Will, Won't and Want Power

It's been 42 days since I shared my Lent sacrifice and lifestyle change to abstain from the cafeteria at work. 

No sausage breakfast, no cheeseburgers, no soup, no salad, no coffee, no second coffee, no third coffee (yes, those days have happened). 

I'm quite proud to announce that I was successful! 

I stayed true to my goals and not only didn't swipe the card at work for 40 days, but also re-formed my favorite routines:

:: Planned grocery shopping

:: Food prep

:: Meal prep 

:: Tupperware game so strong

:: Coffee grinding 

:: Consistency

You might say that it took a lot of willpower, but it also took a lot of won't-power and want-power too.

What's that? They're awesome tips from The Willpower Instinct. If you don't know, I don't often read novels, but rather self-help, psychology, documentary style books that help me learn a little more about the world around me. That's irrelevant to this post, but let me explain what I've learned. 

The actual concept in the book suggest that we use "will, won't and want" separately toward different goals, but I found the three used together working toward the same goal to be three times as effective. 

For me to be successful with lent, I not only had to give up something. I had to form a new habit and had to have a reason for why I wanted that. 

I had an "I won't", I had an "I will" and had an "I want."

"I won't buy any food or beverage from the cafeteria at work for 40 days"

"I will commit to preparing meals for work and brewing coffee at my desk"

"I want to a) be successful, b) form a new habit, c) save money, d) blog about it later"

There was a three-pronged attack on the goal I set out for myself, and by building this foundation I was able to get everything I wanted out of the 40 days. I felt more deeply invested in the commitment because it had layers. To let one ball drop was to let three drop. It made the investment and the cost of breaking the commitment that much stronger which I believe is what made me successful. 

While I'm not planning to be dramatic and never return to the cafeteria at work, I do plan to learn from the last 42 days and understand that willpower is best served with won't and want power as well. I'm also only 9 pages into the book and already achieved this much insight, so expect my understanding of willpower to grow even harder and for this topic to appear again someday. Lucky you! 

What about you, what's a goal of yours that you're going to get after with the "will, won't, want power" method?