20 Steps To Forge An Iron Will

When it comes to shedding kilos, your resolve is as important as your diet and training plan.

- Beth Howard

Willpower:it’s one of those things you’re born with, right, like thick hair or a trust fund? Actually, the research suggests otherwise. According to Dr Roy Baumeister, a professor of social psychology at Florida State University, you can strengthen your willpower with practice. “The more you flex it, the stronger it gets,” he says.

1. Try an overture. Working out to music is undeniably motivating. But a UK study found that playing ready-to sweat music before a workout – when you’re struggling with that “flick the gym” voice – makes you more likely to follow through.

2. Lose the lame clichés. Athletes who attain goals are often said to “hit their peak” or “reach new heights”. But imagining yourself moving to the top can actually kill motivation, suggests research in the Journal of Consumer Psychology.

3. Sleep for strength. Tired and hungry is no way to get through the day. In a US study, people with poor sleep habits ran out of self-control faster than deep sleepers did. Solution: hit the sack at the same time each night, avoid napping in the late afternoon, cut offcaffeine after 2 pm and use your bed for two things only – sleep and sex.

4 Play a game. People who play strategy video games tend to do more things that are good for them in the long run, according to a study in the journal Personality and Individual Differences. That could be because these games require you to analyse your actions and their consequences and visualise future possibilities.