Willpower Part Two

Earlier this week we began watching Google Authors "The Willpower Instinct" with Author Kelly McGonigal.  It's a fascinating lecture and I have bought the book - but haven't quite gotten around to starting it yet.
Willpower is difficult.  Most people can't simply decide they want to lose weight/exercise more/save money etc and then do it.  It takes planning, effort and a lot of work.
On my journey I found that taking away options worked best for me.  I was only allowed certain foods and didn't have a choice - I could eat that food or go off the diet.  That's easy.  Giving me the option to decide what food I wanted to eat was not easy.  I have been steadily gaining weight since I went off the diet at the end of January.  I am now up 12 pounds ... and still climbing.  I'll get to more of that in a later post - but for now back to willpower.
Here are some of the best tips I learned from watching the lecture:

Setting Yourself up for Success (The Physiology of Willpower):

• Sleep
• Meditation
• Exercise
• Plant-based Diet

In order to be successful you need to prepare your body for success.  Research has found that not getting enough sleep can put you at risk for overeating.  We all know that, right.  Meditation can help put your mind in the right place.  This holds no matter what you need willpower for - not just losing weight.

Pessimism:

• Yes.  Pessimism.  This does not mean negativity.  This means set yourself up for success by planning for failure.  Think of the ways you could possibly fail then think of what you can do *now* to get around the potential future failure. 

Questions to ask yourself:

• What is your goal?
• What could be the most positive outcome?
• What action will I take to reach this goal?
• What obstacles will I face?
• When & where will I face these obstacles?
• What can I do to prevent these obstacles from affecting me?
• What specific thing can I do to get back on track after the obstacle?