How to Strengthen Your Willpower

I think it is safe to say that most people would like to have stronger willpower if it was possible. We all have times when we intend to do something, but then don't have the strength of will to carry it through to the end. It is all too easy to give in to temptation, to follow the path of least resistance, and just to give up on hard to attain ideals. This fact is amply demonstrated by the millions of people every year who make new year's resolutions to give up smoking, lose weight, get fit, or whatever it may be, only to go straight back to their old habits by the middle of January.

But I have some good news for you - it doesn't have to be like that. There are things which you can do to strengthen you willpower, enabling and empowering yourself to stay the course and achieve whatever it is that you want to achieve.

If you want to do increase you willpower then the first thing to recognise is that for all practical purpose the will can be divided into two distinct halves - the positive and the negative will. For maximum results you need to work with both aspects.

The difference is simple: the positive will is what you want to do and where you want to get to, and the negative will is the strength you have at your disposal to resist temptations that will lead you away from getting there. Obviously the two are connected, with the negative will feeding off the positive, but it is worth while making the distinction.

If you are trying to quit smoking, for example, this is superficially an act entirely of the negative will - trying not to do something. But if you think of it like this, and neglect the positive will, you are bound to fail because the negative will has little strength of its own. On the other hand if you wish to succeed at work and become wealthy, but put no effort into developing the discipline to avoid habits which draw you away from your goal, then you are bound to end up as just a dreamer. Whatever you want to do you should consciously try to cultivate a balance between the two.

The positive will is driven by the imagination. The best way to bolster it is through positive visualisation. Simply take a few minutes out of each day, close your eyes and relax your body, and visualize yourself attaining your goal. Try to strongly feel the emotions you would feel if it were really happening, and make the pictures you imagine as realistic as possible.

We all have times when we are feeling low, when our goals seem a million miles away and we lose belief in them and ourselves. It is at these times that we begin to fail. You can develop a reserve of positive will through visualisation, and you can learn to draw on it at these times using anchors. An anchor is a simple symbol or gesture which you associate with your visualisation through repeatedly doing the two together, and which you can then use to invoke those feelings of strength and belief when you are feeling low or weak. An example would be to touch your thumb and forefinger together and hold that hand gesture. This is a powerful tool used in hypnosis.

The negative will is driven by discipline. It can be strengthened, like anything else, through practice and training. The more you use it for one thing, the easier it becomes to accomplish other things. You can do this in general by living a more disciplined and orderly life, or you can develop it specifically using 'useless will' exercises. This means to do something difficult just for the sake of the challenge. Try doing 1 thing every day, whether it is completing a crossword puzzle (in which case you can't stop without getting all of the answers, even if it means asking all your friends and looking things up!) or something silly like standing on one leg for 5 minutes.

Setting yourselves targets can also be a great help. These can be little independent goals purely for will training or they can be small steps on the path to a larger goal. Be realistic, but don't make it easy for yourself.

For more tools to help you attain your heart's desire you should consider looking into hypnosis and self-hypnosis - take a look at the resource links included with this article for guidance.