Why is this practice necessary? Initially, such a question can only be asked from a misunderstanding of the quality of the phenomenon and its properties. When a person suddenly finds himself in a phase, he becomes convinced that he is just as real as usual, with the same sensations and body, and can touch everything around and

I will not torment you with philosophy and useless reasoning. Let's look at this from the point of view of logic and consistency.

Motivation- this is an inner strength, desire, energy, which is aimed at any business and helps to accomplish without problems necessary actions for its implementation. Willpower. This is also energy, the direction of which is to "force" you to perform an action to realize the cause. If it's even easier - "kick yourself", force yourself to do something "under pressure." I think you are familiar with both phenomena! And, perhaps, you have used both motivation and willpower more than once.

Recall the process when you wanted to eat or drink. What happened to you? Did you have to force yourself to do anything in order to realize the process of eating or drinking? It is unlikely that you forcefully take steps to the refrigerator or to a bottle of mineral water. It is unlikely that you persuade yourself, force yourself, force you to open a refrigerator or a bottle. You go with a clear and vigorous step and get what you want. You are definitely familiar with this. And your intrinsic motivation worked like Swiss Watches! It is done!

But here's another example. Sports. You want to practice and imagine what result you want to achieve. But why does our motivation here turn into “hours with Chinese market"? How so? Just yesterday, you were full of optimism and confidence that you would go to the gym with a brisk step, and an hour before time X, thoughts began to creep up: "Maybe not? Come on tomorrow, today there is no desire for something ... ". Even if you are in the gym, here the motivation can generally remain in the locker for changing clothes. And a semi-limp body is already entering the hall, the life in which has gone out. Is this familiar??

Now let's put everything together! Our whole life is development. This is the natural course of things. That is, all our life we ​​simply need to pump ourselves without fail. Both body and mind! And this means that almost every day we need to go beyond the comfort zone, or in another way - constantly expand this very zone! Real motivation will work exactly within the comfort zone. And the closer you get to the border of the known, the more energy you waste. And already at the very border of energy, there is no motivation left! This is where willpower comes into play! It is at the border that you need to use this very “stick”!

When you read a book or watch any educational material, it is within your comfort zone! When you first thought about fitness, where does it take place? In a familiar and quite comfortable environment, where there is nothing unknown and new! Here you know and understand everything!

Warm, good, the kettle is boiling, the pie is already on the plate! One hundred percent motivation will be only within the limits of the usual way of life. And so that you can reach a higher level, improve your life, you will have to go to the border and it is here that you will use a little willpower. Trust me, it won't be very long! As soon as you take a step, get a new experience, your comfort zone will immediately expand and your motivation will work at full capacity again! Willpower is no longer needed.

Small examples. You go to the gym and do strength training. It is comfortable for you to lift a pair of dumbbells 20 times. This is your comfort zone and here motivation will work up to 17-19 times. By 20 times, your hands will already feel tired and tense. But you want development, you want a new body! How to be? At the end of 20 times, your jaw is compressed, thoughts rush through your head: “Come on, come on, you can do it, come on, get it together, stop whining, you just have to do it!” And you do 3-5 more lifts. It is these 3-5 times that will outside of your comfort, and they will be decisive for development. These last times will take you to a stronger level.

Let's take an example from the professional world. It is convenient for you to sit in a corner, type something, and so that no one sees or hears you. You are so comfortable. At one point you decided that this is not very good! Petr Andreevich or Elizaveta Nikolaevna from neighboring departments came later than you, but they are already managing projects! And you begin to read, study, learn the science of personality and achieving goals. There is no need to "kick" yourself here.

There are times when you come to some important topic where you need to find out the truth about yourself. But this is not so critical, and you go through this stage without complications. At the same time, you are still in the corner and all at the same table with a laptop! You are all in your usual comfort zone. Although at the level of consciousness have become a little more advanced! You understand everything, everything is planned and worked out for you, and it is certain that on day X you will go to your boss for a “serious” conversation! And now this day is coming! What else is happening at this moment? you stand on your comfort limit!

And this is where you turn willpower! Step into the office, voice your interests and desires to the boss and negotiate! After scoring, it will become easier for you to move on! And, if you do not give up positions, by the end of the conversation there will be more confidence inside, because you have significantly expanded your comfort zone! And, even if you do not stay in this company, you can easily find what you need elsewhere.

Let's redefine what's important. We need both motivation and willpower, and they, in the right combination, will help you to be in development mode. And life will be filled with interest and joy and many achievements!

Willpower is considered a quality that is inherent in some special people: heroes, outstanding athletes, famous scientists. Success is often associated with it, emphasizing that it is impossible to achieve anything if you do not overcome difficulties and your own laziness. Willpower is combined with strength of mind, considering everything together as integral signs of a strong, persistent personality. These valuable qualities not inherent in the human character from birth, the training of willpower is necessary for very many. This requires a simple desire and not much simple work above oneself.

Strong will and strong spirit

Strength of mind and willpower (their definition) are different from each other. Despite the fact that both qualities are considered to belong to a person with character, not every strong-willed individual has the strength of mind. But the opposite happens very often: a spiritually strong personality most often also has developed willpower.

So, willpower: what is it and how can it be useful modern man? This term implies firmness in carrying out one's decisions. More often will (this is in psychology) can be considered as a tendency to follow the intended goal. Sometimes it happens that any undertaking causes a surge of enthusiasm only at the initial stage, until the desire has cooled down. A little later, faced with inevitable difficulties, a person who has made a certain decision begins to perform actions related to his intention, with some degree of doubt.

At this time, a person needs to know how to develop willpower in order to overcome reluctance and laziness, painful sensations (for example, in sports training or dancing), an increasing craving for the usual pastime before making a decision (when losing weight or giving up bad habits). In the absence of a conscious desire to achieve the goal (as psychology calls it, will), a person loses interest in performing the actions necessary for this and refuses to further follow his dream.

Such individuals are not in vain called weak-willed or weak-willed. Undeveloped, weak willpower is a character trait of such individuals. And the distant goal turns out to be unattainable not at all due to the fact that there are no abilities or heredity is not the best: it is the lack of will and firmness in the implementation of one’s own decisions that leads to the rejection of what one would like to have. Then people wonder how to cultivate willpower in themselves.

Under the power of the spirit, they usually mean something completely different: it is the ability to maintain faith in one's strength and moral principles. Without relying on the strength of the spirit, a strong will (the concept is given above) can make a real tyrant out of a person. Such a “strong” personality will be able both to suppress the will of a person in order to achieve his goals, and to stoop to betrayal or meanness, if it is beneficial.

spiritually strong man will follow his moral principles, no matter what it costs him. In fulfilling one's decision, the predominant motive may be just faith in one's own strength, and then no difficulties can prevent one from achieving a result. But, unlike an unspiritual egoist who values ​​only his own interests, morality also defines the boundaries of what is permissible in relation to others: in fulfilling his own decisions, a strong spirit will not allow the humiliation of others. The strength of a person's spirit will help to overcome the difficulties that the observance of other people's interests and their own moral standards will cause.

Is it possible to develop willpower and spirit?

When strength and will are combined in one phrase, a comparison with muscle strength suggests itself. From this it is often concluded that there are ways to train willpower and spirit. Indeed, there are numerous methods for the formation of these useful qualities in children and adults. It will be necessary to consider the development of willpower or spirit separately, since these are very different concepts both in psychology and in the ordinary idea of ​​​​people.

Ways to develop willpower can be very different. Depending on what goal a person pursues, the methods of how to train willpower can also change, while simultaneously fulfilling part of the decision made. For example, if you intend to learn how to play a musical instrument, you can develop perseverance as a quality that makes it possible to focus for a long time on performing a monotonous action (play scales). When trying to lose weight, a technique for working on willpower can be based on a reasonable rejection of sweets or adherence to diet and exercise.

Formation of volitional qualities in children

For mothers who are interested in how to cultivate willpower in a child, the methods should include a game moment. It is not at all necessary to try to make a giant of spirit out of a little man, forbidding him to enjoy the natural joys of his age. Compliance with the rules of the game, which contains elements of achieving the task (go through the maze, write the required number of hooks in the recipe, etc.), gradually prepares the child to perform more complex actions related to overcoming certain obstacles.

With the successful achievement of the ultimate goal of the task, encouragement must necessarily follow. This will continue to form a direct link between the result and satisfaction from it. It is advisable to discuss with the child in advance a certain type of this encouragement: a walk, watching a cartoon, a treat, or something else. But when completing a task, it is worth demanding a responsible approach and focusing not on encouragement, but on actions.

If the baby does not cope with the task, then the reason may be in too high requirements for him. An adult should soberly analyze the capabilities of his child and take this into account when selecting the following tasks. Their complication should occur gradually and only after the future strong-willed personality learns to overcome difficulties. initial stage. Otherwise, the upbringing of positive qualities in a child can turn into his confidence in his own impotence and inability to do something right. In the future, this will only turn into the ability to give up in time before the most insignificant difficulties and lead to a refusal to fulfill your decision.

How to develop willpower on your own?

Where to get willpower if a person first thought about its absence, already being an adult? The easiest way to sign up for some kind of training: to collect the right amount money sometimes succeeds only at the cost of self-restraint.

But you can go the more difficult way, and make the education of the will your main task. You will have to do everything on your own and rely only on your own strength, having understood well what willpower is, because the coach will no longer be here.

You can develop your own methodology according to the principles mentioned above: losing weight, giving up something, observing the regimen and attending sports training. One of the heroes of the American writer S. King, trying to lose weight, even had to convince his own mother that he needed to cook a very specific food. And our Olympic champions overcome themselves every day, trying to reach new heights in their chosen sports.

How willpower is formed, how to develop and strengthen this useful quality in oneself, American psychologists also argue:

1. A common task (for example, to do a general cleaning in the pantry) can be broken down into several smaller ones.
2. For each stage, a clear deadline should be determined and be sure to fulfill it. For example, within 1 week, work up the courage to open the closet door and assess the level of clutter, in 2 weeks, sort out the top shelves, in 3 - move to the middle ones, then throw out things that are older than 10 years.
3. Do not forget to feel satisfaction from the work done. Even a small effort made on your own is already worthy of pride. Moreover, as a result of it, some kind of work was done, to which the hands did not reach, and now she no longer bothers with her presence.

Employees of Northwestern University (USA) noted that as a result of compiling such schedules experimental group began to smoke less, eat regularly, attend sports training. The cadets admitted that they had more free time.

Will exercises

Another technique for strengthening willpower is to perform simple tasks:

As a result of following the decision, a habit is formed to pay attention to one's actions, and the willpower of a person is strengthened. The simplicity and accessibility of tasks to oneself in this case will only be useful: you won’t have to reproach yourself too much for not holding back, forgot to write down the cost of ice cream in a notebook, or didn’t take out the trash. When performing exercises to develop willpower, you need to pay attention only to observing your own rules of the game, not particularly focusing on the result and ways to pump willpower. Most likely, it will manifest itself at the moment when you have to face a real problem: the ability to break it down into separate elements, solving small problems, and the habit of following the changed rules of behavior will come in handy.

How to make your spirit strong?

They say that main force in man it is the power of the spirit. Indeed, a spiritually strong person is able not to give in to difficulties and try to find a way out even in a hopeless situation. If a strong will leads a person to a goal, then the strength of the spirit allows him to find opportunities for this.

You can only develop methods for training the strength of the spirit on your own. It is impossible to develop the spirit of a child who does not yet have clear moral guidelines. But even an adult can be helped only by the most general advice on how to strengthen the strength of the spirit.

To gain a truly strong spirit, you need to analyze the strong and weak sides of his nature. This must be done with the utmost honesty, without trying to embellish yourself. The ability to change something in your life depends on the awareness of your qualities.

After the initial conclusions are made, you need to make a decision and clearly follow the intended goal. This may be one of the minor tasks, like exercises to train the will. But you will have to fulfill it, despite the possible shame, deprivation of some conveniences for yourself. All ways to develop fortitude are aimed at determining your moral criteria and imply the predominance of spiritual values ​​over the comfort of a lower order.

You should not indulge in self-abasement if at first it is difficult to decide on an act. You should allow yourself to realize that the achievement of the goal in this case can get rid of a long overdue problem. Feelings of guilt, self-pity or envy, jealousy and other states that exhaust our soul can be stopped only by turning to face our own fear. For religious people, their faith may be decisive, and an atheist will have to look for support in himself.

You need to pay attention to your circle of friends: good relations with people whose moral character is not approved, cripples the spirit of a person, forcing him to look for excuses for the actions of friends, while sacrificing his own moral principles. In the future, there can only be a search for an excuse for one's own vile trick and a betrayal of one's own convictions. What kind of strength of mind will have to be discussed in this case?

If friends do not correspond to the ideal that a person has, it is best to go for a conscious break in relations with them. The result will be the preservation of the purity of your spirit. The gap can be painful and deprive a person of some of the comforts that such an association provided him. But talking about the strength of the spirit is useless if one's own values ​​are exchanged for the satisfaction of base needs or lost for the sake of the crowd.

Why is all this necessary?

The development of a person's will necessarily makes him pay attention to some energy-consuming states. Having discovered the emergence of self-pity due to deprivation or fatigue, it is easy to notice how much time and effort goes into this feeling. By replacing it with satisfaction from the fulfillment of a decision, a person increases self-esteem.

Trying to avoid unpleasant actions, the problem cannot be solved. In some cases, it can be aggravated (for example, a bad tooth). But the education of the will, as a victory over one's own fears, allows one to perform these actions without much strain, solve the existing problem and enjoy the result.

The often arising feeling of pride and own exclusiveness interferes with open communication. Developed fortitude, which makes it possible to adequately evaluate others, allows you to adequately treat both their strength and their weaknesses. As a result, a strong personality acquires the ability to constantly remain in a calm and confident state, without blaming others for their own failures and miscalculations. But these are precisely the traits that are characteristic of a successful and able to achieve success individual.

Willpower is not innate, it is individual quality character, which is nothing but the ability of a person to consciously control his behavior. The ability to overcome obstacles, endure hardships and put up with pain in order to achieve certain goals are also signs of the presence of willpower. Are there any terms, having which you can honestly say to yourself - after all, this is the most important thing, honesty with yourself - yes, I have willpower? Of course, all of them are not so supernatural.

For our desires there are a million questions - what do I want? Do I really want it that much? Is what I want really needed? And many others. Very often a person knows exactly what he doesn't want, but with specific desires, the situation is more complicated. The clearer and more specific the goal is, the faster the brain will understand in what ways it is easier and faster to achieve it. Moreover, it is better to set a global goal and mini-goals to achieve it. If it concerns weight loss, then, for example, the global goal is to lose 10 kg in 3 months. Mini goals - lose 3.5 kg every month.

On the way to achieving the goal, you need to learn not to listen to constant fears - and they will be, that's how a person works. Only actions that pose a clear threat to life, health and universal morality should be banned, and all necessary, but difficult to carry out, can and will be overcome, because there is a third component - faith in oneself and one's own strengths.

Only installations - I can! I can do it! I will overcome everything! - the most important words in achieving the goal. Yes, there are such lucky people who get all their dreams and desires effortlessly, but these are rather exceptions to the rule. Belief in oneself is not a synonym for narcissism and arrogance, it is a conscious and deep feeling that is largely formed in childhood, but an adult is quite capable of developing it in himself.

This quality is useful in application to many aspects, because sometimes, in order to achieve our goals, we will have to endure physical pain and deprivation. Not a single sculptural figure will become such if the body, getting used to the loads, does not ache with every muscle. Not a single kilogram will go away until bans are imposed on the number or certain types food. Remember, if you have been gaining weight for a whole year, then throwing it off in 1 week will not work. Be patient and go to your goal.

A positive attitude helps in any period of life, especially when it is difficult and sometimes unbearable to move forward. But - after all, these are our own goals and desires, who, no matter how we should achieve them? If your resources of optimism are not enough, you can focus on the examples of other people who, in the most unfavorable scenario, emerged victorious from difficult life situations.

Willpower can and should be developed and nurtured in oneself if every day one takes a small step towards achieving, if not a global, but a significant goal. Today, right now! And then - everything will work out!

Very often, success and self-realization depend on willpower and motivation. But how to understand what quality plays a big role? Not every person is endowed with at least one of them, therefore it is unlikely that you will be able to find many people who will have sufficient motivation and willpower. Also, an important role is played by the fact that these concepts are fundamentally different from each other and, in fact, are almost opposite in nature. If motivation acts as a kind of reaction that serves as an ignition key and an incentive to action, then willpower is more likely to be a resistant feature, the presence of which allows you to better cope with any external factors and obstacles.

An important difference between these two concepts is also that motivation cannot be trained. Rather, it is explained by the presence of understanding and awareness of the importance of certain actions for a person. For example, watching some sports or watching videos may well be a powerful motivation to start playing the same sport. The same reaction occurs when watching talk shows with celebrities who share the secret of their success. Motivation makes people do the same algorithm of actions in the hope that this will lead to the desired result.

Willpower, in turn, is rather an invisible inner core that almost never leaves a person throughout life. Naturally, it does not arise from nowhere and is most often the fruit of overcoming many obstacles, as well as an integral part of character. It is willpower that allows people to exceed their own capabilities in difficult situations and not give up under the influence of any negative factors. But for her, the main thing is the goal, without which it is practically impossible to use it as a driving factor.

Features of motivation and its disadvantages

When it comes to motivation in the modern world, most often this concept is credited with a lot of advantages and huge potential. However, this quality also has many disadvantages, so it can hardly be called a full-fledged engine for self-improvement. It is worth considering the main disadvantages of motivation, which make it a desirable, but not extremely important element:

1. Motivation is never long term. It serves more as a one-time flash, which after that will fade over time.
2. Motivation doesn't always lead to action.
3. It creates a strong emotional mood, but at the same time it is practically useless in realizing goals without willpower.
4. Of course, such a quality as motivation is a big plus, but it can hardly be called the only impetus that encourages action. There are other factors that call for self-improvement no worse than motivation, for example, fear. The fear of not realizing oneself as a person in society, as well as not developing one's potentials, can be an even more effective reason for active self-improvement than third-party motivation. Negative influences also play an important role, acting as a certain alternative motivational drive. If we talk about pure motivation, then it rather acts as an initial aspect in the process of self-improvement.

Willpower Benefits

The main difference between motivation and willpower is that you are unlikely to lose this quality. Rather, on the contrary, over time it tends to intensify, but nevertheless certain conditions are required for this:

1. Willpower must be used constantly. This quality is quite capable of atrophying if it has no application in human life.
2. It can hardly coexist with a weak character, because not every person can boast of such a quality.
3. Willpower is able to provide powerful support even when there are many obstacles on the way to achieving the goal and overcoming them seems impossible.
4. This quality does not depend on temporary factors, random situations and external influences.

Unlike motivation, willpower helps a person from the inside, while motivation is purely external. It is impossible to motivate yourself out of the blue. For example, if you have never done ballet, you can't just walk down the street and have an irresistible desire to master this type of choreographic art. Most likely, such a desire will appear only when you watch some performances or go to the theater.

That is why motivation can be compared to a feeling of passion, which can disappear as quickly as it appeared, and willpower acts more like a motor that makes you move forward regardless of obstacles. This rule applies to any field of activity, be it sports or even the fight against bad habits.

For example, you decided to quit smoking and the first thing that prompted you to such thoughts was motivation. It may be borrowed, it may be your own, but the only fact is that any sudden impulses will include this feeling. In turn, willpower will allow you to realize these impulses and bring them to their logical conclusion. After a few days of giving up cigarettes, you may experience a decline in motivation, therefore, in this case, volitional qualities will become the key. In its action, this mechanism of interaction can be compared with the engine of a car, where motivation is the key, and only willpower plays the role of the engine.

The same applies to any kind of sports activity. It is extremely easy to start going to workouts, you just need to get a sufficient portion of motivation, but only willpower will help you endure hard and exhausting work for years.

Motivation and willpower are integral elements of self-development

If you choose between two important elements self-improvement, then the ideal option would be to help both qualities. It should be understood that they act as completely different parts of a single mechanism and the absence of one of them may well worsen the operation and effectiveness of the second. Willpower must necessarily have a clearly defined goal, while it is most often only motivation that can provide it.

Naturally, such statements are not 100% true, since in the process of self-development there can always be exceptions to the rules, but most often this process looks like this. A similar schema also applies to any aspect, occupation, or training of qualities that enables a person to move forward.

The only disadvantage of motivation, namely its short-term impact, is perfectly complemented by stable willpower. In turn, in the presence of the most powerful motivation, even people with a weak character and lack of strong-willed qualities are quite capable of making unprecedented leaps in self-improvement.

It is unlikely that anyone will be able to give a single and most reasonable answer as to which path is better to choose, self-improvement through motivational elements or basing the process on pure willpower, but most people will certainly agree that it is best to use them to achieve success. combination.