How to develop and strengthen willpower?

There is power - no mind. But what if there is a mind, but not enough strength? And not in the direct sense of the word, but willpower. And without it, we can’t force ourselves to do what we should. Let us consider in more detail how to develop and strengthen willpower.

In fact, willpower is our guide to achieving the goal. They wanted to lose weight, and willpower will help to refuse sweets, and instead of spending time in social networks, it will help to go to the gym. We decided to quit smoking, so it's as easy as shelling pears. Mark Twain, for example, claimed that he himself did this a hundred times. What about one single time? Again, willpower is not enough?

Do you remember the report that you barely managed to submit last year? And if you had willpower, you would have started earlier. And the tooth that you removed last year? It could have been saved if you showed your willpower on time and went to the dentist as soon as you felt the first pain. This list goes on and on. But, unfortunately, our “want” or “do not want” often defeat our willpower. So what to do about it? The conclusion is obvious - to strengthen it.

There is a statement that willpower is a kind of invisible muscle that, like our other muscles, needs to be trained and strengthened. We need to develop an algorithm in which our willpower could always prevail over our laziness, fears, and temptations. It needs to be educated in yourself, preferably from childhood. But if this moment of your development was missed earlier, you can start now. The main thing is discipline and attitude. Next is a matter of technology. So, we begin to perform a set of exercises for the development of willpower.

Do not think that by developing willpower you must give up pleasures. Just correctly divide the concepts into “want” and “should”. Be above instincts. No, nobody calls you to refuse food for the whole day or stop meeting with your girlfriend. But first, think about higher matters. After all, only well-done work will allow you to enjoy life, eat delicious food and have fun with your beloved. Having a decent salary will ensure you a quality level of existence.

You can create a reward system. Could you handle the challenge? Took power into a fist? In the evening, go to your favorite cafe for dinner, free yourself from cooking at home. This will be the reward. Have you missed a workout for a month? Buy yourself a chocolate bar. Only eat it better in the morning. Do not smoke for a month? This is an occasion to go to the movies with friends. Incidentally, smoking is prohibited there.

Learning to plan time is a direct path to excellence. Start not just making a day plan in your head, but do it in writing. Do not want to write, create a special file - a plan on the computer. Thus, you will not only become more self-organized, but also easier to distribute the load. Distribute tasks according to the degree of need for their implementation. To do this, use one of the most effective ways. Divide them into four parts, such as:

• important and urgent;
• urgent and unimportant;
• unimportant but urgent;
• non-urgent and unimportant.

Do you already know where to start tomorrow? By the way, it’s better to plan it the night before. In the morning you should already be in full combat readiness, you do not have time to decide what is important and what is urgent and what is generally unworthy of attention.

Make your own, the regime of the day that suits you, and strictly observe it. Everyone knows that people are divided into “owls” and “larks”. If you find it easier to live in the morning, do all the most difficult work in the first hours of work. Mail look at the end of the day and effort. If in the morning you feel unwell for a long time, listlessly, then you should start with the post office. For more important things, start closer to dinner when you have the strength.

In addition, each of us has a moment when we are not capable of anything. Do not tear the veins of your willpower. Allow yourself minutes of “doing nothing”, do not confuse them with a fit of laziness. Take breaks at work.

Habit - as you know, the second nature. So let's make it at least close to perfect. How many times do you press the alarm button in the morning. Only two? Excellent. And imagine if a daily morning run or dousing with cold water appears in the schedule of the day! You yourself will not notice how this becomes a habit. And then you will get up a few minutes before the alarm.

It's like a morning walk with a dog. Try to get her to wait another hour or so while you are relaxing in bed. Will not work. General cleaning in the corridor is provided for you. Change bad habits to good ones. Willpower will gratefully respond to your transformation. As an example, take the following:

• replace daily communication in social networks with reading fiction;
• take a cold shower every morning;
• visit the massage parlor at least once every two weeks;
• every day, an hour before bedtime, turn off all sources of information: phone, tablet, computer, TV;
• eat porridge for breakfast every day.

Willpower is always inside us, so experts advise you to turn to your inner self more often. This will teach you concentration, develop the ability to control yourself, and teach you to disengage. You yourself will not notice how you stop "losing your temper" with or without. Calm down and may the will power come with you.

So, sit more comfortable. The back is straight. Legs do not have to be crossed. Do meditation while sitting in a chair. The main thing is to make you comfortable. Close your eyes. But first, turn off anything that might distract you — your phone, computer sound, and TV. Start to do deep breaths. At the same time accompany them with words, as at the doctor’s appointment, “inhale-exhale”, in this case you are your own doctor. After a while, let your breath go freely, that is, remove the soundtrack.

All unnecessary thoughts should leave you alone. And they will do it, believe me. If all of a sudden a crazy one flies into your head, tell her “shit”, for this, start repeating the therapeutic “inhale-exhale” again. Start doing this for 5 minutes a day. Then gradually “stretch the pleasure” to 10, and then to 15 minutes. This will also become a good habit. Open your eyes.

Perhaps the most famous method of auto-suggestion was told to us when they released the picture "I am the most charming and attractive." The heroine of Irina Muravyova, repeating this phrase, turned from an ugly duckling into a wonderful swan. The method of auto-suggestion or auto-training is good in that, unlike meditation, it does not require special conditions to be fulfilled. You can do it on the way to work, in the store, during cleaning, in the queue at the clinic - anywhere. And it takes a little time. However, experts recommend allocating 10-15 minutes every day.

Another rule says that in the statements that you will inspire yourself, there should be no negation, that is, we remove the “not” particle from our vocabulary for the duration of the conversation with ourselves. And also try not to use words such as “root out” or “get rid”. But the following phrases below are quite suitable:

• I see the goal and I will definitely come to it;
• my path will be walked by me to the end (“I will not turn from the path” will not do);
• I will be a strong will and spirit;
• I will reach the planned peaks;
• day by day I am stronger.

Remember that we are what we eat. As soon as your body mass begins to exceed the permissible, in the literal sense of the word you do not enter into any framework, the brain independently begins the reverse process, begins to decrease. Of course, he does not dry out in a literal sense; he simply begins to think more slowly. Memory will begin to fail. Here it is not up to willpower. The same process leads to lack of vitamins.

We have already learned that willpower is like muscle. So give her a load. You do not have to immediately run to the gym. Although this is only welcome. DTo start, just try moving more, for example, walk. No need to occupy the parking space closest to the entrance to the office. Leave the car in a neighboring yard and walk to your favorite job, at the same time breathe in fresh air.

Traveling by public transport? Do you know why you are so often put to sleep in it? From lack of movement. Get off at a stop earlier than the usual one. At least sometimes pass by the elevator. Climb to the desired floor on foot. Ideally, the number of steps per day should be about ten thousand. Do not count them. Almost every smartphone is equipped with pedometers now. There are also special bracelets.

Since the problem of developing willpower and self-control is quite common, it is not surprising that those involved in high technologies have turned their attention to it. Specialists have developed numerous services that help a person take care of themselves. Of course, they will not take you to the hairdresser, but they will be able to remind you that you must do this. We already spoke about pedometers. There are other programs that let you track what you are wasting your time on. For instance, The RescueTime time tracker will track what you are doing at the computer using your laptop or phone, and then it will give you the analyzed information.

Some then delete games from their devices. It only seems that we are not distracted by them for long. And social networks are not at all as harmless for our precious time as it seems. Or maybe you spent too much time when “with one eye” looked at the match of your favorite team? The program will count everything. There are other applications that will help you figure out why at the end of the day you understand that "they didn’t have time again." And also with the help of modern technologies you can check the quality of your sleep, measure the level of physical activity and so on.

The main enemy of our willpower is laziness. She sometimes pops out like a hell out of a snuffbox. What activates it? Do not be afraid to face the enemy. So it will be easier to deal with. Answer yourself, what awakened in you, so able-bodied, laziness? The reasons may be different.

• You are afraid that you will not be able to complete the task. Solution - ask your colleagues for help. Understand how you yourself can ease your task. Finally, discard this work in favor of another.
• You will not get any pleasure from this work. Solution - find the incentive for its implementation (bonus, thanks from the authorities, the opportunity to take a vacation).
• You basically do not like what you do. Solution - change your occupation.
• It is physically difficult for you to complete the task. Solution - find an assistant, try to find some special devices to facilitate the work. Break the case into several parts. Refuse to do it in favor of another, if other methods are unacceptable.
• You do not know where to start. Solution - look at the question from all sides. Start with the most difficult, leave the less tiring and complex procedures for “sweet”, present them to yourself as a dessert at dinner.
• You set yourself an impossible task. Solution - lower the bar. Instead of declaring to yourself that you would need to lose 20 kilograms, say that losing a couple of extra ones will be enough for a start. So the goal will become more attainable, and the result can immediately be recorded in the diary of their achievements.
• You do not like working conditions. Solution - swap places with your colleague for at least one day. Maybe you do not have enough sunlight, then open the blinds. But first, try to clean up the table. Remove from it all unnecessary and distracting from the work. A cell phone is desirable too.
• You are too cold / hot / rainy / sad. Solution - close / open the window. Start wearing other clothes. If everything hurts and nothing helps, see the next paragraph.
• Are you tired. Solution - observe the regime of work and rest. At the weekend, spend time at home chores, with children, friends, alone with yourself. Forget about work on the weekend - this is the law. Whenever possible, spend your vacation away from home and work.

Here are some tips to help you not only develop your willpower, but in principle, feel one hundred percent.

• Water treatments. It is believed that a person should drink one and a half to two liters of water per day.This is about eight glasses. More is possible, less is not. It is water (coffee, tea, cola, grandmother’s compote that doesn’t count) that normalizes the functioning of our body, gives strength to our brain, helps to cope with excess weight. And you will get a bonus in the form of a beautiful and healthy skin.
• Rejoice. A positive-minded person will always do his job faster and better than someone who came in a bad mood. Stress can completely turn off the function of self-control. But he, unfortunately, is inevitable. Fortunately, you can deal with it. Relaxation is what helps you. This does not mean a glass or other red at dinner and not watching talk shows. You need to be able to relax.

To do this, do the following exercise. Lie on your back. Feet are best kept slightly elevated. Put a pillow under them. I do not like this pose, take any convenient for you, even the frog pose. Close your eyes, start breathing deeply. We recall the meditation technique "inhale-exhale." 10-15 minutes in this state will help you get rid of negative thoughts much better than wine, it can only aggravate an already unimportant state. But daily practice in the supine position will help you tune in to the right wave. Yes, and protect from insomnia. And this is no less important than getting rid of stress.

• All sleep. Sleep should take at least eight hours. That is how much our brain needs in order to fully relax. If you think that if it was willpower that allowed watching the series until three nights or “cutting into tanks”, you are mistaken. This made her absence. In the morning you will not be capable of anything intelligible.