It is not easy to muster sufficient
self-control to repeat something tedious everyday especially something you are
not interested at all. It can be a torture and a waste of time if a task is
carried out simply for the sake of doing it without clear motivation and
rewards. For people who are highly self-disciplined and with clearer
objective in mind, they are more likely to stick to their daily routines and
outperform their more impulsive peers in longer term on every performance variables.
In simple words, Impulsive momentum can last only a short period of time and
for longer run, willpower is definitely necessary to go through all the ups and
downs without being distracted from the original track.
Am I a person with strong willpower? My
answer would be “ it depends on the situation”. Even though, it is quite often that
I am lagged behind in my learning schedule and cannot keep pace with the
targets that I set, but perhaps I overcommit myself always or the targets are too
ambitious and not realistic enough. Appropriate expectation on my own capability
and the limitation of time must be taken into consideration while making a plan
to avoid disappointment that come afterwards when the original schedule has to
be modified repeatedly to suit the changing dates.
I read an article this morning and it
said that if one wants to do something that requires willpower—like going for a
long jog after work—one has to conserve his willpower muscle during the day,”
“If one uses it up too early on tedious tasks like participating in a long
brainstorming meeting or doing something that requires high concentration for a
long period of time, all the strength will be gone by the time one gets home.
Very often, there is less willingness to do what has been planned and choosing
an easy way out is more likely to happen. I really agree with this point as it
happened so many times in my life. I cancelled my visit to gym every time after
working very hard in office especially when I was required to prepare something
urgently needed or visit to a site. I didn’t feel like working out in gym even though I
was aware of the importance of exercising a few times per week but I simply didn’t
feel the motivation to do it.
The article also has an interesting discussion
on whether it is possible to exercise willpower muscles in order to make them
stronger like the same way using dumbbells strengthen biceps. It is an
inspiring question that helps us to look at the problem from other perspective.
In addition to understanding the obstacles in carry out our daily routines
because of the lacking of willpower, we are actually focusing on how we can strengthen
the willpower muscle in one part of our lives and make use of the momentum slowly
creating a possible spilling effect that can touch every aspect of our lives.
Suddenly, I feel un urge to find out how could I strength my willpower so that I
can be better in the areas I want myself to be. Haha.
(528 words)
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