Social Power

Book Title : The Willpower Instinct

Book Chapter: Infected: Why willpower is contagious

            What is a meaningful life? A meaningful life is a life that has a goal. The goal is like a light tower. It shines on your journey and guides you in the right direction. We must have the correct action to achieve our goal. Willpower is important because it can help us to maintain our actions. We meet a lot of different people in society. However, willpower will be affected by the people around us.

            Every one of us has our social group like family and friends. They are important people in your life. They always support you and help you when you face difficulties, or you are in bad mood. Express yourself to them is one of the methods to heal and re-energize yourself. However, you may influence by their action and forget your own goal. For example, you set your goal is to lose weight. When your friend orders dessert, her immediate gratification will affect your willpower. You cannot resist temptation and you will follow your friend to order dessert and forget your own goal.  Christmas is just around the corner. When you see other people distribute the gifts to others, it may trigger your mind to buy gifts for your loved ones and forgot your own goal is to save more money for future retirement.

We are natural mind readers. We always observe people's behavior and influence by them. Different people have a different ways of living. Sometimes you will doubt your own life decision if you do not have your most important goal in life. You feel that your lifestyle is weird when you observe other people's life. Therefore, we must always keep in mind our own goal and prevent us lose direction in life. One of the best ways is to spend a few minutes at the beginning of the day to think about your own goal. Rethink and reflect on your own goal can boost self-confidence and strengthen your decision towards the goal.

  We meet different people every day. You can observe a lot of people when you walk along your street. Your eye is like a sensor. It senses the environment around you and observes their behavior. We feel relief when we behave like normal people. What are the normal people? Different people have different perceptions because they have their tribe. We always follow and adapt to our community lifestyle. The social community can influence your habit. Therefore, you can join a local community that supports your goal. For example, my goal is to become a trainer. Therefore, I join the toastmaster club to enhance my public speaking skills and coaching skills. I like the toastmaster community because the people there are very friendly and supportive. They are the people who can help me and motivate me to achieve my goal. Social power is like the power that can help you to achieve your goal easily. The goal is achieved step by step. If you have achieved your short term goal, celebrate your success with your community. Spread your joy and energize them. You can also share your highlight reel on social media. It can motivate yourself and create good self-branding.

 Lastly, bear in mind your own goal regardless of how are the changes in a social environment. Other people's belief and actions may influence our decision. Be mindful and understand what your main goal is will help you strengthen your own goal and you are more willing to achieve it. We only live once. Find a goal that can simply energize your life!