Willpower & Jedi Mind Tricks

Willpower & Jedi Mind Tricks
Written by Fritz Nugent

There have been many studies on willpower and self control. The researchers seem unable to put their fingers on the pulse of this issue. Luckily for us, I am not restricted by the same limitations of scientists and plan on unhindered speculation in this article.

Some people can resist snacks, make themselves exercise, go to bed on time, limit the amount of alcohol they drink, and shut off the Netflix after one episode. Many others have trouble with all of these things. Why? Is the person with impulse control wired differently? 

Here’s where the scientists agree – those with self control live better lives. They are healthier and wealthier. Yet scientists still cannot isolate a mechanism. Some have pointed to habits as the answer, and I agree.

When you have a thing coming up (wedding, public speaking engagement, a big trip), you can muster up the willpower for the short-term duration of a few months to do what is needed to achieve success – looking great for your wedding or speech, or get into great hiking shape for Peru. But once the trip or wedding ends, you lose all that you temporarily gained. Why? Because you were relying on will power to get you through instead of creating strategic habits for long-term success. Enter the Jedi Mind Trick.

What is a Jedi Mind Trick?

A Jedi Mind Trick is flipping the script on a weak-minded person to do your bidding. You are the weak-minded person. Not in all aspects of your life, but at the fringes of where you start to fray. Your knowing self, the one that knows what you ought to do, can learn to “trick” your impulse-control-challenged self into doing things that are long-term beneficial, things which you once resisted. Vegetables. A consistent sleep schedule. Dishes.

Recognizing Your Habits

So you despise doing the dishes, but it needs to be done (this was me, years ago). So you put it off, choosing other things instead. Eventually they pile up so high that you can’t stand it any longer and you give in, and it takes two and a half hours of hard labor. This makes you hate dishes even more. The cycle repeats every 9 days. 

Wake up – this is a habit! You’d rather suffer for 2.5 hours straight scrubbing off the dried food rather than taking 5 minutes after meals to easily clean the food off. Recognize that this is a habit. Now recognize that you can change.

How to Jedi Mind Trick Yourself

You could reward yourself for washing ONE dish after each meal. Or, you could put some earbuds in and listen to your new favorite audiobook while you wash that dish. Eventually, you will tolerate doing dishes after each meal. And someday, you might even enjoy doing the dishes. Then one day while really enjoying some dishes while listening to your audiobook, the ear buds die. You decide to continue washing dishes in silence, and still find the process enjoyable. In your head, you are the best dishwasher – so efficient and cleanly. Wow look at that plate, a mirror finish reflecting back your satisfied face. You look out the window, and Sasquatch slips into the trees.

That’s a Jedi Mind Trick. Turn weaknesses into strengths. It doesn’t take a day, or a month. It might take years, like it did for me. But it’s worth it. And you can do this with anything in life.

Also Check Out…

Habit Stacking: How to Leverage Current Habits to Create New Ones

Using Keystone Habits to Create Success

The 3-Step Process to Turn a Bad Habit Good