{"id":33003,"date":"2015-05-09T22:10:35","date_gmt":"2015-05-10T06:10:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/?p=33003"},"modified":"2016-09-05T13:18:44","modified_gmt":"2016-09-05T21:18:44","slug":"7-techniques-boost-willpower","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/7-techniques-boost-willpower\/","title":{"rendered":"7 Techniques To Boost Your Willpower"},"content":{"rendered":"
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We start our New Year or Monday mornings off with good intentions \u2013 we are going to lose weight, stop smoking, organize our closets and train for that 5K.\u00a0 But by the end of the week your plastic bins for organizing are still in the trunk of your car, your new running shoes tossed in the back of the closet and you have chewed so much Nicorette you decide it\u2019s cheaper to just start smoking again.<\/p>\n

What happened to all those good intentions?<\/p>\n

A common answer is, \u201cWell I just lack willpower\u201d. \u00a0 You are right \u2013 but not for the reasons we often attribute to ourselves, such as laziness or lack of desire to truly make a change.<\/p>\n

There are two important things you should know about willpower:<\/p>\n

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  1. Willpower is a finite resource \u2013 meaning you can exhaust your supply. When we exert our effort in one area we have less willpower to focus on another.<\/li>\n
  2. Willpower is like a muscle \u2013 it has to be strengthened.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Why is willpower important?<\/p>\n

    Willpower makes what you want to happen, happen. Willpower staves off the lack of self-control which can lead to bad habits, addictions, conflict with relationships and your work, etc. Willpower helps overcome inertia. When we see ourselves as lacking willpower and failing at our intentions our self-respect plummets and we then do nothing or we replace action with fantasy. (One day when I lose those 30 pounds\u2026)<\/p>\n

    Let\u2019s talk first about willpower and its finiteness nature. I will use a personal example here. When I have had a tough mental day at work the last thing I want to do is come home and think about anything.\u00a0 I am exhausted. I am sure you have experienced that mental exhaustion as well. I am too tried to think about dinner, even though I am starving. My brain is basically refusing to think anymore so I look at the easy options for dinner.\u00a0 A drive-thru or binging on that box of Moose Tracks ice cream I have in my freezer.\u00a0 This is a perfect example of using up all my willpower (at work) so that when I have another area I need to focus on (dinner) I can\u2019t.<\/p>\n

    Next willpower is a muscle that you can exhaust just like lifting weights\u00a0to the point of muscle failure. Researchers at the University of Hamilton in Ontario\u00a0discovered that in just the same way we can exhaust a muscle (and therefore temporarily weaken it) the same thing happens to our willpower.<\/p>\n

    It\u2019s important to understand that willpower is very similar to physical strength in that:<\/p>\n