Will-Power is vital to our success. People who have good will
power tend to be both more popular and more successful in many areas of life.
Those with low will power, though, are at risk of overeating, addictions and
underachievement.
Will power can be built up, like a muscle. But you need to
do the right types of mental exercises. So, here are ten techniques to boost
your will power that are based on psychological research.
1.
Respect low ego
Research has found that will power is a limited resource.
Exercising it has clear physiological effects, like lower glucose levels.
At any one time we only have so much will power in the tank.
When you’ve been tightly controlling yourself, the tank is low and you become
more likely to give in to temptation. Psychologists call this ‘ego-depletion’.
2.
Pre-commit
Make the decision before you’re in the tempting situation.
Pre-committing yourself to difficult goals can lead to increased performance.
In one study by Ariely and Wertenbroch (2002) students who imposed strict
deadlines on themselves performed better than those who didn’t.
3. Use
rewards
Rewards can really work to help strengthen will power. A
study found that participants were better able to make short-term sacrifices
for long-term gains when they had a self-imposed reward in mind. So setting
ourselves rewards does work, even when it’s self-imposed.
4. …and
penalties
Just like the carrot, the stick also works. Not only should
we promise ourselves a reward for good behaviour, we should also give ourselves
a penalty for bad behaviour.
When Trope and Fishbach (2000) tested self-imposed penalties
experimentally, they found the threat of punishment encouraged people to act in
service of their long-term goals.
5.
Fight the unconscious
Part of the reason we’re easily led into temptation is that
our unconscious is always ready to undermine our best intentions.
Study found that participants were easily tempted outside
their conscious awareness by the mere suggestions of temptation. On the other
hand, the same was also true of goals. When goals were unconsciously triggered,
participants turned towards their higher-order goals.
6.
Adjust expectations
Even if it doesn’t come naturally, try to be optimistic
about your ability to avoid temptations.
Studies like Zhang and Fishbach suggest that being
optimistic about avoiding temptation and reaching goals can be beneficial.
Participants who were optimistic stuck at their task longer than those who had
been asked to make accurate predictions about reaching a goal.
7.
Adjust values
Just as you can try to think more optimistically, you can
also change how you value both goals and temptations. Research suggests that
devaluing temptations and increasing the value of goals increases performance.
When we value our goal more we automatically orient
ourselves towards it. In the same way devaluing temptations helps us
automatically avoid them.
8. Use
your heart
The heart often rules the head, so use your emotions to
increase will power.
You can increase the pull towards your goal in the same way:
think about the positive emotional aspects of achieving it; say, the pride, or
excitement.
9.
Self-affirmation
Sometimes exercising will power means avoiding a bad habit.
One way of doing this is by using self-affirmations. This means reaffirming the
core things you believe in. This could be family, creativity or anything
really, as long as it’s a core belief of yours.
10.
Think abstract
Part of the reason self-affirmations work is that they make
us think in the abstract. And abstract thinking has been shown to boost will
power.
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