Later

“I’ll do it later” is the buzzword today, the things feel difficult to execute not because they actually are but due to the lack of willpower. Let’s assume that you’re using your mobile phone for a certain amount of time, so what happens? Well your battery gets discharged, similarly if you do things that demand your qualitative attention of certain intensity then your willpower reserves get depleted as well. Doing a strenuous task for some time will render your discipline to numbness, but at some point of time we do become that person who would put any important work (important but not urgent) to “later” or “tomorrow”. Yes it will be comfortable, it will be the easy decision at that moment yet the long term repercussions that come with those light minded actions will be undesirable in the long run.

Understand it this way, your willpower acts as two different things depending upon the nature of scenario you’re experiencing; it acts as a muscle and secondly it also acts a finite reserve. These two criteria simulate the ease of explaining how you can enhance your willpower. Talking about the primary option, your willpower is like a muscle, how exactly? Well because the more you use it the better it functions, and the more comfortable you get using your discipline, see it this way; a person is unable to perform 10 pull ups for the first time, in fact he may find it difficult to even get close to 5 but if he practices it every day (or every alternate day) then his number would increase significantly, the muscles in action during such exercise would get stronger with repetition. Considering this analogy, the more you agree with the decisions on the basis of your willpower the easier you will find it to perform difficult tasks or even resist temptations that may distract you during the execution of your goal, your mental discipline will improve constantly if you abide by what your willpower has to offer. You might say that distractions are dangerous, I agree, when you have your exams coming up and you’re fondling with them then they obviously would get messy but if I bring willpower into the screen then you would realize that distractions are necessary to leverage your willpower from ordinary to an exceptional. Distractions give you the opportunity to exercise your willpower, let’s say that you kept your phone on while studying then you possible would hear notification bell pinging every 2 minutes, that would be really irritating, keeping in mind that you’re studying something important, but if you’re able to resist checking your phone at that instant, then this simple action would enamor your ability to resist distractions, hence over time if you’re able to hold onto yourself, then resisting such urges would become even more easier, and you would be on your way to laser sharp focus, and your functionality of accessing flow would sky rocket. So distractions can, in this way, be turned into something productive. But any human being for that matter is unable for focus continuously for 24 hours, if someone could do that then that person would be a lethal asset, fortunately we can’t have such person, and so let’s shift our worry to this, any person would get bored out of any activity, no matter how engaging it might be, if it’s performed for a long amount of time, familiarity breeds contempt, and so this can be better explained by the second criteria of willpower acting as a fixed reserve whose level gets down with its use. You do exercise your willpower by doing uneasy tasks, but you’re lowering your level to continue that simultaneously with time, you’re not a machine and the obvious reason why you can’t remain focused throughout your work period is because your brain needs a break from the complex activity, it needs rest, why so? Tell me if your phone gets charged in 2 minutes, well, it does not! Conversely your mind too needs a sufficient amount of time to recharge your willpower reserve (and of course your senses too). Breaks and rests facilitate your mind to clear out of the reverberating work schedule and then you can begin cutting distractions off easily from your game. It sounds simple when you’re reading it, but executing this in your work life is what makes the difference. And remember procrastination will be the easiest way to mediocrity, so if you’ve got this habit the best idea would be to start distancing yourself from it. Hope you would be able to use this information in your work life and be more productive. I’m writing this in my break too, freshening up my senses! Try it and, if you’ve got better ideas then do let me know.

“Amateurs sit and wait for inspiration, the rest of us just get up and go to work”- Stephen King