Have Enough Survival Willpower? Check Out These 5 Traits:

hiker-standing-on-the-edge-of-a-mountain

We would like to think we can do it all once the SHTF but there may be things out there that will sincerely test your will power. Check out the following traits and see if you have enough willpower to subsistence when chaos strikes!

1. Eliminate as many choices as possible. We all have a finite store of mental energy for exercising self-control.

The more choices we make, the harder each one is on our brain–and the more we start to look for shortcuts.

That’s why the fewer choices, the smarter choices we make when we do need to make a decision.
Say you want to drink more water and less soda. Keep three water bottles on your desk at all times. Then you won’t need to go to the refrigerator and make a choice.

2. Make choices tonight that set up tomorrow.

It’s also easier to make smart choices when a decision isn’t right in front of you. So pick easy decisions that will drain your store of willpower tomorrow, and make them tonight. Choose what you’ll wear. Decide what you’ll have for breakfast.

Take as many decisions off the board tonight as you can; that will allow you to conserve your mental energy for the decisions that really matter tomorrow.

3. Do the hardest thing you need to do first.

You have the greatest amount of mental energy early in the morning. Science says so: In a landmark study performed by the National Academy of Sciences, parole board judges were most likely to give a favorable ruling early in the morning; just before lunch, the odds of a favorable ruling dropped to almost zero.

Should judges’ decisions have been affected by factors other than legal? Of course not–but they were. They got mentally tired.

4. Refuel frequently.

Although the judges studied started strong, a graph of their decision making looks like a roller coaster: up and down and up and down. Why? They took breaks–and they ate.

It turns out glucose is a vital part of willpower. Though your brain does not stop working when glucose is low, it does stop doing some things and start doing others: It responds more strongly to immediate rewards and pays less attention to long-term outcomes.

5. Create reminders of long-term goals.

You want to build a bigger company, but when you’re mentally tired, it’s easy to rationalize doing less than your best.
So create tangible reminders that pull you back from the impulse brink. A friend has a copy of his bank note taped to his computer monitor as a constant reminder of an obligation he must meet. Another keeps a photo of himself when he weighed 50 pounds more on his refrigerator as a constant reminder of the person he never wants to be again.

As a prepper, we really like number three. When you do the most difficult thing first thing in the morning – and succeed – it really motivates you to take on so much more during the rest of the waking day! All those little things just fall in line!

Lack of willpower may not necessarily be the end of a surviving lifestyle but having it certainly can help! For more on willpower while trying to survive, check out Inc.


3 Comments

  1. Den Mix said:

    Is there a reason that article needed to be on 2 pages? You say to keep things simple then you stretch out a simple article wasting space and time.

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