Willpower examples from life. Arguments from literature

Will can and should be a source of pride much more than talent. If talent is the development of natural inclinations, then a strong will is a victory achieved every minute over instincts, over drives that the will curbs and suppresses, over obstacles and obstacles that it overcomes, over all sorts of difficulties that it heroically overcomes. Honore de Balzac

How often do we lack the motivation and willpower to quit smoking, not eating at night, playing sports or getting an education? We constantly start a new life on Monday, and by the end of the week we already return to our old habits. However, the good news is that we can all change if we really want to. Each of us has an inner core that hides under a dense layer of fears and doubts. Find it, and you will definitely be able to turn the whole world upside down and change your life for the better. We hope that these three stories about people who were able to show character in difficult times will help you get the right mood and find inspiration for new achievements.

Willpower: how to develop and strengthen

So, the development of willpower is in full swing. Your life is gradually freed from unnecessary things that waste your vital energy, and your resistance to temptations is growing every day. But here another problem arises: life begins to change. Resources are freed up, interests change, and your social circle may even begin to change.

For example, as sad as it is to admit, in most cases in our world, so-called “friendship” is most often built on some bad habits, moreover, it is only on these bad habits that it most often rests. And if you stop, for example, drinking alcohol, eating sweets and watching useless football matches, then your friends may simply suddenly disappear somewhere from your life.

Thus, your life is freed from harmful attachments, but for some reason this does not bring joy: some kind of vacuum forms around you. People around you begin to look at you strangely, and you yourself are not very happy with these results. The point is that nature, as they say, abhors a vacuum. And something positive should replace something destructive. That is, the point is not to eliminate bad habits, but to replace them with positive ones. And here begins the second stage of willpower training.

An example: a person stopped drinking coffee in the morning. Well done! Not bad already! But the cheerfulness and joy of life were gone, and they were replaced by lethargy in the morning, weakness, and irritability. And no matter how powerful the willpower is, a person cannot stand this for long. The point is that one habit must be replaced with another. For example, set the alarm an hour and a half earlier (calm down, it’s not as scary as it might seem at first) and practice yoga in the morning. The boost of energy will be even stronger than from coffee, and most importantly, longer, without “kickbacks” and with health benefits. Another useful tip: psychologists say that habit formation takes 21 days. Thus, we only need to hold out for 21 days, and then the action will turn into a habit.

Gradually getting rid of bad habits and attachments, you can strengthen your willpower. You will notice that you become stronger both physically and spiritually. Your self-esteem and self-confidence will grow every day, and every day more and more heights will be available to you. And soon (remember our list with attachments) you will be able to move on to the third group of the list. You will be surprised, but it turns out that what you couldn’t imagine your life without can be simply crossed off both from the list and from life.

Examples from literature

Many writers have created works about people who, thanks to their inner core, survived difficult events. Famous examples of fortitude from literature:

• G. Baklanov “Military Tales”;
• B. Polevoy “The Tale of a Real Man”;
• L. Ovchinnikova “An incident during the blockade winter”;
• V. Kaverin “Two Captains”;
• Tea.

In Ovchinnikova’s text “An Incident in the Siege Winter,” the main characters are two sisters, Raya and Nyura. The girls were able to survive the death of their mother, hunger and cold. They had a strong spirit, because even in difficult years they began to engage in creativity, supported the sailors with their performances, their courage inspired the military to new exploits.

The pilot from Polevoy’s work “The Tale of a Real Man” showed unprecedented courage even after health problems arose. His plane was shot down by German soldiers, and due to frostbite, Meresyev lost both legs. But he did not give up - he learned to walk on prosthetics, and after some time he was again at the helm. Thanks to his internal energy, the pilot was able to overcome his physical limitations.

Usually, the strength of spirit in the works of Russian writers is told in such terms that the reader can be inspired by the example of the heroes. In “Military Tales” by Baklanov, attention is paid to the state of mind and behavior of the characters in difficult situations.

The battle not only did not break the spirit of literary heroes, it tempered their spirit, made them stronger and more resilient.

Kaverin’s novel “Two Captains” describes the fate of Sanya Grigoriev, who survived the death of his parents and a journey from one shelter to another. The child, contrary to the opinion of adults, was able to achieve his goal - he became an Air Force captain and found the remains of the expedition, revealing the circumstances of Tatarinov’s death. This work is useful to read to children at school; it allows you to draw useful conclusions - you cannot give up your desires because of the opinions of others.

Why does abulia occur?

Abulia is Russian for “lack of will,” a condition in which the patient partially or completely loses will and initiative. Often this symptom appears in combination with some other personality or behavior disorder. The most common combination of abulia and apathy is apathetic-abulic syndrome, when the patient lacks both the desire and initiative to do anything. Less commonly observed is abulic-akinetic syndrome, in which the patient refuses to make any movements.

Pathology of will and emotions can be caused by diseases and disorders of functional processes in the cerebral cortex. Poor circulation in the right hemisphere of the frontal lobe, where the centers responsible for purposeful human activity are located.

It has not yet been possible to determine the exact cause of abulia, as well as other mental illnesses. This pathology is often diagnosed in developed countries with a high standard of living, where every third person is familiar with symptoms of depression, and every fifth person is familiar with one or another mental disorder.

It is believed that the development of the disease can be triggered by:

• Stress – it is the negative impact on the nervous system that is considered the most common provoking factor in the development of mental illness. If a person is constantly in a state of nervous tension, fear or aggression, his nervous system is depleted and he may develop neuroses, depression or other neurological problems.
• Psychological trauma - such events are especially dangerous in childhood, when character and basic personal qualities are being formed.
• Incorrect upbringing - too domineering or authoritarian parents can also cause the development of apathetic-abulsic syndrome in children.
• Brain injuries - any damage to the brain can cause disruption of blood supply, hypoxia of the cerebral cortex and, as a result, psychopathology.
• Infectious diseases - especially dangerous are meningitis, encephalitis and diseases in which the body temperature is high (above 39 degrees) for a long time.
• Hereditary diseases - weakness, lability of the nervous system and a tendency to develop any psychopathologies are inherited.
• Other mental illnesses - abulia often accompanies diseases such as depression, neurosis, schizophrenia and so on.

RELATED MATERIALS: How to get rid of jealousy and survive betrayal

A little about the technical side of things

There are two fundamental strategies in matters of personality transformation. A jerk is the maximum concentration of all forces on a certain section of the path. And the tactics of small steps, when changes accumulate through constant micro-efforts.

In the information space, battles flare up every now and then on the topic of who is right and which strategy is more adequate. In my opinion, these disputes are completely pointless. Because both are right. There are problems that cannot be solved other than through a jerk. But equally, there are situations where only small steps are acceptable. When sudden attacks and energy overexpenditure will be at best ineffective, and sometimes unsafe. The rule here is simple: weakness is always only small steps.

Don’t try to “create” strong willpower in your life if you don’t have it. Such leaps, as a rule, necessarily roll a person back. He did it - it worked - he celebrates the victory - everything moves down again and tries to get up again, only it becomes even harder. Such cycles last from several months to several years.

If we are dealing with our weak side, only the strategy of slow, gradual restructuring of the psyche is effective.

This can even be explained physiologically.

Some kind of blind spot in life - something that doesn’t work out and isn’t felt at all, characterized by a lack of proper neural connections.

When you work with your strength, you already have neural connections and, thanks to them, as you develop, you try to reach new horizons. But when you attack a weakness, you form new, non-existent connections in the brain. It seems like there are more of you. Therefore, strength is a support, and weakness is a treasure, with the caveat that it is very, very difficult to get it. You literally have to grow new parts of yourself through prolonged effort.

But this does not mean that jerks are not needed and all your problems must be solved in this way. Everything is somewhat more complicated. When you are dealing with a strong side, jerks are necessary. They are the ones who allow you to radically change your track. In the meantime, we are talking about a weak center - only a slow restructuring.

I will show you again with examples.

In previous episodes

There are people who are dominated by the heart center - feelings: they perceive the world through sensations. For others, the “man of the house” is the intellectual center . It's about logic, analysis and reflection. And still others have a pronounced volitional center and can “dig from here until the New Year” - without the need for rationalization or intense emotional connection to each of their decisions.

My heart center is dominant, but my intellectual center is also dominant.

This seems to be the reason why it is possible to combine creativity and marketing on a professional level. Usually these processes are on different sides of the barricades. Creativity is about transforming the sensory perception of the world, and marketing is about the accuracy of analysis, on the basis of which you can predict the sensory perception of other people and reach their hearts. But it coincided with me that both centers dominate quite strongly.

And everything would be fine, don’t worry, it’s a wonderful situation. If not for one giant “but”. I have no autonomous willpower at all, so to speak. My volitional center does not work independently and does not have the proper strength. He is completely subordinate to feelings, emotions and sensations. And it was in this that I found the explanation why I have not been able to overcome several personal blockages for many years.

Alert: this material is not an independent text, but goes in conjunction with the previous one. Start from the beginning to understand what will be discussed below: Feelings, reflection, will: the hidden key to yourself

So.

Story 2. “My father is the Father of the Century!”

These are the words of Rick Hoyt about his father Dick. Do you think he's exaggerating? What do you say to this: more than a thousand sports competitions, including 70 marathons and 6 Ironman distances (4 km swim, 180 km bike and 42 km run)? Impressive, isn't it? But wait, that’s not all, the time has come to be truly surprised: Dick did not overcome all these distances alone, he was with his son. He pushed him in a stroller, pulled a boat and carried him on the seat on the handlebars of his bicycle. Dick also took his son skiing, mountain climbing, and once towed him across America in the trailer of his motorcycle. Here it is – the fortress of true fatherly love and unbending willpower!

It all started out rather sadly when Rick was diagnosed with cerebral palsy at the age of 8 months. However, the parents firmly decided to do everything possible to ensure that their son lived a full life.

Rick's mom won the right to inclusive education. She initiated an entire campaign for education reform, which led to changes in Massachusetts law and the adoption of a new law against discrimination against people with disabilities, the so-called Chapter 766. Thanks to her, thousands of children with disabilities received the right to study together with their able-bodied peers.

Dick also picked up the baton for the main prize - a full life for his son.

In 1977, Rick asked his father to help him take part in a charity race to help a paralyzed athlete. Dick thought about it. He was 36 years old and had never been a runner. But the desire to support his son outweighed the scales filled with doubts. Dick ran the entire 8.46 km, pushing Rick's chair in front of him. And despite the stiff muscles and bloody blisters on their legs, Dick and Rick reached the finish line to the enthusiastic howl of the fans.

That same evening, Dick saw Rick’s message on the computer screen (this is how the boy communicated with the outside world): “Dad, when we ran, I didn’t feel different from everyone else.” The story of the Hoyt family team began with this phrase.

At first, father and son were not allowed to take part in the competition. So for several years, Dick and Rick simply joined the running crowd and ran side by side. But the determination of two people turned out to be stronger than the system, and very soon father and son began to be officially included in the list of participants.

Throughout the team's history, the Hoyts' motto was one of Dick's main instructions to his son: "Yes, you can do it!"

And Rick really did it. Not only did he compete in countless competitions with his father, but he also earned a degree from Boston University and then worked in the computer department, where he developed devices for people with communication difficulties and paraplegics.

“Even though I am disabled, I live a full life,” Rick says. “I showed other disabled people that they don’t have to just watch life go by, they too can work and live happily…”

Secretly, Rick dreams of giving his father a gift that you can’t buy anywhere. “My greatest wish,” Rick types, “is for my father to sit in a chair and for me to roll him, at least once.”

Now Dick and Rick are involved in charity work, they have their own foundation and organization to help people with cerebral palsy, and they often give joint lectures at major universities in America and the world.

The Hoyt family opened up opportunities for people with disabilities in both education and sports. In their lectures, Dick and Rick Hoyt explain that fortitude allowed them to take control of their own lives and achieve the impossible.

Examples of situations

The will and its main features are best examined through specific examples.

Let's try to break down the process of drinking water into its components:

• a man approaches the refrigerator;
• opens the door;
• takes out a bottle of water;
• uncorks the cork;
• takes an empty glass with his hand;
• pours water from a bottle, tilting the neck;
• brings the glass to his mouth and tilts it so that the water comes to the edge;
• makes a sucking movement with his mouth;
• swallows water;
• puts the bottle back in the refrigerator.

At the same time, the characteristic of the will into voluntary (requiring control of consciousness) and involuntary (swallowing) manifests itself at the level of instinct; the body responds to the sight of a glass of water. The remaining actions occur automatically, without focusing on their implementation.

Involuntary manifestation of will

The will and its main features clearly manifest themselves when analyzing the character of a person:

• purposefulness, determination;
• perseverance, self-control;
• endurance, independence.

The intensity of willpower in life depends on the following personality characteristics:

• views on the structure of the surrounding world;
• moral character established by upbringing;
• the significance of the goal and its achievement;
• a person’s attitude to the upcoming activity;
• properties of personal controllability and organization.

The role of will in a critical situation is a psychological impulse supported by emotional components. At this moment, feelings are heightened, all the reserves of the human body are mobilized, and the maximum amount of energy is consumed. Sometimes this brings “magical results” that cannot be achieved under normal conditions.

This is interesting! How to prevent and what is a conflict of interest