Further top tips on how to build willpower

I am going to add in two more top tips today to keep you going over the weekend.

The second of my top tips on how to build will power and discipline is an obvious but definitely a powerful one. Get expert help and assistance to get you on the way. If it is exercise you want to crack - visit a personal trainer. If you can not afford the one-to-one help, take a class. If it is behaviour you want to crack then visit a life coach, counsellor or consider cognitive behavioural therapy. You still get some invaluable individual input and guidance there that will further support your ability to succeed in your mission. At the very minimum - spending the money might actually mean you go to the class or meeting as opposed to thinking about it but not doing it. The class or meeting goes into your diary and it becomes a habit - something you do for you and to change what you want to change.

My third tip is also a powerful one- establish a clear vision and a goal and write it down. One friend I know did a large composite picture with images from magazines and words. She pinned it inside her wardrobe door so she saw it every morning as she got dressed. It recommitted her to her goal on a daily basis.The vision was of a beautiful beach body, bikinis and dresses she would like to wear and her ideal (a slim fitting wedding dress) plus words and thoughts that spoke to her about achieving this goal. It really helped her focus on what her aim was - to get the body and weight for a dream wedding dress and honeymoon. It really worked for her and, lo and behold, she looked amazing on her wedding and honeymoon.

An exercise that I do when I have a goal I want to achieve which needs to be done over a time period - works like magic - it literally pulls you into your future. So I am going to share it. Get a sheet of paper. Establish your goal and the date 'BY WHEN' you want to achieve it. Put this date at the top of the page and the goal. Then working your way backwards down the page (by months or weeks depending on the time period concerned) mark a timeline with milestones. The milestones need to be tangible things that you would have to achieve in order to meet your goal. Work backwards in this way until you get to today. What you will see at the end it a magic path to your end goal. You then need to write out a commitment to reaching this goal and sign and date it. If it is a joint goal then you both do it.

Now here comes the magic. You could stick it up and refer to it and follow it religiously and you will get to your goal - for sure. However I have done this on many occasions and rather than looking at it and following it I have stuck it in the drawer. I have found it six months later only to realise that I had not only reached but also exceeded the goal. The very act of making the plan and the route to it has made it happen.

Whatever choice you make to reach your goals give yourself structure, support and the will to succeed and anything it possible.