According to merriam-webster dictionary, willpower is the ability to control one’s own actions, emotions, or urges and also strong determination that allows one to do something difficult. In layman’s terms it is the ability to do what you want to do, when part of you doesn’t want to do it.

People use different definitions to describe willpower, According to APA (American Psychological Association), most psychology researchers define willpower as:

• The ability to delay gratification and resist short-term temptations to meet long-term goals;
• The capacity to override an unwanted thought, feeling or impulse;
• The conscious, effortful regulation of the self, by the self;

Anywhere you look at it, people with greater willpower are:

• Happier;
• Healthier;
• Wealthier 

The good news is willpower is a skill that can be learned and improved and, it can be surprisingly easy to learn, as one example from the Marshmallow test. This test proves scientifically that we have the ability to learn delayed gratification. You can google Marshmallow experiment. 

The not so good news is that willpower is a limited resource capable of being depleted. So we must train ourselves to strengthen our willpower skill. 

1. Everything starts with awareness: Know your strengths and weaknesses. Let your strength shine through. So often we think other people know more than me, but the truth is we all know alot, but about our own area of expertise. So focus on your strength. Focus on what you want instead of what you don’t want. 
2. Make faster and determined decisions. Stay away from decision fatigue. Indecision is such a killer to your willpower, it’s the big drainer of your power bank. 
3. Avoid temptations. You have the ability to say no, when you need to say no, and yes when you need to say yes. So set boundaries so that you are not faced with temptations. Why kill your brain cells over temptations, it’s just not worth it. 
4. Set clear goals and have an execution plan.
5. Don’t be so hard on yourself. Give yourself a backup plan. 
6. Change our perception about will power. For example, many people think that what the addict needs is willpower, but nothing could be further from the truth: When a person has already lost control over a drug or activity, attempts to control its use almost never work. Because the source of addiction isn’t the drug or activity itself but a desire for a mood changer. So instead of focusing on simply using your will power, get to the root of the problem then you don’t need to use your willpower in such cases. 
7. Feed Your Brain train your ability to find motivation when it matters

In conclusion, your mind has to be stronger than your feelings. We all have those days where we don’t feel like it. Now I’m totally preaching self love and it’s ok to take a break when you need to, like when you’re sick it’s ok to take a day off. But what I”m talking about here is when we all have those days where we just can’t FEEL our willpower. Your feelings will push you to do things that you might later regret. That is why we need to have a strong mindset.

Willpower gets depleted and is not enough. We need to constantly train our mind to step up and take control over our sluggish feelings. When you train your mind, you gain a renewed sense of self-worth and confidence. You begin to see that you can conquer any obstacle and achieve what you set your mind to.

Develop small but powerful daily Habits so that you’re moving forward without even having to use your willpower at all.

Training your mind to be stronger than your feelings is worth it.

And like any other thing in life, start today. 

Guest featured in this episode:

Beate Chelette is the Growth Architect and Founder of The Women’s Code and provides visionaries and leaders with proven strategies, blueprints and growth maps that provide clear steps to improve business systems,  strengthen leadership skills and teams so that our clients and audiences can maximize profits and scale their impact.
Beate is known as a straight shooter and her ability to inspire, empower and overcome adversity. Her super skill is working with unique personalities and big thinkers and building executable systems.

A first-generation immigrant who found herself $135,000 in debt as a single parent Beate bootstrapped her passion for photography into a global business that licensed content into 79 countries. She exited in a multimillion-dollar deal when she sold the company to Bill Gates.

She is the Podcast host of The Business Growth Architect Show and listed amongst the “Top 100 Global Thought Leaders” by PeopleHum and “One of 50 Must Follow Women Entrepreneurs” by HuffPost.

Things you will learn in this episode:

• Why she call herself a 8 x disaster survivor 
• Selling her business to Bill Gates 
• How much does mindset play into being successful?
• What was her best failure?
• What is the 5 Star Success Blueprint?
• And so much more…

Guest featured in this episode:

Linda Bjork is a personal development expert, advocate for hope and healing, best selling author, speaker, host of “Linda’s Corner” podcast, and founder of Hope for Healing non-profit charity.  Some of her books include “Crushed: A Journey Through Depression,” and Amazon best seller “You Got This! An action plan to calm fear, anxiety, worry, and stress.”  Linda’s personal mission is to empower people to become their best selves.  

Things you will learn in this episode:

• Her story of personal healing and transformation

• Share a few empowerment tools

• Share her 5 minute morning routine that transforms people’s lives

• And so much more…

Guest featured in this episode:

Toccara Karizma is a Digital Marketing Consultant & Online Business Growth Strategist. Karizma Marketing, her full-service digital marketing agency, is dedicated to growing elite eCommerce brands online through an omni-channel approach, including social media marketing, email marketing, PPC, SEO, website conversion rate optimization, and more.

After building her own successful eCommerce business back in 2007, she is now considered a top eCommerce marketing expert, generating over 8-figures in revenue for her clients. Her trailblazer approach to digital marketing and deep expertise in the online business growth space is why I’ve asked her to join me today.

Things you will learn in this episode:

• What are click worthy headlines?
• What to include in headlines?
• Different types of headlines
• Should you have CTA directly in headlines?
• And so much more…

I wanted to talk about rejection today because it is something we all 100% go through in life and unfortunately rejection hurts. It hurts because many say it is a form of pain. We’ve all experienced this pain in some form in life and it is essential that we know how to deal with it the right way. 

Rejection usually hurts because it contributes to feelings of inadequacy or unworthiness in ourselves. Rejection can leave us feeling unwanted and not good enough. Being repeatedly rejected can lead to feelings or belief that you’re truly inadequate. 

I want you to carefully think about what I just said again. I mentioned the word “feelings” several times. “Feeling” inadequacy and “feeling” unwanted and not good enough. 

The point I’m trying to make is that these are feelings, but really it is what you are thinking that will lead you to these feelings. Your thoughts after the rejection will determine how you feel about the rejection. You will take different actions according to the types of feelings you are feeling. So if you want to take positive actions by experiencing more positive emotions, you gotta make sure all the thoughts you are thinking are positive! 

For example, after getting a rejection your inner critic says, “I am so bad at this, I’m not good enough, that’s why I got rejected.”  When you think this thought, you will feel unworthy, you will feel self blaming, you will feel inadequate. 

Now let’s opposite that, after getting a rejection, say to yourself, “I am so brave for trying, I’m so glad to learn from this experience, even better things must be ahead, that’s why I got rejected.”  If these are your thoughts, guest what, your feelings at the time will be more likely to be of self love, self compassion and excitement for the next try and more importantly, you will be in a mind and space to be open to accept more opportunities. 

Rejection is more valuable than inaction. You learn nothing from inaction but by taking action and even if you fail, you’re failing forward and learning. Rejection is our greatest teacher ever! Without experiencing rejections in life, it would be impossible to expand or improve yourself. Rejection has the immense potential and power to make you a legend, be sure to use its power and live the epic life that you deserve. Until next week, keep shining your light.