Improve your willpower to get the “No” that gets you away from Facebook, just letting the auto play take you to another Netflix episode or any other indulgence that prevents us from adding words and pages to our work. Everyone wants more willpower. No one thinks they have enough of it.
Improving your willpower can drive us away from life’s temptations so that we get our goals done. The only trouble with it is that it can be exhausted from over work much like a fatigued muscle. Like a muscle it can also be strengthened with some work or depleted from constant over use of self denial.
Research tells us that we have more willpower when working on our own goals, but sacrifices made for someone else tends to drain us. Almost everything else is all about resource management. Here are some hacks to improve your willpower.
1. Limit how much you take on at one time
Set small achievable goals that you can focus your willpower on. Instead of looking at the entire project of writing a larger project like a blog focus on one small habit such as writing every day to build a base of articles for the first few months. This serves you well since the search engines really don’t notice blogs for the first four or so months, taking off unneeded stress as you develop your work habits.
2. Take a positive break.
Research has shown that a good mood slows down ego depletion. When you take a break try to spend it with something that will reinvigorate your mind, like time with your pet or watching a funny TV show. Keep it short though. You don’t want a distraction instead of a mental break. Use a timer. Set it for five or ten minutes. Keep the time short. Both the pet and the TV will be there for the next break.
3. Plan in advance.
Plan your work week at the start of your week. Using a weekly staff meeting for yourself will help you set your goals for the week and plan your work. Schedule those elements you might be inclined to avoid instead of trying to squeeze them in here or there at the end of your days. You can also use a prepday to prep some of the work ahead of time, like make outlines and plan research sources. Make and keep office hours to stay on top of your work.
A subset idea here is to use “If then” thinking to be ready for the unexpected. Have a response ready for those situations you know you might run into that allows you to quickly get back to your work. For instance say you are doing some research on line. You know you are going to run into ads as you go through the internet articles. It is possible that you will run across an ad that triggers an impulse buy. Rather than get distracted, just save the link for later. Setting a plan in place for those situations you know you might be distracted or act on impulse takes out the need to make a decision, reduces your stress and keeps you focused on your work where it should be.
4. Remove temptation.
Clear anything from your desk and computer that does not involve the project you are working on. Do not turn on the television till after your work is done. Turn off your phone. Remove anything that you know will distract you from working during your office hours to use less and improve you willpower.
5. Give yourself rewards for making the milestones.
Celebrate those little wins in such a way that they do not set you back. Go for a walk when you finish your word count. Watch a favorite show with the spouse and some popcorn when you publish ten blogs without a miss. Spend some time with family or friends because you finished Act Two of your manuscript. Get a good massage for finishing the first draft. What ever you choose to do, choose a reward that encourges you while not going overboard on some way that sneeks back on you as a punishment in some other way.
6. Get a support group.
Join a writer’s group. Form a group of writers to read each others’ manuscripts. Talk about your outline with your spouse. Ask people you trust to help you stay on track with your goals. Everyone needs emotional support to get through the tough times. Having a support infrastructure aids us when things go wrong and gives us someplace to celebrate the wins.
7. Get a bit more sleep.
Getting enough sleep is essential for both good mood and mental performance. Being in a better state of mind and happy decreases ego depletion. Remember you do not want a spend a lot of effort to create new sleep habit, just make a small shift to take some of the edge off of any sleep deprivation you may have. The goal is to be more rested, not jet lagged.
8. Do as Mark Twain would have done.
Mark Twain once said, “Eat a live frog first thing in the morning and nothing worse will happen to you the rest of the day.” This is more than a great philosophy. It is one of the best known project management techniques ever conceived. When we use the idea to tackle the hardest part of our day first we cut down our ego depletion and reduce the amount of willpower we need for the remainder of the project. Prioritization of the more important and formidable work when you have your full willpower prevents you from stalling out later in the day when all the day’s work has massively reduced your resiliency.
9. Stay away from bad habit exposure.
An Australian study, indicates that when we limit being around people doing a bad habit we want to avoid, it makes it easier to avoid doing it ourselves. In the study they found when people reducimg their unhealthy snacks were more successful when they saw fewer of their friends eating. It’s one of those right before our eyes findings. Everyone knows it is far easier to avoid doing things we do not see. The revers is also true. If temptation is right before you the urge to partake is far greater.
The Writer’s Take
So for a writer, removing and limiting others’ behaviors while we are working is essential. I can tell you it’s very easy to have a strong desire to watch TV when the kids are watching a program in the back ground. That’s one reason I face the wall instead of the room to work. It does not cut down everything but it does make things easier on the willpower.
Keeping my willpower strong is one of the reasons I try to cocoon myself when I write. I found a great strategy for this from Chris Fox’s 5000 Words per Hour.
Create a mental tortoise enclosure. Set up a time you are going to work with both a start and finish time. Pick a place to work where you will not be disturbed. Ensure that everyone from kids and pets to family and friends of the need for privacy during that time. You want to mentally define exactly your work space. If you need them Bose has some great noise cancelling headphones, but standard head phones with nature sounds works well too. Then write out a contract with yourself. “I will write at my desk every day from 6AM to 8AM.” There is a powerful psychological effect when we write things down. Things become real subconsciously. Just mentally thinking about a plan does not work as well.
There is an app to improve your willpower
Automate some of your tasks instead of exhausting your willpower. Here are a few great apps for writers:
Waste less time on line: The internet is famous for stealing our time. It is all too easy to lose track of time and lose hours of unaccounted for time. RescueTime to the rescue. This app tracks your behavior and lets you see exactly where your time went and allows you to make informed changes to cut out waste.
More productive: Apple’s Self Control and Wodows based Cold Trukey lets writers blacklist distracting websites so you stay focused on your work. Freedom works on Mac, Windows, Android, iOS, and Chrome to block all distractions from both web and apps simultaneously. This means you can be blocked on your computer and your phone at the same time.
Reduce stress: worry junkies can try a meditation app like Headspace to find some daily calm.
General habits: Tracking all habits is essential. Strides (Apple) or Productive tracks various habits to keep us all on track.
The improve your willpower end game
Keeping our willpower in fighting trim requires a little work, but with some due diligence don’t have to fear not having enough. We can avoid the fatiguing traps, build our reserves and recover as needed. The only question is to find out what works for you. These are some of the things I have found.
Photo by Timothy Eberly on Unsplash