We recently previewed Willpower: why self control is the secret to success. Co-author, Roy Baumeister, provides the following tips to practice getting better at resisting temptation and exercising willpower.
Diet
- Eat foods with a low-glycaemic index such as vegetables, nuts including peanuts and cashews, raw fruits such as apples, blueberries and pears, cheese, fish, meat, and using olive oil. Having those present in a diet will help give a sustained dose of glucose to the body, rather than a 'quick hit' derived from high glycaemic foods such as white bread, potatoes, white rice and fast food. The latter leaves you vulnerable to spikes in energy and therefore vulnerable to lack of control and cravings.
Sleep
- It may sound obvious, but set aside enough time to sleep. Not enough sleep and you leave yourself vulnerable to weakening of self-control and related processes like decision-making.
Willpower Workout
- Try overriding a small but habitual bad habit, perhaps slouching when you sit at your desk, or avoiding bad speech habits such as peppering your conversation with 'you know' or 'like.' Set yourself a time-limit of a month to eradicate the habit, and practice it when your will-power is at its strongest, early in the day. Engaging in small willpower boosting exercises, and achieving success, acts as a warm-up for tackling a bigger challenge like giving up smoking or sticking to a budget, and makes the willpower fitter and more resilient.
Know your limits
- Recognise that willpower is finite and can become fatigued by overuse. Each day may start with your stock of willpower fresh and renewed, but throughout the day events will chip away at it. You pull yourself out of bed even though your body wants more sleep. You put up with traffic frustrations. You hold your tongue when your boss or partner angers you. You try to maintain an interested, alert expression on your face while a colleague drones on during a boring meeting. But remember that what matters is the exertion, not the outcome. Acknowledging the times you've managed to use your willpower will boost your self-esteem, which will help you exercise your will positively.
Rest and refresh your will
- The old advice that things will seem better in the morning has nothing to do with daylight, and everything to do with depletion. Beware of making binding decisions when your energy is down, late at night or in the early hours of the morning or when you're exhausted, because you'll tend to favour options with short-term gains and delayed costs. You can't control or predict the stresses that come into your life but you can use calm periods to plan a strategy for dealing with them when they do. Then you're more likely to have the reserves of willpower to cope with real challenges.
Willpower Plan
- Put your life in perspective by setting aside a day for reflection each year, maybe your birthday. Ask yourself whether you are where you want to be, what could be better and what you could do about it. Aim for a broad five-year plan along with more specific, manageable monthly goals. A plan leads to a clearer mind and allowing you to see where the challenges lie.
Limit your target
- Don't make a list of goals - nobody has enough willpower to cover a huge list of challenges from dieting and giving up smoking to taking more exercise. When people have to make a big change in their lives, their efforts are undermined if they are seeking to simultaneously make other changes as well. Those goals will simply compete with one another and each time you try to follow one, you reduce your capacity for all the others. Instead make one resolution, stick to it, and by succeeding you'll boost your belief in your willpower.
Realistic planning
- Whenever you set a goal, beware the tendency to be over-optimistic about timings. When was the last time you heard of a road or building being completed six months early? Late and over-budget is the norm. So always leave some flexibility and anticipate set-backs when you plan otherwise you'll get discouraged easily, which will further confirm your belief that you have weak willpower when actually you're probably just guilty of setting yourself an unrealistic target.
Willpower budget
- If there are extra challenges ahead in your life, like doing your income tax or travelling or facing a tricky work period, figure out where you'll get the extra willpower to cope. That could be by cutting back on other demands on your willpower in less crucial areas of your life, whether it's resolving to tidy the house or stick to an exercise routine.
Delay don’t deny
- People who keep putting things off and procrastinate continually can be criticised but it can occasionally be a positive trait. People tempted by chocolate can avoid it by telling themselves they'd have it some other time - a postponement strategy which works better than trying to deny themselves altogether. It can also work for other temptations from over-eating to watching television. But make sure that when you do succeed you reward your efforts. If you give up smoking, use the money you have saved to buy a treat for yourself. Rmember that exercising will-power brings joy as inner discipline leads to outer kindness. Those with stronger willpower are more altruistic and likely to help others, donate to charity and look for ways to help their family as well as strangers.
From Willpower: Why Self-Control Is The Secret To Success by Roy Baumeister and John Tierney.
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