Motivation Tip 2
Willpower and Weight Loss
How many times have you heard someone say - "If only I had the willpower to lose weight?
How many times have you said it, yourself? Quite a lot, I expect.
Poor old willpower! It always gets the blame.
Why can't we stick to a diet? Because we lack willpower.
Why do we fall into temptation? Because we lack willpower.
Why do we eat a whole cake in one sitting? Because we lack willpower.
We see willpower as a magical quality. If someone has it, they're invincible - if they don't have it, they're done for.
What's more, we can't really develop willpower, can we? No way! Either we have it, or we don't. And we DON'T have it, right? And so life goes on. We continue trying to lose weight but we never succeed, because in our heart of hearts we KNOW we don't have the willpower to do it. And each failure reinforces our feeling of helplessness.
Does this sound like you? Do you suffer from lack of willpower?
If so, let me give you some help.
1. Say Goodbye to the word WILLPOWER.
2. Say Hello to the word INCENTIVE.
You see, we think of willpower as something we either have or we don't. Like a big nose, a gift for music, or a sense of humor. So we feel helpless to develop any for ourselves. We just sit on our butt and say: "Help! I don't have any willpower"...(sob).
In other words, focusing on willpower gives us a sore butt and precious little else.
But INCENTIVES are different. We don't inherit incentives. We find and develop them for ourselves. In fact, we can develop an incentive for almost anything, including dieting.
So stop thinking WILLPOWER and start thinking INCENTIVE.
Remember, losing weight isn't a matter of gritting your teeth and overcoming 168 different pain barriers.
It's about choosing to be slim, rather than fat.
It's about choosing a slim lifestyle, rather than a burger and fries lifestyle.
After all, you don't HAVE to be slim. You can be any shape or size you want. So stop worrying about lack of willpower and concentrate on finding a good incentive to lose weight. Something positive to aim for, that will keep you going in the weeks ahead.
And if you can't find a good incentive, then maybe you don't really want to be slim. Maybe you'd rather eat cookies. In which case, stop worrying about dieting and find happiness elsewhere.
Anne Collins
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