are you procrastinating right now?
Perhaps you want to lose a few pounds
or maybe you are trying to beat an addictions
whatever it is
we could all do with more willpower
so here are the top four tricks for helping you increase your willpower
number one
you willpower is limited
many people think that willpower is some infinite resource
but in reality
it works more like a fuel tank
see, brain scans confirmed that with each use of willpower,
the self control system in the brain becomes less active
it's as your willpower is being depleted
this explains why smokers who refrain from cigarettes are more likely to be enjoying ice-cream afterwards
and even more surprisingly
while people on a diet are more likely to cheat on the significant ????
what does this mean?
they aim to lose weight
quit smoking and exercise daily all at the same time
but if you do this
your willpower will be drained very quickly
and you not gonna be able to carry through with any of the goals
instead
focus all your willpower at one goal at a time
number two
self-acceptance is better than guilt
think back the times when you fail to carry through with you goal
maybe you break your diet or just keep on procrastinating
there is a huge sense of guilt, right?
now, people see this as a good thing
if you are not hard on yourself
you always be lazy
but this is completely wrong
see, feelings of guilt put us in a bad mood
and when this happens, fMRI scans show a brain switched to a reward seeking state
we want immediate gratification
so we can quickly feel better again
now unfortunately this is often at the expense of our long-term goals
and consequently we feel even guiltier
instead
it's better to forgive yourself when you stuff up
just consider this experiment
women on a diet were firstly asked to eat a whole donut
the act of breaking their diet obviously made them feel guilt
at this point researchers gave half the women a message to relieve guilt
they told them everyone makes mistakes
and so we shouldn't be so hard on ourselves
the other half didn't get this message
now here is the important part
these women would then given candy afterwards
and told that they could eat as much or as little as they wanted
those who got the message only ate 28 grams
but those who didn't ate almost 70 grams
more than twice the other group
so don't be too harsh on yourself next time you fail
number three
willpower is contagious
humans are social animals
if we see someone do something
we have the strong natural instinct to mimic them
this is what makes willpower contagious
if we see someone trying to achieve a goal we want
it can motive us
for example
in one study
students read a story about another student who worked over spring break
this goal of making money caught on
and the participants work harder and faster to earn money in the subsequent lab task
in another study
students were asked to merely think about a friend he doesn't smoke marijuana
this act of thinking alone made them less interested in smoking themselves
so if you want to achieve the goal
find a friend with the same goal and motivate each other
number four
don't imagine yourself achieving a goal
a lot of self-help books will tell you to visualises yourself succeeding
but consider this:
researchers followed obese women who were trying to lose weight
turns out, those with the most positive fantasies about reaching their weight goals lost the least amount of weight
a similar effect happen when McDonald's introduced a healthy menu option
ironically the sales a BigMac skyrocketed
in both cases
the problem was people started visualising themselves being healthy
with McDonald's
the salad option merely made customers imagine themselves choosing the nutritious options
now the thing is fantasising tricks the brain into thinking it's already achieved the desired goal
consequently
since you feel that you've made progress
you allow yourself to indulge more even though there's nothing to show for it
so while it's nice to fantasise
you should stop this habit immediately
and those are the top four tricks you should use to enhance your willpower