How to Develop Strong Willpower the "Useless" Way

Concepts and opinions on goal-setting and new year's resolutions or any other resolutions are as many as there are thinking people in the world. Most of the logical concepts are repetitions or echoes of one another's ideas with slight modifications to fit individual differences. Some goals are carried out to succeed but majority are bound to be just brilliant ideas without seeing its dawn.

One of the reasons why goals are not achieved regardless of its brilliance, eloquence and sensibility, is the human-ness of the creator of the goal, given that he was the one who created it in the first place. It's very human to be affected by his environment in every given time and place of one's existence. The people, the surrounding, the circumstances, even the weather and some fortuitous events including every component in a moment of one's life and not to mention the most important foundation that lies within an individual, affect the success or failure in any if not in many ways the fate of any brilliantly created goals.

Success in the achievement of a goal is dependent most importantly on the power to achieve, such power that lies within an individual; it's a personality thing.

To illustrate, I'd like to borrow the story of Apostle Peter from the Bible,which I summarize this way;

"Jesus was on the beach at dawn when the apostles were at sea, fishing. Peter saw him and asked Jesus if he can walk on top of the water towards Him; he then started to walk with that solid trust on Jesus' power to keep him on top; yet just hearing a slight hissing sound of the wind from another direction distracted his trust that he instantly sank."

There are various distractions not only in the surrounding but more seriously are those from within us. The " Sin of Omission" or procrastination caused by some perceived energy-draining incident of an unguarded or careless moment; the distractions absorbed by the five senses; from hearing, seeing, smelling, touching and so forth will weaken our balance in a moment's miss-step; even a thought, a habitual thought pattern that had been within us whether we are aware of it or not. After all, it's us, human beings, human as we are with all the billions of complications within and around us, who created the goal with the aim to live a fulfilling life.

Are goals bound to fail because we are "only" human? The good news is we are also gifted with a WILL, and this is the freedom to choose and to achieve what we choose; hence we have to check the strength of our willpower before anything else.

Strong Willpower is a result of consistent exercise and self-discipline. Purposeful physical exercises such as to lose weight and the likes are illustrative of a purposeful mental or willpower exercises to develop a strong willpower; in fact willpower exercises include physical and behavioural demonstrations.

In the following suggestions of willpower exercises the only rule is "don't question the exercises, just do it" otherwise you will go back to your habitual rationalization and the exercises will lost its value.

Here are five effective "useless exercises" to develop a strong willpower; (you can do all of them or choose just one;

1. Find a place where nobody and nothing can see or distract you. Set a consistent time every day. Do this "useless" exercise ten minutes a day for 30 days.

Stand on a chair without going down for ten minutes.

2. Write the following statement 100 times every day for thirty days.

"I will write a useless exercise."

3. For five minutes a day, for thirty days and in a place where you cannot be distracted, repeat the following to yourself, aloud or quietly while racing the clock;

"I will do this."

4. Also in a place where nobody and nothing can distract you, do the following for ten minutes;

Walk back and forth from wall to wall in a room.

5. For five minutes a day and for thirty days, same time every day, do the following;

Step up and down a chair. Forward step up, step back down.

There you go; just do them in the spirit of fun. I did them and I got the reputation of being straightforward and with unbending determination. Remember; "Don't question." Good luck guys.