I want you to realize that any action can be transformed into an exercise of will, provided it is not done from habit or seen as a duty.

Let’s go ahead and check how strong your willpower is at the moment. Try this simple exercise.

Stand up straight. Lift your arms out to the sides at shoulder height. Keep breathing steadily. That’s it. Just stay in this position for 10 minutes. What seems like an easy exercise will be really hard to do. Your mind will keep telling you to lower your arms, to give up, to fail. Instead, prove to yourself, that you CAN do it. Prove to yourself and others that you ARE in control of your destiny and your future. Imagine that your very life depends on it. Go ahead and do it right now, and we’ll discuss the rest later.

Well how did it feel? Like hell? Very hard? I know, because my yoga teacher made me do exactly the same exercise years ago. The whole time while I was suffering he was comfortably sitting on the sofa, drinking his tea. I felt like killing the bastard! I pictured in my mind how I would pour that cup of tea on his bald head. He was sweetly smiling at me the whole time. That’s when I decided that I’d rather die or let my arms fall off before I’d lower them. I did it, and when I gave him a victorious look. He just simply asked me how I felt. I felt like a champion, I felt great, like I just won a battle. This is how being a winner really feels. I want you to experience the same feeling. I want you to realize that there is nothing impossible in this world. You can achieve anything if you will just put your mind to it.

If you didn’t have enough strength to do it today, don’t worry you’ll do it tomorrow. Just try to hold your arms up a little bit longer every day until you’re able to do it for 10 minutes. In the long run, your achievement will be even greater, because you had to fight multiple battles, while some of us just did it once.

To make your willpower training more effective and to learn how to stay on-track, pick a healthy habit you would like to adapt to your daily routine. Something you were planning on doing but never had enough time for, or enough self-discipline to follow through on. Like quitting eating late at night, doing your morning exercises, or finding a couple of hours a day to work on achieving your goal.

Make sure you don’t skip a single day.

Explain to yourself, why you want to become a healthy, strong-willed individual. How does that little change in your routine make your life better? Keep going over all the reasons in your mind every day. By the way, habits develop most quickly when activity follows a "same-time, same-place" type of format. I suggest you start small. Devote just a short period of time to your task, gradually increasing it as your self-control becomes stronger. Make sure you do it EVERY day. It’s important. Excuses like, “I’ll skip today”, or “I’ll do extra tomorrow” will not work.