Willpower Not Enough?

What do you want to accomplish in the coming year? Like me, you no doubt named goals you want to make a reality. In past years I relied on strong willpower and determination to see me through. But, somewhere along the way, I joined the 78% of people who fail to keep all their New Year's goals. Why is that?

Interestingly, willpower's not enough! Unless we're committed, we're easily distracted. Ever procrastinate about exercise after a long day at the desk, or eat some strawberry delight loaded with whipped cream after a huge meal? Temptations can quickly take us off track. We easily remain in the computer chair to avoid moving when we could go for a hike or begin aerobics. Only a few go after goals with something more than just willpower. Why isn't willpower enough to meet goals?

A new study, published in Psychology and Health, reveals that if you use your willpower to do one task, it depletes you of the willpower to do an entirely different task.

"Cognitive tasks, as well as emotional tasks such as regulating your emotions, can deplete your self-regulatory capacity to exercise," says Kathleen Martin Ginis, associate professor of kinesiology at McMaster University.

You'd also be interested in ways our brain affects willpower:

Liberating Effects of Losing Control Relinquishing some willpower or self-control is paradoxically tonic for many individuals.

Interestingly, there are differences in brains of self-controlled individuals versus those who struggle staying on track... "While everyone uses the same single area of the brain to make these sorts of value-laden decisions, a second brain region modulates the activity of the first region in people with good self-control," according to Antonio Rangel of Caltech, "allowing them to weigh more abstract factors--healthiness, for example--in addition to basic desires such as taste to make a better overall choice."

Good news is that the human brain has great plasticity and can change. So the more we practice control, we're also more likely to consider many factors before making a choice.

5 Strategies to meet goals by using more of your multiple intelligences. Here're just a few suggestions

Do it through Daily actions - A daily checklist can be motivating and helps insure you complete tasks involved in meeting a goal, whether that is to read material for a project or to keep calorie count below a certain level. Spatial and Logical-mathematical intelligences

Reward yourself when reaching milestones - People like milestones. By setting milestones along the journey to meet a goal, whether it is getting a college degree or swimming more yards in the length of a minute, choosing rewards appropriate to your accomplishment is important. They work as motivators. Intrapersonal intelligence

Learn from failures If you're impulsive and dropped out of college once and you were not able to obtain a position you enjoy, by keeping this in the back of your mind as you complete the next lengthy report due, the work involved will seem well worth the effort it takes. "Impulsive individuals show a switching pattern, resisting current temptations if they recall having succumbed," according to researchers. "Both impulsive and non-impulsive people did a better job of resisting temptation when they recalled past instances of resisting temptation along with their reasons for resisting." Intrapersonal intelligence

Focus on the future "If we are feeling fresh, it's easy to focus on our goals and exert self-control. But when we've already tested the limits of our self-control, it's harder to keep going," the Agrawal and Wan explain. "This is when focusing on the big picture helps us to keep our eyes on the goal and push ourselves harder. In contrast, focusing on the immediate situation only emphasizes how we've already maximized the extent of our willpower and hinders self-control." By picturing myself on the stage to receive my diploma, I was able to stay up at night to complete all the research, analysis and writing necessary for my doctorate. Spatial intelligence

Play motivating music Music moves your brain waves and can change a mood. Play music you consider up-beat prior to times allotted to work on goal daily, and you'll be ready to make great strides on your goal. What's your first choice? Musical intelligence

What works for you? Name a strategy that helps you past "willpower" that sometimes fails. That will provide us a jump start for 2010!