“Where there’s a will, there’s a way.”
This phrase, although some would call it cliché, points out that there is always a way, but you often times won’t find it without first having the will to find it.
Out of all the skills you can master, all the talents you can hone, and all of the muscles you can strengthen, your will power muscle is probably the most important. Without a strong will power muscle, all of your other skills or talents become mildly useless.
In order to make sure we are all on the same page, let’s define what will power is.
Will:
1. the faculty by which a person decides on and initiates action.
2. More control deliberately exerted to do something or to restrain one’s own impulses.
Ultimately, it is the actions we take that define the life in which we lead. It’s those actions that we will, which ultimately create our environment, our reality, and the core driving forces of our destiny.
We often forget, however, the other side of things. It’s also the actions we do not take which define our lives. It’s also the actions we don’t take that will create our reality and change the course of our destiny.
What sits at the crux of all action or inaction?
Will power.
Your life is going to happen whether you craft it yourself or just let it happen for you, but in order to craft it, you must have the will to change the future path you’re headed to the future path you envision. Then, you must use that will power to change your future possibilities through action in the present.
Will power must be used for action as well as inaction, whereby inaction ultimately means restraint. When you choose to go for a run when you’d rather sit around and eat junk food, you are using your willpower for action. When you refrain from indulging in your favorite kind of cookie offered for free, you are using your willpower for inaction.
With those thoughts in mind, I think a very simple way to view will power then is the ability to hold opposites.
When you have a certain goal in mind or a vision for the future, it can be clear the things you need to do or refrain from doing in order to attain that future, but for instant gratification purposes and the present moment, you may very likely desire to do the opposite.
Will power then is the art of holding opposites. The ability to feel a craving, desire, or pang in the present moment, but at the very same time, holding your commitment to make a different choice. Will power is your ability to make and keep promises to yourself.
Will power is that conversation you have with yourself when you set out to do something and you get to the hard part where you want to quit. Part of you says to just stop. Part of you rejects the changes you’re making and wants you to stay the same or slip back to the comfortable. The other part believes in your goal you set for yourself. The other part has a clear vision for the future possibility and wants you to attain it.
The question is:
Who is going to win?
The perpetual battle of your opposites.
Which part of you are you going to follow? The easier option is rarely the option that will yield your changed future.
You have to keep in mind that you are changing your destiny. You are changing the course of your life. It is not a single action that will change things. It’s instead the accumulation of many actions over a long period of time that will manifest that destiny. It’s forcing an action until it, not only becomes a habit that you do regularly, but also becomes part of the very essence that is you.
Do you think that happens overnight? Do you think it takes a single act of will power?
Will power, like many things, is developed through practice. Practice your will power and you will find that attaining your goals is much easier. You’ll find yourself manifesting the destiny you envision for your future.
And so I urge you to become comfortable with holding your opposites. Be aware of your opposites because they are your destiny changing in front of your eyes. Follow your opposites and make the choices that will lead you to the future possibility you wish to attain.
Strengthen your will power and you will strengthen your soul.