It takes tremendous bravery to resolve to do something. The trouble is that resolve can only get you started; it always fades towards the finish and needs help from a stronger ally to complete its mission.

Countless battles are won by willpower, but when wars have to count on it to be resolved, the battle rages on.

 

What have you been battling with? If you do a close inspection, you will find it is the same issue year in and year out. We start our mission fired up with enthusiasm that wanes when resolve runs into too much pain. The legendary football coach, Vince Lombardi said it best, "Fatigue makes cowards of us all."

 

Willpower tires easily. The problem is that we beat ourselves up for not having enough of it or a better quality of it. You only get so much willpower, just like you get a certain IQ. Any attempt to increase either is marginal at best.

 

The best solution is to team up with a stronger ally. There is a part of you that knows how to get things done, past grinding your nose on a stone or having greasy elbows.

 

When you believe that you can do it on your own without any help, you'll eventually become helpless to accomplish your mission. Your ally doesn't have all the "piss and vinegar" of willpower and resolve; its personality is more like the tide - consistent and reliable and out of view.

 

How do we enlist our ally? Ask!

 

Make a request of your deeper resources to assist you in your mission.

 

Side Note: If you don't have the ability to put willpower in its proper light, you're probably going to fail on your own again. "I don't know what to do" is an honest admission that sets your willpower aside and let's the tide come rolling in.

 

If you have to know how you arrived at a working answer, you belong in math class. If you're satisfied with results without knowing how specifically they came about, you are closer to success than anyone with more willpower than you.

 

Asking for assistance is best done going into a quiet frame of mind. Make your request for help and then do what you do to allow your mind to quiet down. It's from this "deep sea of serenity" that solutions come bubbling up to the surface.

 

Willpower is the best tool to get things started, but there comes a point where you have to let the reinforcements take over. Even though you have no idea how they go about their mission, you can measure their long-term results.

 

So, yes, bombastically resolve to do what you are going to do, then quietly ask for assistance. It's the best way to turn your resolution into a solution.

 

All the best,

John