In the following article you will find proven strategies to increase your willpower. A very important skill to achieve your greatest goals.
It’s not that you don’t want to do things, but many times you don’t have enough willpower to make them. Do not worry, you’re not the only one.
Never forget that having the ability to manage your willpower is vital to achieving excellence in all aspects of your life.
Think wisely. Having willpower would allow you:
Isn’t this what you want? We imagine so.
It’s not that you’re weak. You just don’t know how your willpower works.
To get into the matter, we need to understand what exactly willpower is and how it works.
What is willpower?
Here are some of the definitions:
- “It is the power to control our own thoughts and the way we behave.”
- “A strong determination to get things done.”
- “The ability of human beings to control their own impulses.”
- “Control exercised to achieve something or curb impulses.”
- It is the ability to control our thoughts and behavior in order to achieve a goal.
Within our beliefs, “strong willed” people are thought to be strong, competent, and always in control.
On the other hand, when they do not have willpower, problems of all kinds begin. Such as poor diet, debts, poor school performance, poor work results, health problems, etc.
A strong-willed person will enforce their decisions. Even in the face of great opposition.
The ability to control yourself and determine your actions is a very powerful idea. The problem is that we think we should just invoke it. That we can force ourselves to have it or that it is always there at our disposal.
We must understand that willpower doesn’t work like that; it is not a matter of making a simple decision. Rather, it works like a muscle. If you take care of yourself and exercise, it works better.
In order for you to better understand the relationship between willpower and success, we want you to know the following scientific study.
The marshmallow test.
Carried out by the researcher and psychologist Walter Mischel in the 1960s, the marshmallow test or “The Marshmallow Test” as it is known in English, was carried out with a sample of 500 4-year-old children and consisted of the following:
The children were exposed to two options. In the first they would be given a marshmallow. In the second, they would have a chance to get a second marshmallow if they waited 15 minutes without eating the first.
On average, the children lasted less than 3 minutes before eating the marshmallow and only 3 out of 10 managed to control the temptation. It was clear that most had problems with the concept of delayed gratification.
In 1981 Mischel began systematically tracking test participants. All with the intention of knowing and measuring their academic, social and professional results after almost 20 years.
“Good things come to those who know how to wait”
According to the results, those subjects who were successful in the test had experienced better results in their academic and professional life. Additionally, they presented greater feelings of self-esteem and better understood how to handle stress.
On the other hand, 30% of the children who succumbed to temptation were overweight and later suffered from a high rate of drug addiction.
Mischel concluded that the ability to delay gratification did contribute to obtaining better results.
Greater willpower = Success
6 strategies to increase your willpower
After learning about the marshmallow theory, we want to share with you other scientific analyzes to explain 6 strategies that will help you increase and control your willpower.
Your willpower is best in the morning or after a break.
Researchers from the Stanford Business School and Negev University found that our willpower decreases after making repetitive decisions.
To demonstrate this thesis, they analyzed the judicial system in Israel. The study focused on observing the behavior of 8 judges through 1,112 hearings.
The judges had to deal with between 14 and 35 cases a day with the possibility of having two breaks: one in the morning and another for lunch.
After listening to the arguments of both parties, they only had about 6 minutes to make a decision.
The results demonstrate the mental cost of repetitive decision making. First thing in the morning and after the break, defendants were 65% more likely to be found not guilty. At the end of both sections in the working day, this percentage reached 0.
Tiredness pushes our brain to make the easiest decisions. Which, in most cases, are not the best. Our willpower has a limit.
Strategy #1: Make sure you do the important things first thing in the day or after a break. This will help you make better decisions.
The more you use your mind, the less mental power you will have.
Gary Keller and Jay Papasan, authors of the book The One Thing: The surprisingly simple truth behind extraordinary resultsthey propose to think of willpower as the battery of your mobile phone.
Every morning your phone has 100% charge. As the day goes by this percentage will decrease. The more you use your phone, the faster it will drain the battery.
Just like your phone, your willpower is limited but it can be recharged. It is a limited but renewable energy source.
To reinforce this idea, pay attention to the following study published by “The Journal of the Society of Psychologists in Addictive Behaviors”
In this study, participants were instructed to try not to think of a white bear. They were given the idea, but asked not to think about it (Thought Suppression).
How well you will know a task like this requires a great deal of self-control.
After completing the task, they were invited to a beer tasting and asked to consume as little as possible; since then a driving test would come.
Participants who took the first test (thought suppression) consumed more beer than those who did not.
Strategy #2: Your willpower is limited. Decide what is most important and reserve it for when you need it
Our willpower is rapidly weakening.
In another study, Stanford University researcher Baba Shiv divided 165 students into two groups and asked them to choose between memorizing a two-digit number or a seven-digit number.
After this activity they were asked to go to another room to test whether they had memorized the number.
During this second part they were offered a snack for having participated. They could choose between a chocolate cake (Unhealthy Option) or a fruit salad (Healthy Option).
Do you already know what the result was? Students who memorized the seven-digit number were twice as likely to choose the chocolate cake.
Strategy #3: Avoid making very important decisions after strenuous tasks. If you do, you will be exposed to making bad decisions.
There are still more strategies to learn, but first, we would like to ask you a favor. Simply vote from 1 to 5, to see how you have found this article so far. Thanks!
What about our brain?
The prefrontal cortex (Located just behind the forehead and eyes), is the part of our brain responsible for analyzing thoughts, making decisions, and regulating behavior.
This includes finding a balance between contradictory thoughts, making choices between right and wrong, and predicting the outcomes of our choices. That is to say, controls our willpower.
In our article on how to beat laziness, we explain the triune brain theory and how our primitive brain is in charge of our basic activities and our survival. If you have not read it, we invite you to do so.
If we take the marshmallow test as an example, when a child sees the marshmallow, his primitive brain tells him to eat it. The prefrontal cortex, however, reminds him that if he waits, he could get two marshmallows.
Our willpower is a clash between our primitive brain and the prefrontal cortex. Ideally, the second dominates the first.
Strategy #4: Be conscious. Every time you make a decision, keep in mind that it may be your primitive brain or the prefrontal cortex at work. Most of the decisions we make are made unconsciously. Since you have this information, you can consciously make decisions.
Your brain needs good fuel.
Our brain is a small part of our body, but due to its importance it consumes more than 20% of our energy. Do you know which part of the brain consumes the most energy? The prefrontal cortex!
Unfortunately, in the case of a decrease in energy, the resources provided by the food we consume are directed to the more developed parts. That is, our primitive brain.
In this case, if you skip one of the meals of the day, the prefrontal cortex would be the most affected part.
Strategy #5: Eat well. Meals that include compound carbohydrates and high doses of protein are the energy source of the most productive people.
And if you want to learn how to take care of the brain, we recommend you click here to learn 10 tips to do so.
Be yourself.
Is it more likely to lose weight when the person feels it is their choice or when they feel pressured to do so?
Psychologists Mark Muraven, Marylène Gagné, and Heather Rosman found that people who exercise self-control to please others burn out more easily than people who stick with their own goals.
When it comes to willpower, people pleasers may find themselves at a disadvantage compared to those who are confident and comfortable with themselves and their decisions.
Strategy #6: Make sure that the objectives you pursue are yours and no one else’s. Also, make sure you have enough reasons to execute them. This will help your willpower to be greater and you can reach them.
We hope these strategies will be very useful for you 🙂
And remember, if you are really interested in creating your own business, you can read our book “How to create a company while working: Discover how to manage your time, manage your money and motivate yourself while creating a company and working for another” , where you will find all the information you need to found your own company, without having to leave your job.
