A growing body of evidence indicates that willpower and self-control are essential for a happy and successful life. The willpower response is a reaction to an internal conflict. You want to do one thing, such as smoke a cigarette or supersize your lunch, but know you shouldn’t. Or you know you should do something, like file your taxes or go to the gym, but you’d rather do nothing.
Recent advances in neuroscience have mapped willpower to three distinct areas of the brain, in the prefrontal cortex (PFC):
“I will” power: This resides in the upper left side of the PFC, which helps you stick with boring, difficult or stressful tasks.
“I won’t” power: This resides in the upper right side of the PFC, which helps you say “no” to the cookie, the illicit sexual encounter, the temptation to check your text messages while driving…
“I want” power: Located in the middle of the PFC and lower down, this section keeps track of your goals and desires. It remembers what you really want, and the more rapidly its cells fire, the more motivated you are to take action or resist temptation.
These three areas of the brain together form your willpower, and when these areas of your grey matter are underfunded or underactive, your impulsive, “lizard brain” takes over. Nothing worthwhile gets done, and the things that do get done are ones you’ll later regret…
We all have something that we want. It could be professional, emotional, physical or spiritual in nature. To attain it, some effort is required. if the goal is ambitious, then a lot of effort is required. To achieve lofty goals, we need to have a combination of willpower and determination. Willpower is the motivation to apply free will in our lives. It is the motivation to assert ourselves even if there is opposition or there are obstacles in our path. The determination is our ability to try our best to keep on doing something even if it is very challenging to do so.
The most persuasive evidence comes from two studies that measured young children’s self-control, and then kept track of them as they grew into adults.
The most well-known experiment, the “marshmallow experiment(link is external)”, was begun in the 1960s by psychologist Walter Mischel. He offered four-year-olds the choice of a marshmallow now, or two if they could wait 15 minutes. He and other researchers then tracked the performance of these children as they became adults. They found that children who resisted temptation (“high delayers”) achieved greater academic success, better health, and lower rates of marital separation and divorce.
In a second study(link is external), 1,000 children were tracked from birth to the age of 32. The researchers found that childhood self-control predicted physical health, substance dependence, personal finances, and criminal offenses. This was true even when other factors such as intelligence and social class were equated.
How to Boost Your Willpower:
Self Controle:
Don't keep yourself in a constant state of willpower depletion. ...
Use your imagination. ...
Think about something else. ...
Build good habits; you'll need them when you're stressed. ...
One step at a time. ...
Be yourself. ...
Don't put yourself in temptation's way, or if you do, have a plan.
Exercises:
10 Minutes of Meditation. Meditation will give you the fastest results of all of the willpower workouts listed. ...
Work on Your Posture. ...
Keep a Food Diary. ...
Use Your Opposite Hand. ...
Correct Your Speech. ...
Create and Meet Self-imposed Deadlines. ...
Keep Track of Your Spending. ...
Squeeze a Handgrip