Willpower is a cognitive skill most responsible for impulse control. Like a muscle, it grows with use, and atrophies with neglect. It even hurts when you try to use it for the first time after a hiatus. And boy, does it ever help a twitchy trader stick to the system!
Here are a few simple exercises that will help you fine-tune your willpower into a limber, powerful machine it ought to be.
10 minutes of meditation can train your brain to focus, and resist the urge to wander. Research shows that if you meditate10 minutes for 2-3 days, your focus improves, energy levels rise, and you feel less stressed.
Work on your posture. Correct your posture every time you catch yourself slouching. It sounds simple, but it takes willpower to sit up or stand up straight. Every time you do - that’s “one rep” for your willpower muscle. This simple practice vastly improves your perseverance.
Use your opposite hand. Your brain is wired to use your dominant hand, so it takes willpower to use the opposite. Use your opposite hand for one hour everyday. Don’t go overboard! An hour is all it takes. If you go longer, you will unnecessarily tire out your willpower muscle.
Correct your speech. It doesn’t matter how you correct your speech, as long as you disrupt your natural speech pattern. Select a time of day to practice, and choose your changes. Some examples include: not using contractions during work hours (say “do not” instead of “don’t”); avoiding junk words (“like”, “kind of”, “you know”, “basically”) in talking to your kids; or word substitution for invective (say “darn” instead of “damn”, or “oops” instead of “f#$@“). Keep it up for three weeks.
Create and abide by your own deadlines. Your willpower gets taxed as you try to tune out distractions and become hyper-productive. You can use this principle to exercise your willpower on purpose by creating self-imposed deadlines. Simply pick a task on your to-do list that you may have been putting off. Set a deadline for accomplishing it, and make sure you adhere to it. In studies, the participants who followed this process for 2 weeks, improved their diets, exercised more, and cut back on cigarettes and alcohol.
Keep track of your spending. Try using a budgeting app that connects to your bank account, credit cards, etc. and automatically tracks your purchases. By monitoring your budget on a regular basis, you will increase your focus and ability to resist temptations.
Get a grip. To improve your perseverance, purchase a handgrip, and squeeze it daily with each hand until you’re exhausted. Willing yourself to continue squeezing even when it hurts will increase your perseverance overall.
Pay attention to your automatic decisions. Try to catch yourself in an automatic behavior and ask yourself why you are doing it. This may be questioning why you are eating cereal instead of eggs for breakfast, or it may be questioning why exactly you put 2 sugars in your coffee. Any way you remember to think consciously about a typical automatic behavior will increase your focus and self-control.
Work on your posture. Correct your posture every time you catch yourself slouching. It sounds simple, but it takes willpower to sit up or stand up straight. Every time you do - that’s “one rep” for your willpower muscle. This simple practice vastly improves your perseverance.
Use your opposite hand. Your brain is wired to use your dominant hand, so it takes willpower to use the opposite. Use your opposite hand for one hour everyday. Don’t go overboard! An hour is all it takes. If you go longer, you will unnecessarily tire out your willpower muscle.
Correct your speech. It doesn’t matter how you correct your speech, as long as you disrupt your natural speech pattern. Select a time of day to practice, and choose your changes. Some examples include: not using contractions during work hours (say “do not” instead of “don’t”); avoiding junk words (“like”, “kind of”, “you know”, “basically”) in talking to your kids; or word substitution for invective (say “darn” instead of “damn”, or “oops” instead of “f#$@“). Keep it up for three weeks.
Create and abide by your own deadlines. Your willpower gets taxed as you try to tune out distractions and become hyper-productive. You can use this principle to exercise your willpower on purpose by creating self-imposed deadlines. Simply pick a task on your to-do list that you may have been putting off. Set a deadline for accomplishing it, and make sure you adhere to it. In studies, the participants who followed this process for 2 weeks, improved their diets, exercised more, and cut back on cigarettes and alcohol.
Keep track of your spending. Try using a budgeting app that connects to your bank account, credit cards, etc. and automatically tracks your purchases. By monitoring your budget on a regular basis, you will increase your focus and ability to resist temptations.
Get a grip. To improve your perseverance, purchase a handgrip, and squeeze it daily with each hand until you’re exhausted. Willing yourself to continue squeezing even when it hurts will increase your perseverance overall.
Pay attention to your automatic decisions. Try to catch yourself in an automatic behavior and ask yourself why you are doing it. This may be questioning why you are eating cereal instead of eggs for breakfast, or it may be questioning why exactly you put 2 sugars in your coffee. Any way you remember to think consciously about a typical automatic behavior will increase your focus and self-control.
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Exercises in this handout are based on the research listed below. Track down these articles to learn more about willpower and how to train it.
1 Oman, D., Shapiro, S., Thoresen, C., Plante, T., & Flinders, T. (2008). Meditation Lowers Stress And Supports Forgiveness Among College Students: A Randomized Controlled Trial. Journal of American College Health, 569-578.
2 Muraven, M., Baumeister, R., & Tice, D. (1999). Longitudinal Improvement of Self-Regulation Through Practice: Building Self-Control Strength Through Repeated Exercise. The Journal of Social Psychology, 446-457.
3 Baumeister, R., Gailliot, M., Dewall, C., & Oaten, M. (2006). Self-Regulation and Personality: How Interventions Increase Regulatory Success, and How Depletion Moderates the Effects of Traits on Behavior. Journal of Personality, 1773-1802.
4 Oaten, M., & Cheng, K. (2007). Improvements in self-control from financial monitoring. Journal of Economic Psychology, 487-501.
5 Muraven, M. (2010). Building self-control strength: Practicing self-control leads to improved self-control performance. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 465-468.
6 Forman, E., Hoffman, K., Mcgrath, K., Herbert, J., Brandsma, L., & Lowe, M. (2007). A comparison of acceptance- and control-based strategies for coping with food cravings: An analog study. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 2372-2386.
Exercises in this handout are based on the research listed below. Track down these articles to learn more about willpower and how to train it.
1 Oman, D., Shapiro, S., Thoresen, C., Plante, T., & Flinders, T. (2008). Meditation Lowers Stress And Supports Forgiveness Among College Students: A Randomized Controlled Trial. Journal of American College Health, 569-578.
2 Muraven, M., Baumeister, R., & Tice, D. (1999). Longitudinal Improvement of Self-Regulation Through Practice: Building Self-Control Strength Through Repeated Exercise. The Journal of Social Psychology, 446-457.
3 Baumeister, R., Gailliot, M., Dewall, C., & Oaten, M. (2006). Self-Regulation and Personality: How Interventions Increase Regulatory Success, and How Depletion Moderates the Effects of Traits on Behavior. Journal of Personality, 1773-1802.
4 Oaten, M., & Cheng, K. (2007). Improvements in self-control from financial monitoring. Journal of Economic Psychology, 487-501.
5 Muraven, M. (2010). Building self-control strength: Practicing self-control leads to improved self-control performance. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 465-468.
6 Forman, E., Hoffman, K., Mcgrath, K., Herbert, J., Brandsma, L., & Lowe, M. (2007). A comparison of acceptance- and control-based strategies for coping with food cravings: An analog study. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 2372-2386.
