How to have willpower

How many times have we said: "I'll do it later", "I will start tomorrow", "I'll start on Monday" or "I'll start in September". Excuses to postpone tasks that do not motivate us enough or that we do not have the necessary will to carry them out. How many times have we set ourselves a goal that has not been met, how many things would we like to achieve but we have not succeeded due to lack of willpower, or rather, not knowing how to work the strength of Will. Therefore, in this Psychology-Online article, how to have willpowerYou will find out what willpower is, its definition of what it consists of and what factors it depends on. You will also find how you can have willpower and 15 tips to increase it.

Index

1. What is willpower
2. How to have willpower
3. 15 Tips to Increase Willpower
4. Willpower Tips Summary

The will is the power to decide one's own behavior, that is, make decisions freely and consciously to choose what action to take. The will is the main motor of action, to set goals and address them. The will is relatively stable and durable. The will is made up of:

• Innate energy or motivation
• The perception of one's own resources
• The values
• The interests or preferences regarding the satisfaction of pleasure

Willpower is based on interpersonal skills:

• The self-knowledge: know the states and resources of oneself.
• The self-regulation: regulate the states and resources of oneself.
• The self-control: adaptation and cognitive flexibility.
• The self motivation: the ability to provoke motivation regardless of the circumstance.
• The executive attention: the ability to focus attention, the power of focus and resistance to distractions to stay focused on a future goal.

Is motivation and will the same?

The concept of willpower is closely linked to motivation concept, but they don't mean the same. Motivation is an impulse that leads to action due to a stimulus or reward, it is unstable and unpredictable. There are different types of motivation. Motivation and will differ in that motivation is an emotional state that can be affected by a multitude of factors and vary, while the will is the ability to decide, which tends to be more stable. Therefore, motivation will be effective with short tasks or objectives or at specific times, especially with short-term rewards. While in perseverance for a long-term goal, will will be more important.

What does willpower depend on?

Willpower is more constant than motivation and depends more on oneself than on external factors. However, there are many causes that can affect willpower, since willpower depends on:

• The traits of personality
• The way to face the decision making
• The way to manage motivation
• The safety in oneself
• The afraid to possible risks
• The difficulty of the task
• The effort that the task requires
• The reason or reward that has the objective

Willpower is very important, as it affects all areas of our life. It depends on it that we make the appropriate decisions that are translated into perseverance and perseverance to achieve the objectives that we have set ourselves or what we want so much.

To have willpower it is necessary to learn to organize behavior, that is, make the decisions appropriate that lead to actions that bring us closer to the goal. It's about staying focused on the target despite impulses. You also need to learn to manage motivation, know ourselves, know what stimuli help to provoke the effect of motivation in us and use them to our advantage to motivate ourselves. You are not always motivated to do something, sometimes it is necessary to make the decision to start an action from the will to achieve a goal. It may be that, once immersed in the task, motivation appears.

Another fundamental aspect is the perception of self-efficacy, or in other words: believe in yourself. It is essential to thoroughly assess the difficulties and possible risks of the task or actions to be carried out, as well as the reward to which we aspire, to determine if we are willing to make the effort which requires. In short, having willpower consists of enhancing the I responsible before him me irresponsible. Being able to choose the option that best suits us in the long run is having willpower.

Can we have willpower at all times?

Although willpower depends on us to a great extent, it is not infinite either. Therefore, the answer is no, we cannot have willpower absolutely always. Have you ever wondered why don't you have willpower? As we have seen, willpower depends on many factors that we can improve, but not everything is in our hands. In the pursuit of a goal, and in life in general, it is paramount understand and accept that we are human, imperfect by nature.

At one extreme, there is the emotional part. If we acted on it, we would let ourselves be carried away by impulses. At the other extreme is the rational part. The reality is that neither extreme is adequate, but we must find the middle point between both parties. Wise behavior is one that listens to emotion and processes it with reason, to find the best action.

It is not always appropriate to force ourselves to complete all pending tasks. What's more, there are complicated situations, such as going through an illness or some painful circumstance that justify this lack of motivation. In the next section, the content is aimed at the general population, that is, people who do not have a significant impediment to take action.

As we have seen, having willpower depends on many factors, some of which we can improve and increase by strengthening some capacities and learning some skills. Here are some tips to increase your willpower:

1. Focus on one thing

To choose the right goal, prioritize. It is well known that he who covers a lot, little squeezes. Choose the most important goal for you at this time and also the one that is easier or takes less time to achieve, thus increasing your motivation to face the next objective.

2. Keep it real

The proper goal must be realistic. It's very important set goals that can be achieved, because if we set ourselves unrealistic things, the probability of not getting them is very high. The consequence will be frustration and discouragement, as well as a worse perception of self-efficacy, which can even affect our security and self-esteem. These emotions totally interfere with motivation. From this state, it is more difficult to act, therefore, we are making the situation worse. For example:

• Wrong: "Losing 20 kilos" = many chances of not getting it = frustration, thoughts like "I'm a disaster, I'll never get it "= demotivation = not taking action = not having willpower = not getting the objective.
• Good: "Start losing weight" = the moment you lose some weight you will increase confidence and self-esteem = motivation = take action = have willpower = achieve the goal.

3. Determine and assess the reward / effort ratio

For example:

TO. Effort required to lose weight:

• Inexpensive: pay for the services of a nutritionist doctor. It will mean giving up spending that money on other things.
• On time: spend one hour a day exercising and another hour cooking healthy food. It will mean giving up dedicating that time to other things.
• Adaptation: process of changing habits. It will mean giving up things like having beer with friends or having pizza for dinner on Fridays.

B. Weight Loss Reward:

• Be healthier.
• Have a better quality of life.

After making a list with both sides of the same coin, you should assess whether the reward is higher or not.

4. Follow a model

Find people you admire and inspire you to learn and use as an example. Of course, without falling into comparison, each person is unique and each process is unique.

5. Add rewards

Surely it will be easier to stop eating at fast food restaurants if you donate the money you save to a good cause or save it to give your mother a gift. If the reward is long-term, we can determine small rewards each month. A reward can be of many types, look for the one that suits your interests

6. Step by Step

This tip for increasing your willpower is to break your goal down into smaller, clearer, more concrete parts. For example:

• Course objective: save to go on vacation.
• Small and specific objectives: if I need 1,000 euros to go on vacation and I have 10 months, I need to save 100 each month.

7. Make a plan

It is very important to decide how we will do it: leave very clear and defined the strategy to follow, taking into account our lifestyle, to incorporate new habits or routines. For example:

• Objective: read more.
• Strategy: the first book I'm going to read will be this. I'm going to spend an hour a day reading. The time will be from 9 pm to 10 pm on Sunday to Thursday and from 11 pm to midnight on Friday and Saturday. When I have read half of the first book, I will decide, get and prepare the next book to read.

8. Keep the strategy in mind

Write the objective with the detailed strategy to achieve it, put it in a visible place. Explain it to your environment. Internalize it and integrate it into your life.

9. Keep a record

Being aware of the steps we have taken and the purposes we have achieved will help us to have a more realistic view of progress. Thus, you will be able to see if your strategies are working properly or need some modification, you will be able to adjust your expectations and savor the achievements, something that will increase your motivation.

10. Surround yourself with good company

The environment can help or hinder, so try to surround yourself with people by whom you feel accepted, supported and encouraged to achieve your goals.

11. Use avoidance and distraction

Avoid environments that pose risky situations for you. For example: if your goal is to save, try to avoid shopping malls. If you need to buy something specific, make a list and when you are in the store do not leave the list. If you are hungry and see a fast food restaurant, do not stay there looking at the photos of the food and imagining its taste: distract yourself! Change your location, think of something else or call for telephone.

12. Don't beat yourself up

Keep in mind that things are not black or white, if one day you can't read for a whole hour, you can read for half an hour, and nothing happens. Find the best way to achieve your goals by being kind to yourself and enjoying the process.

• Make it easy, help yourself and be your own friend.
• Do not fall into perfectionism, because perfection does not exist and pursuing it will lead to a lot of frustration.
• Accept and forgive your mistakes, then learn from them.

13. Do not make excuses

Be honest with yourself, if you have marked yourself an action to do and you can do it: Do it now! Do not think about it, do not give it more laps. Note that it will never be the perfect time And, if you want, you will always find an excuse not to do what you have proposed. It is about doing it even if the situation is not ideal.

14. Believe in yourself

Think of other achievements. When thoughts like "I will not be able", "I am not capable" come to your mind, think of others times when you have had willpower and this has allowed you to achieve your goals. Is essential Trust yourself.

15. First of all, take care

Maintain healthy habits, such as resting the necessary time and eating a balanced diet, as well as having a lifestyle positive and adaptive thinking and behavior, it will provide you with a state of balance and well-being key to work the strength of Will.

This article is merely informative, in Psychology-Online we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.

If you want to read more articles similar to How to have willpower, we recommend that you enter our category of Personal growth and self-help.

• López, M. F. (2016). How to train your willpower: This is how the mint muscle worksl. B OF BOOKS.
• Duhigg, C. (2015). The power of habits. Books4pocket.
• Muñoz, G. (2014). Willpower: the greatest human strength and strategies to increase it.