Why you Need Willpower to Succeed in Life
Rabbi Levi Brackman and Sam Jaffe in their book, JEWISH WISDOM for BUSINESS SUCCESS: Lessons from the Torah and Other Ancient Texts, teaches us that inner will is a prerequisite for success. Using illustrations from the Torah and several other ancient texts they illustrate to us why it is necessary to harness the willpower if you want to find success in business and life. The truth is without willpower you can achieve nothing in life.
Willpower helps you take the first step towards your goals and ultimately the success that awaits you. In his book, The Science of Motivation: Strategies & Techniques for Turning Dreams into Destiny, Tracy Brian explains that taking the first step is always the most difficult thing to do when you want to take a new direction in life yet it's the most important step. How many people do you know who had a brilliant idea to start a business but haven't come around to it? How many others bought a book to read but have never opened the book? How many others say they want to get in shape but have never taken even a single action? Millions of people in the world are guilty of not taking the first step towards their goal. Do you know why? Because they did not have the willpower to take the first step. Newton's first law of motion states:
An object at rest stays at rest and an object in motion stays in motion with the same speed and the same direction unless acted upon by an unbalanced force.
This statement explains why the first step is the most difficult to take yet it is the most important step. When you are not working on your goals it takes a tremendous amount of effort to get started but once you start you won't stop unless forced to. The tremendous effort needed to start working on your goal is the willpower. Without it, you won't be able to do anything. This is why people with willpower succeed while those without don't even start.
Another important reason why you need willpower is that it is what will help you go over the rough spots in life. Once you start working on your goals you will meet challenges. This is what is called Murphy's Law:
If anything can go wrong, it will go wrong and at the worst possible time
Whether you believe in Murphy's Law or not you are bound to run into headwinds once you start working on your goals. Several things will go wrong and if you have no willpower to continue then you will likely be forced to stop. David Goggins in his book, Can't Hurt Me, recounts several occasions when he had nothing but the will power to depend on for success. He had to complete his navy SEAL training on one leg after the other was injured and he ran 100 miles on broken feet among many accounts of when he hard to endure excruciating pain just to complete his goal. He had every reason in the world during those many incidences to give up but he did not. Do you know why? Because he had strong willpower that was pushing him forward despite the pain and all the difficulties.
Lastly will power help you horn your skills. Who is your favorite soccer player? And musician? Well isn't the person skilled? Anyone who has mastered s skill to perfection be it a stock trader, a sports person an entertainer a Politician or even an engineer, the person had to put in thousands of hours to succeed. Now you won't wake up every day to practice your craft if you don't have the will power. In the book, Outliers, Malcom Gladwell theorizes that you need to practice for about 10,000 hours in order for you to master your craft. If you can harness the inner will then you will be able to practice for that long. How many people you know started out as brilliant, smart and talented individuals in their career and were destined for the top but never made it there? Many, right? The reasons why they did not make it the top is because they lost the will power to keep practicing and learning about their craft. This stopped their progress towards success.
If you want to be successful you need to start finding ways to harness your willpower. Remember what Mahatma Gandhi said:
“Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will."
Learn to harness the inner will and you will achieve success. The willpower will get you started when others are afraid, will keep you going even after encountering challenges and lastly will help you horn your skills and become the best that you can be. This will make you unstoppable and open the floodgates of success for you.
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