Wish you had more willpower? Willpower to say no to the chocolate brownie? Willpower to say yes to some extra physical activity? Well, get ready to strengthen your willpower!
How strong is your willpower? Does it come and go? My willpower seems to be on a “break” whenever I need it the most.
New here? Thanks for stopping by. After you read this post, check out my other blogs for the woman over 50 who wants to lose body fat while building muscle and eating foods you actually want to eat.
- Secrets to losing weight with walking routine
- How to easily start reducing your calories today
- 5 Reasons you want to start counting macros today
- 8 reasons you should stop dieting to lose weight
- Use this time to create your at-home fitness routine
- 5 Reasons you want to start increasing your physical activity today
- Effective steps to reverse the creeping weight gain
What exactly is willpower?
According to the American Psychological Association, willpower is the ability to resist short-term temptations in order to meet long-term goals.
Does that sound like the “willpower” you’d like to strengthen?
If you’re on a journey to eat healthier, exercise more I’m guessing you can relate. Say no to cookie today (short-term temptation) in order to lose 20 pounds in a few months (long-term goal).
Lack of Willpower Cause of Missed Goals?
Most women believe willpower is the #1 reason they have difficulty sticking with their healthy lifestyle changes. So, what can you do?
Tip #1 to Strengthen Your Willpower - Know why
The 1st step must be to know why you want to make the change in the first place.
This is your “why power” and is far more powerful and reliable than willpower alone.
Do you have a reason that is especially important to you? How badly do you want it? Just wanting something doesn’t make it happen; however, the stronger your reason (your why power) the “easier’ it is to boost your willpower.
Tip #2 to Strengthen Your Willpower - Hide it
Next, make it easier on yourself. So often, we think if only we had willpower, we could walk right past the plate of cookies and not want to eat one. If only it were that easy.
Why put that extra pressure on yourself? Instead, hide the cookies.
This is the “out of sight out of mind” strategy and believe me this is POWERFUL.
Tip #3 to Strengthen Your Willpower - Have a Plan
Temptations are often the product of our friends and family – ie. someone offers you a cookie at a party or at the office. What do you do?
This is when you need to have a plan. What will you do “if” someone offers you a food/treat that you are trying to avoid/limit so you can hit your weight loss goal? This is your “if-then” plan.
It’s highly unlikely your willpower will be there for you, if you don’t know how you will respond BEFORE it happens.
Tip #4 to Strengthen Your Willpower - Small changes
Keep the changes you’re making small. Too many changes can be overwhelming and incredibly difficult to sustain. Pick one small change vs trying to overhaul your entire diet or exercise routine.
For example, if you’d like to eat more vegetables, add one more serving of vegetables per day.
Tip #5 to Strengthen Your Willpower - Reward yourself
Way too often, we think we’ll celebrate when we hit our end goal. What about all the mini goals along the way?
If you’re following tip #4 above, then you’re making small changes. Every time you are successful with following through on your small changes, you need a reward.
By reward, I DO NOT mean food. Your reward might be going for a walk, reading a book, getting a massage or pedicure, buying a new outfit. Something that you enjoy. You decide the frequency and what “wins” you a reward.
More than willpower... Self-Discipline
I’ve talked about some ways you can increase your willpower; however, you will likely need more than willpower to reach your goals.
Willpower is most valuable for short-term situations. Willpower is what helps you eat an extra serving of vegetables today, tomorrow and maybe even next week.
Then what? If you want to continue the action, self-discipline will be critical.
How do you develop self-discipline?
Self-discipline takes some work.
Some days you just plain won’t want to do it. Willpower won’t get you to do it. You will need self-discipline. You said you were going to do it so…
You do it even when you don’t feel like it.
Following the tips above consistently will be key. In addition to those, share your goals and intentions with others and ASK for their help. Give them permission to “remind” you if your actions are not in alignment with your goals.
And lastly, be honest with yourself. Are you being the person you want to be? For example, if you want to be healthy are you being (acting as) a healthy person?
Strengthen your willpower and self-discipline
You can strengthen your willpower and self-discipline over time as you create healthy routines. The more you do it, the easier it gets.
To make it a routine, you’ll want to be consistent as much as possible. Decide if the action is something you can do daily or weekly. Then, create a plan to stay consistent.
Set reminders on your calendar, post-its on the refrigerator.
And lastly, you must believe you can be successful. Remember the quote by Henry Ford…
“Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t–you’re right.”
Pulling it all together
- Willpower will get you started and is great for short-term actions.
- Why Power is more powerful and reliable than willpower alone.
- Keep temptations out of sight.
- Always have an “if-then” plan
- Start with one small change at a time
- Reward yourself along the way
- Self-discipline will be needed as you build healthy routines for the long-term.
- Ask for help
- Believe you can do it! Because you can!
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