I was thinking about this. Confidence takes willpower often. Willpower is generally a generalized skill we learn that can be utilized in other situations. It is the power to overcome uneasy feelings and fear and do things with ease, strength and grace.

My father gave me my first lesson in willpower as a child. I would hate to stop playing my video games and my food would get cold and I would almost starve myself because of this compulsion. Same thing with shows on TV.

He taught me by forcing me to hit the power switch immediately when he called us for supper. If I didn't then the game and TV was gone. It helped me break my compulsion and do something I wasn't good at.

AA is almost like a compulsion to stay put and be comfy. Working on willpower can help us force ourselves out of this bullshit and live our lives. Not just approaching but doing other good things in life that we are not used to. Like eating right and exercising. Hell even spelling the word exercising is a challenge to me as it is a habit. I am forcing myself out of it just like fucking up the word their.

What are some good willpower exercises that you can think of?

Here are a few I thought of.

  • Stop doing an activity you are almost obsessive with. Something like - stop redditing for 3 days.
  • Stop drinking for 3 days.
  • Work out for one week.
  • Don't read? Go buy one book and read it.
  • Drink pop every day? Stop drinking it for 1 week or 1 month. It is a pain in the ass.
  • Drink coffee every day? Take the amount of cups you drink and cut it in half. Stopping drinking coffee cold turkey can sometime be dangerous depending on how much you drink a day. (Brothers doc told him that because he drank way too much coffee and had a shit ton of stress)
  • Facebook a lot? Stop facebooking for a week.
  • Play video games every day? Stop playing video games.
  • Stay in for every meal? Go out 3 times this week to eat.
  • Go out for every meal? Stay home and cook yourself 3 meals this week.
  • Have your wife or someone else do the cleaning? Clean for a week.

Basically breaking compulsions can really help increase willpower and starting new habits can increase will power as well.

Got any other things to add to this list or any other great ideas?