Building Will Power Capacity and Achievement

What if you could double the strength you have, to do the things you want to in your life?

Research shows that over the course of hours, as we use self-discipline, we actually become less able to continue to use our will power or in a sense use up our available supply. There are strong physiological and psychological reasons for this. Research also shows that as we use more self discipline, day by day, we develop a greater capacity to produce it, for specific activities. Additionally, it’s been found that self-discipline in one area of our life can help us to be more self disciplined in other areas, but this heightened will power is only partially applicable to other activities. There are people who are great at controlling their eating, but cannot apply themselves consistently to work that they need to do, or they are good at keeping everything neat and organized, but are unable to get out and exercise regularly.

Will power is something you develop as you use it and then it falls away as you don’t. It is very common for people to try and turn over a new leaf overnight and fail within a couple days and then repeat this month after month. They increasingly feel like failures or out of control of their lives. Developing your will power is only one aspect of self motivation, but developing discipline-based motivational capabilities is something you can achieve.

Consider starting to develop your motivational will power in a specific area of your life, in very small ways and as you build your strength, heighten the challenge. With daily challenges over a period of a couple weeks or a month you can become far more will powered. Try eating a third of your usual dessert, every other day where you would have eaten a whole dessert in the past, rather than trying to shift your entire diet. Or, if you are trying to get yourself to work on your finances, insist upon working on them five minutes on day one and an additional minute each time after, until you reach an ideal amount of time.

With exercising you might set a gradually increasing and alternating goal. For example, exercise for 2, 5, and 10 minutes, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, with music to make it fun for a couple of weeks, before you begin increasing your expectation to twenty minutes three times a week. Or, if you are already exercising, and get suddenly busy, insist upon a two to five minute stretch, even if you cannot change into your workout clothes. Do this as a way of maintaining your will power and staying engaged with your fitness process.

Over the course of a just a few months, you can dramatically increase the strength, endurance, and versatility of your will power if you set your mind to it. Aim for progress not perfection. By accumulating small successes, you ingrain new patterns of positivity associated with the activity itself and increase your likelihood of long term success. This in turn can provide you with a great sense of character, pride, and achievement, and build confidence in your will power building capacity, for greater life success.

What could you achieve if you were more motivated and inspired?

Blair Relf, Ph.D. is the leading expert on Motivational Intelligence – using it to dramatically improve performance.  His site at http://www.MotivationalIQ.com provides many free tools including interactive assessments that map out your motivational life in color, engaging MP3′s that help you increase your achievements, and an enlightening Motivational Intelligence special report.  He works closely with people in highly affordable programs using dynamic groups, virtual technologies and innovative approaches to help achieve goals, break through barriers and take lives to an entirely new level.  Visit him on the web at http://www.MotivationalIQ.com for more information.