Willpower is Ineffective

Why is willpower an ineffective tactic to achieve your goals and get things done? I will tell you!

Willpower is essentially using one desire to overpower a conflicting desire.

Having willpower is basically forcing yourself to do something regularly for several weeks or months until it becomes habitual and routine. However, at that point, it still doesn’t seem to have lasting effectiveness in the long term. Sure, if you keep forcing yourself to live that way but then you will have lived a life of struggle rather than a life of ease. Or maybe to you it just means that you have “tamed the beast” and graduated to having “good discipline” and are “strong” when it comes to will power. However, there is a better way.

What is the solution?

It is really simple. By having NO effective desires there is no need for willpower. See, simple! No it isn’t impossible. Actually, it is simple. Read on…

Realize the truth. Desires are nothing more than thoughts. Yes desires may be stimulated or caused by certain bodily states or conditions but they are thoughts and thoughts are fleeting.

Once you notice and fully accept a thought, you are able to move beyond it. Yes, as soon as you fully acknowledge a thought and let it go, you will remove it as a motivator. It just wants attention! Just by noticing or paying attention to a desire (or thought) even without acting on it often disempowers it from having any control of you so, instead, you maintain control.

Self Awareness is key!

Most important is the timing. Noticing these thoughts (desire) as they arise. So being hyper-aware is most effective. If not realized quickly then it can morph into you eating an entire bag of chips before you realize that it was just a fleeting thought. So realize it earlier before it disrupts your tranquillity and let it go.

So the solution is mindfulness, being present and self aware (pay much greater attention to the present), and avoiding living with the distractions of compulsive thoughts (meditation helps!).

Once you notice the desire/thought just ride it out.

Your goal is to maintain tranquility and control of your thoughts and life not your thoughts controlling you. The reason we resort to using tactics such as willpower is because we are giving these thoughts power over us. It is almost like we feel trapped by them when all we need to do is realize them so they pass. Are we free or are we slaves to these thoughts?

We are free! Each time there is an issue, just notice these thoughts to have them fade away. Noticing them from self awareness is the first step in getting past them. Remember it is super important to become free of the addiction to compulsive thinking and breaking free from excessive overthinking is the most important addiction to break.

So shift your focus from thoughts to awareness. I promise your life will improve.