Why Willpower and Discipline Are Essential Ingredients for Carrying Out Resolutions

Willpower and self-discipline are essential ingredients in following through with your resolutions and carrying them out.

We all make new resolutions almost every day, but do we carry them out? In most cases, we don’t.

Resolutions are meaningless words unless you stick with them and do everything to carry them out.

Do You Make Emotional Resolutions?

Most people make emotional resolutions on the spur of the moment, without thinking whether they really want to commit themselves to this or that resolution. They don’t think about what carrying out the resolution entails and what could be the consequences.

Sometimes, a sudden desire arises in us to do something, change our behavior or achieve a certain goal. This desire arises in response to a certain situation or event and is not something we thought about deliberately.

We might see a movie, read a book, listen to a lecture, or hear about someone’s success story, and this prompts us to make a certain resolution to achieve what we have read, heard or seen.

We often make promises to ourselves based on emotions without using common sense and considering our real needs. Such resolutions do not last long.

Sometimes, we might start enthusiastically doing something about those decisions. The problem is that after a while, the enthusiasm fades away, and we quit what we have started doing.

These emotional resolutions might relate to losing weight, changing habits, changing our lifestyle, exercising, or following a certain goal.

Resolutions made in response to emotional triggers are often short-lived.

If you wish to carry out your resolutions, you need willpower, self-discipline, and perseverance to back them up.

Making resolutions, such as New Year resolutions, is often an emotional act. Such resolutions, if made without thinking and deliberation, do not last long.

We often make resolutions and promises, and then try to change our behavior accordingly.

At times, we might begin to study, look for a job, seek a partner, or try to work out or lose weight. We might start carrying out our resolutions, but this goes on only for a short while.

We start with much noise, but end in silence. We make resolutions enthusiastically and optimistically, but then we lose our enthusiasm and stop doing what we promised ourselves to do.

This kind of behavior shows lack of willpower and discipline, and makes us lose faith in our ability to follow our resolutions and promises.

Feelings, Emotions and Resolutions

The driving powers of most resolutions are feelings and emotions, but feelings and emotions are not stable and not constant.

One moment you might feel you can conquer the world, and a moment later you feel weak, lazy and lacking motivation. At such moments, you feel that your resolution is impossible to achieve.

A resolution made on the spur of the moment is usually useless and is often forgotten.

The emotion that triggered the resolution might disappear a short while later, and there will be no desire left to carry on with the resolution.

Often, there is inner resistance and the reluctancy to get out of one’s comfort zone.

Another important point I would like to mention is that subconscious habits are stronger than resolutions. They can overcome any decision and desire for change.

Lack of enough motivation, and the inability to persevere, might lead you to believe that you lack willpower and backbone. However, this is not true, since the decision you made was not really important for you or not right for you. It was just a passing desire.

At other times, it’s really the lack of inner strength and perseverance that stand in your way. You don’t have the inner strength to stick with your resolution. In this case, you need a way to boost your inner strength, stickiness and perseverance.

Often, resolutions do not involve any willpower followed by perseverance, but only temporary emotions and whims. This is not enough to go through with decisions, plans and goals.

Why Willpower and Discipline are Essential for Making Resolutions

Real willpower and self-discipline are not dependent on passing feelings, emotions, or temporary enthusiasm and optimism.

Regular training of your willpower and self-discipline results in attaining real power, which would always be available for you to use. Then, you will be able to back up and follow any resolution you make.

You will not quit what you start doing, you will achieve results, and enjoy the happiness and satisfaction that ensues.

Willpower and self-discipline are like a master key, which you can use to open the doors leading to fulfillment, satisfaction and achievement.

If you are willing and ready to devote the necessary time to develop and strengthen your willpower and self-discipline, you will be highly rewarded. How far you will go depends on how much time, effort and earnestness you are willing to invest in this project.

Carrying out Resolutions Takes Time

Nowadays, people want immediate results. They lack the patience and the perseverance to follow their resolutions. However, every achievement in life, and every important skill you set out to develop, require patience and perseverance.

Do you want to make emotional resolutions, which you will not follow, and then get disappointed, or make real and well-thought resolutions, and follow them through?

To achieve results, you need to think well before making a resolution. You need to ascertain that it is something you really and truly want, and that you are willing to spend on it time, energy, and money, if necessary.

It’s also good to think of all the pros and cons of carrying out your decision and resolve, before making them. Then, your chances to continue without quitting would be greater.

Don’t be impatient, desiring to get immediate results. You can carry out minor and not so important decisions quite fast. However, bigger, and more important resolutions need time, and therefore, patience.

You Need to Commit to Your Resolution

After making a resolution you need to commit yourself to carry out this resolution. And this commitment should be real, not just words.

Yes, it’s tough, and you might lose your enthusiasm and interest. However, if you thought well before making the resolution, chances are good that you will continue with it.

If you make one resolution after another, and break each one after a while, you will teach your mind not to believe you. You will expect that would abandon your resolutions, and anticipate failure.

You need stickiness, resolution, confidence, and faith in yourself. You gain these traits of character by strengthening your willpower and self-discipline. This an option open for everyone.

It’s not so difficult to develop these two skills. If you are earnest about getting these skills, I recommend that you read my book Build up Strong Willpower and Self Discipline, where you can find all the guidance and advice you need, together with simple, but powerful exercises.