The truth is that everyone can reach high levels of will power and self-discipline through a practical method of training. These inner power are not reserved for a few special people.

Will power and self discipline are two of the most important and useful inner powers in everyone’s life, and have always been considered as essential tools for success in all areas of life. They can be learned and developed like any other skill, yet, in spite of this, only few take any steps to develop and strengthen them in a systematic way.

What is will power?
It is the inner strength to make a decision, take action, and handle and execute any aim or task until it is accomplished, regardless of inner and outer resistance, discomfort or difficulties.

It bestows the ability to overcomes laziness, temptations and negative habits, and to carry out actions, even if they require effort, that are unpleasant and tedious or are contrary to one’s habits.

What is self discipline?
It is the rejection of instant gratification in favor of something better. It is the giving up of instant pleasure and satisfaction for a higher and better goal.

It manifests as the ability to stick to actions, thoughts and behavior, which lead to improvement and success. Self-discipline is self-control, and it manifests in spiritual, mental, emotional and physical discipline.

The purpose of self-discipline is not living a limiting or a restrictive lifestyle. It does not mean being narrow minded or living like a fakir. It is one of the pillars of success and power. It bestows the inner strength to focus all your energy on your goal, and persevere until it is accomplished.

Both of these abilities are required for daily actions and decisions, and also for making major decisions and attaining major success. They are required for doing a good job, for studying, building a business, losing weight, bodybuilding and physical exercises, maintaining good relationships, changing habits, self improvement, meditation, spiritual growth, keeping and carrying out promises and for almost everything else.

One of the most simple and effective methods to develop will power and self-discipline is by refusing to satisfy unimportant and unnecessary desires. Everyone is constantly confronted and tempted by an endless stream of desires and temptations, many of which are not really important or desirable. By learning to refuse to satisfy every one of them, you get stronger.

Refusing and rejecting useless, harmful or unnecessary desires and actions, and intentionally acting contrary to your habits, sharpen and strengthen your inner strength. By constant practice your inner power grows, just like exercising your muscles at a gym increases your physical strength. In both cases, when you need inner power or physical strength, they are available at your disposal.

Here are a few exercises:
- Don’t read the newspaper for a day or two.
- Drink water when thirsty, in spite of your desire to have a soft drink.
- Walk up and down the stairs, instead of taking the lift.
- Get down from the bus one station before or after your destination, and walk the rest of the way.
- For one week, go to sleep one hour earlier than usual.
- If you like ice cream, don’t have any, for a day or two.

These are only a few examples to show how you can develop your will power and self-discipline. You may think that practicing such exercises is being tough on yourself, maybe a little, but they add so much to the storehouse of your inner strength. By following a systematic method of training you can reach far, have more control over yourself and your life, attain your goals, improve your life, and gain satisfaction and peace of mind.

Show and prove to yourself that you are strong and in control, and practice the above exercises for a little while, before passing any judgement on them.

© Copyright Remez Sasson

Website: http://www.SuccessConsciousness.com
Books: http://www.successconsciousness.com/ebooks_and_books.htm

But what happens if you’ve been doing the doing thing for awhile after hours and you’re still not successful? You can either give up or keep on creating.

If you don’t absolutely love what you’re creating, don’t bother. The most successful creators are those that can’t help but create because they love the process. If you’re working on your project and it feels like a job more than a privilege, do something else. You already have a day job; you don’t need a second job when you get home.

On the other hand, if you enjoy creating but are getting discouraged because you’re not seeing results, the solution is to keep creating, writing, inventing, building, painting, or pursuing.

Craig Benzine was a waiter in Chicago. No, scratch that. Craig worked as a waiter in Chicago. Serving food was his job. That’s not who he was. In fact, behind his waiter uniform and coy grin was a video producer bursting to come out. Did he complain about having to wait tables for a living? Probably, but he did more than complain. Craig channeled Charles Bronson and decided to take matters into his own hands.

“I was frustrated waiting tables when I knew I could make video,” says Craig. His goal was to ditch his waiter job and get a job producing videos. The problem, as Craig tells it, was that “I didn’t have any professional experience or a portfolio of work, so I decided to make stuff on my own for free.”

Craig started creating short and entertaining YouTube videos that showcased his video production skills under the moniker Wheezy Waiter. Month after month he’d work on these videos in his limited free time. After five months, he was introduced to a firm that needed a corporate video producer. Fortunately, he had put in the time to build his portfolio. “They watched my videos and basically hired me over the phone,” Craig recalls.

So far so good, but it gets better — actually it gets worse before it gets better. Craig realized that his passion wasn’t necessarily video — that was the medium — his passion was to entertain people. So he continued to create hilarious YouTube videos while working a full-time day job. Success was slow to come, however.

The day he uploaded his 100th video to YouTube, he had just 32 subscribers. Each of his two or three minute videos can take between three to six hours to create, so you can appreciate the magnitude of creating 100 of these – it took a year and a half and countless hours of work.

During my interrogation, I tried to break him. “After years and 100 videos you only had 32 subscribers? Wasn’t that frustrating? What kept you going? Didn’t you feel like giving up?” The Wheezy Waiter, while slightly out breath, wouldn’t have any of it. He shot back, “My friends liked it. My family liked it. I thought, ‘If they all like it why can’t everyone like it?’ I knew I could get an audience.”

In fact, he wasn’t discouraged, he was thrilled. “What I always wanted to do is entertain,” he said. “If I can get 100 people watching my work that’s great. I’m going to keep going and keep trying to entertain them.”

Turns out his family and friends were right. He’s hilariously entertaining and now has almost 150,000 YouTube subscribers – that’s more viewers than Jersey Shore gets. Okay, maybe not quite that many, but Craig’s work is far more entertaining. He has such a large and passionate following that just last month he has been able to quit his job and support himself (granted, he saves a ton on razors) through his YouTube videos.

The takeaway? Stop focusing on instant success and reading columns on how to get famous overnight. Instead, create because you can’t imagine doing anything else.

- Robert Pagliarini

Download several free resources (assessment, poster, audio interview, video, and more) at www.other8hours.com and learn more about Robert’s new book, The Other 8 Hours: Maximize Your Free Time to Create New Wealth & Purpose.

Article originally published on BNET.com. Reprinted with the permission of the author.