Nope. I’m not joking! It’s a valid question.
There is a significant amount of research about how habits and willpower can only be strengthened with practice.
Great! So what do you do?
Start by creating healthy habits.
And how do you create habits?
I know…it seems so hard: You have good intentions but too much to do and then you start thinking about all the things you need to and should do.
Here are SEVEN thoughts to get you started!
1. Willpower & Self-control take up a great deal of energy
- Creating healthy habits can help you reduce the amount of energy needed to get things done.
2. When you’re distracted, you’re much more likely to make bad decisions.
- Put the cell phone away when ordering food!
3. Awareness & consciousness of what causes your bad habits – actually helps.
- You can plan for and create support ahead of time!
4. Breaking a new desired habit into simple steps increases chances of success
- So if you want to start exercising, clear obstacles and start by laying out your shoes/clothes!
5. Physical exercise is the willpower miracle drug and can improve willpower in all areas of life
- Studies have shown that even just walking 15 minutes on a treadmill will improve your willpower across the board.
6. Self-compassion
- Kelly McGonigal over at Stanford University has shared some great insights in her work and discusses the common humanity of willpower challenges. She teaches that everyone struggles in some way with addiction, distraction, procrastination, and temptation. “These are not individual weaknesses but universal experiences and part of the human condition.”
7. ACCOUNTABILITY and guidance!
- I actually have a group starting a 21-day Mind-Body Habit & Willpower training on Monday where we are diving deeper into these topics and taking action to build our HABIT and WILLPOWER muscles, which is very exciting!
So now..….. I have a question for YOU!
How do you build your willpower muscles and/or….what gets in YOUR way?
What does one do when one compares as a habit?
Hi Renee. Do you mean the habit of “comparing?”
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I love number 5 and find it really interesting. Since I’ve started walking for an hour (sometimes two) a day I’ve found it a lot easier to actually do what I want to do.
Thanks Tabitha! Isn’t that fascinating? It’s so easy to say we don’t have time for self-care but it can go a LONG way to helping us in all areas of life!! 🙂