I don’t have the willpower. If you’re in the process of trying to lose weight and make better food choices but find it hard to stay consistent because of a lack of willpower you’re going to learn a simple trick you can use that will instantly increase your willpower and consistency.
Willpower can be defined as one’s ability to delay gratification, self control, and resist temptations in the short run for something greater in the long run.
We all exert different levels of willpower in different areas of our lives. Some take up small willpower levels while other require a lot of thought, planning, and energy.
For example when you say no to the birthday cake at the office and make it the entire day without having a single bite, you exerted willpower to push through that situation. Or when you decide to stay at the office overtime to finish the project and deliver it on time. Or when you choose to go to the gym on Friday night instead of doing the usual which is ordering fast food with your friends.
In all three of those situations you are practicing self discipline and using willpower.
Several studies have shown that willpower is finite and that we have a limited amount each day. That’s understandable. You can only push yourself too far before you break. But we very rarely reach those points.
Caving in to food temptations and ordering a pizza after work is not due to you using all your willpower during the day. There are other things that are affecting your choices such as your environment when you get back home or emotional state/ stress levels that could trigger certain behaviours.
Another reason could be your belief about willpower itself which leads you to believe that you have none of it.
If you believe willpower is something someone either has or doesn’t, that it’s a biological gift only a select number of people have, then you will always feel that you don’t have any and you don’t have the power to change.
There’s an alternative.
Willpower is like a muscle. The more you use it the stronger it gets.
The research supports this idea as well. In several studies where participants were told that willpower works cumulatively (increases with use) instead of it being a limited resource (decreases with use) found that performance actually improved with time.
For example, when 153 college students were asked about their attitudes about motivation and willpower, the ones who felt that willpower was a limited resource felt “depleted” after a difficult task.
Yet the students who felt that willpower was cumulative did better on every subsequent task given.
Here's what the students who did better were told at the start of the experiment:
“Sometimes, working on a strenuous mental task can make you feel energized for further challenging activities.”
That was all it took for the children to believe that they could overcome difficult tasks instead of quit.
What if you adopted this belief in your own life and with your own weight loss and fitness journey? Wouldn’t that motivate you to stay on track, overcome challenges, and finish each day on the strong foot?
You have control over your beliefs. Today revisit your beliefs on willpower.
1- Do you think you only have a certain amount that cannot be changed?
2- Why is that?
3- Would you be better off if you took a different approach?
4- Give it a try today. The next time you overcome temptation or delay gratification, recognise that what you just did made you stronger and it will energise you to overcome the next obstacle life throws at you.
It will be uncomfortable and difficult to say no, make sacrifices, and keep your eyes on the big picture goal. That’s ok. It’s part of the process. The good news is that the more you practice self discipline in your daily life the easier it becomes and the more progress you start to make towards your goals.
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