Willpower

Willpower is the handbook you need for success in all areas of your life. Regardless of what you want to achieve, you need the strength to persevere, forge ahead and keep going no matter how tough it gets. If you find that you allow weakness to take control of getting what you want in life, then you need this book.

Written by an expert psychologist and executive coach, these proven techniques are the missing ingredient for your new life of success.

• Learn the skills that lead to stronger willpower
• Develop new positive habits in just three weeks
• Overcome obstacles and break through barriers
• Find the success you want, and hold on to it long-term

Researchers have found that willpower is a better predictor of life and work success than IQ. It's the skill that keeps you moving ahead, blowing past barriers and smashing through any obstacle that dares threaten your progress. It may be the most important skill you ever learn, and your most valuable tool for personal and professional success.

Preface ix

Questionnaires x

The Stories x

Your Willpower Challenge xi

What’s Inside xii

Final Thoughts xiv

Part One – The Essence of Willpower 1

Willpower Ingredients in Abby’s Story 3

Directions for Completing the Willpower Scale 4

The Willpower Scale 5

Willpower Research 8

Willpower is a Game of Two Brains 11

Willpower is a Limited Resource . . . or is it? 17

New Research to Challenge Willpower as a Limited Resource 19

Mark Masson on Willpower and Health 21

Part Two – Goals and Vision 23

Why Goals? 23

Goal Planning 28

Your Willpower Goals 30

How You Learn 34

Motivation 43

A Theory of Motivation 44

Remember Your Goals 46

Inspiring You Toward Your Willpower Challenge 51

Part Three – New Habits for Old 55

Origins of Willpower with Graham Allen 57

Ego States 60

The Willpower Stage of Habit Formation 62

The Extinction Burst 64

Mini and Multiple Habits 68

Alternatively, Start Big 71

Becoming Failure Proof 72

Elite Performers and 10 000 Hours of Repetition 74

Good Habits Made Easy 77

Part Four – The Willpower Mindset 87

So How Can We All Acquire a Murray Mindset? 88

Reality Thinking 101

Externalise Your Thinking 103

Useful Thinking 104

Achieve a Willpower Mindset 105

Part Five – Willpower and Work 113

Self-Awareness 115

Skills for Business Success 120

Create: The Process for Organisational Change 137

Pilot 140

Launch 140

Coach 141

Evaluate 141

The Willpower of Your Own Business 142

How to Stick to Your Willpower Challenge at Work 152

Final Thoughts 155

Highlights 156

Acknowledgements 157

About the Author 159

"We all need this to help in our working and personal lives." (Nursing Times, June 2017)

"This book can help you get where you want to be – at home and at work." (PQ Magazine, March 2017)

Ros is a leading UK and international psychologist, executive coach, successful businesswoman, an accomplished author and a TV and radio presenter.
Ros travels the world developing the leadership potential of employees through the Just Leadership programme which she formulated. A creative academic, Ros is a chartered clinical psychologist, coach, trainer and regular speaker on the conference circuit. She has presented in the USA, Europe, and China and completed a lecture tour in Japan. Newspapers have described her variously as ‘the guru of personal development' and ‘the best motivational speaker heard this year'.

Ros has developed a unique style of coaching which achieves major insights and shifts in thinking as well as creating a vision for personal and business success. Ros draws on her background as a psychologist to facilitate creative strategies and move people on to become more than they would ever have believed possible.
Ros was named by The Independent on Sunday as one of the top 10 coaches in Britain. She broadcasts regularly on Radio and has presented a Social Science research programme ‘Between Ourselves' for BBC Radio Scotland for two years. She was also a presenter for five years on a nightly television news programme. Other TV and Radio work include BBC radio and television, Scottish Television, GMTV, LWT, ITN News, Sky News, and Channel 4.
Ros features regularly in the national press and top magazines in her capacity as psychologist and advisor. She was one of the three key presenters in "Confidence Lab", ?a six part documentary for BBC2. It was her Transform programme which provided the basis for Confidence Lab. The book of the programme is called Confidence in Just Seven Days, (Vermillion 2001) and topped Amazon's bestseller list. Ros filmed "Confidence Zone", a coaching for confidence series for the BBC which is televised regularly on BBC2's Learning Zone.

She is the previous author of: Fast Track to the Top, a book about success and how to achieve it, was published by Kogan Page in January 2002. The Ultimate Book of Confidence Tricks was published by Vermillion in 2003 and is now available in many languages.
Transform Yourself has been updated and recently re-launched as The Complete Mind Makeover (Kogan Page). Another confidence book published by Penguin is part of their Work/ Life Series and called Developing Confidence. Confidence at Work was published in January 2011 by Kogan Page and deals with leadership and confidence. Her latest book, Creativity at Work, was published in July 2013.
Ros now has a team of consultants that she has trained to deliver her Just Leadership courses and One to One Executive Coaching programme. In 2009 she launched Corporate Coach International which is an accredited coaching school for those who want to become executive coaches. She is visiting professor at Strathclyde Business School focusing on leadership.

"The modern classic on willpower. A sharp and applicable user's guide on being better."
— Graham Allen, MP

BE A MASTER OF SELF–CONTROL.

It's been proven that strong willpower is a better predictor of success than a high IQ. Having firm, unshakable self-control is the secret to bashing through barriers and hitting your life goals. Willpower is the heartbeat of a successful, fulfilling work and personal life. But you either have willpower or you don't – right?

LEARN THE SCIENCE. DEVELOP THE HABITS.

Globally acclaimed psychologist and executive coach Ros Taylor is here to show us how willpower can be learned and developed. You don't need to be born with innate self-control – you can follow Ros's steps and learn to master your will. Ros distills a powerful step-by-step model, with actionable self-assessments and strategies, which will ensure you establish the proper habits of self-control to overcome the challenges holding you back. Regardless of what you want to achieve and where you're starting from, Willpower shows you how to:

• Practice the scientifically-proven skillset for enhancing your willpower
• Make progress immediately and have new, positive habits in just three weeks
• Use this repeatable process to break through barriers in every area of your life
• Live with the stress-free confidence that comes with being in control

The difference between those who get what they want and those who don't comes down to self-control – Willpower is the way you master it and use it for personal and professional success.