5 Things That Drain Your WILLpower – and How To Stop It

Everyday decisions drain one of your most vulnerable Superpowers: WILLpower.

Work decisions, picking out your clothes (or your kids’ clothes), deciding which parking spot to nab or which laundry detergent to buy – these actually all drain WILLpower. So understand that at the end of a long day, your WILLpower may be low – but that doesn’t mean you are weak.

There are times when your WILLpower is lower than others.  The end of the day is a big one because you’ve been making decision all day long that took WILLpower, even if you didn’t realize laundry detergent choices were thwarting your efforts to eat a reasonable dinner.

Know this and don’t put yourself around a lot of temptations at the end of the day – or any time you’ve been using WILLpower a lot. When it’s low, protect yourself. This may seem like a bummer because you have to make decisions all day every day. Are you then doomed to be WILLpower drained every night? Maybe, but just for a while.

Remember, WILLpower is like a muscle, keep strengthening it and you’ll have more of it. And there’s power in knowing that end of the day is simply a low WILLpower time for you – and you need not make it mean a damn thing about how weak and lazy you are 🙂 I can say this with all the love in the world because I used to feel this way every night! And the opposite is also true.

If your WILLpower  is highest in the morning, this is a great time to workout or pack/prep fat loss friendly meals. Know yourself – then capitalize on it.

You know making a lot of decisions drain WILLpower, but what else do you need to watch out for? Here’s the other 4 Top WILLpower zapers:

1. Stress and out of whack blood sugar are big-time trouble for WILLpower.

Learn to manage your stress and in a moment of frenzy. My go-to trick is this simple breathing exercise: 4 seconds in, 6-8 seconds out.

Less stress, just like that. Eating regularly, balanced meals of protein veggies and just enough carbs is perhaps a WILLpower challenge for you, but it’s also a WILLpower booster. Getting it right makes it easier to get it right next time – cool huh?

2. Certain people zap your willpower.

Do you have certain friends that you always indulge with? Consider if it’s bad habits that are holding this relationship together. If so, it may be time to reconsider. Anchor to your WHY before meeting this type of friend – connecting to your WHY almost acts like a vaccine against unhelpful behaviors. Try it. Amazing.

3. Watch rebounding.

Sometimes swearing off something like booze or gluten puts our craving for it on hyper-drive.

Right now, don’t think of a door slamming. You just did right? Now try even harder not to think of a door slamming.  Still thinking of it huh? Cuz we’re still talking about it. This is called ironic rebound – an obsession with the thing we’re trying to put out of our mind.

For some of you cutting out certain things entirely or drastically decreasing their frequency is essential (i.e. gluten for many of you), so watch if this phenomenon is happening and address where the anxiety from this particular habit comes from by going back through the habit change steps and discover the reward.

Then rework that habit, but know that this one may be a tough one for you.  (See Dr Brooke’s 6 Steps To Doing BETTER & The Habit Loop for more info)

4. Being negative kills WILLpower.

Simply opting for a more positive outlook in any situation will help you. When you’re focused on how hard it is, how unfair it is, how much you’d rather do something else – well, you know exactly how motivated you feel to eat a salad or go to the gym.

Tapping in to your WANT and WHY powers can help boost you out of a bad attitude. So can laughing. (Download my funny hubby’s debut comedy album for FREE here and get more WILLpower! Haha.) Being miserable on your fat loss journey not only makes you really unhappy, it actually makes it HARDER to get your WANT.

Skip language like “I have to” or “I should” and use more WILLpower boosting lingo like “I choose to“. And never use “I can’t” (as in “I can’t have a cupcake because I am dieting.”) and instead use the empower, WILLpower booster “I don’t” (as in “No thanks, I dont’ eat gluten.”).

Your attitude and language choice will drain or boost your WILLpower – so choose wisely!

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