Recharge Your Willpower Batteries

All of us know how difficult it is to change.  

It’s a new year, and you make a resolution to exercise more and eat better, but by February you’re back where you started. 

You’re always behind, so you read a book. You get an app or a planner and commit to using it. It works at first, but for some reason, you soon return to your old, inefficient ways. 

You’re tired of living paycheck to paycheck. You make enough money; you just don’t manage it well. You sit down with your spouse and make a plan to budget and save, but it’s too hard. For some reason, you can’t seem to stick to your plan. 

Why is changing behavior so hard?  

The answer has to do with the way we look at willpower.  

Most of us rely on willpower alone for self-discipline, not realizing that willpower is a limited resource. No one can force themselves into new behaviors for very long. Willpower is important, but it works only in the short term. Psychologists have a name for sapping our determination. They call it “ego-depletion.” Think of willpower as a battery. It will hold out only so long, and then it will need recharging. 

If we are going to succeed at defeating temptation, breaking bad habits, or repenting of sin, our willpower is going to need a little help. You can’t pull yourself up by your own bootstraps. Other strategies will have to be called alongside sheer determination to bring about successful change. 

Here are a few examples: 

Make a plan. Many times, we fail simply because we did not prepare. Think about how you will alter your behavior. Set realistic goals. Think ahead. Visualize what success looks like. Arm yourself with resources. You’d never enter battle unprepared. Resisting temptation and repentance involve the battle for your soul. Take it seriously. 

Remove opportunities. James wrote, “But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire” (Jas. 1:14). “Lured” is a word that has to do with the bait in a trap. Therefore, James makes opportunity a necessary component of temptation. In other words, take away the opportunity to sin, and you remove the temptation. Sometimes our desires are so strong, willpower just won’t work. Avoidance may be the only strategy that helps (Prov. 4:14-15). 

Create habits. Research shows that the brain responds to repetitive activity. The more you do something, the stronger the neural connections behind this activity become. Think of these connections as pathways. Repetitive behavior will carve out these pathways, making them easy to travel and clear of obstructions. This is the science behind habits. It explains why they’re so hard to break. But studies have shown that the brain changes when we resist habitual behaviors. When we start repeating new activities, the old ones fade and the new neural connections grow stronger. Over time, through physiological changes in the brain, we may be able to break our bad habits. Just knowing the science behind this encourages us to change. 

Find your “why.” Motivation is more important than willpower. There are numerous examples in the Bible of individuals who faced temptation or changed behavior without having to exert much willpower. Their actions came naturally and without effort. 

After Joseph established himself in Potiphar’s house, his master's wife tried to seduce him. Finally, he had to flee, leaving his garment in her hand. As a result, he was falsely accused and imprisoned. We usually look at Joseph's example as an incredible display of willpower. But did he ever struggle with his decision? Personally, I don't think it was hard for him to resist Potiphar’s wife’s advances. He probably knew what would happen if he refused her, but he wanted to please God more than he wanted to keep his position. Remember what he said? “How then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?” (Gen. 39:9). His relationship with God motivated him to do what was right. 

We see the same motivation in David's heart when he repented of his sin with Bathsheba. In Psalm 51, he prays, “Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight” (v. 4). David covered his sin for a long time. What eventually changed him was not his willpower, but the realization that he had turned his back on the relationship he valued more than any other. 

Christ is the supreme example of righteousness fueled by the proper motivation. We see him climbing the road to Calvary with his cross over his shoulder and wonder how he was able to go through all that agony and humiliation. Was it hard for him? In a sense it was. He was human as well as divine. The experience was torturous. On the other hand, dying for our sins was the most natural thing in the world for him to do because he loved the world he died for (Gal. 2:20; 1 John 4:9-10). It wasn't willpower that kept him from calling twelve legions of angels to come down and save him. It was love! 

Willpower is important. It may be the first step toward change. But if you rely on willpower alone, you will certainly fail because like a battery, it will soon be depleted of its energy. Use strategies alongside the willpower to bring about dramatic change in your life. Then you will be able to grow closer to God each day, committing yourself to his will.

Drew Kizer