I’ve realized that I’m very mentally weak and it’s impacting my success.
I suspect I have ADHD and whenever I get an urge to distract myself, I rarely manage to resist it.
I think what I am missing is the residtance to discomfort that eg. allows sports people to carry on going even when their muscles are telling them to stop. Or the thing that allows people to defy themselves and step into an ice-cold shower.
Unfortunately I am not a person who enjoys sports and a cold shower is only something that makes sense once a day. Can you think of any exercises that I can do here and now in my room, and practice routinely that will strengthen my willpower so that I can better resist my urges in the future?
When you notice yourself not wanting to do something you know you should do, do it anyways. For me, it started with taking the stairs instead of the elevator at work. Snowball it from there. That’s really the only way, there aren’t shortcuts.
In my head i call it the “Rule of least want to do”. If i have 2-3 tasks that need doing (ususlly work related), i think of which thing i least want to do. That’s the thing i get done, then move down the line.
Yeah that’s basically the concept/book Eat that Frog. Basically if you Eat a Frog or do you least liked task first thing in the morning it makes everything else easier and not so bad.
Ah brilliant, this is precisely what I was looking for!
Ahh I can imagine this helping. Can you remember any other examples?I think I’ve done stuff like this before with forcing myself to eat broccoli which I didn’t like but knew was good fkr me…
Sure! I used to hate doing the dishes and would let them pile up until I had no clean ones left, so then if I looked at the sink and saw that there were dishes I didn’t want to do, I’d do them anyways. When I wanted to stop, I’d just keep going until they were done. Even if my back started hurting and my hands were soggy, even when I was so bored I wanted to tear my eyes out, I’d just keep going until they were done.
Making your bed is something you can do every day to build willpower. You don’t HAVE to do it, and usually probably don’t want to, but it only takes like 5 minutes and makes your living space look nice, which makes it a good exercise.
Idk how old you are, but I’m old enough to no longer live with my parents. They’re like almost an hour away. When they call to invite me over, my knee-jerk reaction is to stay home, but I know they’re not gonna be around forever and I should see them every now and again, so I’ll force myself to go visit.
Going to the gym, or going on runs also helps. Working out is hard, and staying consistent is even harder. Lifting weights/getting exercise is just as much a mental battle as it is a physical one. 4-5 days per week, 5 exercises per session, 3 sets of 10 reps. It’ll take about an hour to complete. There are more efficient ways to work out, but that would be a good starting point. Alternatively, run/jog for 30 min, or go on an hour long walk 5 days per week.