What is Willpower?
Willpower is a muscle. The more you use it the stronger it gets. The Power of “No” should be practiced easily at first. Like the willpower muscle. The more you use it, the stronger it gets.
Practice self-control on the easy stuff first – like not going on Facebook first thing in the morning, or not checking your email constantly, or not having that sugary snack.
Find out what your strong and weak times of the day are. This way you can attack your toughest will power burning tasks during your strong times and not expecting too much of yourself in your weak times of the day.
Any time you don’t feel like doing something, look at it as an opportunity to practice your self-discipline. Catch yourself in the act of blowing something off or reaching for that bag of potato chips and say to yourself, ‘I don’t really feel like doing this, or I can have just a few chips, they won’t hurt me, but because I’m working on my self-discipline, I’m gonna do it anyway. Or I really don’t need these potato chips to get me through the afternoon, I can make a better food choice to sustain me.’ Then do it!
What does the “word” Willpower even mean?
The dictionary says: “self-control deliberately exerted to do something or to restrain one’s impulses.” “The ability to control yourself: strong determination that allows you to do something difficult (such as to lose weight or quit smoking)”
So why is it so hard for us to control? Because there are things, we’re doing throughout the day that are needlessly burning it away. Willpower allows us to resist temptations, to make hard decisions, to manage our emotions and to keep our behavior in check. From the moment we wake up in the morning our willpower is on full alert. Just managing all these things during the day exhausts every ounce of our willpower that we have!
Giving so much attention to your emails or Facebook account before you even leave for work in the morning, has already burned up some of your willpower. Then you arrive at work and tackle into that project you have been putting off. You get interrupted many times during the day, so your body starts responding to the stress you have made for yourself. Now it’s lunch time and you are famished. Do you eat that sandwich you made hurriedly this morning, or are you too stressed out and you feel the need for a Big Mac and Fries?
This indecision and stress has depleted your willpower yet again, so you opt for the burger and fries, because it is easier, and you think it will make you feel better.
The work day is over, and you head home to sit in front of the T.V. You have a glass of wine before checking out your phone messages and Facebook before bed and beat yourself up for the bad food choices you made during the day. Therefore, using up even more willpower to try and get to sleep.
So, what can we do to stop and save some of our willpower, and put it to good use?
Cut your weekly wine intake and you’ll sleep better and wake with more willpower.
Cut down on the amount of time you are on your phone right before bed.
No more fast food! It is just poor brain fuel and will leave you hungry and grumpy more quickly! Opt for quality, high-protein/high nutrient meals.
Don’t avoid the easy way out of handling the bigger project, by slipping into the easier tasks that aren’t really that important to do right now.
Stop worrying about things you have no control over.Be thankful for the things that you do.
Listen to your body when it is telling you enough stress already!Breathe deeply, relax, take a break.
Don’t have foods around that you know are bad triggers for you.Take the time to prepare your work lunch ahead of time with nutritional (pick-me-up) foods to keep you going during the day, when some of your willpower has depleted.Thus, saving your willpower for when you really need it at the end of the day!
You got this!