The Power of Will Power: Our Greatest Ally

This is a topic that is as old as mankind. Charles Darwin wrote about it in “The Descent of Man” and psychologists have been actively researching on this topic since the Victorian times. When we look at the umpteen available definitions of success – wealth, a happy family, good friends, a successful career, satisfying relationships, emotional security, and freedom to pursue our interests – there is one element that binds each of these definitions and that is self-control, also known as power of will power, our greatest ally. 

The most successful people aren’t the ones that had access to the best that money could buy, but the ones that exhibited self-control consistently. As research progressed, psychologists were astounded to discover that this was one magic personality trait that gave people the strength to persevere and bounce back after a setback, and the power to never give up until one’s goals were achieved.

What is Will Power?

Undoubtedly this has been one of the most intensely studied topics in human psychology and has been the most often cited in research data. When asked, people would invariably name their greatest personal strengths as empathy, compassion, kindness, humour, bravery and perhaps even modesty.

Conversely when people were asked about the reasons for their failures, they listed lack of will power or self-control as the main reason for their failure. Inability to resist desires was cited as the number one reason for failure. Social scientists even urged people to look outside for causes like poverty, relative deprivation etc. Unconvinced by these attributions, people in academia and research initiated several studies to understand this phenomenon.  People also reported that they tried to resist temptation with self -control and divine grace. But, what would an atheist resort to in this case?

As research progressed, psychologists looked at the era after the Victorian age. As moral decay increased, they decided it had to be from within, an internal strength that could protect even a non- believer in divine power. This was really the birth point of the term will-power as back then there continued a notion that some kind of force was certainly involved that kept people on the path of perseverance and self-denial. 

The Magical Neurotransmitters

By now the scientific community was intrigued by the power of willpower, enough to devote many resources to unravelling the mystery of the “will” in the will power. These studies led to the linking of genetics and biology to psychology and the functioning of the human mind. Neurotransmitters were the hero of the hour; the hitherto almost unknown and little spoken of substance, the chemical that passed messages between the synapses in the neural network. As scientists began to discover that the mind would stop functioning if there was no neurotransmitter, new attributions were made to the concept of the will and was linked to the body as well.

Focus now shifted to the effect of stress on neurotransmitter imbalance in the body and to food. Efforts were made to see the effect of what we eat on our mind and body. Slow burn foods were recommended over those with high Glycaemic Index, that produced a boom-and-bust pattern of energy in the body, where the slumps that followed a high and had severe consequences on the mind and the body. 

Mind, Body & Holistic Approach

And then miraculously will power and self-control was linked to sleep or the lack of it. Not getting enough sleep has detrimental effects on the mind and body, one of them being weakening of self-control. By now it was well established that will power could not be ignored and social scientists started wondering if will power could be strengthened to allow more people to take charge of their lives by making this their biggest ally. At first this did not seem like a promising possibility. Experiments were designed, participants were observed, data collected and collated and results were published. It was concluded that it could be strengthened and people could move from will power to more will power.

Experiments revealed startling data on how a slight improvement in self-control in any one area of one’s life had a positive effect on several other areas. Self-control led to perseverance and diligence, the two most commonly cited personal traits attributable to one’s success. We often tend to put will power on a pedestal that it truly deserves to be on, but we also tend to link it only to heroic acts like enduring the pain of childbirth or dealing with grief, but it can also be responsible for daily progress like resisting the next cup of coffee or waking up early.

Conclusion

What we need to know is that our supply of will power for each day is limited and can be enhanced through a fit body and sound sleep, along with other strategies. Consistency is key to setting ourselves up for success through realistic goals where ability matches aspirations. Self-control is all about enjoying the gifts given to us by the universe in small doses at the right time, starting with our life, our time on this planet, our family, our friends and the greatest gift of all, our ability to give love and support one another in this journey of life.