Last week, I sat down with Houston Truong of  The Trading Edge to talk about Willpower in the world of Finance.

We talk about Warren Buffett's willpower, The Will of Heroes, and much more!

Summary

In this week’s episode we take a slight detour from our usual programming of trading topics and instead explore the topic of Willpower with Colin Robertson.

Colin’s a willpower researcher, founder of a blog called willpowered.co, and if you’re interested in the topic of willpower then I think this episode will give you some real practical insights on the subject.

One of the often cited studies we discuss on the show is the infamous marshmallow test which showed that young children who were able to delay gratification later grew up to become more successful and happier adults.

So the big question is whether willpower is something we’re born with or can it be developed?

The good news is that willpower can be strengthened like a muscle and we can increase our willpower if we commit to training our brain to be able to exert more willpower regularly.

Meditation has been shown to be one of the most powerful ways to increase willpower.

Research on this subject indicates that three hours of meditation increases self-control and ability to focus and after eleven hours of mediation practice one can see visible changes in the brains.

If you’re curious about meditation then check out our 28 Day Mindfulness for Traders Challenge.

It’s a guided meditation program specifically for traders.  Dozens of traders have now gone through the challenge and many traders have noted improved levels of concentration and memory, increased energy and stamina, and reduced stress and anxiety.

Big Ideas

Here’s what you’ll hear on this episode:

• the nuance between the various forms of will power
  • I  Will / I Won’t / I Want
• how willpower applies to your trading
• how to quickly boost up your willpower
• how to deal with temptations
• and some ideas on how to strengthen and develop your own willpower.