Exercising your willpower

[JoeJustice]

Have you ever considered thinking of your willpower the same way you think of your biceps or pecs? In other words, consider that the more you work your willpower like a muscle the stronger it will get, just as long as you don't put too much on it too soon. That's right! Progressive resistance can build willpower just like it can built muscle and the more you think of it in that way, the more you'll be able to exercise it and make it stronger!

Here in our office we have a lot of conferences, so we keep our conference rooms stocked with candy. It use to be real easy to just walk up there during the day and grab a candy bar or two... or three or four. But when I started to focus more on my health and try to lose weight I decided to forgo the candy. Great idea! And a real test of willpower. But a problem I had was in eating too much real late at night. Well the problem was that I didn't exercise my willpower, I just put a huge load on it all at once. Imagine not ever running a day in your life and suddenly going out any trying a marathon! What's going to happen? You're going to fall flat on your face.

This is the main cause of binge eating. Your willpower is under a load that it's just not quite read for and just like your legs in a marathon, it collapses under the load.

If you really want to build long term willpower, think of it like a muscle and offer it progressive resistance. Drop a piece of candy a week, instead of all at once. Remember that you're exercising the willpower all day long, this is wearing you out whether you realize it or not. So when you get home your willpower is at it's weakest. Remove all tempting food from your house so you don't even have them there as an option. Cravings will pass and your willpower will get stronger and stronger.

-Joe

[tom]

Check out the nosdiet.com dude's essay on habit/willpower/whatever. It's simple and brilliant. Simply brilliant.

It will complement what you wrote.

Tom

[Andy62]

"'Muscle Control is Body Development by Will-Power"

Maxick

[Andy62]

"The purpose of Yoga is to make human consciousness dependent upon our will."

Yoga And Health

[stingray]

I highly recommend practicing the No S diet. Google it if you are not familiar with it. Common sense approach.

[JoeJustice]

Tom the International Thread Jacker of Mystery!! No sooner do I make a post about willpower than you come along changing the subject to NoS! Here soon grunt will post in here and the two of you are going to have a conversation about Hula Hoops or something like that.

-Joe
:tongue:

[gruntbrain]

Visit a Senior's community like mine; your willpower will soar from the negative examples. If that doesn't work do what some Jews have done: they make donations to Nazis if they fail to accomplish stuff( MONEY can often be used to generate willpower)
"Sorry" for this & my other frequent 'threadjacks'

[tom]

You didn't read it, did you? Ok, here is part. Go to the site itself with extra links to get more details. It is in context of diet, but the principles are the same. The site is not commercial nor a competitor of this site in any way - nosdiet.com.

Willpower vs. Habit

Nothing is more powerful than habit. - Ovid

Habit is overcome by habit. -Thomas a Kempis

Habit is either the best of servants or the worst of masters. - Nathaniel Emmons

Willpower can't win against habit, it's hopelessly outmatched. It's like a bare-fisted man trying to duke it out with an elephant. But I'm sure you know this already from personal experience, from having been on the receiving end of bad habits for so many years.

The trick is to make habit work for you, not to engage it head on or duck out of its way every time you see it coming (as the magic pill diets would have you do). Men do tame elephants, after all, and then ride on their backs, and compel them to pull ten ton logs that a dozen strong men couldn't budge. In the same way, willpower can tame habit. And habit working for you is a remarkable thing.

Carrot and stick is the proverbial way to tame an animal. S-day and non S-day are our carrot and stick. As with animals, we insist on only a few clear points, so the beast doesn't feel threatened and attack. But these few points must be strictly enforced. Give the beast some room, but stand by the lines you've made and roar like a maniac when it tries to cross. The firmer you are, the faster your habit will learn. Sure this takes effort up front. But once habit is trained, you won't need much will, a slight pressure of the spurs is all it takes.

Don't believe diets that tell you you don't need to alter your habits. Because there is only so long you can duck that elephant. Sooner or later it's going to have you in a corner, and if you haven't tamed it, you're squashed.

[tom]

And, since this is my thread, here is some more stuff from the same guy at everydaysystems.com. It is not just diet, there are other contexts. They all relate to willpower. Willpower/habits should also be applied to feelings, attitudes, and other internal things which, in the end, manifest themselves in our less that stellar words, actions, and treatment of others.

Hey, this should be whatsisname's thread. I'm too lazy to look his name up or remember it, R-something.

Of course, the rest of you are welcome, too.

Tom

[gruntbrain]

I have my disagreements with NOS dieting & exercize but agree willpower is nicely addressed by the NOS dude

[jlee]

hey andy isn't what joe describes a form conscious evolution? he has learned to channel his will via the excercises.

Joe

[Andy62]

The internal mind projection skills and the "will power" that you develop with VRT can reach far beyond internal physical limits.


"Your brain sends out energy in the form of brain waves. And this energy is power which can affect another person or an object"

Napoleon Hill and W.Clement Stone
SUCCESS THROUGH A POSITIVE MENTAL ATTITUDE.

[Andy62]

Jonathan, I have not read the book although I have seen many quotes from it over the years so I am familiar with the philosophy and the principles that it contains. I have read countless books on mindpower and they have worked for me. That is one reason that I am so enthusiastic about the principles that John Peterson and Greg Mangan teach. Napoleon Hill, W.Clement Stone, and ofcourse their predecessor Alois P. Swoboda all taught and promoted the same principles as James Allen as have philosphers and great thinkers back into antiquity. The thing that I particularly like about Swoboda is that he combined the thinking with exercises that drive the thought impulses straight into your subconscious mind where they are most likely to take hold and directly influence you life. This is great stuff and it works. Incidently I just ordered a copy of "As A Man Thinketh" There are numerous copies available on abebooks.com - some for as little as $1.00. Gordon

Practice DVR/VRT, Isometrics, or Isometric Power Flexing and keep you mind on the things that you want and off of the things that you don't want!

[Andy62]

II will let you know. I know what you mean about those childhood messages. Even today in my 70s I continue to realize the truth in some of the things that my parents tried to teach me so many years ago. Maybe that is how it works though as we have to experience life and get some of the wildness of our youth out before we can really appreciate life on a different level.

[Andy62]

Jonathon, The book."As A Man Thinketh" came in the mail today and I just finished reading it. It is a very powerful little book and it contains some very powerful thoughts. I absolutely believe it's message as It is universal and timeless. It has been transmitted through the ages by various philosophers ,sages, religious, and spirtiual individuals as well a modern day positive thinkers. Our thoughts are the creative power within and they act as a magnet and attract to us the objects of the thoughts. Napoleon Hill said" The thoughts that we allow to enter our minds are the only thing that we have complete control over" Buddha said "What you think you become" and The Bible says "As a man thinketh in his heart so he is," which is obviously where James Allen got the title of his book. Everything in life starts as a thought or an idea- your computer, the chair you are sitting on, the light bulb illuminating your room and on and on. Thought is our "creative force" and it produces or brings into reality the object of our thoughts whether good or bad. That is what is so powerful about Transformetrics, VRT/DVR, Isometrics, and Isometric Power Flexing. They represent a form of "power meditation" or " "moving meditation" as they are projecting your thought impulses inward to your subconscious mind which is our creative source within. In "Yoga and Health" it says, " the body is made by the thought that lies behind it."

I really enjoyed the book- thanks for recommending it. Gordon