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Your Willpower Is Sabotaged
By Kim | January 20, 2008
Willpower in another way of describing our determination, our resolve, or simply stated…. our will. I started thinking about this, because at the beginning of every year people start setting New Year’s resolutions to lose weight, save money, or make other life changes. The hard part is that willpower isn’t effective for just one day. We need to consistently exercise our will over an extended period of time to experience success. This is a pretty daunting task in the type of society we live in today. Everyday, we are conditioned to seek the convenient way out. Here’s what I noticed on a typical food shopping day.
In my car, I listened to numerous radio commercials promoting ‘easy,’ ‘fast,’ ‘convenient,’ products and/or services. I’ve heard advertisements for everything from cleaning services for your home, easy debt reduction plans, to home-based business opportunities in which you can make thousands of dollars in only a few months. I think what really blew me away was my observation at several food stores. Did you know that food stores now sell chips, cookies, and snacks in bags that only have 100 calories? We now have the makers of products capitalizing on our inability to watch our own category intake. Is it no wonder our willpower suffers? For example, we went from cookies you can slice and bake to pre-cut cookies you only have to pop into the oven.
Yes, our willpower is sabotaged, because it’s now big business for companies to take advantage of our desire for easy, fast, and/or convenient. Everyday we are programmed via commercials and advertisements to seek easy, fast, and/or convenient. Yes folks, you can now go on a diet where all your meals are delivered to your home - taking all the guess work out of the diet process. Yes sir….another knock against exercising your willpower. Believe me, there are many types of products out there.
The bottom line is this - you cannot strengthen your will if you never exercise it. Nowadays, we have to fight against the grain, because society doesn’t offer much support. The good news is we can strengthen our drive and discipline with a little determination and plenty of resolve. Work your will as you would a muscle. The more you exercise it, the stronger it becomes.
I’ll be the first to admit that my willpower suffers from time to time. However, I keep at it. Better yet, if I’m really motivated I’ll function with a single-mindedness to achieve what I set to do. Remember, the obstacles you face while trying to maintain your willpower are going to be there. Knowing what you’re up against is half the battle. See every attempt as a success and focus on that. Just know that the difference between success and failure is often determined by your will.
Topics: Personal Growth, Personal Success, Self-Discipline |
January 20th, 2008 at 6:17 pm
[…] Here’s another interesting post I read today by Kim […]
January 20th, 2008 at 6:30 pm
I found your site on technorati and read a few of your other posts. Keep up the good work. I just added your RSS feed to my Google News Reader. Looking forward to reading more from you.
Aaron Wakling