When I first started my counseling practice I had all these people coming to me complaining about not having willpower.
If only they had willpower they would tell me, they would be able to
- lose weight / get fit
- stop smoking / drinking / gambling / womanizing
- control their domestic violence / drug problem / children / finances
- achieve their goals / dreams / aspirations / next birthday
- basically, succeed in anything and everything instantly and forever.
All they needed was some Will Power!
After one such session I got so fed up that afterwards I went over to my bookcase and took down the phone book.
I looked up Mr Power and discovered to my amazement
Power, Bill
Power, W
Power, William
and yes even
Power, Will!
I fantasized for months about calling each of them up and explaining I was a therapist fed up with people complaining to me about needing Will Power, and would it be alright if the next time this happened, I gave the client their phone number and told them to call.
I never did phone anyone up, and somehow I seem to get less people asking for Will Power after that phase.
Pity really.
But these days I wouldn’t give them a phone number anyway because I now have a better option.
An Australian guy has given me a website to offer instead…
http://www.teamaustraliamotorsport.com/will_power.asp
Go Will Power!
-Dr Martin Russell
Popularity: 23% [?]
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2 Comments
An interesting toung-in-cheek post.
However it does highlight an aspect that I hear often. How do I stop my addiction to drugs, alcohol, food, sex, gambling & etc?
Well what I have learnt in my own life and in my professional life is to seek ‘won’t power’ not will power.
I usually introduce them to a self-help fellowship such as Alcoholics Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous & etc.
Here they find that they can help themselves to a power not formally known – a Higher Power of self-help fellows who are demonstating their won’t power.
They soon lose the desire to practice their addictions and live life.
Two good alternative choices Fred.
Won’t Power, and Higher Power.
The drug addicts are already trying to get high(er) anyway, so it’s only a slight tweak.
Know/No Power is also an interesting option.
Gotta love the English language:-)
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