After reading this article,

First, you can learn how to improve your willpower.

Second, knowing where willpower is wasted and avoiding this part can help you improve yourself more effectively.

Third, knowing the limit of willpower, there is no correct way for many things, not by willpower.

Just imagine that you have the ability to get up easily, resist all kinds of temptations in life easily or complete all kinds of tasks efficiently, which is wonderful. Not to mention the great role of willpower in interpersonal communication, health and work. So, how to have iron willpower?

The Shawshank Redemption insisted on escaping from prison for decades.

1. Understand willpower

Willpower is like the MP value (mana, blue bar) in the game. Let's imagine how many MP values there are:

① It has a limit;

② The upper limit is determined by nature;

③ The upper limit can be raised the day after tomorrow;

④ It can recover slowly;

⑤ The best way to recover is sleep;

⑥ Short-term supplementation of blue bottle (glucose) can temporarily improve;

⑦ Using skills will consume. Willpower is mainly consumed in controlling emotions, thinking, impulsiveness and performance.

2. Improvement of willpower

Roy baumeister and his graduate student Mark Muravin have proved through experiments that cultivating the habit of consuming energy can improve the "endurance" of willpower. After testing, the loss of willpower of the subjects is slower than that before cultivating habits.

The research of two Australian psychologists, Megan Otten and Ken Cheng, also proves this point. Moreover, they also found that you gain willpower by exercising. It can be applied to other fields, such as controlling emotions or controlling impulses.

In a word, these studies show that training willpower has great benefits. People who are committed to improving one aspect of their lives will unconsciously improve other aspects of their lives.

Laboratory tests provide an explanation for this phenomenon: by cultivating habits and continuous training. Their willpower is gradually increasing, so they are more tolerant.

You don't have to have extraordinary willpower from the beginning like a few jealous guys. Persisting in practice can enhance willpower and reach the level you want.

Most good habits consume willpower, and cultivating these habits can effectively improve willpower. Here are some tested habits:

Pay attention to your posture and try to stand or sit up straight.

Record anything you eat.

Use the other hand. If your right hand is your dominant hand, use your left hand more. Wash your face, brush your teeth, control the mouse, etc. If you are tired from using your infrequent hand all day, you can try to switch back to your usual hand at night.

Note for left-handers: Many left-handers can actually use their hands skillfully, so it's easy for them. No pains, no gains. Therefore, it has little effect on strengthening willpower. )

④ Control words

For example, don't swear, avoid useless spoken English, and pause for 2 seconds before opening your mouth.

⑤ Cultivate the habits of financial management, fitness and study.

6. Dig it yourself!

3. Loss of willpower

In the book Willpower, it is believed that willpower is mainly consumed in four things:

The first category is control thinking. For example, ignore something serious, or try to get rid of a piece of music that you can't help repeating in your mind.

The second category is to control emotions. Specifically for emotions, psychologists call it "emotional regulation." It is common for us to try to get rid of bad emotions or unpleasant thoughts, or try to avoid being happy at funerals.

The third category is impulse control. Most people think of this when they talk about willpower. The ability to resist all kinds of temptations, such as cigarettes, wine, delicious food or beautiful women.

The last category is controlling performance, achievement and achievement. Focus on the current task, not only to achieve a certain speed but also to achieve a certain accuracy, and stick to it when you want to give up.

When the MP value (willpower) is close to 0, people are more likely to feel tired and have negative emotions, but the self-awareness is not much different from that when MP= 100.

At present, the only symptom is a strong reaction to all kinds of things.

In 20 10, an international research team combed more than 80 research reports and came to the conclusion that self-attrition does have a strong influence on behavior, but its influence on subjective feelings is much weaker. People who are tired are more likely to feel tired and have negative emotions, but they are not much different from those who are not tired (so it is difficult to find them without paying attention).

These results make self-exhaustion look like an asymptomatic disease, a state without discomfort.

However, this seems to be an early warning sign of self-depletion, thanks to a team led by Roy baumeister and psychologist Catherine Voss of the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota.

They did some new experiments. In these experiments, although the lost people did not show any warning mood, they did react more strongly to all kinds of things. Compared with people who don't lose money, people who lose money are more sad when they look at the same tragedy, happier when they look at the same happy picture, more afraid and uneasy when they look at the same horrible picture, and more bitter when they feel the same ice water.

It is not only feelings but also desires that become stronger. After eating a biscuit, the former is more eager to eat another one-if you want to eat as much as you want, the former does eat more. Seeing the package packaged as a gift, the former has a stronger desire to open the package.

So, if you find that things that are not particularly depressing make you particularly depressed, or some thoughts that are not particularly sad make you particularly sad, or some news that is not particularly pleasant makes you particularly happy, then your MP may have turned to 0.

4. The use of willpower-different skills, consuming the same MP

The willpower needed for work, the willpower to deal with family members and the willpower to maintain a healthy diet all come from the same account.

(1) Make a good willpower budget and know where your limit is? If you are trying to quit smoking for the first time, start by smoking less every once in a while instead of quitting smoking directly.

After a good sleep, at the beginning of the day. That is, when you have the strongest willpower, finish your most important thing.

5. The recovery of willpower

① Choose food

Hypoglycemia can lead to a decline in willpower, and some foods can make blood sugar levels rise rapidly and fall rapidly. This kind of food will make blood sugar unstable, including starch carbohydrates, such as white flour, potatoes, white rice and various snacks and convenience foods.

Therefore, for the sake of willpower, you can eat nutritious foods such as low sugar and high protein, which can ensure that the energy supplement is slow and beneficial to your body.

This kind of food includes most vegetables, nuts, many fruits, fish, meat and whole wheat bread.

2 ensure sleep.

Sleep is the best way to restore willpower. Don't skimp on your sleep time. Humans need an average of eight hours' sleep every night. Some people need more, others don't. Find your best sleep time and have a good dream.

6. Some tips

These tips can improve your willpower in a short time and make it easier for you to handle some tasks that take less time.

Look at yourself in the mirror, you don't have to have a full-length mirror, but a small mirror can do it.

Psychologists Charles Carver and Michael Schell sat the subjects at a table with a mirror. The mirror is a small object, but it has greatly changed people's behavior.

As long as you can see yourself in the mirror, you are more likely to follow your own internal values instead of following others' orders; More restrained and less aggressive; Mirrors will also make subjects work harder to perform tasks; It is more likely to resist threats and stick to their own views.

thick fog

The size of the mirror is not important, as long as you can see yourself.

Considering others can increase self-control

Getting social support, such as the supervision of friends, can also greatly improve your chances of completing the task.

③ Tighten your muscles, or clench your fists for a while.

Richard wiseman, the author of Positive Energy, introduced this simple method in his book, which can effectively improve willpower in a short time.

The limit of willpower

A man with only a hammer looks at everything like a nail.

Many changes, such as the cultivation of good habits and the elimination of bad habits, cannot be maintained by willpower alone.

There are three unknowns about change,

1, a seemingly human problem is actually a situational problem.

2, seemingly lazy to change, but actually exhausted.

3, seemingly resistant, but in fact the direction is unknown.

So you should plan the environment well and don't waste your willpower in vain.

Ex.: Set the things and clothes you need to carry for running tomorrow morning at the bedside in advance.

You should reduce the consumption of willpower and use it on the cutting edge.

Example: Empty the junk food and drinks in the refrigerator to avoid always thinking about struggle. Although the result of every struggle is that reason wins, it consumes a lot of willpower invisibly.

You should have clear and specific goals and motivate yourself to the greatest extent.

Example: I want to lose weight, specifically, I don't need milk tea from now on. It's a bit difficult to set a reasonable goal according to your own ability, but it won't make you feel scared. It's too difficult for you to reject all junk food directly, insist on practicing three times a week and ensure 8 hours of regular sleep at the same time.