How many times have you said “yeah, I’m just building up the willpower to push all the way through that?”

Or heard the excuse, “if I only had more willpower, this time it would work!”

If you saw my previous post about Motivation vs. Discipline, you might know where this is going already. But this might just be the thing that felt missing from that article.

But to recap the ideas in that blog post, here’s how it went.

The two terms “motivation” and “discipline” are defined as such, respectively:

Motivation: (n) The general desire or willingness of someone to do something.
Discipline: (v) To train by instruction and exercise; drill.

Motivation is something we can’t control, Discipline is something we can.
By working toward discipline in your life, you are setting the foundation of success.
Habits control the majority of what we do, and if you create good habits, you’re far more likely to succeed at that “crazy” goal you’re setting.

Photo by christopher lemercier on Unsplash

Now, to address how “willpower” comes into this mix.

This article on Inc.com by Benjamin P. Hardy was sent to me by my friend Destiny Lalane recently.

He starts out writing about how “willpower” won’t get us to success, and too many of us rely on it for our goals to be achieved.

He also notes that this concept of Willpower should be treated like a muscle – if we exercise its use, we make our reserve bigger and can use it for bigger goals as we practice it more. There is evidence to prove this point.

I agree with the above, but then he goes on to try and change the meaning of the word Willpower.

Let’s define it really fast:

Willpower: (n) control exerted to do something or restrain impulses (via Google)

Hardy goes into his argument by stating that training our Willpower “muscle” and changing our environment is how we can finagle our goals into reality.

However, I’d argue that by changing environment, that’s no longer a testament to Willpower.

That’s setting yourself up for disciplined behavior change.

To clear this up even more, let’s check out the trend of noun versus verb in this scenario.

Motivation is a noun. Willpower is a noun.

Discipline is a verb; It’s something we can actively control and decide upon – sans emotions.

And while the act of training Willpower is a verb, the actual thing of Willpower itself is still a noun – i.e. something we can’t truly decide upon when it’s needed.

Willpower is the bridge between Motivation and Discipline.

At first glance, I thought I’d found a connection to define Willpower as the middle of a Venn diagram between Motivation and Discipline.

This would imply that Willpower is the combination of Motivation and Discipline.

However, if that were the case, it would mean Willpower is somehow programmable to both:

Fire us up like Motivation and
Work into the habitual nature of our minds like Discipline, causing it to last for an infinite length of time.

But I believe it’s simply the chain linking the two.

Willpower is a thing we can train like Discipline, but we have no control over its finite nature, like Motivation. This makes it the perfect transition from “initial idea” to “long-term success.”

Using Willpower to get through Resistance

This whole follow-up post came about after an enlightening chat with my friend, Jennifer Fulwiler.

Jen is a fellow serial entrepreneur and standup comic. She kept bringing up the idea that success comes to those who are willing to set goals and push through Resistance when it comes your way.

Everyone who’s unsuccessful looks at those who are and thinks, “oh, they just got lucky.”

Actually, no.

Resistance comes up for even the luckiest person out there.

In the entrepreneurial / arts worlds, the best definition for Resistance is the following:

Resistance: (n) the attempt to prevent something by action or argument.

So, in the context of that goal you’re trying to reach, Resistance is anything that attempts to prevent you from reaching it.

Those successful people have met Resistance, just like you have. They just didn’t take no for an answer.

They had a rebuttal to every form of Resistance that came their way and were willing to show their passion to the right people.

In other words, they disciplined themselves in a way that put them on track to their goal and only used Willpower when they needed it to get through Resistance.

How to use Motivation, Willpower, and Discipline to Reach Your Goals

So… what’s the end point of all this?

Motivation, Willpower, and Discipline are all different ways to deal with Resistance. But you need to know the benefits and drawbacks of each, and how to use them, in order to be effective.

Motivation

This is the first thing to hit you when you want to make a change. You’re excited and want to go balls-to-the-wall.

And then two weeks in, you’re sick of that new goal already.

The scale hasn’t moved, you haven’t booked your Netflix special, the boss hasn’t even noticed your new workplace efficiency.

The rookie mistake: thinking Motivation will carry you out to the end of the goal.

The way to use it instead: take Motivation’s initial inspiration to set up a plan for success long after the Motivation decides to leave you. After all, it’s just a noun and you can only control verbs.

Willpower

The difference between Motivation and Willpower is that Willpower can be exercised, almost making it a pseudo-verb. You can stretch out how long Willpower will last you.

When Motivation begins to fizzle, we start thinking about Willpower and that “push-through” boost if gives us mentally.

The rookie mistake: thinking that longer-lasting Willpower means we can make it to the end goal before burning out.

The way to use it instead: exercise Willpower to be longer-lasting (check out the “strengthening self-control” section of this article for how to exercise yours). Then, only put it into play when true Resistance presents itself on your way to your goal.

Think of it as that red mushroom in Mario video games that speeds you up for a few seconds.

Discipline

This is your foundation. If you lay it correctly, it will literally change your life.

People are largely habit-based in their behaviors, and by hacking this system wtith discipline – we can save our finite Motivation and Willpower for the tough times.

Because after all, starting is the hardest step (Motivation will push you) and Resistance is what gets most people to quit (pull Willpower out to fight it off).

The rookie mistake: thinking discipline is hard and refusing to do it, citing Motivation and Willpower as the “more reliable” ways to accomplish things. When in reality, Discipline is the only one of the three that’s a verb. Translation: you can control it.

The way to use it instead: start small, look at daily actions and how they impact your long-term goal. And begin by changing one thing at a time, consciously, every day. Do that one thing differently until you reach the point it’s automatic. This source says that would probably be about 66 days.

And before you start whining about that length of time, just remember that if you don’t start now, you’ll regret it in 66 days.

Get in tune with these three things, use them, and you can never dream big enough.

Write down your craziest dream. Figure out the things that need to change. And come up with habits to set your foundation.

Know that it won’t be easy. But those at the top in anything fought Resistance the whole way there.

And remember, too, that once you break this code – you’ll find others like you. There aren’t many people out there willing to take risks like you’re taking.

You’ll find your crew and they’ll be far more supportive than you’d expect. You just need to commit to hacking this system, and you’re in.

Why Willpower Will Never Power True Change