Humans are weak. Not just in body strength but also in willpower especially if compared with animals. Sure, we might be smarter but animals in general stick with a decision or plan that's made, as it’s in their instinct and they are more simple-minded with lesser temptations. But for some of us, we have a weaker will than others.
Those of us with weaker will often find ourselves being unable to stick with a plan that we ourselves came up with or did unsavoury things that we kept telling ourselves to not do. All kinds of excuses came out during these times trying to convince ourselves that we could always try again next time. And next and next and next and…. well, I'm sure you get the idea. When people tell us that we should change or that we should get up and do something, almost anything we said would seem like merely an excuse. I mean, could you imagine telling your parents that you did not study consistently and instead started watching youtube was because you had a “weak will”? The more likely reason was simply that you would rather do that, but those with stronger will are able to block out such distractions forcefully.
Furthermore, it is definitely tough to say that you would try to learn to be stronger willed, to have more determination when you are unable to that because why? Because you have zero strength to do that. How are we supposed to solve it? try your best? as if that would work when you do not have the will to even try sometimes.
A Possible Solution
The first step is always both the simplest yet one of the hardest. You have to identify and admit that you have a weak will, that your determination and concentration is weaker than others. You would have to humble yourself, no more thoughts of “I could do this if I actually tried, I just don’t feel like trying yet that's all.” It is good to have some confidence but too much pride would keep you in the same spot.
The second step would be to get someone close to you to help you keep track of things and consult for the last step.
The third and last step is simply to get rid of or put away all the things that are keeping you from doing something or have that person keep tabs on you. It will be tough but you do what you must. An example would be like cleaning your room, have someone consistently check up on you and annoy you to the point that the annoyance from that person is of higher value than lazing around. Or let’s say that you keep getting distracted from work, put away all the toys in your room until you are done with your work.
The idea behind this solution is that if there is nothing that would put a person to need to have a strong will, there would be no need for a weak will to be a problem. Of course, this idea can be considered a temporal evasion of responsibilities, but it does get some of the job done.
Ps: The idea for this solution was partly taken from the marshmallow test, while the marshmallow test was a test to see a child’s future success, it made me wonder what if the children who had weaker willpower was not even given the temptation of a marshmallow in front of them, would they not definitely get the two marshmallows?
A Slow And Steady Growth
However, it is always best to try and slowly grow yourself to have stronger willpower, as you might not be always able to have the option of having less or no temptation, and the close person might not always be there. What I have tried before is to slowly remove the outside help or put back some of the temptations to help train my willpower. Of course, you should not force yourself and if you feel that that is your limit, you should stop.
I wish you all the best in your journey to have a stronger will and resist temptations.
