We all need to engage our willpower if we want to get anything done. Willpower is a function of your conscious mind, along with logic, reasoning and awareness. Together these qualities comprise a whopping 12% of your mind. The other 88% is your subconscious mind, the seat of your motivation and memory; your lifescript, your belief in the way things are. Every decision you make takes willpower, and difficult decisions require a lot more willpower. You have to consciously choose to take an action. Your conscious mind has to believe in the action you are taking. Your subconscious mind has to have faith that you will succeed. Many times you have to suppress an appealing option for a less appealing one. You may want to lose a few pounds of extra weight. That might require engaging in physical exercise instead of passively watching your favorite cooking programs on TV. Your willpower will make the choice.
In order to be more successful in engaging your willpower, you might want to try one of these tricks to help yourself.
- Keep your state of well-being high. In other words…just take good care of yourself. If you’re hungry because you haven’t taken the time to feed yourself, you are more likely to look for junk food and empty calories. If you are trying to do too much and not giving yourself the rest you need, you will be exhausted and unable to function. If you are utterly deprived of fun and the joy of living, you will be cranky! Nutritious food, restful sleep and fun activities all boost your willpower to succeed at any goal.
- Pace yourself. When you spend all your willpower all at once, you have nothing left over. Some tasks are very demanding and require more willpower. Perhaps you need to organize your year-end taxes or clean out your garage and you’d rather not. Learn to mix the simple everyday tasks of life in with the difficult ones. When you spread out the most difficult tasks over multiple days, you will have more success. Be kind to yourself. Be less demanding.
- Tackle the most important tasks first. Sometimes we procrastinate doing the more difficult tasks by telling ourselves that we have many other things we need to accomplish. Taking on the important task first might make your other tasks more difficult to accomplish, but it makes your important task a priority. You are more likely to succeed in doing what matters most. You can do 10 things that don’t matter and convince yourself that you were successful, but are you? Your priority is not accomplished. Priority means “deserving prior attention”. If something is a priority to you, it means you should have accomplished it before now. Therefore, it is at the top of your list. Use your willpower and do it now!
- Reduce your choices. Distractions create the need to use willpower. Keep things simple and stay focused on what you want. Don’t fill your world with things or people or thoughts that distract you. Eliminate such distractions.
- Timing matters. Choosing the right tasks at the right time is important. Some things you need to do mostly affect your state, while others mostly affect your skills. When you devote time to doing things which keep your body in a healthy state, you are able to keep your willpower in a healthy state. And in that state, you are able to develop your skills to deal with whatever you need to accomplish.
The key to success is balance. Learn to balance the priority of your “to do” list with taking care of yourself. Taking care of your body, mind and spirit is the secret to your willpower.