Strength of Will?

Are you one of those who joins a gym and then doesn’t go? Or maybe you are one of those who starts a diet and cannot keep it over time? Would you like to know the reason why many times you do things even knowing in advance that it will harm you? Or why do you stay with that person who makes you suffer? If you are one of those who, on January 1st, sets out goals that you won’t fulfill later, if you can’t say no, when you really want to say no, this information is for you.

This is because incorporating new habits is a very exhausting work for our brain, since it is designed to fulfill routines in order to save as much energy as possible. Therefore, the solution to be able to reach some objective or resolution, as difficult as it may seem, we find it when we manage to train the will.

Power of will

Power of will isn’t something unlimited, it’s something that is depleting as our day goes by, which is why it is recommended to do at first thing in the morning, tasks or actions that may require more energy, self-control and Will.

We share four tips that will help you achieve this.

1.- Muscle tension

Iris W. Hung, from the University of Singapore, has discovered a curious trick to exercise self-control: if when we notice our mouth is watering before a cake we tense the biceps or the muscles of the hand for a minute, it will be more simple to avoid temptation. The mind and the body are so closely tied together, merely clenching muscles can also activate willpower,’’ he concluded in the ‘Journal of Consumer Research’.

 2.- Change habits

According to a study from Case Western Reserve University (USA), small changes in daily habits are enough, for example brushing our teeth for several days with the opposite hand to the one we usually use, to strengthen the will and to apply these changes to other more complex activities.

3.- Distraction

Distraction is also a good strategy, as researchers at Columbia University (USA) have shown. If we hum or consciously think of something else when something tempts us, it will cost us less to control ourselves.

 4.- To meditate

Exhaustion and stress are elements that considerably decrease our will power. A Neuroscientific study published in the Journal of Neuroscience points out that; Two techniques to lower stress levels are to practice some type of meditation and / or take slow deep breaths.