Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Furthur use of the Will

“Do not pray for easy lives. Pray to be stronger men! Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers. Pray for power equal to your tasks.” - Phillip Brooks

If we want things to change, we must study the use of the will. If you have excellent will power, you can accomplish whatever you want.

Practicing the will can be done every day. Notice when you want or need to do something, but you find excuses not to do it. This is where the will can be practiced.

Practice it on little things at first - washing the dishes now instead of waiting for them to pile up, cleaning your apartment even though you don't feel like it, writing an email to someone even though it's going to take time and effort, going to the gym even though it's freezing out (like this morning in NYC) or - writing practice goals on an index card and then doing them one by one. All of this strengthens the will. Make it into a game - play with this idea.

With time, your will will become very strong. You'll begin to face challenges straight away and take action even though you may not feel comfortable with them. We are using the will to get out of the comfort zone. This is how we grow and learn.

In the following days I will write about efficient action.

1 comment:

Aleksandar said...

This post reminded me of some joke I read somwhere (but very inspirationa though,it is some variation on Aristotles-how to get wisdom)
Here it is:
-Steve Vai Secret to Playing Guitar:
"A young man asked Steve Vai the secret to playing guitar. Vai told the
young man to meet him near the river the next morning. They met. Vai asked
the young man to walk with him toward the river. When the water got up to
their neck, Vai took the young man by surprise and ducked him into the
water. The boy struggled to get out but Vai was strong and kept him there
until the boy started turning blue. Vai pulled his head out of the water
and the first thing the young man did was to gasp and take a deep breath
of air. Steve Vai asked, 'What did you want the most when you were there?"
The boy replied, "Air".Vai said, "That is the secret to playing guitar.
When you want it as badly as you wanted the air, then you will get it."
There is no other secret."

A burning desire is the starting point of all accomplishment. Just like a
small fire cannot give much heat, a weak desire cannot produce great
results.