How to Build Willpower Hacks

Why is Willpower Important? - Gary Keller –

The one thing book – A study was taken of kids in third grade and those that participated, were given two choices! They could either have a snack now, or they could wait 15 minutes in an unsupervised room and then get an extra snack for waiting until the end. What’s interesting is the fact that some students decided to take the snack now versus those who decided to wait and get two snacks later! What makes it somewhat remarkable is those who waited to take the snack vs. having it right away, 30 years later, showed amazing achievement and success, versus those who didn’t. Their SAT scores were 210% higher, they were better in shape, healthier, happier, and overall had a better quality of life. Those who decided to not wait and take the snack right away we’re more obese, not as successful, and showed signs of extreme unhappiness!

 Willpower on Will Call Hack – Gary Keller

Can you Summon Willpower at any time? – So obviously we can see that willpower is important. But can we be able to get willpower on will call, meaning anytime we want? Well, we’ve always been told willpower is on will call which means you can be able to get it when you want. But we’ve discovered that’s not true. Because whenever I’ve attempted to just summon up willpower, it’s not always there. So how do we attain our willpower?

There are several things to look at when we look at what we can do to maximize our willpower. Number one includes a research done with Stanford and 158 undergrads, where it was divided into two groups. One group was required to memorize a two-digit number and the other one was required to memorize a seven-digit number. The next part of the task was they were to go to a different room to recall that number, but on the way to the room they had the opportunity to be given a snack for their participation in the survey. That snack was either a chocolate cake which was an afternoon delight or a fruit salad which was a healthy snack. What was very interesting is there was double the number of those that were required to memorize a seven-digit number they picked a chocolate cake versus those that memorized only two-digit number.

This means that that the five digits was so taxing on the brain that are required all power to succumb to not making a wise decision about their choice to snack, which was the very next decision they had to make. Thus, think of willpower like a battery on your phone – the more you use it the more it gets depleted to where it runs out. So, one of the best hacks for willpower is to use it in the early part of day and pick the one thing that you need to focus on and make that decision early where it requires the greatest willpower.

Make Important Decisions Early in the Day and After Breaks Hack

How to maximize your willpower vs wont power – Now if you can’t make the decision early in the day, and what is the next best thing in order to maximize on your willpower. Another study showed that an Israeli parole board had to meet to make decisions on allowing inmates to be able to be released from prison. The study shows that those meetings that were scheduled right after breakfast, lunch, and at the end of the day, had the highest number of parolees that were accepted and approved for parole. After studying this further we found out this was not a coincidence. Because during those meals when it was an intake of food or nutrients, the parole board were able to have more willpower instead of just going to the default setting.

During the rest of the day because they had little willpower, they didn’t want to make a mistake, so they went to their default setting which was bad news for the parolees as they were denied parole. With that in mind, if you cannot do your one thing early in the day, the next best thing is to do it after a meal where you have an intake protein and complex carbs. This will allow you to maximize your willpower and be able to decide based on merits versus your default settings. This will allow you to use willpower versus wont power! To sum up, think of a punctured gas line where your willpower is leaking everywhere and so you want to use your willpower for the things that matter most. So, at the beginning of the day, right after you take in nutrients so you can maximize your power during those important times!