Need A Willpower Refill? Check Out These Tips!

Actually, if you’re thinking you are running low on willpower, you may want to think again.  Because willpower isn’t something you run out of or even low on.  When we use the excuse “I’m out of willpower,” it’s exactly that – an excuse. Just an excuse for giving in to whatever it is we’re being tempted to do or not do.

Last night, I happened on an annual running event.  The Baker to Las Vegas  run.  In case you have no idea of what that is, here’s the basics:  It’s a 120 mile relay run crossing the desert from Baker, California to Las Vegas, Nevada.  It has a total vertical climb of nearly 7000 ft and has a maximum elevation over 5,500 ft.  They run non-stop, right through the night.

That’s willpower.  And those runners don’t have any more of it than you do.

Feeling Bummed Out?

I know.  That just puts a huge onus on you and me for our choices.  No more mysteriously empty reservoir of willpower juice.  But Ros Taylor documents it very well in her new book “Willpower: Discover It, Use It, And Get What You Want.” It’s a great read, especially if that naggy inner voice is telling you that you don’t have the willpower to start or finish it. So hate me if you will, but now that you know the truth, you get to hold no one other than yourself accountable.

Ms. Taylor breaks down willpower to these basics:

• Resisting temptation
• Establishing a habit
• Hard work to achieve desired outcomes
• A desire to change
• Self-control over what you say and do
• Thinking through alternative ways of behaving
• And not worrying about what others think or do

Then, she proceeds to show a clear path to make willpower a tool you can use as often as you want or need to.  With no worry about running out.  So if you’re really serious about losing the excuse of being out of willpower, check out her book.

Purposeful Committed Action = Willpower

I’ve always had a gripe with the self-help and self-improvement gurus. They all package and re-package the same concepts. In reality, there’s just one common element that provides the fuel for their advice. Taking action.  Committed, purposeful action.

Think about that.  Purposeful committed action. Willpower.  It seems to me there’s a lot of similarity in those two concepts.

And isn’t it empowering to know that taking purposeful committed action – exercising willpower -is a key to most or all of our dreams and goals?

You’re Fully Charged

So your willpower is full.  Like your phone when it says 100% battery.  Except that your willpower isn’t going to discharge, ever.  While you may not be successful in everything you attempt to do, you’ll always have the power to commit 100% to creating the results you want.

As the Ms Career Girl motto says, “Love your career, live your life.  No more excuses.”