The Will Behind The Want

Willpower; control exerted to do something, or to restrain impulses. I think we all know it's never easy to resist any form of temptation and enticement. After all, there'd be nothing we would want or desire in life if it wasn't for temptation and enticement. The problem for so many of us though is that we give in to the temptation and enticement of things that destroy us, rather than give in to the temptation and enticement of things that actually benefit us, and deliver satisfaction, happiness, fulfillment. When we think of our diet, so many of us fail to resist the deliciousness of foods such as sweets, fast foods, and processed foods, because it satisfies our taste buds, yet they contribute to the likes of diabetes and obesity. When we think of exercise, so many of us fail to resist watching our favorite shows on television, or spending time browsing through social media whilst lazing on the couch, rather than be engaging in at least 30 to 60 minutes of intense activity each day, because it requires much less effort. When we think of relationships, so many of us fail to resist that attractive guy or girl that we meet at the bar, or at a nightclub, and we end up being unfaithful to our partner, because we are driven by lust rather than love. When we think of our job, the one in which we hate and constantly complain about, so many of us refuse to look at other working options, despite being unhappy, because we fail to part with our beloved paycheck that we have been receiving on such a regular basis, and we are possessed by money. We all crave for happiness, success, satisfaction, and fulfillment, in life, and many even of us even desperately long for prosperity and wealth, yet because all these require us to apply a great deal amount of effort, hard work, patience, and resilience, most of us simply don't have the willpower and motivation to work on achieving them.

I've talked many a time of the three biggest success killers in life, being fear, doubt, and laziness. Many people are fearful of failure, financial loss, embarrassment, judgment, and the like, and then there are those who are filled with doubt, be it from a result of what other people have mentioned, from what they have read, from what they personally believe, or perhaps they just don't believe they have the required skills, knowledge, and ability, to create success. Then there's laziness, that "couldn't be bothered" attitude that so many people possess. Laziness is of course generated by temptation and enticement, exactly as I have listed in the examples above, whilst temptation and enticement are generated by the yearn for short-term satisfaction and happiness. Most of us live our life void of satisfaction, fulfillment, and yes, even happiness. Because we are not living the life we desire, we are not working the job we would love, we are not accomplishing our goals, or even getting close to accomplishing our goals, and we basically don't have the lifestyle we envisioned for ourselves, that feeling of happiness, satisfaction, accomplishment, and fulfillment, are all absent. The way many of us fill that void is to seek out short-term satisfaction and happiness, yet we fail to understand the activities we do to generate these emotions are in fact eliminating our opportunity for long term satisfaction, happiness, accomplishment, and fulfillment. Activities such as going out drinking and nightclubbing with our friends each weekend, or going shopping to buy the latest phone on the market, or watching Netflix, or even simple things like being on our phone scrolling through social media, they bring us that burst of contentment, happiness, and satisfaction. Why? Because we enjoy doing them, and what's even better, they require little energy and effort. Short-term satisfaction is labelled short-term for a reason. Because it doesn't last long. It may make us happy for a minute, an hour, a few hours, even a couple of days, but that feeling so wears off because we enter back into the reality of working the job we hate, and living that unenjoyable lifestyle we live.

Short-term satisfaction brings about long-term struggles and unhappiness, whilst short-term struggles bring about long-term satisfaction and happiness. Too many of us are not prepared to invest the time into working hard, sacrificing, overcoming failures, and doing all the various actions that are mundane, energy sapping, and uncomfortable. What's more is that we are definitely not patient enough in waiting for that success, happiness, accomplishment, satisfaction, and fulfillment, to be achieved. When we don't see that visual success appearing, in some form or another, we start becoming impatient, and once again, we are overwhelmed with fear and doubt that the success isn't going to even eventuate at all. Are we basically wasting our time, energy, and money for something that doesn't seem to be creating the success we desire, as we continually encounter ongoing challenges and failures? For most people, these constant challenges and failures act as a sign that success is just not meant to be, when in reality, it's just a normal aspect of the journey. To keep going means more hard work, more commitment, more effort, more patience, more failures, so once again, in marches that enticement and temptation into our mind. We can just give up, which would relieve ourselves of all this stress, pressure, pain, and hard work, hence why it's the attractive and tempting option. It's that lack of willpower to keep going, to keep working towards something we should be so desperately desiring, and that should be driving us.

We all have our weaknesses, that's a given! One of mine is sleeping in. It often takes me a little while to fall asleep, but generally I sleep quite well after that, until that dreaded alarm sounds. It always seems to sound right when I am in the middle of my deepest sleep, and being someone who has the flexibility of running my own business and working from home, I have no set work hours. That brings in the temptation to just turn off that alarm, snuggle back under the covers, and return to my sleep. We all know the importance of time however, and if I were to continually give in to that temptation of sleeping longer than I should be, I would be less productive in my business, I would be less likely to achieve results, and I would be less likely to reach my goals. Like anything we don't want to do, it takes willpower. I need to remind myself of what I am striving for in life, what I want to achieve, and focus on the importance of achieving my goal, allowing it to drive and motivate me. That's what gets me out of bed. My willpower is strong enough to overcome my temptations. Your willpower needs to eliminate even so much as the thought of temptation and enticement. Sure, it takes a long time, and a lot of hard work and effort, but the longer you continue doing the actions that are working towards your goals, no matter how arduous, painful, and mundane, they may be, eventually success will manifest.

What do we want the most? Do we want just those bursts of short-term satisfaction and happiness that don't provide any success and fulfillment in life, or do we want long-term satisfaction, happiness, fulfillment, and success, off the back of working hard and remaining patient, in the pursuit of our goals? Is there will behind the want? In order for us to achieve some of the most wonderful blessings and rewards that life can provide, we need to strengthen our mind, our resistance, and our will power. It's not negotiable that we need to make sacrifices, and part ways with some of those leisurely and more enjoyable activities, to do some of those difficult, uncomfortable, and unenjoyable actions. We need to do these actions not just for one day, or a few days either, but on an ongoing basis. Every day, we need to overcome the temptations and enticements that enter our mind, or that excite our senses, by extinguishing them with the strength of our willpower. Do you think that a professional athlete does what they do because they enjoy the training? Absolutely not! They do it for the competition, that thrill of showcasing their talent and skill to an audience, and proving their potential to themselves and the world. If an Olympic athlete can bust their butt off, day after day, by non-stop training, exercising, and working on bettering themselves, all for the sake of competing in an event that they have to wait four years for, it puts those of us to shame who can't even pry ourselves off the couch to work on the actions that are progressing towards achieving our goals. It all comes back to being disciplined, courageous, and mentally strong. How much do we truly want to change from the unsatisfying, unhappy, unsuccessful, and unfulfilling life, that we are currently living, to one in which is completely the opposite? When are we going to rid of these foolish expectations, that we possess in our mind, that success, wealth, happiness, and satisfaction, will come to us without the need for hard work, effort, patience, and perseverance? If you want something bad enough, your willpower will prove that. If you find yourself giving into temptation and enticement, perhaps it's time to readjust your goal, because your goal should always drive you to achievement, no matter the length of time, the obstacles, or the failures. Get cracking on strengthening your willpower and drive today!

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