‘My will power is good Subra, but ITC’s Wills power is stronger’ – a friend used to say this during his smoking days!

Can your will power be strengthened like your body muscle? Many people do not even want to ask this question. they keep saying ‘I cannot do this’…My mother says ‘I will never be able to make good chappatis’ or ‘My father tells me I am weak and will never be able to run a sub 2 half marathon’ Amazing how people get into such traps.

So the answer to the question about will power being strengthened is ?

The answer is YES. Surely YES….

Do you realize that more work and better work gets done by the disciplined and regular man than the undisciplined man? Sure there are exceptions, but generally it is much better to be disciplined than be intelligent. So true in life as in Investing!

So let us accept that good habits can be made to stick. Let us see how to get disciplined:

1. Maintain a Diary of what you are doing: I am a big proponent of writing down what you do. This will help you know what you are doing and what you want to change..

2. Tell yourself once you do it for a few days, then it is NOT a struggle. Regular runners, sportsmen, gym goers, walkers do not see it as a struggle on a daily basis. It just becomes a habit.

3. Practice every day and reward yourself for good behavior! Far far more importantly do not kill yourself for a small slip up. If you have decided that you will do your long runs at a pace of 6.20, do not worry about a few miles being at 6.40. Celebrate the successes that you got at 6.20 pace. Have small celebrations for small victories.

4. Tell the people around you – and enlist their support. If you are trying to give up alcohol, give it up on 2 days – Sat and Sun. Most social drinking happens on weekends. If it is waking up early, do not be ambitious. Go from 7.30 to 5am over a 8 week period, not on day one. Does not work that way.

5. Control your environment: get rid of big boozers – DO NOT GO OUT WITH them. Get rid of packaged stuff from home. Stop buying things that YOU know how to make! Keep ONLY healthy stuff at home. Uninstall Solitaire from your laptop. Get rid of the FB application on your hand phone…WHATEVER….

6. Make things that YOU MUST DO a part of your ROUTINE. The brain does not argue with routine things. ONLY new things it argues. Keep it simple do not tire the brain. A tired brain is easy for a virus to attack.

7. Your will power is stronger in the mornings than in the evenings. Try to keep the harder things for the morning.

8. Do not be overambitious: If you get up everyday at 7.30am do not suddenly expect to get up at 5am. Try getting up at 7.15 for a start. After a week make it 7. After another week make it 6.45. And for doing all this, try going to bed EARLIER – from 12 midnight to 9.30 pm is again a 10 week process. Gradual change helps.