PRESERVE YOUR WILLPOWER TO POWER UP YOUR LIFE
I am so blessed to know so many talented, hard-working, and loving people out here in the Bay Area. There are so many people in my life that influence me to be a better person — including friends, clients, mentors, and other trainers. I was riding my bike this past weekend and I got to see one of those people that inspire me to be better, he is an owner of this coffee shop in Pacifica called Kizler Coffee. We got to talking about how life has been for him the past few weeks and then we got to talk about the exciting signs that are going on in his life. Later, we got to have a quick chat on how personal life is going in terms of physical and mental health. My friend told me that it had been a little more difficult to find the drive to move more. We then started talking about decision fatigue. He is a father, husband, and a coffee shop owner so I told him the last thing he probably wants to worry about is what to workout and even what to eat. I realized that this is such a real problem for so many people out here in the San Francisco Bay Area, but also all around the world. Let’s learn to fight back decision fatigue and power up our willpower.
Dr. Susan Pierce Thompson has one of the most successful dieting programs out there and it is called, “Bright Line Eating”. In her book, she has a chapter called the “The Willpower Gap” and she talks about how so many people unsuccessfully lose weight every year. She said that their brains are blocking them from losing weight. Here is how she describes willpower:
“Willpower is a simple brain function. And while studies have shown that there is a genetic component to how strong it is, there is a lot more to it than genes… Willpower is not merely a mental faculty that resists temptation — it also governs other things, like the ability to focus. It monitors our task performance, regulates our emotions, and most important, helps us make choices. Have you ever thought to yourself at the end of the day, “I cannot make one more decision!” You tell your spouse or roommate to choose dinner or pick the movie because you just can’t. That’s what scientists call decision fatigue. And it’s real.”
Our brains run on glucose and willpower takes place in a part of the brain called the Anterior Cingulate Cortex, that is very dependent on glucose. So as the day goes on and the glucose levels of your brain start to drop, so does your willpower. Your ability to make good choices gets so much harder. Which is not great for us, but can be awesome for Uber Eats, Doordash, or Caviar. Suddenly the pita sandwich does not cost $10, but $25 and we for some reason are okay with that. I do it all the time still too, but start asking yourself if that $25 bowl of pho is really worth it (ok every now and then it is kinda nice).
Come on we all know this temptation
Photo by Charles Deluvio on Unsplash
Roy Baumeister, a professor of psychology at Florida State University, is one of the most prominent experts on willpower. He and a colleague in Germany, W. Hoffman, did a study where they gave 205 participants (both male and female) beepers and then paged them seven times per day at random intervals to ask: “what are you doing right now? Are you resisting some kind of desire or craving? If so, what for?” What they found was that people spend on average, four hours per day resisting some kind of craving: sleep, leisure, sex, checking Facebook. However, the number-one desire was resisting food. We all have a limited amount of willpower and the less of it we have, the harder it will be to continue resisting our temptations. All of our decisions take a little bit of willpower away from us, even if our decision is to avoid something.
Decision fatigue is when you make too many choices in a day, which is why so many tech leaders wear the same clothes. It is so they no longer have to worry about that one decision hat needs to be made every day to preserve their brain power for more important things. Honestly, decision fatigue is one of the main reasons why I have a job. It allows me to be there and create workouts for my clients so they no longer have to figure out what workouts they need to do. Decision fatigue and willpower are very closely related. The same decisions that zap your willpower also fatigue you. When you conserve your willpower, you are also fighting back decision fatigue.
Baumeister had a famous study on the effect of willpower which is called “The Radish Experiment” It included three different groups and they were tasked with solving a test, but they were on a table with raw radishes and then a plate filled with chocolate-chip cookies and candies. The first group could eat the radishes, but were ordered to not touch the cookies or candies. The second group could eat the cookies and candies, but not the radishes. The control group had no food in front of them at all. They told the participants they were filling out an intelligence test, but it was actually a set of impossible geometry puzzles and they were studied to see how long it would take them to quit. The control group and the chocolate chip eating group (I’m jealous) tried to solve the impossible puzzles for 19 minutes. However, the radish group that was fighting the cookies and candy quit after only about 8 minutes. Dr. Thompson wrote about this experiment in her book and said, “What Baumeister went on to prove is that exerting self-control in one area of our lives uses up this precious, finite resource and prevent further regulation of other functions.” The willpower runs out as we continue to fight the temptations of life, so we need to be wise about our choices.
As your willpower runs out throughout the day, you are more susceptible to making poor choices when it comes to your health, food, and self-care. As your willpower wanes, it can become easier to skip your workouts. As your willpower wanes, it can be easier to eat whatever is easy. As your willpower wanes, you can quickly get lost on Netflix and Instagram and forget about the sleep and rest that your body requires. That is why it is incredibly important to preserve that power, so that you can make the best choices that you can for yourself. Here are some tips that might help you preserve your willpower throughout every single day.
POWER UP ON NUTRITION
Plan and Prep Your Meals
One of my most important habits of every single week is cooking my food on Sunday night. I cook for at least the next 2-3 days and cook another time during the week, which can vary depending on my availability. But I always make sure that I cook and meal prep on Sunday so I have around 3 days worth of food that I do not have to worry about and can stay focused on my health and other important choices throughout those days. You might not be able to cook every single meal in the week, however if you can get a good handle on the first few days it will put you in a great place to finish out the week strong too. Meal prepping also saves a ton of money, but more importantly time. With most people working from home now, it is so efficient to simply heat up your food then to go pick something up or to wait on it to get to you through a delivery service.
Photo by Ella Olsson on Unsplash
Check out these sites for meal prep recipes:
If you are not much of a chef, there are great meal prep services out there too. Check out:
https://www.territoryfoods.com/
Become a Regular
I love eating out. San Francisco is filled with some of the best date-night spots and all types of foods. But honestly, just looking at a google map with all of the amazing choices can take away some energy. Try finding a few places that you really love and keep supporting their business. I love going to my go-to spots because I like supporting small businesses, there are some rewards that can come if you visit a spot frequently, but it also saves me a ton of energy because I already know what I want. That is a decision that I do not have to make. When you have your go-to’s for food, you have one less thing to worry about. Get some healthy and delicious!
Here are some of my San Francisco go-to’s:
Caviar - https://www.rtrotisserie.com/ , https://www.souvla.com/ , http://sfbonita.com/
Date Night - https://www.fireflysf.com/ , https://sfsociale.com/ , https://www.amber-india.com/location/san-francisco/
POWER UP ON EXERCISE
Have a Program, But Make Sure You Like It
They say the best workout program is one that you can stick to. If you choose a workout program that you do not enjoy, you might be spending too much of your mental space avoiding it and dreading it. If you do not have a plan, you might be too fatigued to figure out what you want to workout which can prevent you from doing anything at all. Find a program that you want to do. You need to enjoy it because you do not want your fitness to feel like a chore. Having a plan is huge because it takes the guesswork away from you and you do not have to worry about coming up with something on your own. Go on YouTube to find great workouts or find a program online. Make sure it is something that you have an interest in because you can get results with so many different types of modalities, but what is more important is that you stay consistent.
https://thehybridathlete.com/bodyweight-training-plan/
You can always work with a personal trainer on creating a program for you.
oh hayy 💪🏽
Take the Small Steps
Well maybe you have not had the chance to find a program that works for you or maybe you love novelty so much when it comes to your fitness regime. It can be really exhausting trying to figure out what class you want to take, what workout to follow along with, or simply what exercises to do. In Jim Kwik’s book, “Limitless”, he wrote about how to be motivated. One of his main ways to get motivation was just to take a small step forward. So this might look like taking time to create a workout calendar for what classes you will take throughout the week. If you are not into classes, figure out what workouts you want to follow along with that you found online and take note of them. There are going to be days that you really lack motivation and drive, so take moments to just take a small step towards the goals that you have.
There are so many days that I do not want to workout and what really helps me on those days is writing down what I am going to do before I start my workout. When I do that prior to exercising, I always finish up the workout because I had the momentum of that small step carrying me forward. Figure out what are the small steps that you can take to stay motivated on your game. Plan ahead to prevent the draining of your willpower.
POWER UP ON REST
Set Consistent Times
Allow your body to get into a proper rhythm by sleeping and waking up at consistent times throughout the week. When you set a consistent bed time and stick to it, your mind does not have to worry about all the other decisions you can make. You can more easily avoid watching that extra episode of “Emily in Paris” or “Love Island” and focus on loving yourself and getting the rest that you need so you feel your best the next day.
Setting up the Right Routines
When I wake up, I try and make every single morning consistent. I did this by setting up a solid morning routine that I really enjoy and want to stick to. My mornings can start really early, at around 5:30 AM I wake up. From there, I listen to a podcast called “The Quote of the Day Show”, which is a 10-15 minute motivational talk. After, I listen to some worship music and open up my gratitude journal. Then after that I listen to an audiobook for 10-15 minutes as I stretch out and drink my tea. The more consistent you can get with your morning routine, the less decisions you have to make first thing in the morning. Find a morning routine that works for you.
Time to Siesta
Since most of our lives are spent at home now, it is much easier to add times to nap and rest throughout the day. I am such a huge introvert, however I spend a lot of my time directly with my clients. Setting up time to nap for 15-25 minutes every single day along with a meditation has truly been a game-changer for me. Humans actually evolved as biphasic sleepers, so taking that mid-day nap could actually be what your body is longing for. When you set that time to nap in your calendar before the day even starts, you can ensure that you are bringing your best to every meeting and every hour of work. This past Sunday, I had a good friend’s birthday to go to but I had just rode 25 miles on my bike. So I took a moment to nap for 20 minutes prior to going because I know how that helps me bring my best to the people around me.
IN SUMMARY
Your willpower is the fuel that you need to make the right choices and resist negative temptations throughout the day. For the most part, we know what the right decisions we need to make are but it gets really difficult when you are drained throughout the day. Make your life easier my planning ahead and preventing the draining of constantly making decisions every single day so you can save your head space and energy for the decisions that truly matter. Streamline your life for a more successful future. Preserve your willpower to power up your health.