There is a quick ay to check how good you can visualize things. Don’t worry; I won’t make hold your hands up for ten minutes again. :) I’m not that mean. This will be a lot easier. Close your eyes and hold your arms out in front of you. Relax; it’s nothing like a self-discipline trick. :) Imagine that a huge helium-filled balloon is tied to your one arm and a big bucket of water to the other. Focus hard on your arms while keeping your eyes closed. After about a minute, open your eyes.
Did you do it?
Have you noticed how one arm was higher than the other? The further your arms are apart (up and down), the better your focus. Similarly, you can visualize what you want, and subconsciously, you can do it!
To make your willpower training more effective, pick a healthy habit you would like to adapt in your daily routine. Something you were planning on doing but never had time for it or enough self-discipline to follow through. Like quitting eating late at night, doing you morning exercise or finding a couple hours a day to work on achieving your goal.
Make sure you don’t skip a single day. Explain to yourself, why you want to become a healthy, strong-willed person. How does that little change in your routine will make your life better? Keep refreshing all the reasons in your memory every day. By the way, habits develop most quickly when activity follows a "same time, same place" type of format. I suggest you start small. Devote just a short period of time to your task, gradually increasing it, as your self-control will become stronger. Make sure you do it EVERY day. It’s important. Excuse like “I’ll skip today, I’ll do extra tomorrow” will not work.
It is also very helpful if you find another person, a friend or a spouse to help you stick to your goal. Social support reduces the need for self-control. That's where your EGO comes in handy. Telling the other person you don't want to work on your plans equals you admitting that you are a loser with no willpower. And you most definitely are not, so you will get your lazy butt off the chair and begin working on your bright future.
Let me tell you one more trick you can use when you feel especially lazy. For example, you’ve decided to go jogging today, but when time has come you really don’t feel like getting up from the couch and doing any form of exercise. I myself feel like that quite often. :) In that case you tell yourself “I am not going to go jogging. I will just get up and put my jogging shoes on”.
It is a lot easier on your willpower to do a little easy task, than a big one. In the most cases by the time you will get up from the couch, put you shoes on and get distracted from the TV show you were watching, you will probably decide to go jogging after all.
