How to build willpower - Top Tips.

Yesterdays blog on willpower got me thinking about how one builds up self discipline if you feel you simply do not have any or are weak in this area. We all do not have a martial arts expert living next door who can train us by painting his fence! So I will be gathering some top tips on how to train yourself to develop the willpower to adhere to behaviour changes.

One of the most important things anyone can do is to get support to make these changes. Share with your loved ones and friends around you and request that they support as opposed to sabotage your plans to make changes to your life. So make the requests and see that you get no more of the - "Oh go on, you can just have a small cake", buying you chocolates, inviting you round for calorific dinners and getting upset when you do not want to eat them or pouring you extra glasses of wine you did not ask for. Yes - we have all been there!

What you want is your loved ones' support and encouragement to keep going in the right direction. So simply ask for it. You have no idea how powerful this support can be. You will not even mind some gentle chiding when you slip back. So let them know and let them hold you to it. It is much harder to slip back when you have your support network behind you reminding you what you are aiming for. So go on and start sharing and see what happens.

Be warned that some people close to you will not like you making changes. They may be quite attached to the 'old you' and will not be supportive. Often this is not malicious and is a subconscious desire but sometimes it is more overt than that. Watch out for the toxic people around you and if needs be, ditch them. You may have to work hard to gain this support. This in itself is a good thing. It will affirm your desire to change and help confirm who your real friends are. Good luck with this - I am already working on it!