Willpower Vs. Discipline — Why Both Are Essential
There have been many misconceptions about the meaning of willpower and its relation to discipline and vice versa.
This has led to the terms being misunderstood completely.
If you asked someone on the street what discipline meant, they would probably respond with something like “hard work” or “perseverance.”
This is only part of the term.
Once one comes to know what discipline is, they can start taking effective action to level this skill.
You may think you’re disciplining yourself by going to the gym, but that’s not always the case.
One may also believe they have high willpower because they don’t like chocolate.
Both of these misinterpretations are examples of not knowing definitions. As I said, knowing what these two skills entail will set you on the best path, so that’s what we’ll learn in this article:
That and how to efficiently level both skills.
Let’s go.
What is Discipline?
Not always is discipline:
Going to the gym every day,
Or running 5 miles 5 times a week.
Discipline is when you specifically do a task that you don’t feel like doing.
That said, working out 6 days a week is difficult.
However, if you feel like going, then you’re not leveling discipline that much.
For instance, 9 times out of 10 I feel like going to lift weights because I’ve become accustomed to it. It’s genuinely fun.
Now, that’s not to say I don’t push myself. You should be pushing new limits in the gym, especially if you enjoy lifting.
Don’t view this as an excuse to only work out when you don’t feel like it.
There are alternative ways to level this skill.
If you want to be more disciplined, you can get into the mode of doing tasks that you don’t feel like doing; they can be minuscule.
Some examples include:
- Doing the laundry
- Making your bed
- Picking up dog sh#t
As long as you abhor these tasks and still do them, then you’re disciplining yourself.
One of the minor things that I did was vacuum my carpet. I didn’t want to, which is why I still did.
I saw an opportunity to level up.
+10xp.
As I’ve said, no matter the matter, as long as you’d rather be doing something else, that is an opportunity to level this essential skill.
Now let’s talk willpower.
What is Willpower?
Some believe that just because they are able, for example, to resist eating a candy bar, they have high willpower.
To clear up misinterpretations like this, willpower is when you specifically don’t do something, even though you feel like doing that thing.
With that said, you would only have high will by resisting a candy bar that you would like to eat.
We can write up a few circumstances of people who have leveled this skill:
- Someone who’s addicted to smoking rejects a cig offer
- Someone whose favorite dessert is cookies doesn’t grab the ones set out at the family gathering
In my eyes, the most efficient way to better your willpower is to simply resist the snacks that you frequently fall victim to.
Put your favorite candy/snack in your room, and resist eating it so many times that you become bulletproof to degeneracy.
Now obviously this is much more tedious than if you were to just throw out the junk food, but by facing it head-on, you won’t end up driving straight back to the store to buy the junk back.
Conclusion
Your time was well spent reading this, my friend.
You now understand the differences and meanings of discipline and willpower.
These are two of the most important skills of life, especially if you’re someone who is not looking to be a slave to your thoughts, feelings, and emotions.
Level both of these skills through the tactics we delve into today, or tactics of your own.
Store these in your brain:
- Discipline = hard work when you don’t feel like it
- Willpower = feeling like it, but not doing it
Start taking action.
Thanks for reading,
I’ll see you in the next article.
