Willpower and Habit

Now lets assume that Jack started going to the gym when he was 15 and had no dreams or desire of becoming a bodybuilder. His training sessions pump up his body and he loves what he sees in the mirror after a few months. He goes on and on for a couple of years. Soon he is 18 and a trainer recommends him to train harder for the local competition, Boosted by his three year old habit of spending time at the gym, he has no problem in transitioning from an amateur to a professional, and soon he enters the big league, where he sees more competition and enjoys the whole process of growing into it. Habit, got him to a point where he needed a small amount of willpower to boost him from one level to another. Willpower, then according to me should never be very huge, for bigger the willpower, higher the chance that it will fail to convert itself into a regular habit. This law does not mean that smaller the willpower, greater the chance of it being successful. It implies that there is an optimum range where willpower thrives. Above and below that range it could be ego or plain stupidity that is doing the talking. And this range is generally different for different people and is very much dependent on a person’s achievements, abilities etc.

Even imagination is more powerful than willpower; a good example of this has been cited by Paul McKenna in his book “How to change your life in 7 days”. If I wanted to increase my heartbeat, could I just tell my heart to beat faster? It wouldn’t work, irrespective of the heaps of willpower I am ready to put into it. If however I were to close my eyes for a moment and imagine that i am walking down a dark alley in the middle of a dark night hearing footsteps behind me getting closer and closer, that would surely help.

Willpower is an important part of an individual’s decision making process; however this tool is often misguided and misused by our egos. It is very important to understand the power of “willpower” and remember that willpower has to lead to a habit. Without a habit, willpower is powerless.