Willpower May Not Be the Power You Need to Accomplish Your Goals

As we continue to go through this time of great change and uncertainty it’s not an option of if we want to learn, but rather what and how. Last week we talked about Guardrail #5 on the S Curve—Step Back to Grow. I wanted to continue with that theme this week.

Many of the challenges for those of us working from home, sometimes for the first time, is just getting work done on a consistent basis. Kids, pets, and other distractions often come up.

We feel like if we just had more discipline or willpower, our work would get done. Rather than a problem that can be addressed logically, it feels like a personal failure when the work doesn’t happen. You are a successful person who has done a number of things "right" to get where you are in your career and life ––how is this tripping you up now?

While self-motivation, discipline, and routine are important, research has shown they might have less impact than we think on our ability to perform.

Your potential is shaped by what surrounds you.–Benjamin Hardy

In my podcast Disrupt Yourself, I recently talked with Benjamin Hardy, foster parent to three children, one of the top contributors on Medium, a Ph.D. in psychology, and author of the powerful and compelling book, Willpower Doesn’t Work.

While working on this book, Benjamin found that most self-improvement books, while helpful, ignore a key finding from psychology that the environment has a powerful influence on behavior, identity, thoughts, and emotions. “You and your environment are two parts of the same whole,” Benjamin said. “You really can't change your life unless you also change your environment. A lot of people think that change happens from the inside out, which it sometimes does, but mostly happens from outside in.”

Environment versus willpower can also be thought of an energy exchange.

ow much of that energy does willpower take up during a day? By removing things from your environment that take up energy (e.g. using software that blocks time-wasting websites during working hours) and adding things that improve your energy (e.g. proper music, sights, and smells into your workplace), you add to your ability to focus on what matters.

When it comes to behavior, create an environment where the change can occur. If you are addicted to technology, for example, and want to look at your phone less, tweak your environment by choosing where to put your phone during the day. Leave your phone in your car, or charge it at night in your office and use an alarm clock so you don't look at it first thing in the morning.

A more challenging, but very important aspect of managing your environment is the people we surround ourselves with. Other people’s perception of us can hold us back, and real change may require finding a new audience who will see us differently. This doesn’t necessarily mean dumping your peer group, but it does mean seeking out people that can see us in a new context in the person we are becoming. You want to put yourself in settings that require you to show up in ways that reflect who you want to be.

Most people are living small, not because they lack the inherent talent, but because their situation isn’t demanding more of them.–Benjamin Hardy

When it comes to environment versus willpower, think about what’s on the top of your mind right now. What do you want to get done in the next six months? How can you change what surrounds you? What does the situation demand of you that you are more likely to achieve your goal? It may be extreme, like removing yourself from an unhealthy environment. It can be making new commitments and creating new accountability or surrounding yourself and your brain with ideas that inspire you, invite you, and demand you do better. Or, it can be as simple as cleaning your house so that you can think. How will you use your power create an environment that works for you and your goals?

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Whitney Johnson is the founder and CEO of WLJ Advisors, a boutique consultancy that helps leaders and the people they work with become fluent in the language of growth. Whitney is one of the leading management thinkers in the world, according to Thinkers50, the author of the bestselling Build an A Team and critically-acclaimed Disrupt Yourself, both published by Harvard Business Press. She is a world-class keynote speaker, frequent lecturer for Harvard Business School's Corporate Learning and an advisor to CEOs. She is a member of the original cohort of Dr. Marshall Goldsmith's 100 Coaches, and was selected as MG100 / Thinkers50 #1 Coach on Talent. Whitney has 1.8 million followers on LinkedIn, where she was selected as a Top Voice in 2018, and her course on Fundamentals of Entrepreneurship has been viewed more than 1 million times.?