Willpower
Let’s talk about willpower. I’m reading the book The One Thing right now and it’s an excellent book. They talk about the myth that will power is always on call, and how this is a lie. One of the things that they say is that will power has a limited battery life but can be recharged with some downtime. The author pulls data from a research study that was conducted after looking into 1,112 parole board hearings in Israel over the course of 10 months. Each judge had to hear a 6-minute long argument from a parolee about their release, and they would take 14-35 cases per day. The judges would get a morning snack break and a long lunch break to refuel, and the impact of their schedule was crazy. The people who saw the judge first in the morning or immediately after the break had a 65% chance for release, and by the time they heard the last case of the day that chance was close to 0%.
You’re probably thinking, “Jamie, what the heck does that have to do with me and my business?” Willpower is something that you’re going to run out of at the end of the day, just like the judges. It’s hard to be super disciplined when it’s 10 p.m. and you’ve been working all day. All of your willpower is worn out! One of the things that I’m constantly telling my 1:1 clients is that they need to tackle the hardest thing that they have to do each morning first. It’s too challenging to do the hardest thing last. Part of the reason why I love this and want you to start thinking about it is because you only have so much willpower in the day to get a ton of stuff done as an entrepreneur. In the book, they say that some of the things that are taxing on your will power are implementing new behaviors, distractions, temptation, emotions, and choosing long term over short term rewards.
It’s time to start focusing on knocking out the most important and challenging tasks of the day first. I’m giving out my tips to sustaining your willpower so that you can get the most done throughout your day in this episode, so don’t miss out!
Get The One Thing here: https://amzn.to/2ys28YR
Like what you hear? Apply to work with us! Click here.
