Have Grit — Persistence over the long haul is key
Know Exactly How Far You Have Left to Go — Monitor your progress
Get Specific — Have a crystal-clear idea of exactly what success will look like
Seize the Moment to Act on Your Goals — Know in advance what you will do, and when and where you will do it
Focus on What You Will Do, Not What You Won’t Do — Instead of focusing on bad habits, it’s more effective to replace them with better ones.
Build your Willpower Muscle — If you don’t have enough willpower, you can get more using it.
Focus on Getting Better, Rather than Being Good — Think about your goals as opportunities to improve, rather than to prove yourself
Be a Realistic Optimist — Visualize how you will make success happen by overcoming obstacles
Don’t Tempt Fate — No one has willpower all the time, so don’t push your luck

Read the full blog post here.

Will power is your inner strength to make decisions and act on them regardless of internal resistances. The Power of Will exists to help you cope with life’s challenges. It drives you to attain goals or apply your talents irrespective of your emotional state. It gives you the strength to overcome inertia and build momentum, and empowers you to achieve what you want by sticking to the job till it is done. Your Power of Will is strengthened whenever you reject instant gratification and instead choose to concentrate on something worthwhile.

The Power of Will helps you to gather your energies and focus them in a positive direction. Let’s say laziness prevents you from going on a planned morning walk. This is where you need to apply your Power of Will. This power can help you to overcome bad habits such as overeating, laziness,
procrastination and indiscipline.

The Power of Will prospers when you develop the ability to control unnecessary and harmful impulses. It improves the ability to arrive at a decision and follow it through with perseverance until its successful completion. When you decide upon a list of things and behaviour that you will no longer accept from yourself, your decision-making ability grows and so does your will power.

The three important factors that affect the development of your Power of Will are:
1) Self-discipline
2) Self-control
3) Self-determination

1) Self-discipline helps you do the right things in the right way at the right time, whether you like doing them or not. It involves setting standards that you always adhere to.

You are blessed with a free will; it is through self-discipline that you can train your will to overcome obstacles. Self-discipline may be used to lose weight, take up exercise or form a daily routine. It helps you persevere and rise above procrastination, laziness and indecisiveness. Self-discipline helps you respond to all tasks with the appropriate behaviour.

2) Self-control keeps a check over your internal universe—your thoughts and emotions—to gain control over your will and actions, which create the universe outside you.

According to an ancient Indian proverb, ‘Before conquering the world, the king has to first conquer himself.’ This holds true even today. To become successful, you must increase your Power of Will and exercise control over your thoughts, emotions, will and reactions. The more you can do this, the more successful you will become.

Self-control helps you to focus on your job. You are a treasure trove of energy and power. These can be best utilized when you stop succumbing to your cravings and whims. Once you start controlling unprofitable thoughts and become aware of the choices you make every day—even every hour—you start becoming more powerful from within.

3) Self-determination is your decision-making ability. Self-determination helps you to stick to your resolutions. Maybe you have tried to change your eating habits but failed to do so because of a lack of inner strength and persistence. Most people have had such an experience. Once you have determined to shun laziness and take control over your emotions, you will develop the ability to stick to your resolutions. You are born to be rich, famous, successful, happy and healthy. If you have fallen short on any of these counts, it only means that you need to examine the state of your spiritual orientation. Your inner voice will guide you towards the right path. You must listen to your feelings, notice what is working and what is not. Resolve to change your life. Self-determination is the vital first step.

Two Action Steps:

Step 1: Keep a check over your negative emotions: Negative energies will try to pull you down like gravity. They may draw your attention to minor things and distract you from your real goals. So, beware of them and remain focused on your larger goals.

Step 2: Reject instant gratification: If you see an ice-cream parlour while walking down a street and are tempted to have your favourite flavour, do not give in to temptation. This way you will learn how to postpone gratification.

Success Mantra: Develop your willpower by using self-determination and self-discipline to keep a check over your negative emotions, and do what is necessary.

©Shishir Srivsatava, Motivational Speaker and Author ‘The Eight Powers within You’
www.shishirsrivastava.org and www.eightpowers.com

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