Develop Stronger Willpower in Just Four Weeks

By Lou Hattersley 

 

Willpower is one of the greatest human strengths. If only we had more of that mysterious thing called willpower notes The American Psychological Association. “With more self-control we would all eat right, exercise regularly, avoid drugs and alcohol, save for retirement, stop procrastinating, and achieve all sorts of noble goals.”
People with strong willpower can tenaciously stick at tasks, ignore distractions and achieve their big goals. There's little wonder that willpower is a highly prized personality trait.
Researchers at Bond University in Australia recently proved that willpower can be strengthened with practice. This may sound like a Charles Atlas advert: but you can develop stronger willpower in just four weeks. Willpower can be applied to just about any aspect of your life, helping you get whatever you want.
Successful Ghostwriter, Jeff Haden from Inc.com lists five things that people with willpower seem to do:

• Eliminate as many choices as possible.
• Make choices tonight that set up tomorrow.
• Do the hardest thing you need to do first.
• Refuel frequently.
• Create reminders of long-term goals.

You can't just become a strong willed person overnight, so here's Lifehacker UK’s four-week plan to successfully building up willpower.

Week 1: Get rid of all your choices

The first thing you need to do is cut down on all the choices you get to make. The more chance you have to choose between positive and negative acts; the more likely you are to get impulsive, and make a bad choice.
Every true ex-smoker will talk about the importance of throwing out all cigarettes and paraphernalia. If you want to check email less then turn off your notifications or switch off your email and check it once an hour. If you want less caffeine and more water then keep a large water bottle on your desk (this prevents you from heading to the kitchen where you'll choose between tea and water).
Make a list of the small things you want to do more of and learn to keep them at hand; conversely learnt to push the things you don’t want as far away from you as possible. Make the good things easier to get to; and the bad things harder to get to. Spend your first week learning to cut down on your choices.

Week 2: Plan for tomorrow and attack the hard stuff first

Once you have dealt with the day-to-day choices, it is time to introduce some forward-thinking. There are two aspects to this next step:

1. Make decisions today that set you up for tomorrow
2. Attack the hard stuff early in the day.

Start by planning tomorrow morning in advance. Decide what you are going to wear (and lay it out), pick your breakfast and decide what you will have for lunch (if it's a packed lunch then make it the day before).
You will tempted to think of these as small, dumb things that you do with ease every day. They are, but that is why you are not going to waste any energy on them in the morning. Make sure that you don't have to make a single decision first thing in the morning – save your decision making energy for something important.
This brings us to the second bit. On your to-do list write down the first thing you are going to do at work tomorrow. But don't write any old thing down. Write down the hardest, least pleasant thing on your to-do list.
Putting hard tasks at the top of your daily to-do list in an old Lifehacker trick, because you do it when you are full of energy and the day gets easier as you go on. And because you have already sorted out all the small decisions of the morning you have all your energy directed at this one, tough task. Nail it!
So you should know these four things before you put your head to sleep:

• What you are going to wear.
• What you are going to eat.
• Where you are going to go.
• What is the first thing you are going to do when you get there.

Week 3: Keep your glucose levels up

Research has shown for a number of years that glucose levels are linked to willpower. A study at Texas University found that “self-control relies on glucose as a limited energy source.” And that every act of self-control caused glucose to drop below optimal levels, impairing any further attempt at self-control.
So it is a case of healthy body; healthy mind (or at least well-controlled mind). There is no shortage of tips for keeping glucose levels high. Here are some of our favourites:

• Eat protein for breakfast: eggs, fish and porridge or oats are a good start to the day.
• Cut down on wheat and carbs and try to include protein with every meal.
• Eat small, frequent meals.
• Eat more natural unrefined food: past, brown rice, rye and whole wheat bread.
• Drink healthy energy drinks.

Another tip is to gargle energy drinks. The British Psychological Society suggests gargling energy drinks saying “it may not even be necessary to consume sugar to boost your self-control levels - simply swirling a glucose drink around your mouth also does the trick.”

Week 4: Create totemic objects for your long term goals

So far you will have spent a lot of time physically and mentally strengthening your willpower, but that is only useful if you focus it on what’s important in your life.
In the final week you need to create physical totemic objects that remind you about long term goals. These can be anything you want, but it is important to make them physical real-world items.
Despite all your willpower strength training you will still be mentally fatigued from time to time, and you will make poor decisions. The physical objects remind you about what is important, Jeff Haden says:
A friend has a copy of his bank note taped to his computer monitor as a constant reminder of an obligation he must meet. Another keeps a photo of himself when he weighed 50 pounds more on his refrigerator as a constant reminder of the person he never wants to be again. Another fills his desk with family photos, both because he loves looking at them and to remind himself of the people he is ultimately working for.
Step back from the daily grind and think about what you want from life. What are your big overarching goals? Not just for the next week, or month but for life in general. The totems will help you stay focused.   http://www.lifehacker.co.uk/2014/07/16/develop-stronger-willpower-just-four-weeks