Is willpower really the way?
So often I hear people saying: ‘Just use willpower!’
‘Willpower, that’s what you need to stick to that diet, to get your work done, to get ahead in life, to…’
Problem is, willpower doesn’t work?
Why?
Because you have to ‘will’ yourself to do it, which to be completely honest, is hard work.
You have to keep it up, you have to keep ‘willing’ yourself, over and over again.
It’s a very ‘forced’ way of doing things.
And using force is coming from an ego (fear) space, not from a place of love and truth.
(For more info on the ego, read my blog: Is your ego controlling your life?).
Life is not meant to be hard, despite what you may currently believe.
Life isn’t meant to come from a place of ‘force’.
Neither do you want to be doing things because you believe you ‘should’ do them.
Reflect on your life now…
Where do you rely on your iron will to get things done?
Are you exhausted by how much willpower you need to exert to stay on track to achieve your goals?
Resistance, force and control do not feel good – yet these are all attributes of using willpower.
Ok, ok, I hear you say: So what is the alternative?
Inspiration.
When we feel inspired to do something we just do it.
There is no ‘telling’ ourself to do it.
There is no ‘forcing’ ourself to do it.
We do it because we ‘want’ to, not because we ‘should’.
We do it because we are drawn to do it, and we’re doing it before we even realise it.
It happens naturally with ease.
It’s like we don’t even think about going to that yoga class because we just go.
We are inspired to go.
We are inspired to finish that report because we feel a rush of inspiration to complete it.
So where does inspiration come from?
Your soul.
Your True Self.
Whatever label you like to give it, inspiration comes from inside!
When you are connected to yourself and connected to your life you need very little of the old type of willpower because you are inspired to do the things you do.
Hence they happen naturally.
They flow with ease.
Struggle disappears and happiness and love take its place.
We have two options in life: We can follow the guidance of our ego (and need to enforce willpower to get things done) or we can follow the guidance of our True Self or Soul (and let inspiration guide our actions).
Which would you prefer?
Joyful inspiration or forceful willpower?
When a client comes to me and say they want to lose weight and get fit, instead of telling them to go to the gym five days a week, I ask them: What physical activities inspire you?
Unless you feel inspired to do something, you’ll either stop doing it soon after starting, or you’ll have to maintain massive amounts of willpower (in which case it won’t be a lot of fun).
In anything in life, if there’s something you want to achieve, some goal you want to reach, take a moment to be still and listen to yourself.
Be with yourself long enough to find out the inspirational way of doing it as opposed to telling yourself you ‘should’ do it this way like everyone else (in which case you’ll have to give your willpower a huge workout).
Give yourself permission to let your inspiration guide you – allow yourself to be drawn to things in life – and what you’ll soon notice is that life becomes a lot easier, more fun and you won’t have to use willpower to get things done.
Want help connecting in to your inner guide so life can inspire you?