Practicing willpower is one of the most important things if we want to achieve our goals. Fortunately, this can be strengthened over time. With a combination of mental and physical exercise, you too can have good self-control and positive thinking skills. By paying attention to your motivation and progress, you too can have a stronger will that is sustainable.
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Part 1 of 2: Practicing Mental and Physical Willpower
Step 1. Resist short-term temptations
Willpower must be practiced so that you do not give in to all kinds of small temptations that come our way every day. If you train yourself to resist these small temptations, you too have the foundation to build greater willpower in other aspects of your life. For example:
- Don't impulsively buy things you don't really need like a cup of coffee, a CD, or a new shirt. Instead, try to save money.
- Store snacks in a drawer or cabinet instead of leaving them out in the open where they can catch your eye.
- Try taking a short walk instead of checking your email or social media accounts.
Step 2. Create a "just in case" plan
Know what you would do in a situation to avoid temptation or to apply willpower to help you succeed. When faced with this situation, try to commit to the "just in case" sentences you have made. For example:
- If you're trying to avoid junk food: "If I go to the supermarket and can't take my eyes off an unhealthy snack, I'll grab a box of whole-grain cereal."
- If you're trying not to drink alcohol: "If someone offers me a drink, I'll just ask for a soda."
- If you're trying to control your anger: "When I start to feel angry, I'll just close my eyes, take a deep breath, and count to ten to calm myself down."
Step 3. Procrastinate rewarding yourself
Accomplishing a wish can feel good in the short term, but sometimes putting off something can increase your ability to apply willpower and also increase the satisfaction you feel. There are many ways to train yourself to be able to procrastinate to reward yourself every day, such as:
- Take a cold shower first and then take a warm shower after a few minutes.
- Wait 5 minutes before eating, even if you are really hungry.
- Fast for a day (only do this if you are healthy enough and try to consult a doctor beforehand).
- Only buy something you want after waiting a while like a week (this also gives you time to find out if it's something you really want).
Step 4. Pay attention to your body
Research shows that even briefly paying attention to posture, breathing, etc., can strengthen willpower and improve mood. Simple exercises to do this include:
- Remind yourself to sit up straight.
- Stop for a moment to take deep breaths regularly and often.
- Stand up from behind a desk or from the couch for 5 minutes every hour.
Step 5. Push yourself physically
Exercise is good for physical health as well as for your ability to control yourself. By taking control of your body, you too can strengthen your willpower in other aspects of your life. Try to focus on making a physical strengthening plan that fits your lifestyle and abilities. Feel free to start at the bottom and remember any progress you make is worthwhile. The important thing is that you continue to carry out what has been planned. Depending on your skills and experience, try to:
- Walk for 10 minutes each day, then slowly increase it to 30 minutes or more.
- Exercise regularly, both indoors and outdoors.
- Play a favorite sport with friends once or more a week.
- Train for 5k races, marathons and so on.
- Ride a bicycle to work every day, instead of taking the car or public transport.
- Mountain climbing,
Step 6. Reject or replace unwanted thoughts
In addition to physical exercise, you can strengthen your willpower through mental exercises. The most important thing is to focus on eliminating the thoughts that make you lose hope. By practicing self-control in this way, you will feel more in control of your feelings and thoughts.
- You can change negative thoughts into more positive thoughts. For example, if you are driven to think, "I've never done this before and don't know what to do," try to make the situation more positive by thinking, "This is an opportunity for me to learn something new."
- Avoid certain people, places, situations, media, and other elements in your life that predispose you to negative thoughts.
Step 7. Meditate
By meditating, you can increase your self-awareness, improve your mood and health, and reduce stress. If you meditate regularly, even if it's only for 5 minutes, you can train willpower by continuing to pursue your goals and deepen your contact with yourself. Here are some types of meditation:
- Chant Mantras, in this exercise, you repeat a word or sentence over and over again.
- Exercise Mindfulness to Be Happier, where you focus on mindfulness while meditating through breathing exercises and other techniques.
- Exercises that combine meditation with physical activity such as Meditate on Love and tai chi.
- Some Yoga breathing exercises.
- Visualization technique.
Step 8. Focus on virtue
As part of your general goal of using willpower, you can focus a little on virtues such as showing sympathy for other beings, being a good friend, being patient and honest, and so on.
- Practice random good manners every day, such as offering someone a seat on the bus, paying for someone else's lunch without telling them, or complimenting someone who needs it.
- Take at least an hour a week to help others who don't ask for help.
- Volunteer.
- Be patient with family, friends, co-workers, and so on by resisting inner urges to be judgmental.
Part 2 of 2: Supporting Yourself for Success
Step 1. Strengthen your motivation
By knowing the reasons why you want to change, your chances of success in achieving your goals are even greater. If you want to practice willpower, try to find out and understand the reason why, whether the cause is very specific or very general. Here are some examples:
- You want to get to the office on time.
- You want to quit smoking.
- You want to be kinder to other people.
- You want to be more active.
- You want to be more successful.
- You want to be in touch with your spiritual side.
Step 2. Focus on one goal at a time
Increasing self-control in various aspects of life can have a positive effect on determination in general. However, you have a better chance of successfully practicing and improving your willpower if you focus on one goal at a time. Try to prioritize your goals and figure out what small steps to take to get started. For example:
- Maybe you have a general goal of being more successful in life and you decide that performing better at work is the way to start.
- You are often late for work and knowing that getting to work on time is the first step you should take.
- Focus on training your willpower by getting up early so you can get to work on time.
- Don't move on to any other goals until you've successfully completed this first step.
Step 3. Monitor your behavior
It is important to monitor your progress as you try to train willpower. That way, you can know if you're going to be successful and whether you need to make changes to improve yourself.
- If you're trying to get to work on time, for example, try to keep track of what time you go to bed each day and what time you wake up. Watch for progress or if you need to make changes. For example, if you notice that you wake up on time every day except Monday, try to focus on this new determination to fix that.
- There are several sites, apps, and programs that can help you keep tabs on your progress as you work toward your goals. However, be careful not to overdo it when self-monitoring or overuse this assistive device as it can distract you and reduce your willpower.
Step 4. Reward yourself
It's not a problem if you want to occasionally reward yourself for achieving your goals and practicing willpower. In fact it is actually profitable. Reward yourself when you're successful-but make sure that strengthening your resolve is the real goal, not a short-term reward you're giving yourself.
Step 5. Get enough sleep
Getting enough rest is very important if you want to practice and strengthen your willpower well. If you are mentally or physically exhausted, your chances of success are reduced. Most adults need 7-8 hours of sleep every night, so set goals accordingly.
