Finding the will to change your life


credit: johnnyalive

 
From time to time I have a look at my blog stats. How people found me, how many people visited on a particular day, how many went “ooh yuk!” in under 10 seconds – stuff like that! (Side note – I used to be a compulsive stats viewer, checking every couple hours but I strongly advise getting beyond this and checking every few days or once a week instead! It does great things for your sanity and helps get the focus back onto writing whatever you want rather than being driven by stats.)

But I digress. Today I had a look at some of my blog stats, and as part of this I had a look at some of the search terms people had used to come across my site. Why do I do this? Well, frankly I like the fact that at least someone is reading what I have to say! And I’m curious as to what people are looking for.. Here’s some of the google keywords from this week:

  • get excited about living life
  • how to lose friends and make no one like you
  • the desire to be liked
  • the fragility of love
  • change fahrenheit to centigrade (what the heck?!)
  • personal quotable quotes

And then there it was. Staring me right in the face:

  • finding the will to change your life

Wow… finding the will to change your life. I completely love it. Isn’t this really what many of us desire? Notice it’s not “how to change my life”, “where to start changing” or “what do I do first?”, but finding the will. In other words, what do we do when we know we want to make changes, we know there are so many things we can do better and improve upon, but need a bit of a nudge to get us there? How exactly do we not only create more desire for change, but also find the will to change our lives?

The answer is not an easy one, because people are complex! We all have different backgrounds, ideas, dreams. What works for you may not work for me, and vise-versa. Regardless, I’d like to put forth a few questions:

1. How does will power come about exactly? What drives us to want to put that extra effort in and get things done? Does it all come intrinsically, therefore meaning some people will never have it? Or is it a learned skill, one where practice makes perfect?

2. Can anyone do it?


credit: pimpexposure

 

Defining what we want

Answers.com defines willpower as:

“The strength of will to carry out one’s decisions, wishes, or plans.”
Or, in other words, creating a vision or plan for your life and having enough strength of character to carry out that plan.

Another definition from the same source is one I really like, check it out: “Unwavering firmness of character, action, or will.”

Unwavering firmness of character, action or will… Marvellous! I’ll have a double helping, thanks..

Have you, like me, ever really thought about the things you want to change in your life? I’m talking about being very specific. Ever wondered about finding the will to carry out those changes? Where do we start?

Putting it all together

By definition will power involves having the strength to carry out plans, ideas. The best place to start therefore is to make sure you have some kind of idea of what you want! Sounds simple, I know, but believe me – it’s difficult to find the will to change your life when you don’t know specifically what you want out of life.

For me, I’ve started by identifying the things I actually want to do and have.

This exercise can not be done without a pen and paper! I know what you’re thinking, I’ve read similar opening lines before and plowed on with my reading, completely skipping the exercise. Humor yourself and go and grab a pen! It takes less than five minutes, and can be more difficult than you actually think.

Brainstorm for a few minutes and write all the things down that you would like to do and have. Everything. This includes trips, traveling, holidays, material things, cars, boats – whatever. I’ve discovered this is a tough task to complete! What would you go and do right now if you have 20 million dollars in the bank? After you get past the things you think you want but really don’t need ;) you get to the really great part: discovering what would excite you, make you enjoy life more. These are the things that we want to achieve, that are the basis for finding the will to change our lives. Ok, your five minutes starts…….. now!
 
Crunch time. Now’s a great time to reflect on your current life. Can you accomplish all the things you wrote down? (Or didn’t write down, for those of you who kept reading!) Why not? Is it because your current existence is incredibly limiting? Or is it because you don’t have “unwavering firmness of character, action or will”? In my own life I’ve found it’s easy to blame circumstances. “I don’t have enough income, cash flow…”, “I could never afford that…” “I don’t earn enough…”

Why not start to take action that will allow you to accomplish what’s on your list? When I am completely honest with myself, I’d have to say that for me it’s because I’ve become comfortable with where I’m at. Complacency. I make enough to pay the bills, have a holiday occasionally, buy a bottle of wine… But certainly not enough to live out my dreams, or accomplish my brainstorming list.

But that’s all about to change.

Finding the Will to Change Your Life

There’s no magic pile of money waiting for you with no effort required. Sorry to disappoint you! Waiting for a huge payout to come from nowhere is about as productive as buying lottery tickets. Finding the will the change your life comes from discovering what you want, brainstorming what you want to accomplish, formulating a plan and sticking with it.

Are you ready for that again?

  • Discover what you want (by brainstorming and writing it down).
  • Formulate a plan. Let me suggest you start by reading The Four Hour Work Week by Timothy Ferriss. It’s an incredibly thought provoking read packed with ways to start making more, working less and enjoying life more. You can buy it from Amazon for around $14, money well worth spending.
  • Stick with it. This one’s not rocket science, but can be easier said than done. With a little more willpower and action, we can accomplish so much. Don’t give up just because something isn’t working straight away.

And regarding my earlier questions? I don’t think everyone wants to change their life. Many people say things like “it’d be nice to have more money”. Or maybe it’s a new car, going on a holiday… But when it comes down to making changes to accomplish these things, they don’t try to follow through. And I’m just as guilty of falling into this pattern! One thing I’m realising more and more this year is that dreams don’t have to remain as just pipe dreams however – accomplishing what we want out of life takes a decision to make it happen, and the will power to follow through.

Can anybody do it? I’m not so sure. If you’re serious about creating a better life, really determined, and have started by perhaps researching ways to have more free time or create more cash flow, that’s a great first step. Keep going! If you’re that guy at work who whines how he wishes his life was better but does nothing about it however, well I’m not so sure that kind of personality will ever have enough will power to accomplish change.

What has worked for you – has will power alone been enough to make changes in your life?

How have you started to create the changes and lifestyle you want to live?