habit

Get Your Willpower On
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Willpower: the ability to control yourself; strong determination that allows you to do something difficult (such as to lose weight or quit drinking).

After you quit drinking, there will be times when you will crave alcohol, and it will take willpower to overcome that craving. It’s like a tug-of-war between you and the craving. The craving wants you to do something unhealthy, to pull you over to the dark side. But you know what’s over there on the dark side if the craving wins: a brief feeling of euphoria (the buzz from the alcohol), followed by misery (hangover, sickness, missed days at work, lost weekends, wasted money, etc.).

If you don’t currently have a lot of willpower, you will have to fight a mighty battle to beat the craving. It will take every fiber of your being to overcome the urge, pulling on “the rope” with all your might to stop yourself from drinking.

If, on the other hand, you have highly developed willpower, you can make a simple ninja-move and let go of the rope, sending the craving crashing back to the dark side.

People who use their willpower:

  • Stick to their plans
  • Keep their promises
  • Reach their goals
  • Do what they say they’re going to do
  • Learn new skills
  • Climb mountains — real and virtual
  • Make things happen
  • Take charge of their lives

Develop Your Willpower

If you want to succeed at most things in life, you need willpower. And here’s the good news: you have it. We’re all born with it. It’s one of the most important tools you have in your tool kit — consider it a super-power. But, like a muscle, you have to use it to develop it.

You have so many simple opportunities every single day to develop your willpower:

  • Get up when the alarm goes off
  • Choose a healthy breakfast over junk food
  • Brush your teeth – every day, twice a day
  • Make the bed
  • Get to work on time
  • Have an exercise routine
  • Do the laundry
  • Pay the bills on time
  • Wash the dishes
  • Keep your home clean and tidy
  • Resist unhealthy temptations
  • Go to bed when you should

The list goes on and on. To develop your willpower, you do what needs to be done, whether you feel like it or not. No excuses. You will yourself to do the right thing. And you do it before even thinking about rewarding yourself with watching your favorite TV show, or a movie, or going out with friends, etc.

It might seem difficult at first, but, like learning to ride a bike, or to drive a car, it becomes second nature. You develop healthy, empowering habits, and rid yourself of procrastination and old, bad habits. You become your own master.

If you consistently take care of the smaller things in life, every time, when you should, you will be developing your willpower; you will be ready to take on life’s bigger challenges when they arise.

As Nike’s powerful slogan says: “Just do it.”

It’s really that simple.

KTB

You Are Your Own Master
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If you have a job right now, you will no doubt have a boss — a supervisor who directs you. Most people have a boss. If you are self-employed, you might not have one direct boss, but you have to answer to all of your clients; in a way, you have many bosses.

But even though you have a boss or bosses at work, you are your own master. You have the final say. It is your life. You choose to do the job that you do. You could just as easily choose to not do that job. You might say, I can’t leave my job, I have bills to pay, mouths to feed, and I’m sure that’s true, but you are making that choice — to stick with that job.

Nobody owns you. You are in charge of your own destiny. If you’re in a job that you hate, you need to change it. You need to motivate yourself to do something about your situation. You might think that sounds scary, but it’s actually liberating — taking control of your life.

Think hard about your options. Network. Reach out to friends. Learn some new skills. Read up on the most sought after skills, and see if you can acquire some of the top ones. What’s your passion? Could you turn it into a way to make a living? Think outside the box, you’ll be surprised at what you might come up with.

The same applies to drinking: you are your own master. Nobody has the power over you to make you drink, it is something that you choose to do. And if your drinking is causing problems in your life, then it’s a poor choice. If you’ve had a bad day at work, going to a bar — or home — and getting drunk will solve nothing.

If you’ve been drinking regularly for a long time, you no doubt have developed a very bad habit, where you reach for the booze automatically. I can assure you it’s a habit that you can break, and you are the very one to break it.

As your own master, consider these options:

  • Before you reach for the booze, think about the consequences of what you’re about to do. Drinking will solve NOTHING. Not only will it solve nothing, it will make everything much worse. If you had a bad day at work today, tomorrow will be even worse — guaranteed — with a hangover.
  • Develop new healthy habits to replace the old bad ones. Instead of automatically reaching for the booze, go for a walk, or read something uplifting and inspiring. Or have a drink, but make it a healthy, non-alcoholic one. I now drink a glass of carbonated water (Perrier, for e.g.), with ice and a slice of lemon, when in the past I would have had wine: after a tough day at work, with meals, out with friends. It is working brilliantly. It’s fresh and fun, and I have no hangovers to deal with.
  • Choose your friends carefully. If all of your friends are reckless boozers, it’ll be hard for you to be around them and not go back to your old, unhealthy ways.

You can choose to make the most of your precious life, or to squander it, poisoning yourself with alcohol.

Do you know how lucky you are to have that choice?

KTB

A Ninja Walks Into a Bar
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Ninja: a person who excels in a particular skill or activity.

After you make the very wise decision to kick the booze, replacing your old bad habits with new healthy ones can be a major challenge. Not least of all as we move towards the end of the week and, ultimately, the weekend, when our friends convene at bars and parties, and proceed to get ripped on their alcoholic beverages of choice.

The first plan of attack for these situations is to have a serious think about who your real friends are. If all of your friends are reckless boozers, it’s going to be very difficult for you to hang with them and not be quickly sucked back into your old ways.

But maybe you’ve got some sensible friends who occasionally have one or two drinks over the course of an evening, and then stop. They don’t get wasted, they remain in control (to a degree), and are fun, good people to be around. You want to keep these friends in your life.

Now, back to our ninja — that’s you. Imagine your new, ninja self, going to a bar with your good friends and ordering an iced tea, or a refreshing sparkling water with ice and slice, while they all order their alcoholic drinks. Imagine yourself doing this with ease, knowing that you are in full control of your actions and choices.

Next, imagine the evening progressing, and you being aware of how the alcohol is affecting your friends, how they’re getting a bit goofy, how maybe they start to share information that they might not have if it wasn’t for the booze. Picture yourself fully engaged in conversations, having fun, sipping on your healthy drink.

As the fog of alcohol plays tricks on your tipsy friends, imagine yourself seeing everything in pure, crystal clarity — fully aware of your surroundings, in absolute control of yourself.

Lastly, imagine yourself waking up the following morning, after a great night’s sleep, with no trace of a hangover, ready to make the most of your amazing life.

And it’s not like you have to work for months or years to get to this point. You can choose to stop drinking right now — in a split second; in one swift and decisive ninja move.

KTB

New Glasses and a Fancy New Drink
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I’ve had a set of stemless wine glasses for some time now, and when I hold one of those glasses it really wants me to pour some wine into it. So I decided to pick up some new glasses today — a set of four for the price of a cheap bottle of wine. They have a completely different feel to the wine glasses.

I also picked up some lemon and lime flavored Perrier water. I’m not a Perrier drinker, but I thought it might make a nice change. I was right! A nice glass, the Perrier, some ice and a slice of lemon, and it feels quite decadent. And healthy!

I’m going to reserve this healthy drink for the times that the old me would have had alcohol, thereby replacing an old, bad habit, with a new, healthy one.

Small changes can make a big difference.

KTB