We all love to trick ourselves into believing that the year change brings something new and makes it easier to implement changes. Well, truth to be told, when the clock ticks midnight, our excuses, our lack of willpower, our fear of failure and any other discomforts do not turn into pumpkins!
However, we can use this moment of change for connecting deeper with our goals and our WHY, we can design a new version of ourselves for the new year. We can sort of start over. We have a new fresh 12 months-pack to go through. Only our willpower is standing between today and our 2021 resolutions.
Willpower does make all the difference! The good news is, willpower is kind of a superpower and we can get control over it - we can make it grow!
So what can we do to boost our willpower? How do we convince ourselves to choose long term gain instead of short-term gratification?
According to Charles Duhhig, a lot of studies show that willpower is the single most important key-stone habit for individual success. Willpower is a muscle, and like any other muscle, also willpower gets a bit tired when working hard. However, strengthening willpower in one area of our life usually also improves our willpower in other parts of our life. Charles Duhhing also notes that when people do experience a failure of willpower, it is most certainly because they have not anticipated difficult situations coming along.
So what can we do?
💡We can find ways to automate our willpower - we can turn part of our tasks and decisions automatic (helping us to save the willpower muscle for the most important moments).
💡Since daily willpower is not always limitless, it is a great idea to schedule the most difficult tasks, decisions, routines for the first part of the day. If doing exercise is not your favourite thing - you should jump into gym clothes right in the morning.
💡We can plan solutions for possible obstacles or moments of failure in advance (becoming aware of our usual excuses and temptations, we can already ahead of time have a backup plan to distract us from our temptations e.g. storing no chocolate at home, having gym clothes ready by the bed etc).
In 2021 I am going to build my willpower regarding making healthier choices when it comes to food, exercise, mindfulness and joy.
What about you? Do you have an aspect of your life where you want to grow your willpower this year?
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