Page 35 - TPGFBAO First Draft (5th Ed)

ESSAY #9:

IMPROVING WILLPOWER

AND DETERMINATION

People with good willpower and determination are happier and more

successful than those who are weaker in these qualities. It is a vital quality

required for most of our difficult endeavours. The quality is far more impor-

tant than talent. Willpower can be improved. Just the way we can improve

our physical muscles, so can we improve our willpower. In this chapter we

shall discuss simple practical ways to improve our willpower and determina-

tion.

Health is Important

Willpower is a mental quality. It is however dependent upon the health of

the body. A hungry and tired man will display weaker willpower compared

with a person with matching inherent qualities who has had a good sleep

and is well fed. In our efforts to improve our will power we need the support

of healthy eating, sleeping and exercise habits.

Train the ‘Willpower muscle’ with Small Steps

We can apply the analogy of physical muscles to increasing our

willpower and determination by gradually loading the muscle to increase

strength. Under training will not help and overtraining will injure the muscle

(deplete willpower). If you want to run a marathon from the level of being

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