How To Increase Your Willpower With 9 Practical Keys
Are you one of those who sign up for the gym and then don’t go? Or of those who repeat every week that you are going to start the diet? Or that you will finish that course that you started.
Tell me if you have experienced any of these or similar situations…and if you have finally carried out those purposes.
If we do not have the willpower, when faced with a decision, it is very likely that we will choose the immediate, the short-term benefit, without taking into account the more distant consequences.
If you are one of those people who find it difficult to fulfill their commitments or who have to resist temptation when something that you shouldn’t do comes your way, you are in the right article.
I want to show you different guidelines and keys to take into account in order to improve your self-control.
What is Willpower?
We could define willpower as that capacity or internal impulse that we carry inside, which makes us resist temptations and overcome immediate obstacles. In this way, we plant resistance to that short-term benefit to achieve a greater goal or objective.
It is not exactly something you are born with, but you can develop and train it according to your interests.
Every action you take, every moment you make a decision, is in itself an act of willpower. Think of everyday examples, such as what you are going to eat, what time you are going to go to bed, or what time you are going to wake up the next day, these are decisions that you have to make every day.
“There is a driving force more powerful than steam, electricity, and atomic energy: the will.” -Albert Einstein-
To try to make an analogy, it is like a muscle. You can train yourself to make it stronger, but it can also become overloaded and stop working. It must be supplied with sufficient and constant energy. Otherwise, it will stop working.
On many occasions, we make the mistake of thinking that we cannot do something due to a lack of will. We think that we do not have it and that we can never obtain it. This error is more common than it seems. You can always exercise your willpower.
We use it day by day, to guide our steps to where we want, to guide our actions, to make our decisions, and fulfill our desires.
Without it, we cannot survive. If you were always carried away by your impulses, you would eat, drink or smoke until you burst, you would get angry or annoyed by anything that happened to you, you would leave your family aside or leave your job every time you felt stressed or controlled, etc.
Lay a Good Foundation
When it comes to strengthening your willpower, you have to understand and be clear about the fundamental pillars on which it is based.
Motivation as An Essential Requirement
Motivation is what makes us wake up with meaning in the morning. The why of each day. The more important it is to reach our goal, the more motivated we will be. It is entirely related to the value we give to what we do. To do this, our goal must be achievable, measurable, and realistic.
You have to set a clear goal. Don’t ramble, don’t leave loose ends. Write what you want, put it on the wall or even repeat it in the morning in front of the mirror if necessary so that you don’t forget. When it gains the strength it deserves, when you really believe that this goal is real and tangible, it will be when your motivation begins to take shape.
Giving up is not an option you can consider.
The Value of Self-Esteem
You have to feel that you are capable of doing what you set out to do. As I said, the first thing is to believe it. Bearing that in mind, any obstacle or difficulty that appears in your way, you will be able to overcome it.
A high level of self-esteem will help you move forward with your willpower and not fall back in moments of weakness. Do not be afraid of the errors and failures that may appear, they will not stop you or limit you.
Be tolerant of Frustration
The moment when something happens that you don’t like will come. It is irremediable and I cannot reveal any secret to you that will prevent that day. What you can do is accept it as part of life.
To improve your willpower, you have to take action (nothingcomes to strengthening your willpower, you have to understand and be clear about the fundamental pillars on which it is based.
Nothing is further from reality. Learning to tolerate and control frustration will keep your willpower from weakening.
Motivation as An Essential Requirement
Motivation is what makes us wake up with meaning in the morning. The why of each day. The more important it is to reach our goal, the more motivated we will be. It is entirely related to the value we give to what we do. To do this, our goal must be achievable, measurable, and realistic.
You have to set a clear goal. Don’t ramble, don’t leave loose ends. Write what you want, put it on the wall or even repeat it in the morning in front of the mirror if necessary so that you don’t forget. When it gains the strength it deserves, when you really believe that this goal is real and tangible, it will be when your motivation begins to take shape.
Giving up is not an option you can consider.
The Value of Self-Esteem
You have to feel that you are capable of doing what you set out to do. As I said, the first thing is to believe it. Bearing that in mind, any obstacle or difficulty that appears in your way, you will be able to overcome it.
A high level of self-esteem will help you move forward with your willpower and not fall back in moments of weakness. Do not be afraid of the errors and failures that may appear, they will not stop you or limit you.
Limiting Beliefs About Success and Failure
Everything that goes through your head, every thought, idea, and belief, interferes with the way you share yourself. Every emotion you experience will make you act in one way or another.
And it is that many times you are not even going to try to do something because you are convinced that you are capable of doing it or that you are 100% capable.
That belief can be wrong and can be changed by working the “muscle” of willpower.
How to Train Willpower?
Having made the context in which we are going to move a little clear, I am going to propose 9 practical keys that will help you improve and strengthen your willpower so that you do not miss any objective that you have insight.
1. Focus on One Thing
Beginnings are always difficult. You are overwhelmed with things to do and you don’t even know where to start.
Don’t panic, everything is achievable. All you have to do is focus on one goal. Only one. Do not try to cover everything, that multitasking has no mercy on you.
It is much easier to work on one thing than on several at the same time. In addition to avoiding indulging in tempting distractions, time will yield to you much more effectively.
If you start with willpower level 0, start with simple and basic things. Don’t push yourself too hard so you don’t give up early. The important thing is to move forward. Speed doesn’t matter at first.
Much better to lay a good foundation than to want to run and not get anywhere.
As you get looser and feel more willpower, set slightly harder goals for yourself. Gradually level up.
In a short time, there will be nothing in front of you that will prevent your progress.
2. Create Small, Achievable Good Habits
Very related to the previous point. It’s about starting to create routines (if you don’t already have them) in your daily life. Customs that, although at first they will be complicated to establish, in the long run, will give you clear benefits.
You have to start small. One by one. Ideally, you should have a list of habits that you want to implement. Prioritize them in the way you feel most comfortable and start carrying them out. Things like making bed in the morning, getting up earlier, going to bed earlier, or not snacking between meals are the most common habits to start with.
Keep in mind that it takes about 21 days to complete a new habit. This is not what I say. People like William James say it, a great in scientific psychology and author of the book “The habit”, where he explains the reason for this figure. Or Maxwell Matz, a plastic surgeon, whose patients took 21 days to get used to the changes that had been made.
When you have one completed, move on to the next one and not before. If you ignore this last one, you may find yourself overwhelmed with new tasks and routines, everything new, overflowing with information, and the consequence will be abandonment.
These habits will strengthen your willpower in a forceful way. As soon as you acquire enough discipline and self-control to not fail any day, you will be able to extrapolate this new skill to other areas of your life.
3. Give Yourself a Reward
Give yourself an award, you deserve it too. Incentivize yourself with rewards that make you fight and strive for what you are working on.
Make a game of improving your willpower, where the prize that will be waiting for you at the end is a benefit for you: staying late in bed, your favorite food, going on a weekend getaway, or going out to dinner at your favorite restaurant
You will think about that prize instead of giving up. You will be able to increase your motivation and help your willpower to continue growing.
4. Take Care of Your Mind
Willpower is very similar to physical strength in several aspects. It can be trained, it is limited and it is a response of both body and mind.
Usually, we tend to make decisions for no reason when we are hungry. The most typical example is when you go to the supermarket hungry, the chances of you buying unhealthy snacks are higher than if you go after eating.
The same thing happens with willpower. It’s much easier to get off track if you’re low on energy than if your batteries are charged.
Try to recharge your body with the necessary energy so as not to get out of that path. Protein and fiber-rich foods can help curb those cravings.
And not least, always pay special attention to the rest you deserve. Sleep the recommended hours, take regular breaks, take your weekly day off, etc.
5. Forgive Your Mistakes
You have to act. You have to take action. And it is in the human being to make mistakes along the way. It is unavoidable.
It is very common that every time we make a mistake, we martyr ourselves, we blame ourselves, we weaken and we fall apart. No problem!
The feeling of guilt is very addictive and we feel like a huge failure. Instead, you have to forgive yourself. Everything has a solution. The only person harmed in this process is you. The sooner you accept that mistakes are part of learning, the sooner you will learn to forgive them.
By giving yourself that forgiveness, you will increase your motivation and help you have a stronger commitment to your goals.
Get out of the bubble of guilt. You are strong, keep going. Give thanks to your failures, since you continue learning thanks to them.
6. Keep Track of Your Actions and Plan
Write down everything you do during the day. Make a record of all the actions you take since you get down to work with a goal you want to achieve.
It starts from the basis that you have a list of different tasks that break down an objective. I give you a culinary example:
Objective: Make a potato omelet/Tortilla
Tasks:
1. Cut potatoes and onion (I’m one of those who likes them with onion).
2. Fry potatoes and onion.
3. Beat egg.
4. Mix everything and add salt and pepper.
5. Pour into the pan.
5. Flip until done to taste.
6. Let’s eat!
The steps vary depending on the person, but you can get an idea of what I want to convey to you.
Find your goal to meet in an afternoon, in a day, in a week, in a month, or in a year. Make a breakdown into as many tasks as you consider appropriate. Cross out as you complete them.
In this way, you will see and feel that you are moving forward. When you wake up the next day and see that you are closer to your goal, you will find that sense to get up and continue. You will see the value that you are contributing to that important objective that you are looking for.
The feeling you get when you cross off a task, seeing that you are one step closer to reaching it, is very rewarding. This will undoubtedly help you to increase your motivation, and therefore, strengthen your willpower.
7. Share Your Will With Someone
Surely it has happened to you at some time, the fact of achieving something important for you and that you immediately want to share that success with someone.
In the interaction with other people, you find that attention that often makes you feel good. Sharing what you want to do, sharing your purpose or will with others, will make your attention levels rise.
For example, if what you want to achieve is to go to the gym but you feel lazy because you get bored and you don’t find the necessary motivation, it will be much easier if a friend accompanies you.
Another thing you can do is compromise your advances with someone else. That is, set a goal to meet by a certain date. That person should ask you for answers when the time comes. Here the willpower grows by the fact of not looking bad with that other part. Nobody likes that.
This last option is what is called Accountability Partner, a figure that we will talk about later. Without a doubt, a key element to advancing more efficiently.
8. Avoid Perfectionism
Don’t try to do everything perfectly from minute one. As someone says, better done than perfect.
Spending too much time on something to make it perfect is a huge source of energy drain. Focus on what is truly important. Go ahead with your main objective, there will be time to go back and give it the spin it deserves.
Everything can be improved, but the world will not stop turning for it. The investment of time you make in perfecting something is not proportional to the satisfaction it will give you.
You can sign up as homework to improve what you have done. But the first is ready. It is a clear victory, not a failure for not having it perfect!
Put it on your to-do list and keep going.
9. Do Not Lose What You Have Achieved
Willpower is like any other ability you have. If you stop using it, it will become soft, it will go into disuse, and laziness will come.
Make up your mind to be active, not to fall into the temptation of “doing nothing”, of avoiding the effort that some activities require. Stand up to them and don’t give up.
The more you exert your will, the more it will grow, the more robust it will become and the more difficult it will be for it to return to the initial state.
Any goal requires willpower. If your goal doesn’t need it, go out, find it and train it for when the time comes when you need it.
Without willpower and without motivation, you will never achieve what you are looking for. Work on it before moving on to the next step. It is better to spend some time improving this aspect, than to start doing other actions that do not take you anywhere.
And you, how is your willpower? Are you motivated to take the next step? any other key you want to share?
Tell me in the comments, I’ll be waiting for you 🙂
