Books and Articles by Frank Ryan

Inevitably, you already do physical and mental activities, so upgrading these into exercise shouldn’t require too much effort or willpower. The difference between activity and exercise is that the latter is over and above your normal level of activity and is designed to stretch you physically or mentally. For example, you walk to the supermarket to do your shopping, but you run around the park to get fit.

When you’ve worked hard on something that challenges and depletes your willpower, suppressed appetites and desires can come to the fore. Thoughts such as ‘I deserve a drink/smoke/extra portion/day off work’ can sound plausible, in effect giving you permission to indulge yourself. These are the wrong rewards at the wrong time!

Willpower evolved to ensure that human beings survive and prosper both as a species and as individuals by enabling them to make tough choices and forego easy options. If goals were achieved when beckoned by wishful thinking and habits vanished with a click of your fingers, you would not require willpower. Willpower entails projecting yourself into the future, often foregoing immediate pleasure or indulgence in pursuit of longer-term and ultimately more valued goals.

The first step in preparing to train your willpower (your ability to control your actions and impulses) is to do some basic brain maintenance to ensure that your brain is healthy. Like any bodily organ, the brain requires nutrition to do its job and stay healthy. Brain cells, in common with other cells in the human body, can be damaged by rogue atoms or molecules known as free radicals.

To develop problem-solving skills, you need to recognise the difference between worrying and problem solving. Doing so is easier said than done, because you can easily assume that worrying helps you solve a problem. It doesn’t. Worrying gives you the illusion of control or the sense that you can anticipate and therefore prepare for difficulties in the future.

Pessimistic thinking styles are closely linked to low self-confidence and low self-esteem. Low self-esteem is a generalised type of low self-worth, based on a perception of consistent, cumulative failure or inadequacy. Low self-confidence and low self-esteem lead to negative predictions about specific performance or capability, such as, ‘I’m sure I can’t get the job done,’ and to general beliefs about your competency and worth, such as, ‘I’m just not very competent.

Along with good sleep, diet and exercise, one extra ingredient helps boost your willpower: acknowledging your success and celebrating your achievements. Recalling a successful, enriching or happy occasion can kick-start positive thinking, in the same way that remembering one bad outcome can lead to the recall of a cascade of calamities!

Motivation can compensate for depleted willpower. Whether your goal is losing weight, getting fit or finishing a project on time, reminding yourself of the reasons you committed to your goal in the first instance can recharge your motivational battery and jump-start your willpower. Your willpower needs this motivational power, especially when running on empty.

What’s the best diet to enhance your willpower? Generally, sustaining glucose levels for longer rather than shorter periods is crucial to maintaining willpower, so you want to eat foods low on the glycaemic index. If, for example, you’re striving to remain a non-smoker, you need the endurance of a marathon runner more than the power of a sprinter.