Do You Have Good Will-Power?

In my last newsletter I wrote about managing your time. You can read the article here.

One of my subscribers - Bobby Huddleston - pointed out that in order to manage time, it is important to manage self.

And this is so true. If you are unable to manage yourself, you will have much difficulty managing time and every other part of your life.

What you do, think and say is very much determined by how much self-control you have.

A recent client who consulted with me to Quit Smoking told me she had no will power.

What she meant was, she has no will power to quit smoking. She certainly had the will power to smoke.

Being the New Year, there is a good chance you have made some New Year's resolutions. The most common are to "Quit Smoking", "Lose some weight" and "To get fit".

Research shows most people fail on their resolutions within two weeks of setting them.

While resolutions are the same as Goals, there are a number of reasons why people never achieve them. Some reasons include:

(i) The end result is not defined.
(ii) There is no defined starting or finishing time.
(iii) There is no specific plan in place on how they are going to achieve their goal.
(iv) The resolution is a good idea but they don't have the motivation to achieve it.
(v) Results are not monitored.
(vi) Getting the result is too hard.
(vii) It's a "hope" or "wish" and they don't have the time or energy to put into achieving it.

Resolutions like "To lose weight", "Be healthier" and "To cut back on alcohol" are too wishy washy and will never be achieved. "To lose weight" can mean 1kg or 10kg and also indicates there is no plan in place on how to achieve it. "To be more healthy", "get fitter", "drink less caffeine" and "be more conscientious" mean nothing, as they are not defined. To "quit smoking" is good because it is definite but it needs to have a completion date to it.

To achieve your goal, you need will power. This is determined by how keen you are to achieve your goal. The keener you are, the more will power you will have.

Whenever we have a task to complete, our brain weighs up the positives and the negatives to achieving it. Because we run on energy (and feelings are energy), when we like something, we feel good and emotionally "pull it closer". When we hate something, we emotionally "push it away".

As an example: You have decided to get fit. Tomorrow you are bouncing out of bed at 6:00am and going for an hours walk. At this point, you are "all fired up" with lots of will power. The good feelings are, say, 50 units of energy; the bad feelings 10 units (after all, you haven't been for a good walk for some time!).

The alarm goes off at 6:00am the next morning. You feel tired. The bed is so cozy. You now have 50 units of energy saying "Stay in bed" and 10 units saying "C'mon sleepy head. Out of bed. Time to pound the pavement."

Result: back to sleep with the promise you will start tomorrow!

To have good will power to achieve your goal, write down:

• How important your goal is to you - and "why".
• Define your end result with specific detail.
• A thorough plan - step-by-step - on how you are going to achieve your goal.
• The benefits of achieving it - how good it feels, what it means to you.

Whenever you lose will power, revisit this list as the information should help you get back on track.

Good luck and let me know how you go!