Willpower is a mindset that exist in our mind. Given a difficult task, if you have thoughts that it would not work, then that is what you will get versus someone who thought that it will work. For example, in the Olympics games, it's always the power of the mind over the athlete's perception of what they can do. With the Gold Medals in their mind, they will endure the temporary hardship during their daily training in order to get where they want to be. Remember, never ever give up on things that matter.
Willpower at Work
Many of us do not realize the importance of willpower in life. For example, you know that you have a race coming and you will stop eating bad stuff. Controlling your diet is a real challenge as it requires determination and harnessing your mind capability to make your physical body just do what you want through your willpower. Once controlling your diet become a habit, you'll no longer crave for unhealthy food.
Goals and Vision
Look around you and observe carefully and you will notice that people who are successful set goals for themselves. Without goals, your life will be unfocused and you will reduce the change of success. With the goal as a focus point, your willpower will come into play as you make the sacrifice by adjusting your life towards your end point. You enroll in courses, reduce your entertainments or increase your savings etc. as you make yourself accountable to achieving your goal and vision. Don't wait anymore, start creating and choosing your vision now.
Motivation
There is a link between motivation and willpower as you need to know why you want to resist a certain temptation or work on something challenging. For example, an alcoholic father want to stop drinking so that his son would not grow up to be like him.
The stronger your motivation for doing a certain thing will increase your willpower and stop any destructive behavior or help you overcome any demanding challenges.
Sleep
Sleeping is important to our body as well as to our willpower. Sleep deprivation impairs how our body and brain use energy. If you're unable to sleep well, you need to find out the reason. For example, if your mind is active due to work issues of the day, keep a notepad by your bed and jot down the ideas. You will then feel relax and sleep with a clear mind. There is always something therapeutic about writing things down. Getting it out of your head and down on paper objectifies and clarifies. Leonardo da Vinci is considered one of the most talented individuals who ever lived and he like to write down his thoughts on paper as it help him to clarify his ideas.
Changing Habits
Bad habits are hard to change and it can take up to three weeks of willpower to establish a new behavior with another nine weeks of repetition before it can be eliminated. That is why smokers and drinkers without a strong motivation to change and willpower finds it hard to stop their bad habits. For example, a smoker was unable to change his bad habits until one day during a body checkup, the doctor found out that his lung had been effected and he has to stop smoking or it will become life threating within the next 12 months. For the sake of his young daughter and wife, this man now has a strong motivation and the willpower to stop his bad habit.
Overcome Failure
There are bound to be failure for any challenges that we take on and you are likely to be tempted to give up due to disappointment. In order to ensure that your willpower is not diminish by any failure, you need friends for support or your favorite motivation book or blog that you could read to brace yourself up again.
Life is a journey for you to learn and experience. No one is perfect and you have to expect setback, overcome it and then continue to move forward.
Conclusion
Willpower plays an important role in our life and acquiring a willpower mindset is a journey and not a leap. Thoughts are not facts, by changing your thinking, if you can change negative thoughts to positive and then a whole new world of possibilities opens up to you.
