The Inverse Relationship Between Habits and Willpower
It’s hard to keep up willpower for any length of time. Yes, we can stick to a low-fat 1,000 calorie diet and go hungry for a week or two, but eventually our willpower fades. And yes, we can do exercise we hate for a while… until we run out of willpower and the old NOW ways return.
But what about getting up to take the kids to school every morning, brushing our teeth or going to work every day. Those may not be our favorite things to do either, but we do them daily without the risk of running out of willpower. That’s because they have become habits. They are so ingrained in what we do and who we are that we do them without even considering skipping a day or a week. We don’t have to make a conscious decision each day to shower or drive to work. It’s just what we do – it has become a habit.
When you really think about it, there is an inverse relationship between habits and will power. When you first want to build a new NOW habit, it takes a lot of will power to get it done day in and day out. As you start to establish that new NOW habit, it becomes easier and easier to do until you don’t even have to think about it anymore.
Just being aware of this process helps us stick it out. We know we no longer have to make such a big effort to go work out or skip the donut for breakfast. There is a light at the end of the tunnel moving forward because the body and mind respond quickly to positive changes. We know eventually it will become another new NOW habit to go out for a run first thing in the morning and grab some fruit or fix some eggs for breakfast.
While we’re in that transition from willpower to habit, we can use tools to make it easier. Use a journal and create specific to-do lists, set up reminders to help stay on track. Take advantage of positive, supportive blogs, fun, free resources about ways to put self-care first, videos and original songs to support your new NOW and help bolster that willpower when it starts to fade after the first enthusiasm wears off here: www.ZitoProHealth.com
Do what you can to help your willpower along until you have made the new behavior a true habit. After that it’ll be easy and automatic, and you will have created a new lifelong habit that supports living well in each moment to be healthy and happy NOW!
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