How to Build Your Will Power & Focus? Here are 5 practices you can start today!
In today's time we have so much that exists around us, that it is so easy to get distracted by it. We have social media and businesses that provide instant gratification to our problems. We build a habit of living a life where solutions to our external problems are a snap of a finger away (not literally but you know what I mean). And everytime we let ourselves get distracted by it, we are building a habit of doing so which affects our will power to be our true self and put our focus to where it needs to be in our life.
So here are 4 practices you can do to rebuild and strengthen your willpower and focus as they go hand in hand.
1) Re-collect your thoughts, experiences, lessons, future visions, and goals
This is where you acknowledge what made you who you are to day and be where you are now. And from here out, where are you going? Where are you heading? Knowing your future visions and goals allows you to know where to even put your focus. So everything you do now and every decision you make is in alignment with your values and achieving your future vision and goals. This process makes it easy to distinguish what decisions to make and where to put your focus in different situations; because if it doesn't align with your future vision or help you achieve your goal, then why focus on it? This exercise also builds your will power because it takes a conscious effort to think through these things. Most of the time we live day by day going with the flow and getting distracted by things where we use distractions to avoid our problems which builds that habit of being distracted and being avoidant leading to lack of focus and will power. So really take the time and effort to think through and process all that you have been through in your life, identifying the struggles, the lessons, how you grew from it, and what made you who you are today and how you got to where you are. And from where you are now, where are going next and what are you after?
Exercise:
Take your time on this one. Place yourself in a space you feel comfortable whether it's sitting or going on a walk or doing something you enjoy. Let this be a time to ponder this question... What got you to where you are now? What struggles and experiences have you gone through in life that made you who you are to today? What things have you learned from those experiences and paint the picture in your mind of the growth that you went through and how you have changed for the better throughout your life. What made you who are you? Meaning all the habits you picked up along the way and how that affected what decisions you have made and where you put your focus? Think about where you will end up if you keep doing what you are currently doing in life, and you do it everyday, where will you end up in 5-10 years? Is that where you want to be? If not, where do you want to be, what do you want to see in your life, what do you want to have in your life, and what do you want to feel in your life? What goals or goal do you want to accomplish in life? What do you see yourself as in the future? If you feel good to write your inspiration and ideas down, do so. Create a picture of the vision you have for your future. Be detailed, as the more detail the more that goes into affecting your motives and why you put your focus where you put it.
2) Break down your goals into daily tasks
When you break down your goals into daily tasks, you make it easier to know what to focus on each day. Your vision and goal gives you a reason to stay focused on those tasks each day & gives you a motive to work through any struggles such as lack of focus or will power (getting back on track). Without a goal, without a focus, and without a motive in what we do, it is much harder to stay focused and work on our will power because we don't necessarily have a reason to do so. We become lost looking for distractions we think are answers. We need to reconnect with ourself and know thy self so we can walk a path we know we are meant to walk and know which paths to take to get to our goal. By knowing ourself, we have a life map to help us stay connected with directions and knowing where to go and having a foundation to have as we experience our journey in life.
Exercise:
Take time to process what steps and plans you need to put in place in order to lead up to achieving your long term goal and future vision. What do you have to do everyday toward achieving your goals? Write these steps down and break it into daily tasks that you can keep track of everyday as you work on this.
3) Start with the will power you have and maintain a daily routine
Even if it is as simple as doing 1 pushup a day, do it. The purpose here is to build trust with yourself which is linked with focus and will power to do as you set your mind to. If you say your going to do this one thing everyday, you must do it to maintain trust and confidence with yourself. You need to build self-worth if you want to be certain on your life path and things you stay focused on. This is what builds will power is the certainty in the things you do and put focus on. Remember to start not too big. Be realistic with what you can accomplish and don't overwhelm yourself with promises you may not be able to keep. If your will power and attention span is currently little, then start small with your goals and what you can accomplish.
Exercise:
Think about the things that are important to you, that make you feel happy and yourself. Write down the things you can do every day right when you wake up or throughout your day (whatever works for you). Something you can stay consistent with everyday whether it's push ups in the morning, or making coffee, or going for a walk around the block every morning... As long as you consistently do it everyday just as you say. And be specific with your routine and goals such as "3 push ups right when I wake up" or "20 minutes of constant walking...etc.". So you know exactly what you need to do making it easier to stay focused on the goal.
4) Practice Self-awareness throughout every day
Every time you start to focus on something else while you are already doing or thinking about something, stop yourself and refocus. Process one thought at a time and finish one thing at a time. As soon as you let yourself get distracted, you begin to build a habit of getting easily distracted and it becomes comfortable to the point where it may be hard to stay focus. This can really lower your will power. So to rebuild it back up, it's important to pay attention to when and where you set your focus to refocus yourself when needed. As a side note, be careful when you go on social media as there are many distractions on it and for most it became a habit to turn to social media as a distraction for comfort as needed which lowers the ability to stay focused and have the willpower to accomplish what is intended to. As soon as you pick up that phone and start scrolling, stop yourself if you know you may end up on the phone for a while. It's ok to check your phone of course, but don't get attached to anything or use anything as a comfort zone. It takes a conscious effort to build willpower and focus and this whole exercise is mostly getting out of your comfort zone as it will feel like at the beginning. And soon enough what is usually out of your comfort zone is going to be your comfort place. Things that usually are hard for you will feel easy.
Exercise:
For this exercise you can pick a variety of things to do from jumping jacks, to pushups, moving boxes, or sitting down and transferring toothpicks from one box to another. As interesting as this might sound, let me tell you how it works. Set an amount of movements you want to do (an amount that is a little over your comfort zone and attention span). What you are going to do, is maintain a thought or affirmation in mind as you do the movement. All your energy should be with that thought and saying that affirmation as it's a reality. If you catch yourself drifting off in your mind to other thoughts or become unaware that you are doing the movement, you need to restart. The goal is to maintain the energy of thought and affirmation throughout the entire movement. Your focus is just on that thought and affirmation and feeling that comes with it. Along with this, you can repeat the affirmation throughout the day to yourself. Maybe it is "I am laser focused throughout everything I do and set my mind to. I finish everything I start the moment I set focus on it."
Remember none of these exercises is easy but that is the point of building will power and starting with the will power you have currently.
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