Pump up your Willpower

There is not a cookie cutter or ‘one-size-fits-all’ way to address the problem that many of us have … the need to pump up our willpower.  Here are four suggestions. Try ONE of them this week. We don’t shift mindsets and behaviours by doing more than one thing at a time. Adopt a new tiny habit …which one suits you?

1. Eat a low glycaemic diet

If you want to ensure that your brain (the willpower muscle) has the right kind and a steady flow of glucose to it, then learn how to snack on the right of foods.  Our brains are only 2% of our body weight, but consume 20% of our glucose intake in a critical “just in time” way.  Our brains cannot store glucose for later use: so snacking is essential.

But of course, they should be low-glycaemic foods that will fuel your willpower.  This week increase your intake of:

• Lean Protein (beef; poultry; pork and fish)
• Nuts (walnuts, pecans and cashews)
• Fresh fruit (bananas, blueberries, apples etc. rather than dried fruit)
• Vegetables (eat ALL the colours of the rainbow)

2. Get enough sleep

When you are tired, your willpower takes the biggest hit. We eat to stay awake in meetings or simple distract ourselves, by looking for some mouth entertainment.  Our brains also can’t absorb glucose as efficiently as we need, when we are tired.  In addition, this causes a ripple effect and our brains recognise that we are not getting enough glucose and so we start to crave sugary foods and caffeine to “replenish the glucose”.  Eating junk food becomes appealing!

What can you do to get a better night’s sleep?

• Sleep in a completely dark room

This helps our brain shut down and sleep more efficiently in order to boost your willpower

• Learn to power nap to get away with less hours sleep at night

In this way, you can get away with less sleep at night. In fact research suggests that 8 consecutive hours sleep is not as good as 7 hours sleep a night and a few Power Naps during the day.

(https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-185715/An-hours-nap--nights-sleep.html)

• Create a reservoir

If you can’t squeeze in more hours per week night, then make sure that you get more sleep on the weekend.

3. Exercise

A great way to increase willpower.  Researchers asked 24 people (between the ages of 18 and 50), who were non-exercisers to partake in a 2-month study. They were given free gym memberships and asked to exercise just once per week for the first month and 3 times per week for the second month.

Throughout the study they would test the participants on various self-control activities from resisting temptations to persevering through challenging tasks.
The results were nothing less than remarkable.

After just 2 months of exercise every participant had indeed increased his or her ability to resist temptations and persevere on tasks. But the benefits didn’t end there.  Without any instruction by the researchers, the participants also:

• Procrastinated less
• Felt more in control of emotions
• Saved more money
• Ate less junk food
• Began eating a healthier diet
• Watched less TV
• Spent more time studying

4. Carry around something tempting

You may have heard of the “Marshmallow” experiments with kids in the late 1960’s.

This is where a child was put in a room and given a marshmallow and told that if they waited for a short period (about 15 minutes) without eating the marshmallow, they would be rewarded with a second marshmallow.

The kids and their success in life were tracked. The kids who resisted the marshmallow were far more successful in later life.

Try this in adult life.

• First learn how to resist a craving: https://www.willpowered.co/learn/effects-of-exercise-on-willpower  

This will be hard, so you will want to know how to deal with the craving

• Then carry something small but tempting with you.

It doesn’t need to be for an entire day, but for long enough that you will be truly tempted. By consistently saying “no”, you will increase your ability to resist other temptations and ignore distractions!

If you are able to resist the small chocolate in your handbag / briefcase… you are likely to resist other temptations like cake at teatime!

Watch Joni and Celynn summarise this topic in a short video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQfzqV7cDQ8

To boost your FAB Quotient in your organisation, contact us today and book keynote speakers Joni & Celynn for your next corporate talk or speaking event. To find out more about what we do, please subscribe to the FAB Q newsletter, connect with us on LinkedIn and follow us on Facebook.