If youre serious about the changes you want to make, willpower wont be enough.
Willpower is whats holding you back.
Arnold M. Washton, Ph.D.
Twenty20 / @photo.awareness
If you want to make any permanent change in your life, willpower wont get you there.
Personal progress and achieving success are best approached like youre overcoming addiction.
Because, quite literally, thats what youre doing.
As human-beings, we all have addictions.
Im also addicted to a lot of other behaviors that contradict my goals.
We are all addicted.
Twenty20 / @photo.awareness
And the cognitive dissonance is numbing.
Helia
If youre required to exert willpower to do something, there is an obvious internal conflict.
You want to eat the cookie, but you also want to be healthy.
The tension is mounting… !
What are you going to do?
Are you going to be strong this time and resist?
Or are you going to crumble?
According to psychological research, your willpower is like amuscle.
Its a finite resource that depletes with use.
At least, thats what youve been taught.
Clearly, the research on willpower explains human behavior.
2.You haventcommittedto something and createdconditionsthat facilitate your commitment.
What do you really want?
Once you make a decision, the universe conspires to make it happen.
RalphWaldo Emerson
If your life requires willpower, you havent fully determined what you want.
Because once you make a decision, the internal debate is over.
As Michael Jordan has said, Once I made a decision, I never thought about it again.
After you decide what you want, the decision is made.
Thus, all future decisions regarding that matter have also been made.
So, are you serious about this?
Or are you just talking?
Are you still on the fence, or have you decided?
Until you decide, youll be required to use willpower, and will continue making minimal progress.
How do you know if youre truly committed to something?
All doubt and disbelief are gone.
If youre committed to running a marathon, youre going toput everything in placeto double-check it happens.
Youre not going to leave it up to chance.
Youre going to start by signing up for a race (investment).
Youre going to make it public (phase one of accountability).
Youre going to get a running partner who holds you accountable.
Youre going to track your progress (feedback) and account your progress to your accountability partner.
Lastly, youre going to remove things in your life that keep you from running.
Commitment means you build external defense systems around your goals.
Your internal resolve, naked to an undefended and opposing environment is not commitment.
This is where the willpower approach fails.
What ends up happening?Eventually you succumb to your environment despite your greatest efforts to resist.
The environment is more powerful than your internal resolve.
As a human-being, you always take on the form of the environments you continually place yourself.
Consequently, the best use of yourchoicesis consciously designing environments that facilitate your commitments.
Actually, if youre really committed to something, this is exactly what youll do.
Your willpower will fail if you dont.
This is how evolution works.
Everything in life is a natural and organic process.
We adapt and evolve based on the environments we select.
You are who you are because of your environment.
Then change your environment.
Stop the willpower madness already.
If youre required to use willpower:
Willpower sucks.
Instead of focusing on your behavior, focus on your environment.
