Did you inherit your willpower?

Ah Summertime …

Days spent outdoors,  eating watermelon, swimming, laughing…  😎

And figuring out how to get some work done, a little time for yourself and maybe even, (gasp!) a workout or two- all sandwiched between ice cream cones and calls for adventure.

It’s enough to make a girl want to escape it all!

While a day at a the spa might seem ideal, the reality is, we need daily escapes.  You may recognize that some of your escapes are not quite giving you what you want in the big picture:

• The glass of wine at the end of the day turns into two, which makes your sleep junk and you wake up thick headed
• The mind-numbing reality tv you watch before bed fills your dreams with the feeling of never having enough in your REAL life
• Keeping your energy up with bottom-less pots of coffee and handfuls of jelly beans gives you a quick jolt of energy, but it also gives you extra padding you may not want

You may say to yourself, but I don’t have the will power to make different choices, i’ve tried and it’s too hard.

Don’t beat yourself up because you ‘don’t have the willpower’ to make better choices…

You don’t inherit willpower, you create it.

Willpower is like a muscle.  You can prime it to be ready to be used, and you can strengthen it by the choices you make.

Take Sarah, a client of mine who kept beating herself up because she “couldn’t stop herself” from grabbing a handful of jelly beans when the mid-afternoon slump hit.  She thought it was a lack of willpower, but when we looked at her day before that, we found that she had no activities built in that supported her energy in the afternoon.  We came up with a list for her to choose from to build her energy before the slump hit.

• Get a workout in, either in the morning or during her lunch break
• Be sure to include fiber and protein at lunch- a salad for lunch is awesome, but it needs more than veggies to fuel a busy lifestyle
• Get at least 7-8 hours of sleep
• Eat Breakfast every day – even if it’s just a smoothie with some protein powder (but not too sweet)

She ended up gradually incorporating all options, and her “willpower’ got stronger- she didn’t need any sugar to keep her going.  She stayed focused and productive throughout the day, and she even lost a few pounds.

Strengthen your willpower gradually, making small little changes along the way.

Just like you wouldn’t try to lift 25 pound hand weights without starting with lighter ones, don’t try to change every habit you have at once.  Start slowly, changing one habit at a time, and you’ll feel your willpower getting stronger.