eremedies

Develop Your Willpower

Can't resist a late-night slice of chocolate cake? Haven't the strength to stay with your exercise routine? Trying to quit smoking for the tenth time? You need to strengthen your willpower first!

* Willpower is nothing but discipline. If you're not a routined person, you need to find something you do exactly everyday. The same way, same time.

* Try visualization. For example, close your eyes, imagine and focus hard on your arms, held out in front of you. Imagine a huge balloon is tied to one and a big bucket of water to the other. Focus hard and keep your eyes closed. After about a minute, open your eyes. The further your arms are apart (up and down), the better your focus. Similarly, you can visualize what you want, and subconsciously, you can do it!

* Before you decide to do something important, or make a plan. Drill it into your head. Write it down (ten times if you must). Keep it somewhere you can see it, so you are reminded of it every day. Next to where you have it posted, write down at least 3 major reasons why you must do it. If you resolved to exercise every day, write your reasons: I don't want to develope heart disease, I want to lose x inches off my waist, I will become a couch potato. Add pictures to help you make your point.

* Avoid becoming negative. Keeping a positive attitude towards your goals will help you strengthen your willpower. Click here for ways to develop your optimism.

* Start small. Do what you plan for a very short time, even just a few minutes. Make sure you do it EVERY day, though. 51- minutes every day is a lot easier than a 45-minute workout! Even better, try 5-15 minute increments over the day (twice or thrice a day). This will give you the benefits without the sudden time loss! It works to see if you're hungry, too - wait 15 minutes after eating a salad and see if you're still hungry for more!

* Make what you need to do appetizing and what you should disgusting. Making things you don't like fun can be as simple as singing along (a sponnful of sugar...) or visualizing it with the qualities of something you like (pretending brussel sprouts look and taste like chocolate!). Make things you'll regret wasting time on (surfing the net, goofing off, television) more unappetizing by setting up alarms, putting up notes and warnings, or even getting someone else to pinch you every time you do it!

* Sometimes all it takes is a push to get out of your inertia. Start by telling yourself to stand up. After that, you can often go from there. If getting out of bed in the morning is hard, tell yourself you'll just go wash your face. Once you're up already, it's harder to go back to bed. These strategies should help you kick a bad habit or stick to a good one.