WHEN WILLPOWER ISN’T ENOUGH
Willpower by The Confidence Coach
When willpower isn’t enough.
We all understand the concept of will power and more than likely the feeling of willpower. That internal battle of ‘you can do it!’ versus ‘no you can’t just give up!’ The feeling of winning or in the case of when willpower isn’t enough, the feeling of losing or being a loser. The person who couldn’t stick it through, who couldn’t see it through to the end, no matter what that end is.
People most often refer to willpower in a health, fitness, diet / eating way. If you resist the cream bun you have willpower, if you lie on the settee at night watching TV berating yourself for not going for a run you have no willpower. You have let yourself down.
In these situations it appears that willpower is about a battle in your mind. The good voice and the bad voice, the positive and encouraging, the negative and belittling. And really it’s all down to which voice will win out.
So is willpower about more than thoughts alone and what can we do to improve our chances of winning, of succeeding and of seeing it through to ‘the end’?
And how do we keep going in the face of adversity?
Is there a tool or technique that we can all apply that will increase our chances of success?
Well according to the work of Katy Milkman the concept of temptation bundling is the answer to our willpower (or lack of) prayers.
Temptation Bundling is really rather simple and yet research shows it to be exceptionally effective. It’s all about identifying something you enjoy doing and bundling it with the thing you find it hard to stick to or dread doing. For example; love sitting at home watching your favourite box-set rather than going to the gym? Then lock your tablet in your gym locker so that you have to go to the gym to access it and your watch your favourite box-set whilst working out. Hate tackling the ironing but love your dance tunes? Hide your dance tunes or speakers in the ironing pile so that you can only play those tunes whilst ironing.
The key to the success of temptation bundling is the exclusivity of the bundling.
You are not allowed to access the desirable temptation (the box-set or music) at any other time other than when doing the thing you struggle to stick to.
As soon as you remove the novelty of having to go to the gym to watch your box-set and you just watch it any old time or place then it will no longer serve to give you the willpower to keep going to the gym and so your fitness willpower will dwindle once again.
So what will you bundle together?
Where’s your weakness and where’s your passion and love and how will you make them in to an exclusive bundle?
If you would like to find out more about temptation bundling or anything else that will help you think and feel successfully then get in touch today and arrange your free ‘meet and greet’ consultation.
Wishing you a happy and confident day!
Lydia – The Confidence Coach
This blog post is based on the work of Katy Milkman from the Wharton School of Penn who came to my attention via the Freakonomics Radio podcast – When willpower isn’t enough.