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Content Index:
Willpower: The Drive Behind Success
Part Two: Determination - Willpower's Sustainer
3.1 Introduction - Determination: Concentrating Inspiration
Determination is the second conglomerate in the triple conglomerate of desire, determination and discipline or the '3Ds' that gives rise to that driving force towards achieving our goals, willpower.
In the last seminar, our exploration of the first D, or desire, revealed that desire is the main energy generator of willpower. This energy is mainly felt as the buoyant and uplifting feeling of inspiration. Inspiration culminates with a vision of the goal to come in the future, and with the vision we will also feel charged with energy to accomplish our goal.
As desire, willpower is still in its seed state. It has yet to emerge as a force that can be felt. It is determination that transforms the seed of willpower planted by desire into a tangible force that can move the other forces of the world to manifest our goals.
3.1.1 Shallow Determination and Deep Determination
Determination is defined in the dictionary as firmness of purpose or resoluteness. Determination is easiest to establish at the onset of an endeavour, which is right after or soon after we initially have the desire for it. When working on a project, especially if it is a long term goal any effort will face challenges. Challenges can test any project especially if the energy of inspiration is stretched over a period of time. How an endeavour stands the test of time depends much on the preparations done at the onset of the endeavour. Determination is all about such preparations.
If determination is established hastily or is shallow, the willpower that emerges will falter when challenges appear. However if the energy of inspirations is concentrated properly, patience and practicality will be necessary virtues for this to happen, determination can be used to draw up a highly effective plan of action. Such determination is the main ingredient of the indomitable willpower.
Unlilke desire which occurs naturally, determination has to be cultivated conciously and, to be truly effective subconsiously as well. For the sake of explaining the intricacies of determination I will classify determination as shallow and deep.
Shallow determination can be described as hasty planing. One gets into shallow determination when one is not patient in wanting to achieve one's goals. The hastiness breeds two enemies of success which are impracticality and over-confidence. When impracticality and over-confidence shadows determination, much is overlooked in planning an endeavour and sloppiness will be the result.
Deep determination, which is also a sign of spiritual maturity, is effort that is tempered by patience, wisdom and practicality. These virtues create a sound plan of action that is not only well thought out, but also takes in consideration the practicality of the plan based on one's or one's team's strenghts and weaknesses. Deep determination incorporates contingency plans to overcome these short comings. Not only that, it also gives a place for accepting 'miracles' that may happen. In other words it fosters informed faith towards achieving success.
3.2 Determination: The Sustainer of Willpower
3.2.1 The Nuts And Bolts of Determination
Determination is about having a resolve and also sustaining resoluteness. If determination is understood as such, it is not as simple as just feeling a sense of "I am definitely going to get this done." Instead cultivating deeper and sustained determination involves the three elements as follows:
1. Effective Planning
2. Developing Subconcious Concentration (especially through affirmation)
3. Spritual Development
3.3 Cultivating Determination
3.3.1 Efffective Planning
Desire is the, "this is what I want", determination is the "this is how I am going to get what I want". The natural first step of getting what we want involves creating a plan. A good plan, of course, makes all the difference in determining success or a botched effort. In my training as a monk in my guru's ashram in Hawaii I learned the criteria for making plans from an unique spiritual perspective.
Making plans was an important part of my spiritual training with my guru as it was part of developing willpower. Willpower is of course also the key to success in spiritual endeavours such as enlightenment as much as it is with other goals. My guru was a master planner. He made and executed hundreds of plans with his monks and lay congregation, from building temples to conflict resolution to creating an entirely new language for meditation. A major portion of his monastic training method involved giving his disciples projects to be accomplished. For the most part he would give us the freedom to make the plans and execute them as we saw best and would not interfere unless we asked for his help. This way he let us learn organically about effective planning. Over time we picked up Gurudeva's skill of "learning to move the forces of the world with our indomitable will".
Planning effectively is about considering aspects of an endeavour. These considerations are gathering information, creating a timeline, understanding limits, considering strengths as well as weaknesses and anticipating miracles.
Gathering Information
Before we embark on any effort we first need to know what we need to do. The best way to get all the information we need is to learn from the experience of people who have previously achieved (or even failed) the same or similar undertaking. However we get this information, whether by interviewing the person or reading a biography, it will help us understand what it takes and all the elements that need to be in place to succeed. The most valuable infromation to be gathered by learning from others' experience is the psychologcial or mental effort required as this cannot be garnered easily by theorizing. For instance lets say this boy, Raj, wants to body build. One way to find out what he needs to do is to read the biography of a successful body builder. The most important information he can gathered from this reading is the 'human' experience of the body builder or his trials and tribulations he had undergone. Options of methods that can be used can also be gathered and one that suits one's needs best should be used. Methods can also be modified or innovated from scratch after having sufficiently gathered all the necessary information. It is wise to spend time researching and organizing information for each project. The more comprehensive the information gathered for a project the more efficiently time and effort can be planned and the more reduced will the chance of encountering setbacks and challenges be.
The Timeline
Having gathered and organized information required a practical and well-informed plan of action can be constructed. For the action to be decisive, it has to be set in a timeline. The timeline is a crucial element in any plan as it is builds around a deadline for the materialization of our goals. The deadline is important as it sets a target for our efforts. With a deadline date in mind, efforts can be quantified over a period of time and a positive sense of I-am-making-progress which is important for morale will grow. Open ended timelines without a deadline is almost never recommended for any endeavour. However in some cases such as fund raising or character building where time might not be as crucial, quantity or quality deadlines can be set. For instance in fund raising, the deadline can be an amount of funds raised, or in the instance of character building it may be reaching mastery over certain weakness in character.
Patience is an important virtue to have when it comes to creating a timeline. Patience in reaching ones goals affords the planner considerations of practicality in the plan of aciton. Lacking this, a timeline will be over ambitious and stifled by over-confidence and lack of forethought. In general it is better to set the timeline as long as possible. This will make it easy on the effort required on a daily basis and also allows for time compensations when challenges or setbacks are faced.
The other important aspect of the timeline is including minor deadlines or creating stages of accomplishment before the ultimate goal is reached. This allows for deserved break periods which is necessary especially for ambitious goals when inspiration can rejuvenated. We will get into more details about stages in a plan in the next seminar on discipline.
Understanding Limits
The amount of effort that can be put into an undertaking in any given day is limited by time and natural ability. These are limits that we cannot go beyond. For instance there are 24 hours in a day. There is nothing we can do about this time limitation. If we need more time, what we can do to is either to use time more efficiently or extend the timeline. There are also natural limitations within our ability. Some can be improved on while others must be maintained for health and efficiency reasons. For instance I often encounter students who ask me if there are any yogic techniques that they can learn so they could sleep less than 6 hours a day, so they would have more time to study. There are yoga techniques that can help us have a sound and deep sleep, so when we wake up we feel well rested and alert immediately without the grogyiness, but there are none that I know of that helps reduce the natural hours of sleep (especially for extended period of time) our body needs to remain healthy and efficient. These are limitations that we need to work with and not around, for effective planning. In fact when it comes to sleep especially, in the long run there are more benefits to us in terms of efficiency and health if we had healthy sleep rather than curtail this important biological function so that we have more time. If we do curtail important natural limitations such as sleep or diet, in the long run we will waste time and effort because of the inefficiencies of a restless mind or ill health. There are some limitations that we can improve. For instance, efficiency in concentration, memory, talents or skills that can be learned or augmented.
Considering Strengths and Weaknesses
IIn relation to understanding limits, when planning any endeavour we must consider our personal strenghts that will lend itself to the undertaking and also consider weaknesses that may detract from our effort. As part of effective planning, time and effort should also be expended in improving areas in our character or habit that needs to be improved in order to efficiently reach our goals. If we do not consider both weaknesses and strenghts, we may lose out on the spiritual opportunity of character building that a project can bring us or in the case of our strengths we may lose out in not exploiting our natural abilities that can lend creativity and give our endeavours that "extra edge" of refinement. If we are working in a group as team to achieve a target, then it is up to the designated leader or planner to assess the ability of every individual and have them play the appropriate part in a the team. Of course in such a situation it will be difficult to point out the weaknesses of individual members, so leaders will have to choose team members with unique character and skill sets that will complement each other.
You might think that perhaps I am making this planning guideline somewhat complicated with the addition of such a personal matter (that is working with our individual weaknesses) as part of achieving our goals. However, I did state earlier that we are looking at this subject from an unique spiritual perspective. This spiritual perspective behooves us to use whatever opportunity available to us to initiate and gain spiritual progress. Spiritual progress in this context is not necessarily being more devoted to God, though this can also be included, but more about character building. It is especially optimum to work on character building while working towards our goals as these are psychological periods when we are utilizing as much of our capalities as we can muster, plus we have the added benefit of having stimulated willpower. The willpower can be channeled towards overcoming our shortcomings that will be glaringly visible when challenges have to be overcome. Thus this opportunity can be used to polish ourselves spiritually even if the goal we are working towards is materialsitic by nature. This is how my guru worked with our spiritual training in the monastery. That is using materialistic objectives as opportunities for character building and spiritual development.
As a basic guide of figuring what shortcomings of one's nature that can be worked on as part of planning, here some guidelines taken from the yamas section of Ashtanga Yoga. The yamas are basic moral restraints. The list of yamas are as follows:
1. Ahimsa—Noninjury
Not harming others by thought, word or deed
2. Satya—Truthfulness
Refraining from lying and betraying promises
3. Asteya—Nonstealing
Neither stealing, coveting nor entering into debt
4. Brahmachariya—Sexual Purity
Striving to control lust by remaining celibate when single or faithful in marriage
5. Kshama—Patience
Restraining intolerance with people & impatience with circumstances
6. Dhriti—Steadfastness
Overcoming non-perseverance, fear, indecision and changeableness
7. Daya—Compassion
Striving to conquer callous, cruel and insensitive feelings toward all beings
8. Arjava—Honesty
Renouncing deception and wrongdoing
9. Mitahara—Moderate Appetite
Not eating too much and striving toward a vegetarian diet
10. Saucha—Purity
Avoiding impurity in body, mind and speech
Anticipating miracles
One might wonder if anticipating miracles or the Hand of God should have a place in effective planning? You would be right if you thought that after all, aren't miracles unpredicatble. Indeed this may be true but consider this, in our planning as part of understanding limits and considering weaknesses, we try to anticipate and prepare as much as we can for challenges that we may face. In any endeavour we must brace for such things, and accept them as part and parcel of working towards a goal.
If we can accept unpredicted challenges, we can equally accept unpredicted miracles (or assistance, help, or whatever you wish to call it). Again this is from the spiritual perspective. If you have faith in God, this would be easy to accept, however if one is not inclined toward faith in a Supreme Entity such as God, there must still be place in one's mind in the amazing workings of nature. Surely there is an intelligence behind all the forces that keep this universe in equilibrium. This same force or intelligence can also provide us with assistance when we need it. Call it what you want, coincidence, luck, being in tune with the universe, it is all the same thing I am getting at.
Anticipating miracles is something we should be open to, though we cannot predict how and when they appear we should have some space in our mind that if assistance comes to us as we work to our goals, we should recognize these instances and graciously accept them. In the next part of cultivating determination which is subconsicous concentration, we will see how exploiting the power of the subconscious can make us magnets to amazing even unbelievable circumstances of life that will bring us further toward achieving our goals.
3.3.2 Developing Subconscious Concentration
What is Subconscious Concentration?
According to yoga concentration has degrees of mastery. In yoga the deepest possible level of deliberate concentration is called dharana. Dharana is a highly focused state of the mind that will eventually culminate into the true state of meditation or dhyana. One level below dharana is pratyahara. Pratyahara means 'sense withdrawal' and in the context of meditation, it is about shutting out all the distractions that come from of sight, hearing, feeling, tasting and smelling (the conscious mind). In Pratyahara, with the conscious mind quietened, its energies can be focused into the subconscious mind, and thus the effort of concentrating the subconscious ensues.
The subconscious is commonly understood as the place we store our memory, very much like a how a computer disc stores digital data. However, unlike the hardrive that merely stores data, the subconcious mind is a powerhouse of unconscious abilities that can swing to all ends of the possibility. According to yoga mysticism the subconscious mind is where our seed karmas sprout and eventually manifests in the material world. Thus the content within our subconscious effects our life profoundly.
The subconscious mind is an integral part of us and if we know how to use it we can have full power over it. Through the subconscious mind we can modify, alter and add content into it–content that have the potential to effect our future. This is why subconscious concentration is also an important element in sustaining willpower through determination. Subconscious Concentration that has been explored in Seminar one is a technique of deliberately embedding impressions into the subconscious so that they eventually manifest in our future.
Affirmations, Determination and Willpower
Earlier we went through effective planning as the first element of determination. Planning is the initial stage of any effort. After that the work begins in putting the plan into action. Through this plan willpower is spread over a period of time. While willpower's energy source is the inspiration from desire, it is the element of subconscious concentration in determination that feeds our effort proportionally with willpower over the period of time. The method of subconscious concentration that is most suited for this purpose is reciting an affirmation. An affirmation is a terse summary of the object or goal of ones endeavour. The affirmation should contain the vision of the future when the goal is realized as well as important elements of planning, written in the language one is most familiar with. (Please read the seminar on concentration to learn more about affirmations, Click Here and in the content index click 1.3.3 Step Three: Pratyahara [Affirmations - Dridhavaak]).
It is recommended that affirmations be recited daily, at least once a day if possible. The affirmation can also be a group affirmation if you are working with a team on a project. In this case the affirmations may be repeated by each individual daily and as the first agenda every time the group meets in formal meetings to discuss the progress of the project.
Affirmations keep the inspiration behind our efforts alive, thus stimulating the spiritual energies that is necessary for willpower to emerge. It keeps the beat up even during tribulations or challenges that may be faced in the course of the endeavour. The affirmation also has the added advantage of creating an impression in the subconcious strong enough that we can exploit the power of the subconscious of manifesting a future we desire. Thus the affirmation is a crucial element of generating willpower. Basically it keeps our initial inspiration constantly rejuvenated and also gets our powerful subconscious involved in the process by supporting our efforts through moulding our future through spiritual means. In this way subconscious concentration also lends itself to creating "miracles" that help us along.
Affirmations is part of determination because the affirmation is our resolve packed in a statement. One of the signs that our affirmation is working for us is when we feel confident that we will be able to accomplish our plans. We know that we are going to succeed even if we are only at the initial stages of our progress. This is the type of confidence that one is usually not inclined to talk about or tell others. However, others will be able sense this confidence through ones demeanor, as it comes from deep within the subconscious. The other sign is that we begin to feel automatically inspired and filled with energy even if when are doing the most mundane work related to our goal or even if we are facing challenges. The phrase 'dogged determination' lends itself very well to this condition.
Does Everyone Who Is Successful Use Affirmations?
Affirmations may be new to you, and you might wonder if everybody who is successful uses affirmations. I find that the answer is yes. Everyone uses affirmations in one way or another. For some their affirmation is part of their daily prayer, for some it is keeping a journal of their progress (the journal acts subconsciously as a symbol of the goal and writing in it etches our inspiration into the subconscious), for some it is about a cause that they believe in deeply, for some it is about maintaining the dignity that they will always succeed. These are all various ways of how subconscious concentration can be achieved. Reciting affirmations is the most direct-to-the-point subconscious concentration technique.
The idea of subconscious concentration is basically to impregnate the subconscious with our vision of the future strong enough, that the subconscious which is intimately connected to spiritual energies of our soul, works paranormally in moving the forces of the world so that the vision is fulfilled. Whether subconscious concentration is achieved through prayer, japa yoga, journalling, working for a cause or affirmation statements, the process it instigates within us is the same.
3.3.3 Spiritual Development
The most natural tendency of life on earth is evolution. When we make plans for our life, it is most likely to evolve from one condition to another higher or better condition. Whenever we decide to change toward a more positive situation from a current situation, such and evolution also offers the opportunity for spiritual development.
The Spiritual Perspective of Yoga
From the yogic perspective life is about finding peace, contentment and the perfect state of equilibrium within oneself. This state is reached by getting in touch and in tune with God or the Creator of the Universe, to whom we are essentially connected. According to yogic philosophy this is the path to achieving lasting peace and contentment on earth. All other "gettings" will only bring temporary contentment, which will fade once the enthrallment of what is gotten has been achieved and enjoyed. Then, naturally, desire will resurface for another getting and the cycle continues, until one day we focus on and eventually achieve the "supreme getting"–which is union in consciousness with God.
This process of "going after desires" in life is not the anti-thesis of yoga philosophy. Rather, yoga looks at this process of desiring and fulfilling and desiring again as natural and part of spiritual evolution. Without getting into the intricacies of spiritual evolution, suffice to say that this cycle culminates in the ultimate desire of desiring God. Along the way, our cravings become the fuel of spiritual evolution. This is because every time we achieve what we desire, we learn to master parts of our nature. As yoga philosophy teaches reincarnation, this process happens over many lifetimes to the point where we finally gain mastery over the impulses and urges of our body, mind and emotions. This mastery is necessary to achieve the ultimate realization of Oneness with God that ushers the state of ultimate contentment.
Spiritual Development and Determination
Thus from the yogic point of view our every positive endeavour is an opportunity to work with ourselves to further our spiriutal progress. From this point of view, we expect (though not necessarily look forward to) to encounter trials and challenges in the course of our pursuits. These events can expose our weaknesses and short comings and if we are humble enough to accept them, we can better ourselves in many aspects. This way we can benefit from even difficult times.
In seminars that follow on love we will look at ways and methods of being the master of ourselves. For this seminar on willpower, maintaining the perspective that every undertaking affords opportunities of progressing ourselves in many ways, including getting closer to God is part of being determined that nothing will get us down. It is a perspective that sustains the indomitable will. It maintains that even challenges or setbacks we may go thorough are ultimately worth the effort, thus keeping us moving forward even if we have to make drastic changes within ourselves that might sometimes be painful. The spiritual development angle requires that we be humble, admit that we make mistakes and learn to make ammends for misplaced deeds or words. It is about reigning in a selfish ego and developing a more considerate one as we live our life.
If we choose not to bother with spiritual development as we work to achieve our success, we will then risk being destructive, coarse and selfish, inconsiderate and even hurtful as we push towards our goals. Eventually though, the spiritual forces in the form of karma will catch up to us and destroy whatever we had created.
3.4 Determination's Role In The 3Ds
As we have explored, determination is crucial in sustaining willpower. While it does provide some energy to willpower, especially through subconscious concentration techniques, it mainly consists of maintaining perspectives that come out of planning, affirmations and spiritual development. Without these perspectives, the initial boost of energy that we got from the onset of desire as inspiration can easily fizzle out, especially when challenges surfaces.
Thus part of our effort toward achieving our goals should include time for careful planning and consistency in subconscious concentration routines. This is why determination takes up the most time to cultivate among the 3D conglomerate of willpower. Taken from the previous seminar we can see how the determination should be given the most amount of time to develop.
Time Required to Develop the 3Ds
From the point of view of time required to maintain these three aspects of willpower (not to be confused with time it takes to do tasks–which is called effort) the partnership will look like this:
20% Desire, 60% Determination, 20% Discipline.
Desire is very natural and usually requires the least amount of time to cultivate and discipline is a matter of implementing plans set up in determination thus also requiring little time for development.
3.5 From Determination to Discipline
Determination, as is desire are the foundations of willpower. Willpower is the force that is felt when the effort begins. In the effective planning of determination we would have devised a strategy of implementation for this effort. Generally this implemantation will include time and resource management. To put this plan into action and, in a sense to manage the powerful willpower that is generated by desire and determination discipline is required. In the next seminar we will explore this aspect of willpower.
If you have any questions regarding this seminar, or wish to organize this seminar in your locality (for now this is confined to within Malaysia and Singapore), you can email me at:
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