Demand Your Will Take Action: 5 Things for When Will Won’t

You have to demand your will take action when you’re tangled in the “do not go” moments.

We’ve all been there – or at least I hope I’m not the only one.

Picture this . . . 

You’ve just walked past the dirty dishes again. Yes, those same ones you’ve walked past so many times that even the dishes are embarrassed at this point. And yet, no matter how many times you go by, the dishes remain.

Or, you’ve just pushed the refresh button on the dryer again – for the fourth time. At this point, you’ve forgotten what’s even in there.

Or,  you’ve told the air because nobody else seems to be listening) that the garbage really should be emptied but the garbage tetras game apparently isn’t over so the garbage is still there.

Basically, you’re not doing what you know to do for whatever reason you can find. You simply don’t want to be doing anything – so you don’t. You need something to demand your will take action.

It’s exhausting being there – which only adds to the lack of desire to attempt to do anything.

The other morning, I woke up late because a storm had blown in and it was still dark outside. Normally, the sun breaks into my morning so I can only sleep until it shows up. This morning, it was dark, grey, with no sign of the sun.

The dimness of the morning sucked away what little energy I had remaining – and I hadn’t even gotten out of bed yet. I didn’t want to do anything that involved facing the grey day.

Even when I finally did roll free of the covered, I had no motivation for doing. I avoided making eye contact with the stacks of boxes I needed to still put away. I didn’t need their taunts. I turned the TV on and found a way to show that nobody needed to ask me to do anything (including those judgemental boxes).

That’s what happens when your will is depleted. You don’t want to – and even if the idea crossed your mind to do something you wouldn’t. When you’re will won’t, it takes something extra to get beyond that moment. 

Demand Your Will Take Action

When I recognized I was in that pit, all the thinking about it and planning it didn’t get me out. Instead, I had to do something. I had to do something anyway. I had to do something now. I had to do something – even partway. And I had to do something more.

In other words, I had to move to get out of my pit. When you find yourself struggling to get your will to take action, here are five things you can do to demand your will take action:

First – do something little.

Second – do something anyway.

Third – do something now.

Fourth – do something almost or just partway.

Finally, do something more.

Like everything else we’ve been talking about these last few weeks, it’s simple. The key is moving.

As long as I sat there, staring blankly at the TV, I remained in the pit of despair that opened up and swallowed me long before the grey day sucked away my energy.

I wanted to do things.

I planned to do things.

I needed to do things.

Instead, I sat.

A friend texted, and I responded. It wasn’t much, but it was something. And that something led me to tell her how my husband and I had been talking earlier about needed time with her and her husband.

“Are y’all available for lunch?”

I confess I had not expected the texting to take that turn. Even though I had texted her, that was about a little of something as I really wanted to do. 

But when you do something little, it often makes room for more somethings to follow.

First – Do Something Little

When you’re will won’t, the first thing you have to do is to do something little – anything at all. Remember, an object at rest stays at rest until it’s affected by a force. 

Your something can be pretty much anything, as long as it requires more energy than you are currently investing in not doing anything. It’s more about moving than anything else.

• Get up and brush your teeth. Trust me, your roommates will thank you.
• Go over and wipe away that cobweb you’ve been staring at for the last month.
• Reach out and call a friend – yes, an actual call – but only say positive things. Even try to laugh together. The key is to avoid anything that will suck more energy from you.

A little something may not seem like much in the big scheme of things, but it starts the boat turning. And you can’t adjust where you are if you never start turning.

It’s tough to do something when your will won’t and the last thing you want to do is anything. Start with something little and build from there.

But you have to start with something – even when you know you can find (or make up) a reason not to.

Second – Do Something Anyway

For me, it was the time with my friends. I wanted to spend time with them, but I still didn’t want to do anything. I agreed only because we had to back out of the last plans we made because my husband fell asleep (or maybe that was just an excuse in the moment). 

I asked to shift to dinner so I could try to find the energy to do something. I had not sooner agreed to the plans than a dozen things that I HAD to do popped into my mind. I had reasons not to go coming out my wazoo. 

I knew I didn’t have to do any of the things – and I also knew I wasn’t going to actually do them even if I did need to. But it was so tempting not to do something with our friends.

Instead, I got up and got ready – another little thing but still it got me focused on the next little thing (getting in the car to go). With the little things adding together, I ignored all the reasons not to and chose to do something anyway.

When your want to is drained, sometimes you just have to do something anyway.

Do you ever make big plans or extensive to-do lists only to end the day with the only thing accomplished is the list or plans?

Thinking about something and planning for something won’t get something done. Believe me. I’ve tried. You have to do something and you have to do it now – otherwise, you’ll find a way to talk yourself out of it.

Procrastination is real and it will team up with a will that won’t to make it even more of a challenge to do something. 

The other day, I saw a meme on social media. It was a simple black square with white words. “Remember. April is Procrastination Awareness Month.” I laughed and had to share it with a friend. “It’s a little late for that. It’s already May,” was the replay I received.

It made my enjoyment of the meme even better – but the meme had a powerful point to it. If you are looking for a way to put something off then you’ll find the way to do that. If your will won’t, then you need to do something now.

Third – Do Something Now

I learned something the other day. You can’t do something tomorrow. You can’t do something yesterday. You can only do something now. 

I also learned that if you don’t do it now then you’ll be wondering tomorrow why you didn’t do it yesterday.

I’ve been talking about getting back to the chore schedule and I even posted it today. Secretly, I was hoping it would prompt other people in the house to do what they needed to do or to at least get them to do something. 

Once I had the schedule posted, I started right then doing things on the schedule. Even a few minutes ago, when I had five minutes between meetings, I took the time to do part of a task so that I would be a little bit closer to having it done.

But I had to do something now to get something done. When you are demanding your will take action you need to start with something that involves action.

Which reminds me, you don’t have to do all of something to do something. You can do a piece of the bigger task and still feed the momentum you need to keep going to more. Getting started is one bit closer to being done.

Fourth – Do Something Almost or Partway

We recently unloaded all of our possessions from storage. This included dozens of framed family photos. I had the daunting task of taking all these memories and finding them a new place in our current home. 

What had worked before wouldn’t work now. We were in a different season and needed a different plan.

So I kept putting it off. I struggled because the location for the pictures was in a high-traffic area. It made it difficult to come up with a plan. 

I stared at the stack of pictures. I thought about how to hang them. But they still didn’t get hung. I couldn’t find a way around all my struggles.

Until one day when I hung up two of the pictures. I did something even though it wasn’t the whole thing. It broke the block and I could see how to hang the other pictures. Doing something – even though it was only a part of the bigger something – made way to finish doing the bigger something.

It’s a line upon line and precept upon precept moment. You have to do something even when you don’t want to do anything to be able to do something more to get to your ultimate goal. 

Five – Do Something More

Once I had gotten up out of my pit and gotten ready to go to dinner with friends, I had some time before we left. I was already up. I was already dressed, so I decided to make the most of the time. 

• I could clean off the kitchen counter.
• I could pick up my dirty clothes.
• I could take the box I left on the stairs up the stairs.

And I’ve been using that idea since I pulled myself out of the pit. If I have a few minutes, I do something more (even if it’s only little bits). What I’ve found is that with each more, I move closer to my goals.

The actions feed momentum which drives you to your dreams. Instead of just doing something to be doing something, I’m focused back on being intentional with my something.

When you’re will won’t then you have to find ways to demand your will take action. The more you choose to do something, the more your will shifts focus. Before long, you not only think about it, plan it, or schedule it, you actually find ways to get it done.

Has your will determined it won’t lately?

If you need more help demanding your will take action, reach out to me and let’s see what we can come up with together to get your will back on track.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

Subscribe: Spotify | Amazon Music | iHeartRadio | Email | RSS | More