Willpower is a vital skill you will need in a bug-out or survival situation.

You can help ensure you have that skill when you need it by building it now.

Like any skill, active practice with theses tactics will make it easier to sustain in a stressful situation.

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.

Being able to make good decisions in a survival situation is critical, but for most of us, the only way we maintain the willpower needed under stress is to practice now until it becomes a habit.

If you struggle with willpower, in a survival situation that can lead to bad and occasionally, deadly decisions.

For more tips on willpower and other articles on the importance of the mental angle of approaching life and a survival situation, visit Inc.