Hey everyone and welcome to itsverified today we’re going to learn about 12 signs you’re a mentally strong person now let’s begin
- Cool traits — The most important element of a strong mind is self-control
it’s your ability to set aside your immediate interests in favor of something more meaningful
so whether you’re avoiding fast food to lose weight or saving money to buy a car
self-control makes those long-term goals possible but how does it work, Scientists explain self-control as a hot and cool system you see one part of your brain will call that the hot system is impulsive and passionate
it acts on urges and seeks out short term rewards well the other part of your brain will call that the cool system is logical in cognitive
it thinks through problems and tries to figure out the best course of action
your self-control depends on the dynamic between these two systems so if your hot system is stronger well self-control is probably difficult for you
but if your cool system has the upper hand then you’re much better at resisting temptation so how can you tell which system is stronger
well those hot left and cool brain traits are often reflected in your personality
if you have strong willpower then you’re probably more careful and analytical
you reasoned problems out over time instead of making impulsive decisions
so if this sounds like you, you may have more willpower than you realize - Zero hot triggers — Some people have dominant cool systems 95% of the time and then they lose control around certain temptations
These are called hot stimuli or triggers no matter how logical you are a hot trigger can still provoke that passionate impulsive side of your brain
now obviously this can be a huge inconvenience knowing you have certain triggers will motivate you to avoid those stimuli
you might have to change or cancel plans simply because you know you can’t resist
if you’re able to identify and eliminate your hot triggers that’s an obvious sign of great self-control - Childhood control — An influential study on human willpower tested how well children could control themselves around sweets
now in this study researchers started by giving each kid a marshmallow
They asked the kids not to eat their marshmallow while the researcher left the room
If they succeeded the kid would get two marshmallows once the researcher came back
If not they would only get one nearly four decades later Another study tested that same group of kids to see if their willpower held up over time
To their surprise, their performances were almost identical the kids that showed self-control with the marshmallow ended up scoring higher on willpower tests as an adult
but what does this mean for us their findings show that developing discipline and willpower when you’re younger carries over into your adult years
so if you had great self-control as a child well your system willpower is likely above average today - Internal willpower — Okay let’s say you resist the urge to buy yourself a new watch
why didn’t you go through with it, was it because you didn’t have enough money or did you think that purchase was fundamentally a bad idea
if you chose the latter it means you’re using internal willpower instead of external willpower they look the same on the surface but internal willpower is significantly more effective in the long term
okay so let’s imagine that after you resist the urge to buy yourself that watch you come across another tempting item that you can afford
you won’t have any way to stop yourself because you drained all your external willpower the first time around
this is called willpower depletion so anytime you spend a considerable amount of energy avoiding something it becomes even more difficult to resist additional triggers
but there is one way to dramatically reduce depletion researchers found that it takes much less internal willpower to resist a stimulus
so if you’re motivated by your values beliefs and morals you’ll have an easier time avoiding temptations of all shapes and sizes - Baseline stress — How much pressure are you under on a daily basis are you generally high-strung or are you more relaxed
your willpower can fluctuate based on your daily stress levels one study showed that significant stress reduces self-control
It clouds judgment and it leads to impulsivity your brain will also crave short term rewards it wants to relieve all those negative emotions created by stress
which means you have a harder time avoiding your usual temptations - Implementation intentions — Without realizing it people with strong willpower use a trick recommended by psychologists around the world it’s called an implementation intention
But you probably know it as an if-then statement okay let’s say for example that you’re going to a mall with your friends you know ice creams a major trigger for you
so you plan ahead you say if I pass by an ice cream parlor then I will eat a banana instead
These statements increase self-control by giving you something active to do in place of your temptation eating a banana is a great substitute for ice-cream because it provides a healthy alternative to the same activity
you’re eating something sweet while completely shutting down your trigger - Willpower tests — You can’t spend your entire life avoiding temptation though many people have tried the problem is that living temptation free isn’t the same thing as building willpower
All you’re really doing is avoiding your triggers if one does pop up somehow well you’ll be completely defenseless the key to strong willpower is consistent testing
In other words, you have to let yourself make contact with your triggers
yeah it’ll be hard to resist at first but the more times that you do it the more resilient you’ll get
An obvious sign that someone has strong willpower is that they can freely interact with things that use to trigger them
Over time they used small bursts of exposure to test their self-control until suddenly those triggers started to disappear
Now just keep in mind that willpower depletion can happen if you’re testing yourself too often
it helps to think about willpower like any other muscle in your body
Regular exercise is healthy but don’t overdo it - Vivid imagination — Your imagination is an incredibly useful tool for resisting temptation.
You can actually trick your mind into satisfying a craving using only your imagination
Yeah there are a few different ways to do this but let’s just focus on one for now in this study researchers measured
the impact of imagination on cravings for junk food specifically cookies they asked three groups of people to imagine three different scenarios
In the first one you’re craving cookies right now in the second you don’t care when you eat cookies you just know you want them and in the third, you don’t want any cookies now but you do want them later sounds pretty simple right
well surprisingly this small change had a huge impact on the number of cookies that each participant ate when offered as many cookies as they wanted the first two groups ate significantly more than the third all because they stifled their craving using their imagination
So if you have an especially creative mind your vivid imagination might be boosting your willpower - Persevering attitude — Willpower comes naturally to people who regularly practice perseverance when you refuse to give up on something you’re training your brain to push through negativity
that’s essentially what self-control is? you need to experience negativity now to reap the rewards later
So by maintaining of persevering attitude you’ve been unconsciously exercising your willpower too - Advanced decision-making — Even the most insignificant choices can drain your willpower that’s why people with great self-control often plan their decisions ahead of time
for example, you might orchestrate your meals clothing or budget the night before not only are you saving yourself some time you’re also doing your willpower a huge favor
Now normally when temptation comes knocking you have to make a choice right then and there resist or give in but planning ahead takes the pressure off your brain you’ve already made this decision you’ve already organized how this interaction is going to play out
You’ve already done the hard work so that in the present you can just stick to the plan so if you’re the kind of person that can’t resist mapping out your life chances are willpower is one of your strong suits - The emotional clarity — Bad moods are a universal scapegoat when you cheat on your diet or skip the gym it’s true that stress and anxiety temporarily decrease self-control but your mood is not the reason why you lack willpower
Many people blame their mistakes on their mood when in reality they’ve never practiced any kind of cell discipline that’s why if you have strong willpower you’re likely an emotionally intelligent person
You know how to manage your own emotions if something’s wrong well you try to get to the root of the problem instead of passing the blame
By addressing your negative emotions you’re building self-discipline and willpower you’re training yourself to find long-term solutions to your problems rather than suppressing them with short-term rewards - Perfection control — Perfection and willpower are natural enemies in fact perfectionism often stems from a basic lack of self-control
You overwork and you overthink because you can’t control that urge to keep tinkering
Most people don’t realize that work can be a trigger just like junk food or watching TV that’s why people who have overcome perfectionism tend to have strong willpower
They’ve learned when to keep working and when to take a step back
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