Sean Rasmussen

A few years ago, I used to work through holidays. This was not always by direct choice. Often I would be told to work by the boss. Other times, I was chasing the money. You know the term: Lose the farm? I nearly did. So money was always the elusive chase in exchange for time and lifestyle. You can read my intro to the Mindset Mastery eBook and you’ll get a fair idea what I went through physically and emotionally. This was my motivation to my Easter Message that I posted on this blog.

We are born with the power of choice

At the end of the day, though, it was my own choice to work through the holidays. I have no one to blame than myself for my own decisions and choices. And the news is this: Nor have you! We are all born with the power of Choice and Free Will. That is a powerful thing to have and something to be eternally grateful for. We make decisions every day that affect our own and others lives, for good and bad. So, with that in mind, let’s talk about Willpower or Self Control.

Willpower and your ability to change

Creating the will to change is easy – maintaining it is where most people have problems. We all have things we want to change about ourselves and we’ve been taught that if we just use our willpower, we will be able to succeed. But time and time again, this doesn’t seem to be the best advice. When it comes to making permanent changes in your life, maybe you need to rethink willpower.

When you think about what makes you tick, you need to realize that your free will is what sets you apart from other species. You aren’t acting on instinct most of the time – you’re acting based on your choices and your ability to reason out your choices. That’s free will. So when you want to change something in your life, you need to call upon this free will to make the right decision. And that’s where things get tricky.

Having the ability to choose doesn’t just mean that we should be compelled to make the right choice; it means that we have the opportunity to make any choice – even if it’s not the best one for us. Thus, calling on willpower to help us make better choices isn’t really going to work. Call on willpower only calls upon your ability to make a choice.

So, how do you make the right choice?

What does work is creating a new way of thinking in our brains that will compel us to make better choices that are more in line with our goals. By creating lists of reasons for wanting to reach a certain goal or measuring our progress as we move toward a particular goal, we can begin to see a compelling argument for moving our will into a different direction.

Our willpower isn’t the only tool we have in motivation our personal success – but it certainly can be a powerful one, once you understand how it works.

Have a most outstanding day

Sean Rasmussen
Success Communicator
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