Learn To Increase Your Willpower

Our ability to change habits is an important part of cultivating a healthy and happy life, but there are many different factors to consider when trying to change a habit. 

One of the best things to do is identify your habit loops. This means finding the “cue-routine-reward” that fuels your habits, and then trying to change your habit by changing the way you respond to cues in your environment, or using different rewards to reinforce a new course of action.

However, understanding the structure of your habits won’t always be enough to modify your behaviors. There is an element of willpower that plays a key role in all habit change. 

Willpower is the self-discipline to do something even if you don’t have a lot of motivation to do it.

For example, those who have strong willpower will be able to resist a slice of cake or push themselves to go to the gym, while a person with less willpower will find it more difficult to do these things if they aren’t already used to them.

Recently there has been a good amount of research on how we can maximize our willpower when changing habits. Here are the important findings:

 • Willpower is a limited resource that needs to be used wisely. When researchers have participants resist eating a cookie, they perform worse on a difficult puzzle afterwards. That’s because when we exercise our willpower at one task, we have less willpower to dedicate to another task. Therefore, it’s best to only focus on changing one major habit at a time. If you spread yourself too thin, by trying to change too much about your life at once, it’s very likely that you will get tired faster and give up quicker on your goals.

• Willpower can be strengthened like a muscle. While it’s true that it’s limited, we can build upon our long-term capacity by actively exercising our willpower more often. Practice by changing small habits first – like switching soda with water, or just going out for a walk every morning – and then you can move onto bigger habits once you strengthen your willpower and motivation. It’s just like exercising any other muscle. You can’t expect to go into the gym and bench press 200 lbs, but if you work at it overtime then maybe one day you will. Our willpower works the same way.

• Believing you have more willpower makes you push yourself harder. A study published in Psychological Science found that students could fight off taking a break from studying simply by having the mindset that they can go longer. When motivating ourselves to change habits, it’s important to remember that our attitude and beliefs play a crucial role. If you believe that you can achieve something, you’re more likely to push yourself and go that extra mile. But when you believe your willpower is weak, you’re more likely to settle for less.

• Practice taking a step back. One of the best ways to disconnect from our routines and change our behavior is to practice a short STOP meditation. This is when we step back from what we are doing in the moment and reflect on our current mindset. Willpower requires focus and awareness. If you go about your day unconsciously, without ever second-guessing yourself, then you aren’t exercising very much of your willpower and potential.

• Once you build a new habit, you can concentrate your willpower on other new habits. Habits are often characterized by the fact that they are routine and automatic. When you first learned how to tie your shoes, it may have taken a lot of effort and concentration. Now that you’ve practiced it so many times, it’s second-nature to you – and therefore it takes practically no willpower or energy at all. In the same way, once we build a new habit we no longer need as much willpower to do it, so we can begin focusing that willpower on adopting new behaviors. 

Psychologists admit that some people are probably born with more willpower than others. However, it’s good to know that we can improve our willpower in various ways by exercising it more.

Improve your will power and work with a Business and Life Management Coach with over 20 years’ experience empowering people to attain self-defined success in their professional & personal lives. Book a complimentary session at http://www.denisedema.com  to start achieving your full potential today.

http://www.facebook.com/businessandlifecoach

http://www.businessandlifecoach.net

http://twitter.com/DeniseDema

http://www.justaskdenise.com

Choices

Start Choosing the Best Environment for Success

Success in any area of life never happens in a complete vacuum. Often it is just as much dependent on an individual’s will-power and intelligence as it is on their environment and outside circumstances.

To find happiness and success, you therefore need to pay attention and take some control over the type of environments you are surrounding yourself in on a daily basis; even the strongest and brightest of minds will find it difficult to achieve their goals if they are in a completely wrong environment for them. This is because every aspect of your external life has some influence over your internal thoughts and behaviors, especially the people you surround yourself with on a daily basis, and the type of places where you spend most of your time.

Time to look at the people you surround yourself with…..

The first main aspect of our environment that influences our success is the people we surround ourselves with on a daily basis. 

For example, a recent study published in a 2013 issue of Psychological Science found that surrounding yourself with friends who are more self-disciplined can also help you become more self-disciplined. This is just one of many examples of how our social network can have an influence over our own behavior and goal-seeking.

It fits well with other research that shows if you hang around people who are obese and unhealthy, it’s more likely you will become obese and unhealthy. And if you hang around with people who are lazy and don’t study for class, it’s likely you’ll end up with similar grades as them too. More and more scientific evidence is beginning to show that we become a reflection of the types of people we hang out with the most. This social influence affects every area of our lives: at home, at work, at school, at a party, or wherever.

So take a moment to think about some of your own personal goals and values. Are there any people in your life who are currently holding you back from achieving them? Be honest. Instead of spending time with people who make you hate life and make you want to give up, spend time with people who make you love life and motivate you to improve yourself for the better. 

That to me is one of the most important characteristics in a healthy relationship. It’s also essential to achieving success. If you have the right people in your life, it’ll be easy to find that extra boost of support when you really need it.

Think about the places you spend your time at……

The second main aspect of our environment that influences our success is the places we spend most of our time at.

For example, one important factor that has shown to increase productivity and happiness is giving people some freedom to design their own workplace. Taking ownership over where you spend your time allows you to choose an environment that motivates and inspires you. A good environment for success should keep your senses stimulated and awake while you work on your goals, while not being too distracting. 

For example, one specific thing you could do is put plants or a fish tank in your office, gym, or workplace to surround yourself with nature more. There have been countless studies showing how exposing ourselves to nature can improve focus, minimize stress, and boost cognitive ability.

Another thing you can do is decorate your workspace with motivational posters and quotes. These can be great resources to have around the office when you need something to lift your mood. Find images that are visually appealing to you, with designs and colors that make you feel good and set the right tone for you and your goals.

Often when working for large organizations we can lose a sense of our personal identity. Your office is usually the one place you have some freedom to express yourself, so create a work environment that works for you – something that reflects some of your own values and interests, and something that motivates and inspires you.

Try changing your workspace around every few months or so to keep it fresh and interesting. On the surface it may not seem like a big deal, but remember this is the place you work at everyday, so it’s going to have an influence on your success and inspiration whether you realize it or not. You might as well make it as positive as possible.

It’s about choosing an environment that brings out the best in you……..

At the end of the day, you can’t meet your full potential for success unless you find an environment that brings out the very best in you. Try to become more aware of the people and places you interact with on a daily basis. Are they encouraging your success or discouraging it? How can you make some changes to your environment so that it better serves you and your goals?

Achieve your full potential and work with a Business and Life Management Coach who has over 20 years’ experience empowering individuals, executives and business owners to attain self-defined success in their professional & personal lives. Book a complimentary session at http://www.denisedema.com

Think about what truly matters to you!

We all know deep down there are different things that drive us – hobbies that excite us, passions that we wish we had more time to explore, people we wish could spend more time with, business we would like to develop. I believe that identifying, focusing on, and spending time on what matters to us, is not simply a thought exercise. Focusing on and doing what truly matters to you, truly matters..........

Achieve your full potential. Book a complimentary strategy session today at www.denisedema.com

Learn From Successful People....

Free Coaching Strategy Session

http://www.denisedema.com

Inspirational Quotes to Guide You!

1. "Cherish your visions and your dreams as they are the children of your soul, the blueprints of your ultimate achievements."
   Napoleon Hill


2. "The key to success is to focus our conscious mind on things we desire not things we fear."
   Brian Tracy


3. "Success is getting what you want. Happiness is wanting what you get."
   Dale Carnegie


4. "Obstacles are necessary for success because in selling, as in all careers of importance, victory comes only after many struggles and countless defeats."
   Og Mandino


5. "A real decision is measured by the fact that you've taken a new action. If there's no action, you haven't truly decided."
   Tony Robbins


6. "If you can't control your anger, you are as helpless as a city without walls waiting to be attacked."
   The Book of Proverbs


7. A mediocre person tells. A good person explains. A superior person demonstrates. A great person inspires others to see for themselves."
   Harvey Mackay


8. "Freedom, privileges, options, must constantly be exercised, even at the risk of inconvenience."
   Jack Vance


9. "Take care of your body. It's the only place you have to live."
   Jim Rohn


10. "You can have everything in life you want, if you will just help other people get what they want."
    Zig Ziglar


11. "The number of times I succeed is in direct proportion to the number of times I can fail and keep on trying."
    Tom Hopkins


12. "You have everything you need to build something far bigger than yourself."
    Seth Godin

Readers: These quotes give me a huge burst of motivation. Tell me what quotes or thoughts inspire YOU to be the best that you can be?  (Leave a comment!)

Create a Positive Mindset!

Learn the Key Factors in Self-Motivation

Self-motivation is complex. It's linked to your level of initiative in setting challenging goals for yourself; your belief that you have the skills and abilities needed to achieve those goals; and your expectation that if you put in enough hard work, you will succeed.

Four factors are necessary to build the strongest levels of self-motivation: 

1. Self-confidence and self-efficacy.

2. Positive thinking, and positive thinking about the future.

3. Focus and strong goals.

4. A motivating environment.

By working on all of these together, you should quickly improve your self-motivation. Let's look at each of these factors individually.

1. Self-Confidence and Self-Efficacy

Part of being self-motivated is having good levels of self-assurance, self-confidence, and self-efficacy.

Being highly self-assured means you will set challenging goals for yourself, and it's also a resiliency factor for when you encounter setbacks. If you don't believe in yourself you'll be much more likely to think, "I knew I couldn't do this" instead of, "This one failure isn't going to stop me!"

Self-efficacy is defined as a belief in our own ability to succeed, and our ability to achieve the goals we set for ourselves. This belief has a huge impact on your approach to goal setting and your behavioral choices as you work toward those goals.

High self-efficacy results in an ability to view difficult goals as a challenge, whereas people with low self-efficacy would likely view the same goals as being beyond their abilities, and might not even attempt to achieve them.

It also contributes to how much effort a person puts into a goal in the first place, and how much he or she perseveres despite setbacks. By developing a general level of self-confidence in yourself, you will not only believe you can succeed, but you'll also recognize and enjoy the successes you've already had. That, in turn, will inspire you to build on those successes. The momentum created by self-confidence is hard to beat.

Take these steps:

Think about the achievements in your life.

Examine your strengths to understand what you can build on.

Determine what other people see as your strengths and key capabilities.

Set achievable goals for yourself, work to achieve them, and enjoy that achievement.
Seek out mentors and other people who model the competencies, skills, and attributes you desire.

As you begin to recognize how much you've already achieved – and understand how much potential you have – you will have the confidence to set goals and achieve the things you desire. The more you look for reasons to believe in yourself, the easier it will be to find ways to motivate yourself. 

2. Positive Thinking, and Positive Thinking about the Future

Remember this…your life today is the result of your attitudes and choices in the past. Your life tomorrow will be the result of your attitudes and the choices you make today.

Positive thinking is closely related to self-confidence as a factor in self-motivation. It's important to look at things positively, especially when things aren't going as planned and you're ready to give up.

If you think that things are going to go wrong or that you won't succeed, this may influence things in such a way that your predictions will come true. This is particularly the case if you need to work hard to achieve success, or if you need to persuade others to support you in order to succeed. Your thoughts can have a major influence on whether you succeed or fail, so make sure those thoughts are "on your side."

Positive thinking also helps you think about an attractive future that you want to realize. When you expect positive results, your choices will be more positive, and you'll be less likely to leave outcomes to fate or chance. Having a vivid picture of success, combined with positive thinking, helps you bridge the gap between wanting something and going out to get it.

To apply "the power of positive thinking", do the following:

• Become aware of your thoughts. Write down these down throughout the day.
• Challenge your negative thoughts, and replace them with positive ones.
• Create a strong and vivid picture of what it will be like to achieve your goals.
• Develop affirmations or statements that you can repeat to yourself throughout the day. These statements should remind you of what you want to achieve, and why you will achieve it.
• Practice positive thinking until you automatically think about yourself and the world in a positive way, every day.

3. Focus and Strong Goals

As mentioned, a key part of building self-motivation is to start setting strong goals. They give you focus, a clear sense of direction, and the self-confidence that comes from recognizing your own achievement.

First, determine your direction through effective goal setting.

When you set a goal, you make a promise to yourself. Part of the strength of this is that it gives you a clear direction. Part is that you've made this promise to yourself, and you'll want to keep this promise. And part is that it's a challenge, and it's fun to try to meet that challenge!

But don't set just any goal. Your goal should have the following characteristics:

Clarity - Effective goals are clear, measurable, specific, and based on behavior, not outcomes.

Challenge - Goals should be difficult enough to be interesting, but not so difficult that you can't reach them.

Commitment - Goals should be attainable, and should be relevant – that is, they should contribute in a significant way to the major objectives you're trying to achieve.

Regularity of Feedback - Monitor your progress towards your goals regularly to maintain your sense of momentum and enthusiasm, and enjoy your progress towards those goals.

Sufficient Respect For Complexity - If the goal involves complex work, make sure that you don't over-commit yourself. Complex work can take an unpredictably long time to complete (particularly if you have to learn how to do the task "on the job").

 

See how each goal activity fits into the bigger picture of your overall objectives. If you fully understand your priorities, you probably won't feel as pressured to do everything at once. This can reduce stress and help you to concentrate on the most important strategies.

4. Motivating Environment

The final thing to focus on is surrounding yourself with people and resources that will remind you of your goals, and help you with your internal motivation. These are external factors – they'll help you get motivated from the outside, which is different from the internal motivation we've discussed so far. However, the more factors you have working for you, the better.

You can't just rely on these "environmental" or outside elements alone to motivate you, but you can use them for extra support. Try the following: 

• Look for team work opportunities. Working in a team makes you accountable to others.
• Ask your boss for interesting assignments with specific targets and objectives to help you measure your success.
• Set up some goals that you can easily achieve. Quick wins are great for getting you motivated.
• Buddy up with people who you trust to be supportive, and ask them to help keep you accountable.
• Try not to work by yourself too much. Balance the amount of time you work from home with time spent working with others.

When you start your self-motivation program, you may tend to rely heavily on these external factors. As you get more comfortable and confident with your self-motivation, you'll probably use them only as needed, and for a little extra help.

Key Points

Self-motivation doesn't come naturally to everyone. And even those who are highly self-motivated need some extra help every now and then. 

Build your self-motivation by practicing goal-setting skills, and combining those with positive thinking, the creation of powerful visions of success, and the building of high levels of self-efficacy and self-confidence.

Your attitude and beliefs about your likelihood of success can predict whether or not you actually succeed. Set goals, and work hard to achieve them. Examine ways to improve your self-motivation, and regularly reassess your motivation levels. If you actively keep your internal motivation high, you can significantly increase the likelihood of achieving your hopes, dreams, and visions of the future.

Achieve your full potential and work with a Business and Life Management Coach who has over 20 years’ experience empowering individuals, executives and business owners to attain self-defined success in their professional and personal lives. Book a complimentary session at http://www.denisedema.com to get started today!