Willpower is a capacity that we can learn and develop. It's like a muscle, you can train. Just as physical and mental preparation is essential for athletes, it is also a fundamental task for us to prepare ourselves to achieve our goals.

Etymologically, the word will come from the Latin Voluntas-atis, which means to want. But this concept involves many other factors such as the ability to make decisions, choosing one possibility among several, the tendency or desire for something that allows us the opportunity to discover, the determination that is specific and related to the ability to evaluate and clarify our goals. , and action, as a definitive factor for the implementation of what we want.

When the will has acquired strength and vigor, it helps us to achieve our desires and ideas, constituting that necessary driving force that pushes us to walk forward despite the difficulties. 

Everything begins with a desire, but to achieve it, it is not enough to long for it, but that desire must be transformed into something that we want, that is, something guided by our will and motivation.

Will at first is to choose, and when we choose we also renounce, even when we do not, we are taking an election.

Choosing in the case of the will is to bet on something that excites us that is in the distance, and what we will arrive with a dose of effort and patience. Our goal is the stimulus for action, especially in the most complicated moments. But really what is dragging us is our motivation. Sometimes, we can see the goal as positive but the process to reach this port, difficult and expensive, how to foster our willpower here?

The first thing is to know if it is something that we really want to achieve and when we get the answer, if this is affirmative we will have to know how to make our demand attractive by not losing sight of our horizon, since all efforts in one way or another generate a reward because only who knows how to wait has the ability to use the will without the haste to collect immediate fruits, surrendering with ardor to the achievement of its objective.

If we think about it, the true objective of the will shall lead to victory over ourselves.

Educating Will

We have already mentioned it before, the will is like a muscle that can be trained. But how can we do it? For this, we must have some clear questions.

The will uses a gradual and progressive learning, through the repetition of actions in which sometimes we are defeated, we fight and fall but where we have enough strength to get up again. It is as if we were acquiring habits, requiring a lot of effort in the first moments.

One of the fundamental things is to be clear that the benefits in the majority of the occasions will not be obtained immediately, but that we walk in a long-term trajectory in which the freedom to make decisions constitutes one of the fundamental factors of the nucleus of the will, since it starts our path towards the realization of our personal project, which is characterized by several struggles against obstacles, that if we win, will allow us to reach the peak of our development.

The motivation must be our main engine that will generate the necessary force towards the contents that move it. And for that, we have to know what we want to prepare the will for the fight, having our clear and well-defined objectives, renouncing everything that distracts us. We must bear in mind that we are cultivating what will be our fruits in the future, our will shall be that seed that we have planted and that will grow, if we work for it, bearing fruit as our personal struggle does not yield, insisting one and again in your care and growth. Thus, we will be governing ourselves more by developing our capacity of will, through perseverance.

Balancing instruments in proportion to the proposed objectives is also an important task, seeking harmony between ends and means, knowing our strengths and weaknesses, developing strategies for this, achieving a good proportion between our skills and limitations.

And let's not forget, that the education process has no end because life continually surprises us with unexpected situations that force us to reorganize the skeleton of our personal trajectory, that's why the will, specifically its education is something continuous.

Finally, if at some point we feel that we do not have the willpower, we can ask ourselves what we think is due.

Are you doing something you really want? Do you think it's worth the effort? Do you think you are going to be able to achieve it? Why? Ask yourself!

With these questions, we can get to the core of our lack of will and find out what is the real cause behind it. As often, our style of thinking and beliefs often limit us in achieving our goals if we do not remain alert.

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