“Mastering other is strength. Mastering yourself is true power” – Lao Tzu
Willpower is only so strong and different people have spikes of energy at different times. For example, I am a morning person, but in the night I begin to lose my will. I get tired and that alters my motivation and my will drastically. The same happens if I have had a bad nights sleep. There are moments when you just don’t feel like doing things. It’s normal, but when you constantly become a slave to moods, it can hold you back severely.
“Champions aren’t made in gyms. Champions are made from something they have deep inside them – a desire, a dream, a vision. They have to have the skill, and the will. But the will must be stronger than the skill.” – Muhammad Ali
Freddy couldn’t push past his mood. He thought he was too good, and he was, until he wasn’t. The laziness caught up with him and because of that he never reached his potential.
This is one of the reasons why I think it is so important to build good habits, automatic responses that supersede moods. I’m not perfect at it, I have a lot of fine tuning to do, but your daily habits make a huge difference over time.
The other thing is understanding how you can inspire or maintain discipline to do things when you don’t feel like it. Maybe when you are tired you want junk food. A solution could be, not buying junk food as part of your grocery shopping. This is the act of making a bad habit less accessible.
For inspiration, maybe you can listen to a particular song or playlist that gets you fired up and ready.
Whatever it is, you need to pay attention to how you react to things. What keeps you going? Where do you slip up? What can you learn from it? How can you change things so that you respond better the next time?
I love thinking about my day and asking, Am i happy with how I spent my time? Am I happy with what I gave to the day? If not, why? What can I do better tomorrow? How can I push past my bad moods and be better next time around?
There is always room to grow and learn. But ultimately you either become a victim to your moods or are working towards becoming a master of them, you decide.