The Power of Willpower

Willpower has returned!  Thanks to the research of Roy F. Baumeister and John Tierney and the publication of their recent book, Willpower:  Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength, willpower is shaking its reputation as a character flaw and being studied as a strength to be developed. 
The transition from studying why people lack willpower to studying how willpower can be developed is yet another contribution from the field of Positive Psychology. This shift is not unlike the shift that grounded the field – from studying why depressed people are depressed to studying how people experience happiness and mental well-being in their lives.  It is also an excellent example how the perspective brought to a subject or experience changes the subject or experience.  Where you put your focus is where you get your result.

Baumeister and Tierney show how willpower is correlated to achieving goals, how motivation is tied to willpower, and how success in general is associated with being motivated to sustain your willpower to achieve your goals.  So how do you build willpower?  Take steps to keep yourself motivated PRIOR to depleting your power to stay motivated.  This tactic is similar to the evidence on how to become more resilient.  Build steps into your goal that do nothing but build and support your ability to stay motivated. 

Example Goal:  A real estate agent wants to sign five new listings.  The task requires lots of cold calling, attending meetings, making untold contacts.  Those tasks take a lot of physical and mental energy to complete. 
Tactic to build and strengthen ability to stay motivated:  20 minutes of meditation once or twice a day. 

The tactic may appear counter intuitive, yet the evidence is overwhelming.  At a minimum, some form of meditation break would stop the negative thoughts that may have crept in during a day of calls, meeting and greeting without a specific result for your efforts.  Stopping to calm your thoughts would actually feed your ability to stay motivated to keep doing the things you need to eventually reach your goal.

The real goal is avoiding what Baumeister and Tierney define as ‘ego-depletion’ which includes self-control.  The more decisions you make in a day, the greater the chance you will deplete your ability to maintain self-control (it is why you can feel tired after a networking event – you kept ‘deciding’ who to approach, who not to approach, who to avoid, who not to avoid – and why you may drink too much during or after the event!).

Ego-depletion in a business social setting for an introvert may look like withdrawal and lack of energy to engage new contacts.  Ego-depletion in an extrovert in the same situation may look like over-talking, too aggressive and lacking social filters (that might be the case for both introverts and extroverts.

Bottom line:  Build and nurture your willpower throughout the day to perform at your highest levels and increase your likelihood of achieving your goals.
 
Thank you, Andrea T. Goeglein, PhD
https://www.facebook.com/DrSuccessPhD
http://www.linedin.com/in/drsuccessphd
DrSuccess@ServingSuccess.com

Not sure this link is still active, but worth checking out.  You will get a recording of an interview with Roy Baumeister by Ben Dean of Mentor Coach.  http://www.mentorcoach.com/baumeister/ 

 

Free Positive Psychology Lecture Series

This was such a incredible offer, I wanted to post.  This is an opportunity to learn from one of the top researchers in the field of Positive Psychology, Robert Biswas-Diener , do it for free, from the comfort of your own phone.  It does not get better than that.  Here is the information.  Frist call is today, Wednesday, June 13.  No registration.  Just call at the designated time.  No recordings will be available after the call.  Use it or lose it! 

New Free Lecture Series starts this week!We are at it again! As part of our mission to make positive psychology practices available to everyone, Dr. Robert Biswas-Diener and the Positive Acorn team are set to deliver a free lecture series starting June 13th, 2012.  Robert will lecture on the latest interventions in applied positive psychology.
The recording of these lectures will NOT be made available so you must join us for the live session in order to get the information and experience. We encourage you to share this information with your friends and colleagues. Please join us by calling into our conference line on the following dates!
Topics and Schedule
(all times are US Pacific)
June 13th, 2012 at 12:00pm 
Humor and Positive Effect

 
June 14th, 2012 at 9:00am 
Mindset Malleability

 
June 14th, 2012 at 12:00pm 
Motivation Maintenance

June 17th, 2012 at 12:00pm 
Positive Work 

June 18th, 2012 at 12:00pm 
Time Orientation and Savoring

  June 19th, 2012 at 12:00pm 
Story and Organization

June 20th, 2012 at 12:00pm 
Courage in Cultures

 July 16th, 2012 at 12:00pm 
Positive Assessment

 
Call in number: (559)546-1401
Access code: 953641 
We look forward to interacting with you on the calls!
The Positive Acorn teamwww.positiveacorn.com