Starting your own business takes a lot of guts. There will probably be many hurdles and unforeseen obstacles that will need to be dealt with. To make it through the hard times, entrepreneurs need to find it within themselves to self-motivate and push through the crises and stress.
How to Boost My Willpower?
As such, having strong willpower is a major key to every entrepreneur’s success. We asked members of Young Entrepreneur Council to share a concrete way every entrepreneur can strengthen their willpower. Here’s what they have found works well for them:
Set small, achievable goals.
Maintaining willpower is about keeping your mind on the prize. Determine what it is that you’re working toward and develop a plan for how to get there. That plan should include small, achievable goals along the way. Taking things one day at a time, one step at a time allows for little victories, which boosts confidence and collectively allows you to develop good habits and strengthen willpower.
Control your thoughts and commit.
Increasing willpower and productivity requires taking control of your actions and thoughts and remaining committed to your short- and long-term goals. Avoid acting without thinking. When you get frustrated, stay calm and get a clear picture of what needs to be resolved, so you can avoid making emotional decisions. Second, identify and remove distractions, so you can stay committed to your plan.
Use short bursts as a catalyst.
Use short bursts of willpower to push yourself past your limits. I’ve found that starting small, taking one step beyond your limits, and then two and then three, will help to build the belief that will eventually lead to huge leaps beyond what you thought was possible. It works because it trains your mind to use willpower as a catalyst to achieving the bigger things that you want.
Win the day.
I’ve heard that it takes 21 days to form a new habit. Others have said 30 days and even 90 days. But I think it’s best to win the day and then string a bunch of those wins together. It’s easy to win one day and then string that into three days and five days and a week, versus being overwhelmed with being perfect for 90 whole days. Each small victory builds momentum, and all that momentum builds better habits.
Take cold showers.
It may sound like a drastic measure, but taking cold showers (or even partially cold showers) is a great way to strengthen your willpower. Suffering strengthens your willpower more than success. By forcing yourself to be uncomfortable, you end up feeling confident and empowered (as well as refreshed). Taking a cold shower—even if for only 20 seconds—takes willpower.
Just keep running.
Most marathon runners are aware of the dreaded “wall.” The wall is where your body shuts down around mile 20 and your mind starts screaming at you to stop. When a person completes their first marathon, they will have built willpower in two ways: First, by training every day and increasing miles slowly over time, and second, by running the last painful marathon miles in a broken body.
Get up one hour earlier.
Getting up earlier gives you an extra hour to prepare for the day. Use it to meditate, exercise, take a walk or get a head start on some business-related tasks. If you’re used to staying up late, you may need to go to bed earlier, as well, so you don’t deprive yourself of sleep. Most people are more productive early in the day, so creating that extra hour can make a big difference.
Write down goals and progress.
When I see my goals in writing and daily write out what I’ve done to achieve them, it helps me be more accountable and eliminates those feelings of weakness to reach for or do something that I know I shouldn’t. I don’t want to have to write down that I slipped and let go of the strength to reach that goal.
Say “no” out loud.
I tell myself “no” out loud when I start to feel myself slipping on a goal where I need that will power. It sounds silly, but it helps me to hear. From there, I think about the reason I am staying strong in that area and what the result will be for doing so.
Make your goals public.
Making a bet with friends, or tweeting “I will accomplish X by this date” goes a long way toward helping you accomplish your goals. Taking the step to publicize your objectives adds pressure, as many people don’t want their failures to be public. Equally important, when you tell the world that you want to achieve something, you’ll be amazed at how many people will support you along the way!
Use positive reinforcement.
Use positive reinforcement training to strengthen your willpower. This technique has been around for a long time because it id proven effective in changing behavior. When you exhibit strong willpower, then congratulate yourself and provide some form of reward, such as dinner from your favorite restaurant or something else that is special and out of the ordinary.
Take care of your body.
Eat healthy. Sleep. Exercise. These three things will allow you to feel rested, energized and able to make good decisions. Taking care of your body and mind is one of the healthiest and most effective ways to strengthen your willpower.
Have good habits.
Having strong habits will make your willpower much easier to control. If you have a set of strong habits built into your daily routine, you will find that there won’t be as many decisions or moments your willpower will come into play.
Make a list of your previous successes.
As successful as many of us are, it can be tough to feel that way when you are seeing so many people in the news making millions of dollars with their new applications, companies or signing a new sports contract. Everyone is different and we all have different goals and standards. To keep your willpower up and moving forward, write down some of your best achievements and goals over prior years.
Never be satisfied.
The one thing I noticed is that when I reach a goal, I create a bigger goal, and in the end, I see life as an endless movement. There is no end to discovery and being able to do things better. When you realize this, you start shooting for the stars instead of wanting to give up. For example, this year I reached my fitness goals and now I am working on more advanced fitness techniques.
10 Exercises to Strengthen Willpower
“Is there a way to strengthen someone’s willpower?”
That was the question on researchers’ minds as they learned more about how the science behind this human virtue. Through many tests, they had discovered that willpower is like a muscle – it gets tired from overuse and requires food to replenish.
So, if it does act like a muscle, can it also be strengthened?
After several studies, we have our answer! With the right practice, willpower can be strengthened just like any other muscle in the body.
Fair warning: like all practice, these workouts can be challenging. After all, you will be exerting your willpower in the same way that you would exert your legs on a run. But they are scientifically proven to get you results.
So although it will be difficult in the short-term, eventually it will be easier to say no to temptations, make it to the gym and stick with your long-term goals!
10 Minutes of Meditation
Meditation will give you the fastest results of all of the willpower workouts listed. By meditating you are training the brain to focus and resist the urge to wander. Research shows that after just 2-3 days of practicing meditation for 10 minutes, your brain will be able to focus better, you will have more energy, and you will be less stressed.
To get started with 10 minutes of mindfulness, check out this online program. It will provide you with all of the benefits of mediation as well as simple exercise designed specifically for beginners.
Work on Your Posture
When testing if willpower could be strengthened, researchers asked a group of participants to work on their posture for a 2-week period. Every time they caught themselves slouching, they were to correct themselves by sitting up straight.
To get started, simply correct your posture every time you catch yourself slouching at work or at home. It sounds extremely simple, but it takes willpower to sit up straight. Every time you do, you’re essentially doing “one rep” with your willpower muscle.
Keep a Food Diary
The same study also found that those who kept a food diary improved their willpower. Most of us don’t log all of the food we eat, so it takes willpower to keep track of it all. Any similar logging of information will also work, but I recommend a food diary because of all of its benefits listed here.
To get started, I recommend downloading the MyFitnessPal App. It’s a simple food diary app that has a huge database of foods and nutrition information. Just keep the diary for 2 weeks, and it will increase your ability to resist temptations!
Use Your Opposite Hand
Using the same methodology as with posture, researchers conducted further studies that tested other corrective actions. One that worked particularly well was to use your opposite hand. Your brain is wired to use your dominant hand, so it takes willpower to use the opposite.
To get started, select a chunk of the day to use your opposite hand. It doesn’t need to be any more than an hour in order to get results. And from personal experience, if you aim for more than an hour, you will unnecessarily tire out your willpower muscle.
Correct Your Speech
Another test that the researchers conducted was to change subjects’ natural speech. This includes resisting the urge to use swear words, or to say “hello” instead of “hey”. Again, it takes willpower to consciously go against your instincts. It doesn’t matter how you correct your speech, as long as you change your natural speech habits.
To get started, select a chunk of the day to practice and choose the words you will change. Personally, I tried not using contractions (using “do not” instead of “don’t”, etc.) during work hours and it worked very well. Like all exercises listed above, doing this for just 2 weeks can vastly improve your willpower!
Create and Meet Self-imposed Deadlines
Anyone who remembers their college days, remembers what it was like cramming for a test or doing a last minute paper. Your willpower gets taxed as you try to tune out distractions and become hyper-productive. Using this same principle, researchers found that by creating self-imposed deadlines you can work your willpower in the same way.
To get started, simply pick a task on your to-do list that you may have been putting off. Set a deadline for accomplishing it, and make sure you adhere to it. The participants who followed this process for 2 weeks not only got their old to-dos done, but also improved their diets, exercised more, and cut back on cigarettes and alcohol.
Keep Track of Your Spending
In the same way most of us don’t track the food that we eat, many of us don’t track our spending either. Even if you don’t cut back on spending – which would also be a willpower workout – researchers found that simply keeping track of where your money went will improve your willpower.
You can also try using a budgeting app like Mint. Mint can connect to your bank account, credit cards, etc. and automatically track your purchases. By simply reviewing this on a regular basis, you will see increases in your focus and ability to resist unrelated temptations like sweets.
Squeeze a Handgrip
For the truly determined who want to increase their perseverance, you can squeeze a handgrip until exhaustion. If you’ve ever squeezed one before, you know that it gives you a deep forearm burn. So it takes willpower to keep squeezing.
To get started, simply get a handgrip like this one, and squeeze it with each hand until you’re exhausted. Willing yourself to continue squeezing even when it hurts will increase your perseverance on other challenging tasks.
Carry Around Something Tempting
Again, for the truly determined out there, you can increase your ability to say “no” by carrying around something tempting with you all day. Researchers tried this with participants by teaching them how to resist cravings, then giving them a Hershey’s Kiss to carry around with them. Those who resisted the Kiss were much more capable of resisting other temptations in their lives as well!
To get started, first learn how to resist a craving. This will be hard, so your 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!
Be More Mindful of Your Automatic Decisions
A final exercise is to simply be more mindful of your decisions throughout the day. We are often so lost in thought, that our actions become automatic. Taking time to think about why you are making your daily decisions will increase your ability to focus and resist temptations.
To get started, try to catch yourself in an automatic behavior and ask yourself why you are doing it. This may be questioning why you are eating cereal instead of eggs for breakfast, or it may be questioning why exactly you put 2 sugars in your coffee. Any way you can think consciously about a typical automatic behavior will increase your focus and self-control. Try this behavior change program, which will help you reprogram some of your automatic decisions.
sources: success | willpowered