Your Willpower is Actually Blocking You From Reaching Your Goals

Think you need willpower in order to reach your goals?

Think you need checklists and plans and a “tough love” mindset to take your wellness goals to the next level?

Think your willpower just isn’t quite strong enough?

Well think again!

I can think back to the times when I tried to exclusively use my willpower to achieve a goal, and it wasn’t pretty. I once thought that running was an essential part of my health journey because I wanted to lose weight - more on my story here - and I heard that cardio was good for that. 

Mind you, I was the girl that skipped around the track with her friends in middle school, playing in the back of the pack, while the rest of our class ran “the mile” that was required of us during PE.

Needless to say, I am not a runner.

So when I was feeling insecure and confused about my body, I thought that I needed to workout more and workout harder in order to achieve my goals. Although I hated running, I did it anyway. I wasn’t motivated by love, intuition, or respect for my body, and I definitely was not enjoying it or having fun.

I was motivated by sheer willpower to pump my arms and push my legs up and down the hills of

my neighborhood for two painful miles every other day. 

If you’re wondering what happened in the end - did I hit my goals?! - the answer is yes. But not by running, or forcing, or using willpower.

I ended up reaching my true, heart-centered wellness goals to heal my relationship with food and my body, but it was not spearheaded by willpower or control. Instead, I reached this goal through the combined power of my body, my mind, and my soul.

When we tell ourselves that we must simply rely on “strong willpower”, we are essentially declaring our mind to be the leader and our bodies, intuitions, emotions, and spirits to be the weak sidekicks. We are stripping away any trust that we might have in our bodies and our souls in order to give all the power to our minds.

Yes - mindset is KEY and so so important. But willpower isn’t just about mental toughness or mastering your mindset. The definition of willpower is: control exerted to do something or restrain impulses.

Now I don’t know about you, but I’m trying to live my life without obsessing over control or restraining myself from things that I enjoy or desire. Are you?

You can’t *control* your way through life (you can try and let me know how you feel when you’re exhausted and burnt out!). You can’t *control* your way to a health goal either!

Your brain, your body, and your intuition are all on the same team. When you decide to actually release some control - I know it’s scary for your brain to think about, I’ve been there! - to your body and your intuition, things will flow and progress with much more ease and much less “muscling”.

Additionally, when you drop the limiting belief that willpower is the only way, you’ll be guided to pursue your goals in a way that feels actually...enjoyable! Imagine that! Getting everything you desire and actually enjoying the process! Sounds like a win win to me.

If this sounds like a “too good to be true” to you though, I totally hear you. This is likely a new approach to goalsetting than the ones you’ve heard before. It takes practice and it takes surrender, but you will begin to see proof in your own life as you commit to this path of living with love & intuition.

So go ahead! Try releasing some control. Release that willpower. Lean into flow and surrender...and see the magic that unfolds. I’d love to hear your thoughts - let’s chat about it on Instagram @sloaneelizabeth or via email at hello@sloane-elizabeth.com. Speak soon!