The Root of Willpower

Over the last year I have read every book or article I could find on the subjects of willpower and self-discipline. As we entered challenging economic times, I felt that an understanding of how people dealt with adversity would be important.

Here is what I have concluded:

All of willpower and self-discipline is about an understanding of how your mind works. Willpower is really just a manifestation of focus and here are the five steps you need to understand in order to improve your focus:

1. Awareness - during stressful times you need to listen to your thoughts. What exactly is going on in your mind when you are feeling challenged?

2. Treat thoughts as things - one of the best-selling books ever written about success is titled Think & Grow Rich, by Napoleon Hill. This book (only partly about money) advocates for treating thoughts as tangible objects which can be moved in and out of your mind.

3. Understand the clutter - your mind is bombarded with thoughts and impulses throughout the day. Freud described the mind as “an arena, a sort of tumbling ground for the struggle of antagonistic impulses.” The goal is to give life to the positive thoughts and eject the negative ones.

4. You are not your thoughts - someone is hearing your thoughts. That someone is you - there is a separation between the genesis of thought, and the hearing of the thought. You control that gap. As Eckhart Tolle wrote: “When you listen to a thought, you are aware of yourself as a witness to the thought. The thought then loses its power over you.”

5. Dominant thoughts - your mind can only process one dominant thought at a time. By ejecting from your mind (thoughts are things) negativism, and replacing it with a positive dominant thought, you control what goes on in your mind. The martial
artist, Bruce Lee, would actually write negative thoughts on a piece of paper and then set it on fire to emphasize this process.

The root of willpower is focus - keeping your mind where it needs to be. Those who develop this talent are bound to achieve a high level of success. Here is a quote I like from a yogi named Eknath Easwaren who wrote Strength in the Storm:

“We live where our attention is … complete concentration is the secret of genius in any field.”

Jim Randel is the founder and co-author of The Skinny On™ series. His most recent book The Skinny On Credit Cards: How to Master the Credit Card Game is available at www.TheSkinnyOn.com.