Tired of Giving Up on New Habits? Boost your Willpower with this 5-Min Morning Ritual

“The visionary starts with a clean sheet of paper, and re-imagines the world.”

—Malcolm Gladwell

When I first started posting habit-related content on my Instagram page, one of my followers asked me, “What do you think is the best way I can set myself up for success when it comes to habits? Recently I’ve been giving up easily on new habits, so it’d be good to know.”

I think those words speak for anybody who’s ever set out to make a change and develop a new habit, but failed to follow through.

If you can relate to that as well, what you are experiencing is a lack of willpower. What’s willpower? In this case, it can be defined as the willingness and courage to marshal your inner energy towards new habit triggers based on who you want to become.

The sad truth is that willpower is often underestimated in the habit-building process. We assume that making the habit easier and more achievable makes willpower redundant. But, that’s rarely the case. You need willpower to begin, to perform, and to let go. In a nutshell, the whole process requires at least a bit of willpower to get things moving. Without it, you’ll get nowhere.

So, this was my reply to the follower: “It’s largely dependent on getting your morning routine right. If you can dedicate yourself to that, you can see great results.”

The Importance of Starting Your Day The Right Way

Right now you might be asking yourself, “How is willpower related to a good morning routine?” Let me explain what I mean by my answer.

You see, willpower is like a battery. Every night when you go to sleep you recharge it. If you get a sufficient amount of sleep, you wake up with a fully charged battery in the morning. But, with each willpower-intensive decision that you face — like watching YouTube versus completing a task, or ordering takeout versus cooking a meal — you gradually drain your battery and become more viable to making unhealthy choices.

People often have the bad habit of checking email and social media just when they wake up. Not only is that bad for your mental health, but it can also put a huge speed breaker in your day and significantly lower your willpower. At a time when you should be thinking about long-term goals, instead, you get busy with short-term problems and disappointments.

The truth is, willpower is a delicate and fragile resource. If you’re not careful, even a few wrong choices can end up depleting it. In contrast, if you do an activity or ritual that boosts your willpower when it’s already very high, it can be like a Boost Pad in a racing game, and add a sudden burst of speed to your day.

So, let’s discuss the best ritual to do exactly that.

The 5-Min Ritual To Boost Your Willpower

Reading can be a great way to inspire yourself and boost your willpower. But, what about doing it in a way that you get 10X the benefits? That’s what this ritual will help you do.

The core of this ritual is to be in a meditative state and be mindful of each breath while reading some inspirational content. For this, you can collect your favourite quotes, affirmations, and goals and write them in a notebook. Then, go through it every morning while in a meditative state.

What’s the main purpose of doing it this way? When you read positive content in a meditative state, it’s more likely to stick in your mind for longer and have a tangible effect on your thoughts. This not only makes you feel more joyful throughout the day, but, more importantly, it boosts your willpower and makes you want to stick to your habits. That’s what this is about.

Alternatively, you can also read a published book that is formatted in a similar way. Here are some good examples:
-Everyday Greatness by Stephen Covey
-Connect the Dots by Rashmi Bansal
-Atomic Habits by James Clear
-The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle
-Make your Bed by William H. McRaven

Focus on your breath, and go through the book page by page. If you want, close your eyes in between and take a deep breath to fully understand and savor the meaning of what you’re reading.

One thing to remember here is to try to avoid digital media (eBooks or videos) with this exercise. They tend to make you more distracted, and if a notification pops up in that 5-min period then your ritual will end right there.

Also, why limit yourself to just reading? On top of this, you can also set a writing goal. This is an awesome way to let go of thoughts that have been worrying you. Just set a goal to write around 500 words or fill up one page. What are some things that are worrying you? Do you have new ideas about how you can improve your habits? What’s something you want to learn more about? Try to answer all of these questions in your writing without holding yourself back.

All of this combined, this doesn’t need to take more than 5 minutes of your time. But, if done with presence and mindfulness, it can have a really powerful impact on your day.

Conclusion

For the record, the willpower ritual you do in the morning should depend on your own situation. Some people just need to review their goals or take a glance at their vision board to get motivated. On the other hand, some people need a longer and nuanced ritual to achieve the same result.

What I’ve described here is in the middle of that graph, and can work for people on both sides of the spectrum. Besides just boosting your willpower, though, it will also lead to less worry and more overall clarity and decisiveness.

If you liked this post, be sure to grab a copy of my book Plus Habits!