Have you ever been in a slump and the making of good wellbeing decisions is just too hard? When the extra glass or two of wine and dessert plus missed exercise classes seems the easiest path.
It could be that your will-power muscle just needs a little work. In the same way that muscles strengthen with regular use and fatigue when neglected, will-power will become easier with regular love.
Here are some top tips to strengthen your willpower muscle and make it easier to make those healthy living decisions:
1. Awareness
Be aware of your habits, in particular those that you feel need extra attention. If eating is your concern, be aware of the nutrition decisions you’re currently making. Are you choosing the chips over the salad or picking over the children’s leftovers? If your focus is exercise, review not only your structured exercise classes and sessions but also your level of incidental exercise. This is an important part of daily energy exertion.
2. Small Steps
Once you’ve established the area of your wellbeing that needs attention, start to make small steps in that direction each day. This becomes sustainable change that weaves itself into your daily life in a way that won’t feel like a chore. Start to develop habits that will ensure your wellbeing muscle is getting regular exercise.
3. Make deals with yourself
To avoid the mental arguments, make agreements with yourself. Scheduling a class, for example is a great way of making an agreement with yourself to improve your wellbeing. If you agreed to attend say, 3 classes per week feel free to swap if needed but know that you need to keep to that mental agreement.
The more you use your willpower muscle the stronger it will get. Build up slowly so these new activities become habits and thus, require less of our willpower to make them happen. This will leave strength in your willpower muscle to stretch to other areas of your life and the opportunity to take on new challenges!