How to Exercise Willpower

Training your will is an important part of the process towards a variety of goals. Fortunately, willpower can be enhanced over time. Through a combination of physical and mental exercises, you can practice self-control and positive thinking. By focusing on your motivation and the progress you’ve made, you can improve your willpower consistently and over the long term.

Table of Contents

Physical and Mental Training

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Instantly overcome temptation. You need to train your will to not give in to every form of trivial temptation that occurs every day. If you put in the effort to work on your ability to resist the temptation of mediocrity, it will lay the groundwork for higher willpower in several other areas of your life. For example:

Don’t buy a product you hastily want but don’t really need, like coffee, a CD, or a new shirt. Instead, you should save money.
Put snacks in a drawer or in a cupboard instead of keeping them in plain sight.
Take a short walk instead of checking your email or social media accounts.

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Create an “if-then” plan. Knowing in advance what you will do in a given situation to avoid temptation or to exercise your will can help you succeed. When you are faced with situations like these, follow the “if-then” statement. For example:

If you’re trying to stay away from junk food: “If I go to the department store and can’t help but notice unhealthy snacks, I’ll buy a cereal box instead.”
If you’re trying to avoid drinking: “If someone asks me out for a drink, I’ll just order soda.”
If you’re trying to control your mood: “If I start to feel frustrated, I’ll close my eyes, take a deep breath, and count to 10 to calm down.”

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Postpone gratification. Giving in to your desires will give you instant gratification, but sometimes postponing them can help boost willpower in general and satisfaction in particular. There are many ways to practice delaying gratification every day, such as:

Take a cold shower first, and only allow yourself to take a hot shower a few minutes later.
Wait 5 minutes before eating, even if you are hungry.
Fast for a day (only do this if you’re healthy enough, and talk to your doctor first).
Only allow yourself to buy what you want after a certain amount of time, such as a week (this also gives you time to determine if it’s something you really want).

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Pay attention to the body. Research shows that regularly paying attention to even just a quick look at your posture, breathing patterns, etc. can boost willpower and mood. Some simple exercises to do this include:

Remind yourself to always sit up straight
Stop to take deep breaths often
Get up from your desk or couch for a 5 minute break every hour

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Motivate yourself to exercise. Practicing exercise is good for physical health as well as self-control thinking. ^{[1] X Trusted Source American Psychpogical Association Go to the source} By taking charge of your physical health, you will strengthen your willpower in several areas of your life. Focus on planning a physical health that adapts to your lifestyle and abilities. Don’t hesitate to start small, and remember that any progress you make is worthwhile. It is important to focus on the plan. Depending on your experience, try:

Walk for 10 minutes a day, then increase to 10 minutes or so.
Make it a habit to exercise, whether indoors or outdoors.
Play your favorite sport with friends once or more times a week.
Practice running the 5000 meters, etc.
Cycle to work every day instead of riding or taking public transport.
Climbing.

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Let go of or replace unwanted thoughts. Besides exercise, you can strengthen your willpower through mental health training. The most important thing is to focus on getting rid of the thoughts that make you feel down. By practicing self-control in this way, you will feel responsible for your feelings and thoughts.

You can change negative thoughts into more positive ones. For example, if you tend to think, “I’ve never done this before, and don’t know what to do,” reframe the situation more positively by thinking, “This is an opportunity to I learn something new.”
Stay away from certain people, places, situations, media, and many other factors in your life that tend to make you think positively.

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Practice meditation. Just practicing meditation can greatly enhance your sense of self, improve mood, health, and reduce stress. If you regularly get into the habit of meditating, even once every 5 minutes, you will train your willpower in two ways by focusing on your goals and increasing your sense of self. Some types of meditation are:

Reading a mantra, you repeat a word or a phrase over and over again.
Practice mindfulness to feel happier, which is when you focus your consciousness while meditating through breathing exercises and a number of other methods.
The practice combines meditation with physical activity, such as contemplation of love and tai chi.
Some breathing yoga exercises.
Imagination method.

Motivation for Success

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Motivation for success. Understanding why you want to change helps you increase your chances of achieving your goal. If you want to exercise your willpower, try to identify and understand why, no matter how very specific or too general. Some reference examples include:

You want to get to work on time.
You want to quit smoking.
You want to be kinder to others.
You want to live more active.
You want to be more successful.
You want to get in touch with your spiritual world.

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Focus on each goal. Increasing self-control in all areas of life can have a positive effect on willpower in general. However, you are more likely to succeed in training and improving your willpower if you focus on a single goal. Prioritize several goals and determine the next steps to decide where to start. For example:

Let’s say you have a common goal of becoming more successful in life, and you determine that your starting point is to be better at work.
You already have a habit of being late to work, then determining that arriving to the office on time is the first step to take.
Focus on training your willpower by waking up early to get to work on time.
Do not redirect to another goal until you have successfully completed this first step.

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Observe behavior. It’s important to track your progress when you want to exercise your willpower. This way, you can determine if you are moving towards success, and if you need to make any improvements to improve.

For example, if you’re trying to get to work on time, keep historical data that records when you go to bed and when you wake up. Notice if you are making progress or need to change. For example, if you notice that you wake up on time every day except Monday, then focus your renewed will on getting it right.
There are a number of websites, apps, and programs that can help you track your progress as you aim to reach your goals. However, be careful not to over-monitor yourself or to rely on the use of one of these aids, as this risks distracting you and weakening your willpower.

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Reward yourself. Occasionally rewarding yourself is perfectly fine and beneficial when you achieve your goals. Treat yourself to success—you need to make sure increasing willpower is a real goal, not a short-term reward.

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Sleep a lot. Adequate rest is important if you want to train and improve your will to succeed. If you are physically or mentally exhausted, your chances of success are reduced. Most adults need 7-8 hours of sleep a night, so you should set reasonable goals.

Steps

Physical and Mental Training

Motivation for Success

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