KEEP YOUR WILLPOWER IN LOCKDOWN

WITH YOUR ROUTINE DISRUPTED AND PERHAPS MORE TIME ON YOUR HANDS YOU NEED WILLPOWER TO KEEP ACTIVE?  HERE’S HOW TO IMPROVE YOURS

 

Maybe you’ve always been the kind of person that made up their mind and was then very strong-willed about it.  Or possibly you’ve often struggled with keeping your good resolutions.  Perhaps you make brave starts and then find that you fall by the wayside, time and again.  How can you find – and keep – inner strength?

 

THE IMAGINATION FACTOR.

Many people believe that a tough and capable person comes to a decision and then sticks to it, by the force of their will.  However, chances are that most successful, achieving individuals have arrived where they are through something else entirely – their imagination.  In a battle between Will and Imagination, Imagination always wins.  It is indescribably more powerful, for it arises from the subconscious, bringing with it all your deepest and most primitive hopes and wishes.  This is why diets usually fail.  The willpower is continually at war with the imagination, because when you’re hungry you can’t help imagining food continually!  So your will may decide not to eat a thousand times per day but on the thousandth-and-first, imagination – which has an endless supply of energy – wins, and you reach for the biscuit tin.  So to strengthen your willpower it is essential to work with your imagination.  This means that you:

  • Spend time imagining the outcomes you want, visualizing them in as much detail as you can.
  • In the case of weight loss, hypnosis can strengthen your will. For instance, having a Hypnotic Gastric Band convinces your mind that your stomach is smaller.  So your imagination works for you, through hypnosis.
  • Imagination focuses you on long-term results. In your imagination you can savour the pleasures of getting where you want to be.  This can be a great motivator in actually getting you there.
  • Focus your imagination on all the good things about you, all your strengths and achievements, so you build yourself up. (Because if you feel your willpower has faded, your self-esteem may be disappearing, too)
  • Imagination is a factor in mindfulness and meditation. Include those in your routine, to help your willpower.

 

STRENGTHEN YOUR WILLPOWER

Like a muscle, your willpower can be strengthened by using it in the right way.

  • Concentrate on small achievements, especially at first, and back them up with imagination.
  • Don’t ever expect your willpower to succeed all the time. Whatever you have resolved, give yourself some time off.
  • Always forgive yourself for slip-ups. Avoid that black-and-white thinking where you believe that because you’ve lapsed, all is lost.  When then happens you may punish yourself for your lapse by doing even worse, such as when dieters ‘punish’ themselves by bingeing and self-hating, just because they had one cake too many.  Willpower isn’t all or nothing.  Forgive yourself and start again.
  • Get plenty of rest. Proper sleep really does affect your resolve.  Whatever you’re trying to achieve, you need time to regenerate and recover your energy.
  • Keep your resolves realistic. There’s no surer way to convince yourself you’re weak than to demand too much of yourself in the first place?  Why would you do that to yourself?  Do you secretly believe that you deserve to fail?  If so, that needs looking at and is one of many reasons to seek some supportive counselling or hypnotherapy.
  • Build on your successes. When something goes well, that’s suggesting to you what direction you should take.  It will also increase your confidence to do more of what comes easiest.

 

 

Remember that support is available for you.  Of course it is good to talk, and although your issues are unique, that shouldn’t cut you off from sharing.  Maybe it will make more difference than you think.  Phone/text me on 07833 752173 for an informal chat about what may help you.