A person must be strong not only externally but also internally. And what is the inner strength of a person, if not his will? In this article, we will talk about what will is for and how to train it.
Will is the ability of a person to consciously control his actions and emotions, neglect lower values in favor of higher ones, and create his own values system. Considering the volitional potential of a person, we can confidently say that its basis consists of two components: a goal and efforts aimed at achieving it. For this reason, a person's motivation for training their willpower is very important in this matter. This motivation will be different for each person, but the most common reasons are:
- Improving self-esteem
- Achieving high results in activities
- Status and respect for other people
- Taking control of your life
- Success with the opposite sex
- Getting rid of bad habits
- Improving your organization
- Increasing stress resistance and self-competitiveness
- Improving mood and well-being
- Improving communication skills
These are the main reasons people start exercising their willpower. But, as stated, you may have your motives. It is also important to understand once and for all for yourself that the will is amenable to training because it is a kind of human psychological muscle. This means that with appropriate loads, it will grow and become stronger.
What should be done about this?
The answer to this question is possible due to the fact that at present, a vast number of scientists around the world are conducting a variety of studies on this matter. And based on their results, certain strategies and methods have already been created that allow a person to strengthen his willpower and make it stronger. Below we will look at some of these exercises.
10 Ways to train willpower
1. Special diet
This exercise implies adherence to a special diet, including 4-5 meals a day. You need to eat in moderation, but regularly, so that you don't feel hungry. This allows you to maintain your body in an optimal mode of functioning, eliminates the habit of eating poor-quality food when you have to, and continually reminds you that you are training your willpower. But keep in mind that this diet should consist exclusively of natural and quality foods.
2. Changing habits
Every person probably has some bad habits that it would not hurt to get rid of. Therefore, fighting these habits is excellent for training willpower. You can quit smoking, stop drinking beer on weekends, say no to fast food, etc. Analyze your inclinations and habits, find what is worth giving up and do it as soon as possible.
3. Applying temptation
This exercise is quite radical but great for those who decide to tackle their willpower to the fullest. The point of the training is that if, for example, you decide to quit smoking, you should always have a pack of cigarettes on hand, which you can use at any time. But as much as you would like to do this, you should not do this in any case. Please note that your temptation must be present in its natural form, i.e., no empty packs, pictures of packs, pictures of people smoking, etc.
4. Muscle tension
Scientists from Singapore have found one very interesting relationship: when the body muscles are strained, willpower is also activated. It is effortless to apply this knowledge: when you feel some kind of temptation or, conversely, cannot do something, and understand that your willpower is not strong enough, tense any muscles: clench your fists tightly, tighten your biceps or abs. Coping with temptation or inaction will immediately become more comfortable. And the regular performance of such manipulations forms a stable connection between your psyche and body - over time, to maximize your willpower, you only need to perform the usual action.
5. Good deeds
Another interesting trick. Scientists from Harvard advise using it. They believe that charitable work strengthens willpower. First, it motivates you to do something to your detriment (give away some of your earnings, share food with a homeless person, etc.), which is often not very pleasant. Secondly, doing good deeds will serve as an incentive not to do what you might regret later.
6. Switching attention
This exercise is the opposite of applying temptation. Here, at any moment when you feel that you are overwhelmed by an irrepressible desire to do something (talking again about bad habits) or, for example, instead of an important matter to do something meaningless, you need to instantly switch your attention to another activity that completely different from what you would like to do. This desire will disappear after a while because your brain and attention will be busy with very different work.
7. Creating new habits
This exercise allows you to build new positive habits. The fact is that a pattern is an action that is performed unconsciously. But in order for the habit to form, you need to perform this action for some time purposefully. It engages your attention and forces you to follow the decision made even when you don't feel like following it. You can start with the simplest: start washing the dishes with your left hand, remove the house keys strictly to a certain place, brush your teeth every time after eating, etc. However, it is not important what you do, but you do it no matter what and always remember it.
8. Sleeping mode
Start sticking to a specific sleep pattern. For example, go to bed no later than noon and get up no later than 6 in the morning. This will teach you to be a more disciplined and responsible person, motivate you to do all things at a strictly specified time, and wean you from putting off important things later. Also, getting up early is an excellent means of developing willpower, as it can be this is precisely the action that you don't want to do in the morning more than anything else.
9. Control of communication
This exercise is also called "volitional communication." It is quite simple to perform it: in interacting with other people, try to always keep under control your emotions, everything you say, your facial expressions and gestures. You need to ensure that all your manifestations can manifest or not manifest only by your volitional effort. Remember that it is much more challenging to remember that you need to adhere to volitional communication. To always remember this, come up with a special reminder for yourself - something that will attract your attention and make you remember, for example, a cross drawn with a pen on your hand, some ridiculous thing in your pocket, etc.
10. Elimination of laziness
Another powerful way to train your willpower. It lies in the fact that if you have some things that you do not want to do, you need to start doing them immediately, without postponing a minute for later. If you don't want to walk your dog, go for a walk, if you don't want to prepare a report, sit down and cook, you don't want to go for a run - put on your sports uniform, sneakers and go! The huge advantage of this exercise is that in addition to training willpower, it will increase your productivity and increase the amount of free time.
All of these exercises are pretty simple to do. But people often make one grave mistake, which after 2-3 days brings all their undertakings to zero - they take on everything at once. So the man decided to train his willpower and decided: "I will get up at 6 in the morning, quit smoking, start tying shoelaces with my left hand, put a towel in the second cabinet from the bottom, and I will also go to church every day and donate 50 rubles, and I will always be aware" and so on and so on. You don't need to do this because all this will mix in a heap and create confusion in the head, and, secondly, this is too much effort over oneself and one's will, which not everyone is ready to withstand.
Therefore, it is recommended to perform all the exercises sequentially: they chose one, a maximum of two, and began to practice a little. A month passed - they took up another exercise. The result may not be felt immediately, but your progress will be stable, and your willpower will be vital. If you look at yourself in a year, you will see a massive difference between your "past" and yourself "present."
Train your will systematically and regularly, without delaying anything. Be prepared for severe and detailed work on yourself. And in this work, every little thing is necessary. And remember one more excellent rule: first you work for your will, then your willpower will work for you!
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