to resist those temptations.
• Non-limited mindset: You feel mental stamina fuels itself, and even after strenuous mental exertion you can keep going; if you resist a strong temptation, you feel stronger and more able to resist new temptations.

Other studies back that up. One published in Personality and Social Psychology found that people with a non-limited willpower mindset tended to be even more productive the day after a really busy day, while those with a limited mindset felt less energized and were less productive. (For them, having a rocking yesterday requires a recovery day.)

The phenomenon extends to other areas of life: A study published in European Journal of Personality found that people with non-limited mindsets are more likely to exercise and resist the temptation to snack — especially in the evenings — than people with limited mindsets.

Add it all up, and the difference appears to lie not in the stamina of your willpower “muscle,” but in your viewpoint.

Willpower, determination, and perseverance? It can be a self-fulfilling prophecy. If you think being busy provides the fuel to keep you staying busy, then that’s what happens. If you think being too busy is draining and requires a period of rest, reset, and even “reward,” then that’s what happens.

Shifting your perspective on willpower isn’t easy, of course, especially since most of us fall, and even shift, somewhere on the mindset spectrum. Sometimes a packed day can create a sense of momentum that keeps me going for days. Another time, a packed day can make me want to check out for the evening. How energized or willpower-depleted you feel can also be affected by the nature of the activity itself.

But if you want to shift further toward the non-limited mindset side of the scale, one way is to simply remind yourself that your willpower and self-discipline are affected by your mindset. A study published in Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin found that thinking back on a time when you worked on a difficult task well past what you might have considered your limits can help you better embrace a non-limited mindset. Another is to purposely push yourself past a self-imposed limit; if, say, you never exercise if you have to work past 6 p.m., force yourself to do it.

While it won’t be fun, the experience will help prove that you do have more in you than you think. Which we always do: According to the 40 percent rule, a concept popularized by Dave Goggins in Jesse Itzler’s book Living With a Seal, when your mind tells you that you’re exhausted, fried, and totally tapped out, you’re really only 40 percent done. You still have 60 percent left in your tank.

Pushing past a self-imposed limit will not only reset your expectations regarding your limits, but it can also move your willpower mindset toward the non-limited end of the scale.