Will can and should be a matter of pride much more than talent. If talent is the development of natural inclinations, then a strong will is an every minute victory over instincts, over impulses that the will curbs and suppresses, over obstacles and obstacles that it overcomes, over all sorts of difficulties that it heroically overcomes.
Honore de Balzac
Willpower is an invariable attribute of any successful person. Moreover, it is safe to say that the presence of willpower is the main condition for achieving success in life. Quite often we have before us examples when a hero overcomes all obstacles and becomes a winner, and another person, despite an exceptionally favorable environment, leaves the distance of life. What is the reason? Only in the presence or absence of willpower!
Another important property of this quality of character is that we are not born initially very strong-willed or completely weak-willed people. This trait can be instilled and developed in oneself, and at almost any age. Below you will find a few tricks that will help you become a strong-willed person.
1. Narrow Your Choices
What does the term "willpower" mean? This is the ability to make right choice and follow it without hesitation. But it will be much easier for you to make a choice if you have a limited number of options. The possibilities of the human psyche are not unlimited, and even the most strong-willed person when calculating an infinite number of pluses and minuses, it can be wrong. So whenever possible, try to narrow your choice space to a minimum. Yes, in our age of consumption and advertising, screaming from every corner about freedom of choice, this looks illogical, but it really helps to make decisions quickly.
For example, if you decide to stick to the canons of a healthy diet, then it is foolish to fill your refrigerator with dozens of different products. It will be much easier to follow your wellness intentions if you have to choose only between carrots and cabbage. :)
2. Make choices at the right time
Willpower is not a constant value. Not in a person's lifetime, not in a single day. In some moments, even difficult decisions are easy for us, and in others we cannot bring ourselves to do the most elementary things. Therefore, try to track such peaks and troughs and make decisions at the most favorable moment.
For example, you want to run tomorrow, but you know for sure that in the morning you will fight with yourself to pull yourself out of bed. Therefore, try to make every effort in the evening to facilitate the implementation of the planned business at a time when your willpower is still asleep. Prepare your gym clothes near the exit, download a motivational playlist, set yourself a loud alarm clock.
3. Plan hard things for the morning
Be sure to follow the rule to do all the important, difficult, unpleasant things in the morning. At this time, our physical and psychological forces are not yet exhausted, so everything is much easier. And in the evening, when we are already tired and want to rest, we have to strain all the remnants of our willpower in order to fulfill our plan.
4. Lead a healthy lifestyle
I'm sure you've heard the expression "in healthy body - healthy mind". It's amazing how much of an impact on our well-being a full eight hours of sleep, proper nutrition and exercise. A well-rested and healthy person easily makes decisions and carries them out practically without any effort, and his willpower does not depend on temperature fluctuations outside the window and the ruble exchange rate.
5. Set reminders
And, finally, the necessary, and for some, the only effective means of revitalizing the withered willpower, which is still affectionately called the “magic pendel” among the people. Sometimes, despite our best efforts, we drift off course and begin to wander in a fog of laziness, false goals, or discouragement. And then any of us needs some kind of push or sign that will help us get on the right path.
Take care of this in advance, even if you are confident in your abilities. It could be a reminder on your calendar to check the results of your New Year's resolutions, it could be one of them, or even just a conversation with a person whose opinion matters to you. It is important that at the right moment you find motivation for yourself to continue the work you have begun and not turn off anywhere.
A significant place in creativity, in accomplishments, in behavior and life situations in a person is occupied by will.
Will- this is the ability to choose an activity and to internal efforts for its implementation.
If you get acquainted with the biographies of great people, you can almost always see that they had tremendous willpower, the ability to set certain goals. e c ate and reach them. They showed the ability to work continuously, the ability to achieve the intended goal for months, years, decades, to tirelessly look for ways to achieve it.
All brilliant people were distinguished by ardent love and passion for their work, A, C. Pushkin - to poetry, I.P. Pavlov - to science, K.E. Tsiolkovsky - to the study of interplanetary space flights.
Let's understand the concept of "Will"
« Will.- this is a mental process of conscious control and regulation of one's behavior, ensuring overcoming difficulties and obstacles on the way to the goal ”(P.I. Sidorov, A.V. Parnyakov “Clinical Psychology”, p. 234).
James W. wrote: “Desire, desire, will are states of consciousness familiar to everyone, but not amenable to any definition. We desire to experience, to have, to do all sorts of things that at this moment we do not experience, do not have, do not do. If with the desire for something we have the realization that the object of our desires is unattainable, then we simply desire; if we are sure that the goal of our desires is achievable, we want it to be realized, and it is carried out either immediately or after we perform some preliminary actions ”(James W. Psychology. p. 272).
P.I. Sidorov, A.V. Parnyakov in the book “Clinical Psychology” notice: “The will of a person will certainly manifest itself in his external or internal (mental, psychic) actions, i.e. in the applied muscular and nervous tension to achieve c ate. All Volitional actions are purposeful and coordinated with each other. The more obstacles and the stronger a person's desire to achieve a goal, the more muscular and nervous tension the volitional effort requires.
lower levels of will, such as voluntary movement or delay in impulsive action, are already distinguished in animals but the developed will is a specifically human function. It is a social new formation of the psyche, it has arisen and is being formed in the process of human labor activity. Emphasizing its social essence I.M. Sechenov wrote: “The will is powerful to set in motion in each case not only the form of movement that corresponds to it, but any of all that are generally known to man. I want to cry, but I can sing funny songs, dance; pulls me to the right, and I go further. The will is not some kind of impersonal agent that has only movement, it is also the active side of reason and moral feeling, controlling movement in the name of one or the other and often in defiance of a sense of self-preservation ... This is a clearly realized possibility, expressed in the words “I want and I will do ", and there is that impregnable citadel in which the ordinary doctrine of arbitrariness sits" Lack of will frightens a person and does not leave him with a humiliating feeling that someone broke his will and led him on a string.
« Will:
- 1. The ability to fulfill your desires, set goals;
- 2. Conscious striving for the implementation of something;
- 3. Wish, requirement;
- 4. Authority, the ability to dispose;
- 5. Freedom in the manifestation of something;
- 6. Free state (not locked up, not in jail).
Explanatory dictionary of Ozhegov. S.I. Ozhegov, N.Yu. Shvedova. 1949-1992.
Synonyms:
Aboulia, lack of will, spinelessness, spinelessness, softness, Oblomovism, lack of fortitude, lack of fortitude, weak will, weakness of mind, weakness, weakness of will, weakness of character, slobbering, rag, fragility.
What is a "willed person"?
For the answer to this question, please refer to concepts volitional regulation
and strength of will.
Volitional regulation is a particular type of arbitrary control and is characterized by the use of significant volitional efforts aimed at overcoming obstacles and difficulties, i.e. serves as a mechanism for self-mobilization.
Strength of will - this is the ability of a person to force himself to do something, that is, to independently show volitional activity.
Volitional activity is determined by the strength of the motive, the strengthening of the energy of the action, the change in the meaning of the action, i.e. the significance of a particular need and goal, under the influence of emotions, self-stimulation. At the same time, it is important that volitional activity does not develop into self-confidence, that is, it would be at the optimal level of confidence as a criterion for predicting success and the adequacy of the difficulties of the upcoming activity.
For volitional activity, determination, decisiveness and restraint of behavior subject to reasonable control are also important.
Determination and resoluteness as volitional qualities are a peculiar feeling for all volitional acts and are reduced to the number of exciting and accompanying emotional and intellectual abilities of a person.
On this occasion, K.E. Kornilov noticed that feelings are one of the stimuli of the will, but it is completely wrong to reduce volitional activity only to experienced feelings, and intellect alone does not always affect the will.
A strong-willed person, according to A. Dobrovich (1981), inspires a person with what he intended, and all that remains for him is to lie face down in the dust and await his fate with reverent humility.
The role of a strong-willed person can be decomposed into a spectrum of white light.
The role of the Patron (red color). A patron means a powerful and powerful, but kind person to you. Support in troubles, consolation in suffering, an object of reverence.
The role of the Idol (orange color). The idol is famous, charming, enjoys universal enthusiastic admiration ...
The role of the Master or Master ( yellow). Every word he says is law. Try to disobey if there is something worse than death: torture, when death is expected, like a happy hour.
But if you are loyal to the Master and express complete obedience, you will be fine. You can be approached, caressed, clothed with relative power. Please him and you will live in contentment. If you don't know how to please, blame yourself.
Role of Authority (green color). This one has limited power and is not required to do good deeds. The benefit is already in the fact that he is no more versed in some generally useful or important matter than others. It is impossible not to listen to him. Do not take advantage of his advice - look, you will sit in a puddle.
The role of the Virtuoso, or dodger (blue color). By stepping into this role, you make it clear that you can do the impossible. Good or bad, it doesn't matter. A virtuoso businessman, "from under the ground" extracting what others never dreamed of; a virtuoso pickpocket, a virtuoso gambler, a magician, a poet, a debater - whatever. In any case, you fascinate the public, and even the subject robbed by you cannot but admire your dexterity and envy her in his soul.
The role of the Boa constrictor (blue color). This is not the Sovereign, not the Lord, although he can become the Master for you if you wish. This is the type that sees all your weak points and is ready to hit them at any moment, which gives him real pleasure. Breaking you, trampling you is as easy for him as it is for you to enjoy something. And just as nice. You are afraid of him and prefer to obey, because you will not believe for a moment that you are able to cope with him, to fight back.
The role of the Devil purple). In this role, you are evil personified. Evil is "metaphysical", evil for the sake of evil, and not in the name of any purpose. You are the relentless mouth of the shark; skeleton with a sharp scythe; earth cracking during an earthquake.
Will
Author: N.I. Kozlov
Will - the ability to gather strength in order to achieve one's goals. The power component of the personality, the ability to promote one's desires, to control one's desires, in any case, this is the ability to overcome force directly and head-on. The indicator of the quantity of will is willpower, the quality of will is courage.
It doesn't matter where you are, what matters is what you do with yourself. What is your will.
Movie "Avatar"
Will is the demanding, strong voice of the father that resounds in us. Mom can ask, exhort, persuade - the father says what needs to be done. If you had such a voice in your childhood or youth (sometimes it can be the voice of a coach or a sergeant), if this voice became your law and began to organize your life and behavior, you know what will is. If you yourself began to speak with this voice to yourself and others, you have become a strong-willed person.
AT different situations the will gets different names. Her names are courage, determination, self-discipline, self-confidence, and all this is the path of overcoming, the path of war, the path of will. Will manifests itself only where there is a struggle (war): external or internal. An external war is a confrontation with the outside world, pushing through one's own line. An internal war is a war, for example, of body and mind, soul and mind, a clash of Want and Must. If a person lives in peace with himself and those around him, he does not need a will.
If obstacles arise in front of a person, they can be overcome by force, straightforwardly, or by flexibility and cunning. The path of will is overcoming obstacles by force directly and head-on. The will acts straightforwardly, this is the line of the Silovik, and this is more often a male approach. For women, the path of flexibility and cunning is more characteristic.
A woman needs a will, but it is better that she is not very noticeable outwardly. Good analogue - development physical strength. It's good when a woman is strong, but having bodybuilder's biceps is a controversial acquisition for a woman. It is more important for a woman to have well-developed internal muscles, smooth muscles. And flexibility - both physical and mental. Wise women develop their will moderately and not for show.
The will organizes our behavior, makes it consistent and purposeful, but it is wrong to think that any person who behaves consistently and purposefully is a strong-willed person. No, will is the behavior of the Silovik, but purposeful behavior can have other mechanisms, you can organize yourself not only by will. Dushka organizes himself by the attractiveness of goals, Tactician organizes the situation around him and develops the necessary habits.
There is will without reason, there is reason without will. The mind needs the will to carry out its wise decisions, a strong will needs to be supplemented by the mind, so as not to turn out to be just empty obstinacy.
How to develop the will
Developing the will is not a quick thing, but it is quite real. To make yourself a super-strong person, you may need a separate talent, but just to strengthen your will, to become a sufficiently strong-willed person - everyone can.
Will according to W. James
Volitional acts
Desire, wanting, will are states of consciousness well known to everyone, but not amenable to any definition. We desire to experience, to have, to do all sorts of things that at this moment we do not experience, do not have, do not do. If with the desire for something we have the realization that the object of our desires is unattainable, then we simply desire; if we are sure that the goal of our desires is achievable, then we want it to be realized, and it is carried out either immediately or after we have performed some preliminary actions.
The only goals of our desires, which we realize immediately, immediately, are the movement of our body. Whatever feelings we desire to experience, whatever possessions we strive for, we can achieve them only by making a few preliminary movements for our goal. This fact is too obvious and therefore does not need examples: therefore we can take as a starting point for our study of the will the proposition that the only immediate external manifestations are bodily movements. We now have to consider the mechanism by which volitional movements are performed.
Volitional acts are arbitrary functions of our organism
The movements we have so far considered were of the type of automatic or reflex acts, and, moreover, acts whose significance is not foreseen by the person performing them (at least by the person performing them for the first time in his life). The movements which we now begin to study, being intentional and knowingly being the object of desire, are, of course, made with full awareness of what they should be. From this it follows that volitional movements represent a derivative, and not the primary function of the organism. This is the first proposition that must be kept in mind in order to understand the psychology of the will. Both the reflex, and the instinctive movement, and the emotional are the primary functions. The nerve centers are so constituted that certain stimuli cause their discharge in certain parts, and the being experiencing such a discharge for the first time experiences a completely new phenomenon of experience.
Once I was on the platform with my young son when an express train rumbled into the station. My boy, who was standing not far from the edge of the platform, was frightened at the noisy appearance of the train, trembled, began to breathe intermittently, turned pale, began to cry, and finally rushed to me and hid his face. I have no doubt that the child was almost as surprised by his own behavior as by the movement of the train, and in any case more surprised by his behavior than I, who was standing beside him. Of course, after we have experienced such a reaction a few times, we ourselves will learn to expect its results and begin to anticipate our behavior in such cases, even if the actions remain as involuntary as before. But if in an act of will we must foresee an action, then it follows that only a being with the gift of foresight can immediately perform an act of will, never making reflex or instinctive movements.
But we do not have the prophetic gift to foresee what movements we can make, just as we cannot predict the sensations that we will experience. We must wait for the unknown sensations to appear; in the same way, we must make a series of involuntary movements in order to find out what the movements of our body will consist of. Possibilities are known to us through actual experience. After we have made some movement by chance, reflex or instinct, and it has left a trace in the memory, we may wish to make this movement again and then we will make it deliberately. But it is impossible to understand how we could wish to make a certain movement without ever having done it before. So, the first condition for the emergence of volitional, voluntary movements is the preliminary accumulation of ideas that remain in our memory after we repeatedly make the movements corresponding to them in an involuntary manner.
Two different kinds of ideas about movement
Ideas about movements are of two kinds: direct and indirect. In other words, either the idea of movement in the moving parts of the body themselves, an idea that we are aware of at the moment of movement, or the idea of the movement of our body, insofar as this movement is visible, heard by us, or insofar as it has a certain effect (blow, pressure, scratching) on some other part of the body.
Direct sensations of movement in moving parts are called kinesthetic, memories of them are called kinesthetic ideas. With the help of kinesthetic ideas, we are aware of the passive movements that the members of our body communicate to each other. If you lie with your eyes closed, and someone quietly changes the position of your arm or leg, then you are aware of the position given to your limb, and you can then reproduce the movement with the other arm or leg. In the same way, a person who wakes up suddenly at night, lying in darkness, is aware of the position of his body. This is the case, at least in normal cases. But when the sensations of passive movements and all other sensations in the members of our body are lost, then we have a pathological phenomenon described by Strümpell on the example of a boy who retained only visual sensations in the right eye and auditory sensations in the left ear (in: Deutsches Archiv fur Klin. Medicin , XXIII).
“The limbs of the patient could be moved in the most energetic way, without attracting his attention. Only with an exceptionally strong abnormal stretching of the joints, especially the knees, did the patient have an indistinct dull feeling of tension, but even this was rarely localized in an exact way. Often, having blindfolded the patient, we they carried him around the room, laid him on the table, gave his arms and legs the most fantastic and, apparently, extremely uncomfortable positions, but the patient did not even suspect anything of this. they showed him the position in which his body was brought in. Only when his head hung down during the experiment did he begin to complain of dizziness, but could not explain its cause.
Subsequently, from the sounds associated with some of our manipulations, he sometimes began to guess that we were doing something special on him ... The feeling of muscle fatigue was completely unknown to him. When we blindfolded him and asked him to raise his hands and hold them in that position, he did it without difficulty. But after a minute or two his hands began to tremble and, imperceptibly to himself, lowered, and he continued to claim that he was holding them in the same position. Whether his fingers were passively motionless or not, he could not notice. He constantly imagined that he was clenching and unclenching his hand, while in reality it was completely motionless.
There is no reason to suppose the existence of any third kind of motor ideas.
So, in order to make a voluntary movement, we need to call in the mind either a direct (kinesthetic) or mediated idea corresponding to the upcoming movement. Some psychologists have suggested that, moreover, an idea of the degree of innervation required for muscle contraction is needed in this case. In their opinion, the nerve current that flows from the motor center to the motor nerve during discharge gives rise to a sensation sui generis (peculiar), different from all other sensations. The latter are connected with the movements of centripetal currents, while the feeling of innervation is connected with centrifugal currents, and not a single movement is mentally anticipated by us without this feeling preceding it. The innervation feeling indicates, as it were, the degree of force with which a given movement must be carried out, and the effort with which it is most convenient to carry it out. But many psychologists reject the existence of the innervation feeling, and of course they are right, since no solid arguments can be made in favor of its existence.
The varying degrees of effort we actually experience when we make the same movement, but in relation to objects of unequal resistance, are all due to centripetal currents from our chest, jaws, abdomen and other parts of the body in which sympathetic contractions take place. muscles when the effort we are exerting is great. In this case, there is no need to be aware of the degree of innervation of the centrifugal current. By self-observation, we are convinced only that in this case the degree of required tension is completely determined by us with the help of centripetal currents coming from the muscles themselves, from their attachments, from adjacent joints and from the general tension of the pharynx, chest and whole body. When we imagine a certain degree of tension, this complex aggregate of sensations associated with centripetal currents, constituting the object of our consciousness, in a precise and distinct way indicates to us exactly with what force we must produce this movement and how great the resistance that we need to overcome.
Let the reader try to direct his will to a certain movement and try to notice what this direction consisted of. Was there anything other than a representation of the sensations he would experience when he made the given movement? If we mentally isolate these sensations from the field of our consciousness, will we still have at our disposal any sensible sign, device or guiding means by which the will could innervate the proper muscles with the right degree of intensity, without directing the current randomly into any muscles? ? Isolate these sensations that precede the final result of the movement, and instead of getting a series of ideas about the directions in which our will can direct the current, you will have an absolute void in the mind, it will be filled with no content. If I want to write Peter and not Paul, then the movements of my pen are preceded by thoughts of some sensations in my fingers, some sounds, some signs on paper - and nothing more. If I want to pronounce Paul, and not Peter, then the pronunciation is preceded by thoughts about the sounds of my voice that I hear and about some muscular sensations in the tongue, lips and throat. All these sensations are connected with centripetal currents; between the thought of these sensations, which gives the act of will the possible certainty and completeness, and the act itself, there is no place for any third kind of mental phenomena.
The composition of the act of will includes a certain element of consent to the fact that the act is carried out - the decision "let it be!". And for me, and for the reader, without a doubt, it is this element that characterizes the essence of the volitional act. Below we will consider in more detail what the solution "so be it!" consists of. For the present moment we can leave it aside, since it is included in all acts of the will and therefore does not indicate the differences that can be established between them. No one will argue that when moving, for example, right hand or left it is qualitatively different.
Thus, by self-observation, we have found that the mental state preceding the movement consists only in the pre-movement ideas about the sensations that it will entail, plus (in some cases) the command of the will, according to which the movement and the sensations associated with it should be carried out; there is no reason to assume the existence of special sensations associated with centrifugal nerve currents.
Thus, the entire content of our consciousness, all the material that composes it - the sensations of movement, as well as all other sensations - are apparently of peripheral origin and penetrate into the area of our consciousness primarily through the peripheral nerves.
The ultimate reason to move
Let us call that idea in our consciousness that directly precedes the motor discharge the final cause for movement. The question is: do only immediate motor ideas serve as reasons for movement, or can they also be mediated motor ideas? There can be no doubt that both immediate and mediated motor ideas can be the final cause for movement. Although at the beginning of our acquaintance with a certain movement, when we are still learning to produce it, direct motor ideas come to the fore in our consciousness, but later this is not the case.
Generally speaking, it can be considered as a rule that with the passage of time, immediate motor ideas more and more recede into the background in consciousness, and the more we learn to produce some kind of movement, the more often mediated motor ideas are the final cause for it. In the area of our consciousness, the ideas that interest us most play a dominant role; we strive to get rid of everything else as soon as possible. But, generally speaking, immediate motor ideas are of no essential interest. We are mainly interested in the goals towards which our movement is directed. These goals are, for the most part, indirect sensations associated with the impressions that a given movement causes in the eye, in the ear, sometimes on the skin, in the nose, in the palate. If we now assume that the presentation of one of these goals was firmly associated with the corresponding nervous discharge, then it turns out that the thought of the immediate effects of innervation will be an element that delays the execution of an act of will just as much as that feeling of innervation, which we are talking about above. Our consciousness does not need this thought, for it is enough to imagine the ultimate goal of the movement.
Thus the idea of purpose tends to take more and more possession of the realm of consciousness. In any case, if kinesthetic ideas do arise, they are so absorbed in the living kinesthetic sensations that immediately overtake them that we are not aware of their independent existence. When I write, I am not previously aware of the sight of the letters and the muscular tension in my fingers as something separate from the sensations of the movement of my pen. Before I write a word, I hear it as if it were sounding in my ears, but there is no corresponding visual or motor image reproduced. This happens due to the speed with which the movements follow their mental motives. Recognizing a certain goal to be achieved, we immediately innervate the center associated with the first movement necessary for its implementation, and then the rest of the chain of movements is performed, as it were, reflexively (see p. 47).
The reader will, of course, agree that these considerations are quite valid in regard to quick and decisive acts of will. In them, only at the very beginning of the action do we resort to a special decision of the will. A man says to himself: "We must change clothes" - and immediately involuntarily takes off his coat, his fingers in the usual way begin to unbutton the buttons of the waistcoat, etc.; or, for example, we say to ourselves: "We must go down" - and immediately get up, go, take hold of the door handle, etc., guided solely by the idea of \u200b\u200bthe goal associated with a series of successively arising sensations leading directly to it.
Apparently, we must assume that we, striving for a certain goal, introduce inaccuracy and uncertainty into our movements when we focus our attention on the sensations associated with them. We are the better able, for example, to walk on a log, the less we pay attention to the position of our legs. We throw, catch, shoot and cut more accurately when visual (mediated) rather than tactile and motor (direct) sensations predominate in our minds. Direct our eyes to the target, and the hand itself will deliver the object you throw to the target, focus on the movements of the hand - and you will not hit the target. Southgard found that he could more accurately determine the position of a small object by touch with the tip of a pencil by means of visual than by means of tactile motives for movement. In the first case, he looked at a small object and, before touching it with a pencil, closed his eyes. In the second, he put the object on the table with his eyes closed and then, moving his hand away from it, tried to touch it again. The average errors (if we consider only the experiments with the most favorable results) were 17.13 mm in the second case and only 12.37 mm in the first (for vision). These conclusions are obtained by self-observation. By what physiological mechanism the described actions are performed is unknown.
In Chapter XIX we saw how great is the variety in the ways of reproduction in different individuals. In persons belonging to the "tactile" (according to the expression of French psychologists) type of reproduction, kinesthetic ideas probably play a more prominent role than I have indicated. In general, we should not expect too much uniformity in this respect among different individuals and argue about which of them is a typical representative of a given mental phenomenon.
I hope I have now clarified what is the motor idea that must precede the movement and determine its voluntary character. It is not the thought of the innervation necessary to produce a given movement. It is a mental anticipation of sensory impressions (direct or indirect - sometimes a long series of actions) that will be the result of this movement. This mental anticipation determines at least what they will be. So far I have argued as if it also determined that a given move would be made. Undoubtedly, many readers will not agree with this, because often in acts of will, apparently, it is also necessary to add to the mental anticipation of a movement a special decision of the will, its consent to the movement being made. This decision of the will I have hitherto left aside; its analysis will constitute the second important point of our study.
Ideomotor action
We have to answer the question whether, prior to the onset of movement, the idea of its sensible results in itself can serve as a sufficient reason for it, or must the movement still be preceded by some additional mental element in the form of a decision, consent, command of the will, or another similar state of consciousness? I give the following answer. Sometimes such an idea is sufficient, but sometimes the intervention of an additional mental element is necessary in the form of a special decision or command of the will that precedes the movement. In most cases, in the simplest acts, this decision of the will is absent. Cases of a more complex character will be considered in detail by us later.
Now let us turn to a typical example of volitional action, the so-called ideomotor action, in which the thought of movement causes the latter directly, without a special decision of the will. Every time we immediately, without hesitation, perform it at the thought of movement, we perform an ideomotor action. In this case, between the thought of movement and its realization, we are not aware of anything intermediate. Of course, during this period of time, various physiological processes take place in the nerves and muscles, but we are absolutely not aware of them. We have just had time to think about the action as we have already performed it - that's all that self-observation gives us here. Carpenter, who first used (as far as I know) the expression "ideomotor action", referred it, if I am not mistaken, to the number of rare mental phenomena. In fact, this is just a normal mental process, not masked by any extraneous phenomena. During a conversation, I notice a pin on the floor or dust on my sleeve. Without interrupting the conversation, I pick up a pin or dust off. No decisions arise in me about these actions, they are performed simply under the impression of a certain perception and a motor idea rushing through the mind.
I act in the same way when, sitting at the table, from time to time I stretch out my hand to the plate in front of me, take a nut or a bunch of grapes and eat. I have already finished dinner, and in the heat of the afternoon conversation I am not aware of what I am doing, but the sight of nuts or berries and the fleeting thought of the possibility of taking them, apparently fatally, causes certain actions in me. In this case, of course, the actions are not preceded by any special decision of the will, just as in all the habitual actions with which every hour of our life is full and which are caused in us by impressions inflowing from outside with such speed that it is often difficult for us to decide whether to attribute this or that similar action to the number of reflex or arbitrary acts. According to Lotze, we see
"when we write or play the piano, that many very complex movements quickly replace one another; each of the motives that evoke these movements in us is realized by us for no more than a second; this period of time is too small to evoke in us any volitional acts, except for the general desire to produce successively one after the other movements corresponding to those mental reasons for them, which so quickly replace each other in our consciousness. In this way we carry out all our daily actions. When we stand, walk, talk, we do not need any a special decision of the will for each individual action: we perform them, guided only by the course of our thoughts" ("Medizinische Psychologie").
In all these cases, we seem to act without stopping, without hesitation in the absence of an opposing idea in our minds. Either there is nothing in our consciousness but the final reason for movement, or there is something that does not interfere with our actions. We know what it is like to get out of bed on a frosty morning in an unheated room: our very nature revolts against such a painful ordeal. Many probably lie in bed for an hour every morning before forcing themselves to get up. We think when we lie down, how late we get up, how the duties that we have to fulfill during the day will suffer from this; we say to ourselves: This is the devil knows what it is! I must finally get up!" - etc. But the warm bed attracts us too much, and we again delay the onset of an unpleasant moment.
How do we get up under such conditions? If I am allowed to judge others by personal experience, then I will say that for the most part we rise in such cases without any internal struggle, without recourse to any decisions of the will. We suddenly find ourselves already out of bed; forgetting about heat and cold, we half-drowse conjure up in our imagination various ideas that have something to do with the coming day; suddenly a thought flashed among them: "Basta, it's enough to lie down!" At the same time, no opposing consideration arose - and immediately we make movements corresponding to our thought. Being vividly aware of the opposite of sensations of heat and cold, we thus aroused in ourselves an indecision that paralyzed our actions, and the desire to get out of bed remained in us a simple desire, without turning into desire. As soon as the idea holding back the action was eliminated, the original idea (of the need to get up) immediately caused the corresponding movements.
This case, it seems to me, contains in miniature all the basic elements of the psychology of desire. Indeed, the whole doctrine of the will developed in this work is, in essence, substantiated by me on a discussion of facts drawn from personal self-observation: these facts convinced me of the truth of my conclusions, and therefore I consider it superfluous to illustrate the above provisions with any other examples. The evidence of my conclusions was undermined, apparently, only by the fact that many motor ideas are not accompanied by corresponding actions. But, as we shall see below, in all, without exception, such cases, simultaneously with a given motor idea, there is in consciousness some other idea that paralyzes the activity of the first one. But even when the action is not completed completely due to delay, it is nevertheless performed in part. Here is what Lotze says about this:
"Following billiard players or looking at fencers, we make weak similar movements with our hands; poorly educated people, talking about something, continuously gesticulate; reading with interest live description some battle, we feel a slight trembling throughout the muscular system, as if we were present at the events described. The more vividly we begin to imagine movements, the more noticeable the influence of motor ideas on our muscular system begins to be revealed; it weakens to the extent that a complex set of extraneous ideas, filling the area of our consciousness, displaces from it those motor images that began to pass into external acts. by muscle contractions: under the influence of motor ideas, we sometimes produce corresponding muscle contractions against our will.
Thus, we can consider the following proposition to be quite reliable. Every representation of movement causes to a certain extent a corresponding movement, which manifests itself most sharply when it is not delayed by any other representation that is simultaneously with the first in the field of our consciousness.
The special decision of the will, its consent to the movement being made, appears when the retarding influence of this last representation must be eliminated. But the reader can now see that in all the simpler cases there is no need for this solution. Movement is not some special dynamic element that must be added to the sensation or thought that has arisen in our consciousness. Every sensory impression that we perceive is associated with a certain excitation of nervous activity, which must inevitably be followed by a certain movement. Our sensations and thoughts are, so to speak, the points of intersection of nerve currents, the end result of which is movement and which, having barely had time to arise in one nerve, already cross into another. Walking opinion; that consciousness is not essentially a preliminary to action, but that the latter must be the result of our "power of will", is a natural characteristic of that particular case when we think about a certain act for an indefinitely long period of time without carrying it out. But this particular case is not general norm; here is the arrest of the act by an opposing current of thoughts.
When the delay is eliminated, we feel inner relief - this is that additional impulse, that decision of the will, thanks to which the act of will is performed. In thinking - of a higher order, such processes are constantly taking place. Where this process does not exist, thought and motor discharge usually follow each other continuously, without any intermediate mental act. Movement is a natural result of a sensory process, regardless of its qualitative content, both in the case of a reflex, and in the external manifestation of emotion, and in volitional activity.
Thus, ideomotor action is not an exceptional phenomenon, the significance of which would have to be underestimated and for which a special explanation must be sought. It fits under the general type of conscious actions, and we must take it as a starting point for explaining those actions that are preceded by a special decision of the will. I note that the arrest of the movement, as well as the execution, does not require special effort or command of the will. But sometimes a special volitional effort is needed both to arrest and to perform an action. In the simplest cases, the presence in consciousness famous idea can cause a movement, the presence of another idea can delay it. Straighten your finger and at the same time try to think that you are bending it. In a minute it will seem to you that he is slightly bent, although there is no noticeable movement in him, since the thought that he is actually motionless was also part of your consciousness. Get it out of your head, just think about the movement of your finger - instantly without any effort it is already done by you.
Thus, the behavior of a person during wakefulness is the result of two opposing nerve forces. Some unimaginably weak nerve currents, running through the brain cells and fibers, excite the motor centers; other equally weak currents intervene in the activity of the former: sometimes delaying, sometimes intensifying them, changing their speed and direction. In the end, all these currents must sooner or later be passed through certain motor centers, and the whole question is which ones: in one case they pass through one, in the other - through other motor centers, in the third they balance each other for so long. another, that to an outside observer it seems as if they do not pass through the motor centers at all. However, we must not forget that from the point of view of physiology, a gesture, a shift of the eyebrows, a sigh are the same movements as the movement of the body. A change in the countenance of a king can sometimes produce on a subject as shocking an effect as a mortal blow; and our outward movements, which are the result of the nervous currents which accompany the wonderful weightless flow of our ideas, must not necessarily be abrupt and impetuous, must not be conspicuous by their rough character.
Deliberate Action
Now we can begin to find out what happens in us when we act deliberately or when there are several objects in front of our consciousness in the form of opposing or equally favorable alternatives. One of the objects of thought may be a motor idea. By itself, it would cause movement, but some objects of thought at a given moment delay it, while others, on the contrary, contribute to its implementation. The result is a kind of inner feeling of restlessness called indecision. Fortunately, it is too familiar to everyone, but it is completely impossible to describe it.
As long as it continues and our attention fluctuates between several objects of thought, we, as they say, ponder: when, finally, the initial desire for movement gains the upper hand or is finally suppressed by the opposing elements of thought, then we decide whether to make this or that volitional decision. The objects of thought that delay or favor the final action are called reasons or motives for the given decision.
The process of thinking is infinitely complicated. At every moment of it, our consciousness is an extremely complex complex of motives interacting with each other. We are somewhat vaguely aware of the totality of this complex object, now some parts of it, then other parts come to the fore, depending on changes in the direction of our attention and on the "associative flow" of our ideas. But no matter how sharply the dominant motives appear before us and no matter how close the onset of a motor discharge under their influence, the dimly conscious objects of thought, which are in the background and form what we called above psychic overtones (see Chapter XI), delay action as long as our indecision lasts. It can drag on for weeks, even months, at times taking over our minds.
The motives for action, which only yesterday seemed so bright and convincing, today already seem pale, devoid of liveliness. But neither today nor tomorrow the action is performed by us. Something tells us that all this does not play a decisive role; that motives that seemed weak will be strengthened, and supposedly strong ones will lose all meaning; that we have not yet reached a final balance between motives, that we must now weigh them without giving preference to any of them, and wait as patiently as possible until the final decision matures in our minds. This oscillation between two possible future alternatives is reminiscent of the oscillation of a material body within its elasticity: there is an internal tension in the body, but no external rupture. Such a state can continue indefinitely both in the physical body and in our consciousness. If the action of elasticity has ceased, if the dam is broken and the nerve currents quickly penetrate the cerebral cortex, the oscillations cease and a solution occurs.
Decisiveness can manifest itself in a variety of ways. I will try to give a concise description of the most typical species determination, but I will describe mental phenomena gleaned only from personal self-observation. The question of what causality, spiritual or material, governs these phenomena will be discussed below.
Five main types of determination
William James distinguished five main types of determination: reasonable, random, impulsive, personal, strong-willed.
The existence of such a mental phenomenon as a feeling of effort should by no means be denied or questioned. But in assessing its significance, great disagreements prevail. The solution of such important questions as the very existence of spiritual causality, the problem of free will and universal determinism is connected with the clarification of its meaning. In view of this, we need to examine especially carefully those conditions under which we experience a sense of volitional effort.
Feeling of effort
When I stated that consciousness (or the nervous processes associated with it) are impulsive in nature, I should have added: with a sufficient degree of intensity. States of consciousness differ in their ability to cause movement. The intensity of some sensations in practice is powerless to cause noticeable movements, the intensity of others entails visible movements. When I say "in practice", I mean "when ordinary conditions". Such conditions may be habitual stops in activity, for example, a pleasant feeling of doice far niente (sweet feeling of doing nothing), which causes in each of us a certain degree of laziness, which can only be overcome with the help of an energetic effort of the will; such is the feeling of innate inertia, the feeling of internal resistance resistance provided by the nerve centers, which makes the discharge impossible until the acting force has reached a certain degree of tension and has not crossed its border.
These conditions are different in different persons and in the same person in different time. The inertia of the nerve centers can either increase or decrease, and, accordingly, the habitual delays in action either increase or weaken. Along with this, the intensity of some processes of thought and stimuli must change, and certain associative paths become either more or less traversable. From this it is clear why the ability to evoke an impulse to action in some motives is so variable in comparison with others. When the motives that act weaker under normal conditions become stronger acting, and the motives that act more strongly under normal conditions begin to act weaker, then actions that are usually performed without effort, or refraining from an action that is usually not associated with labor, become impossible or are performed only at the expense of effort (if at all committed in a similar situation). This will become clear with more detailed analysis feelings of effort.
What is will and does it have power?
Heard people say: “I want to start running in the morning, I want to quit smoking, I need to lose weight.” But willpower is not enough. That is, there is a will, but its strength is weak. Is it possible to cultivate willpower in yourself?
Will - the ability of a person to achieve his goals in the face of overcoming obstacles. You can call the will - the power part of the personality, which is always valued in a person. It looks especially beautiful when, regardless of any difficulties, the goal is achieved.
Where there is no will, there is no way. B. Show
So, the will helps us on the path of life. Then the question is any will or only having force. And what is it?
Strength of will…. And there is no definition. That is, there are many understandings of what it is, but a clear and clear definition no. For example, someone understands willpower as its quantity. But in what units is it measured? If a stupid child stubbornly and persistently hits your favorite sideboard with a hammer, moreover, the number of repetitions is surprising, regardless of any punishment, then we can say that he has a lot of willpower? Okay, a very strong-willed child, but how is this different from - stubbornness?
Sometimes motivation is understood as willpower, which is also not entirely true. Willpower is in the person himself, and motivation can be external, for example, a salary increase - well increases motivation, but not willpower.
Another understanding. Willpower is the ability to convince yourself. Tell why you need to do something, what it will give, what it will save you from. Again, it looks like self-motivation. In addition, you can have such conversations for a long time, and convince yourself of anything, but nothing can be done as a result. Many persuaded and promised themselves not to eat at night. So what? After another midnight visit to the refrigerator, they postponed this event for the next month, and preferably after the New Year. Convinced - yes, but the willpower was not enough to resist.
To develop a definition, I will first propose to separate the concepts of “will” and “strength”.
The definition of what is will is given. Force is a source of energy of movement, activity, phenomenon. Now we connect.
Strength of will - internal source energy that allows a person to achieve their goals in the face of overcoming obstacles.
For clarity, I will give a metaphorical explanation. For example, a human muscle is weak, but it still works. A person can easily lift their usual weight - a barbell of 50 kg. - this is will, since there is an obstacle - weight, more precisely, gravity, there is a goal - to lift weight, overcoming gravity. But if the weight is not made familiar, but large, for example, 80 kg. Then you need - a lot of muscle strength, the degree of its tension should increase. Perhaps the weight will be taken, but there may not be enough muscle strength - willpower, because it is not trained, that is, as a source of energy, movement, it is not ready to lift 80 kg.
Continuing the analogy, I admit that willpower can be trained in the same way as muscles, that is, by regular repetition with setting more difficult tasks. By the way, the analogy is very appropriate, since nothing develops willpower like regular exercise. Who can say that real athletes are not strong-willed people?
Muscles grow slowly, but if you exercise, you will see their strength. They will increase in volume and be able to lift large weights. Also with willpower, it increases slowly, but after a while, what seemed impossible before is quickly overcome by a slight effort of will. For example, think about what for you at the moment is just a feat or seems impossible? Get up at 6 in the morning, go to bed early, start jogging in the morning, join the gym and visit regularly, learn a foreign language, get a second higher education? Start doing this, at first do not load yourself too much. If this is a run, then just as much as you can, then increase the distance. I am sure that after two months of regular training, it will be easy to run physically, but most importantly, even if you don’t really want to, then with a slight effort of will, you will quickly set yourself up and run with pleasure. And fat and lethargic people will look at you and argue: “what kind of willpower you need to have in order to run regularly and look so good.” They do not yet understand what willpower is.
Who has the will
Wild animals rather do not have a will, animals live by instincts. The rudiments of will can be traced only in predators and in specially bred domestic animals. Among people, the will is more developed in adults than in children, usually more in men than in women. Women are often more emotional, men are more strong-willed. There is a tendency to reduce this difference between women and men, and due to the fact that women become more strong-willed, and to a greater extent due to the feminization of men.
More often, the will is characteristic of people with good physical shape.
Those who live in a struggle with the world, in the position “The world is hostile!” have a strong will. They need a will: they need to shove against the world and not stop.
Will in animals
To a greater extent, the will is not characteristic of animals, especially wild ones. For animals, it is not needed: they are mainly controlled by instincts: the instincts of self-preservation, procreation, parental instincts, and so on. If the animal begins to resist its instincts, it either dies very quickly or acquires a demon. valuable experience and becomes a leader.
Seton-Thompson described a coyote who had learned to evade chasing dogs. This coyote did not run away, but turned and wagged its tail towards the dogs. The dogs rushed past him, because they were trained to run after a fleeing animal, and not after a standing and wagging tail.
The manifestation of the rudiments of will is more characteristic of predators who need to have the endurance to hunt the victim, I know how to defeat the momentary desire to rush into the attack. This makes it possible for domestic predators (namely dogs) to develop a quality that is similar in manifestation to will: the dog can really be taught to sit where they are told, and not where they want to and not to pick up delicious things from the ground, although instincts say the opposite.
Domestic herbivores do not differ much in will, it is extremely difficult to develop it, if possible. If a herbivore ceases to immediately react to the appearance of a predator with flight and panic, it will be eaten.
Non-display of pain symptoms in animals is not yet will: they do this not because they force themselves not to scream in pain, but because if they start screaming, their chances of salvation decrease at a rate proportional to the intensity of the scream. Animals, obviously, cause this, similar to a strong-willed effort, unconsciously, while a person knows how (if one does not lie to oneself) to do this consciously, not only instinctively.
Male and female: will and impulsiveness
If a man has decided something, he said it to himself and he does it. His words have power, a man has a will.
In simple situations, will is not needed: if you want it, you do it. Will is needed where circumstances are strong and you are opposed. The masculine is the will, this is what I do, because I decided it. My behavior is mine because I control it.
Feminine - this is the absence of I, this is impulsiveness, these are feelings and states that appear inside her and control her behavior.
Women's descriptions:
"Difficulties began at work and I noticed a sharp change in myself: I become not myself, my hands drop and I become irritable and blame others for everything. Joy and good mood in the morning, an extremely rare phenomenon, I cannot relax intimately and become callous like a cracker.
Not a word about what she does herself. Not a thought that she can do something to herself - to do at the level of behavior.
"By love I mean strong feeling, in which you are ready to give yourself entirely and rejoice only in the fact that your beloved is near.
There is a feeling - and everything is done by itself. And you don't have to do anything...
Spirit - Soul - Will - Mind - Body
The structure of the inner world is conveniently described in the language Spirit - Soul - Will - Mind - Body:
Spirit
The vertical is what drives us up. Will, masculinity.
Will.
The ability to gather strength to achieve their goals.
Mind (head)
Rational start with tools: attention, thinking, memory.
Soul
What makes us alive gives us the energy of life. These are feelings, desires, impulses .. - feminine
Body
The material receptacle of the inner world.
It happens that a person includes his body (respectively, his behavior) in his inner world.
Will and emotions hyperthymia
Author - A.P. Egides. The book "How to understand people, or the Psychological drawing of personality"
Hyperthyms are easily influenced. They themselves do not really think about problems, and if there is someone “with a core” in the company and tries to drive the same core into people, then hyperthym is quite malleable. He accepts imposed reasoning or just judgment, and often agrees with completely opposite points of view. To one he says, "You're right." Another objected, he and him: "And you're right." To the third, who reproaches him for inconsistency: "And you are right."
In hypnosis, hyperthym can give the second (with wax flexibility) and third degree (with somnambulism) hypnotic immersion, like an hysteroid. Moreover, if the hysteroid obeys only the hypnotist who inspires things close to himself, then hyperthymia lends itself to any hypnotic influence.
Hyperthyms themselves affect other people not by arguments, not by persuasion - this requires erudition, developed speech(which is missing), but also rather a suggestion. Repeated requests, primitive repetition, rumbling obscenities, momentary threats, which, of course, will not be fulfilled. But we do not encounter systematic coercion, characteristic of the paranoid and epileptoid, from hyperthymia. Ordering and blackmailing is not his path. He is not a manipulator either (this is a matter of paranoia and hysteria).
Hyperthym's will is weak. This applies to both intermediate affairs and life goals. He can neither set a task, nor outline solutions, nor keep at least someone's program in the memory of the will. He has poor self-control. This paranoiac sets goals and achieves them. And Hypertim does not set goals and does not achieve them. Planned business is not his lot. He launches them. At first he lied that, they say, everything is fine. And then - an emergency. But in case of emergency, he is a good helper, everything goes well with him.
Russian maybe - his motto, principle, his lifestyle.
He lives as if by the will of the waves: "Today is here, and tomorrow there." He is an unprogrammed person. More precisely, he can join different programs, but if he "liked the leader." Even an hysteroid is looking for programs, rushing from one to another or building short-term programs, but hyperthym does not build them at all. He does not make purchases purposefully, but simply wandering around the shops - all of a sudden he likes something.
In its aimless wandering through life, hyperthym is very energetic. He doesn't breathe. He can be led again and again to things he does not need. But hyperthym itself does not force anyone to do anything. It's so simple - it spins like a perpetual motion machine, but, unlike the paranoid one, it doesn't affect anyone.
The weakness of volitional impulses is also manifested in the excitability and incontinence we have described in conflicts.
Positive emotions hyperthym also splashes out immediately and violently. This is usually well received by people. But if with an overlap, like Nozdryov in Dead Souls, then this is already annoying.
Willlessness (teenager)
Real life examples
Pessimist
He is 9 years old. He still roars for any reason (they didn’t let him watch the cartoon, they didn’t let him go somewhere, they said that the time on the computer was over and he had to go out ... etc.). There were always tears, we never went on about, i.e. if he sobs begging for something, then 100% will not get what he wants. I thought this would work, but alas. In general, the boy is "difficult", when I try to talk to him about the need for more positive things in life - he tells me that he is a pessimist and nothing can be done about it. He is not fond of anything except a computer and a TV set (we limit it). I used to read a lot - now I don't. He goes in for sports (volleyball, swimming), but rather because we need it.
Until you say it, it won't
My son is almost 13.5 years old. Disorganized and careless. How is it shown? The school began, after the lessons: “Did you find out the schedule, wrote it down in your diary?” - "Forgot". "Did you get your textbooks? Which ones should you buy? - "I don't know, I forgot." Goes swimming, switched to sports group, workout every day. The coach said to pass the medical examination. We have questions: “Where to go? How? What doctors? And so on. Answer: “I don’t know for sure.” When asked what he didn’t clarify and find out, he replies that it’s okay, I’ll go (take a walk) to the sports complex once again and ask the coach. And it's at every turn. Surprising irrationality. It's scary that the guy grows and matures, and responsibility for his actions is not added. Humpty Dumpty. Until you say it, it won't. Until you remember, you won't understand. It seems that without a prompt, he doesn’t even bother to think, plan.
Waiting for pressure
Last year, when Temka went to school, there were problems with adaptation and with the first teacher. Or rather, on the contrary, with the first teacher and therefore with adaptation to school. We then turned to a psychologist. She advised us the following. The child does not do homework, sit next to him and until he does, do not let him out of the table under any pretext. And so they did. Learned to do lessons. And now it seems that Temka is waiting for him to be crushed, “strangled”, punished. For me and for my husband, this style of upbringing and behavior is unnatural. It is impossible to live in constant tension. And the question is actually how to get out of this situation and live calmly, cheerfully and amicably.
Causes
Overcare
The main reason is that parents, even without knowing it, strive at all costs to maintain emotional closeness with the child, a tender thread that stretches from the soul of the son to the mother. The price for such closeness is their interdependence, which, it would seem, is convenient for both: the mother feels needed, and the child simply drowns in spiritual comfort and psychological security. But (!), the child sits almost all the time in the home "nest", without the mother's prompting, he will not wash the dishes, clean the room, or sit down for lessons. Not realizing his guilt, the parent is angry with his child, and that, in turn, is nervous because he did something wrong. There is a social conflict that will not bring anything good to either side.
Note: in fact - yes, there is overprotection. This is an occasion for a parent to look at himself from the outside and understand where he overstepped the boundaries, where he took responsibility for the life of the child, where the child must answer for himself. And then create conditions for the child in which it will be beneficial for the child to answer for himself.
How to ruin your enjoyment
How often parents, without noticing it, spoil their children's pleasure, kill interest in some activity. And then they complain when the children begin to suffer from apathy.
Case of life. The boy dreamed of a bicycle. One day the parents buy a bicycle. The child is just happy. On weekends, he goes with his father to learn to ride. Something doesn’t work out for him, and then his father says that until he learns to ride, they won’t go home. Through tears, snot, “I don’t want to,” my father got his way. My son has learned to ride a bike. But for some reason, he doesn't feel like doing it. The bike is on the balcony, the son rode it a few times.
Why is it so hard to get started?
Does it happen to you when you have a business, but it is difficult to start it? Certainly. This happens to almost all people. Possible reasons:
1. I don't like this case. I don't want to do it. I do it only out of obligation - and therefore I do it badly. (I note that such a motive cannot explain the behavior of the son, for example, when it is difficult for him to take the first step - go to play volleyball)
2. I don't like being forced to! I don't want to be forced. I want to be listened to. (This is closer to the truth. And yet it’s not the same. Children who fight adults for freedom behave much more aggressively. They prefer to arrange a war, even to their own detriment, but will not obey the adult’s demand. Somehow the situation can be explained with a missed extension, but not a situation with volleyball)
3. I want to be persuaded. Roughly speaking, the case situation is used to get attention from an adult.
4. Fear. Yes, the real fear. What is laziness? It's the fear of starting a business. Fear of wasting energy. Fear of starting and failing. Fear of punishment for failure. This fear manifests differently in each of us. For example, it is difficult for almost any person to decide and start some very difficult business. We will unconsciously delay, put off until later, find some other things to do and reasons to delay the beginning. To cope with this problem, people make plans, break a complex task into several simple ones, and so on. A lot of people tend to start and not finish things. After all, if the deed is not done, then they will not be scolded for mistakes. And failure can be justified by lack of time.
And yet, perhaps you have met people in life who are terribly afraid of mistakes. They are very vulnerable to criticism and react very violently when you draw their attention to even the slightest mistake.
Fear of failure ... He disciplines some, makes them give all the best in order to always be on top. But side effect- sick pride and fear of making a mistake. Other children, on the contrary, become passive and lack initiative. They try not to stand out, to be like everyone else so that they are not noticed. Their main desire is to be left alone. Third children start a business and never finish it, they leave it halfway. By principle, it is better to be known as capable, but disorganized, than to be a loser. The reason for this behavior is that they experience their failures very painfully. The bitterness of defeat is stronger even than the joy of victory...
Solution
How to get a hippo out of a swamp?
1. Lower the bar of requirements. This does not mean permissiveness, but it means to treat mistakes normally and raise this very bar more slowly.
2. Gradually reduce the number of requirements. Especially in relation to self-care skills and activities that in themselves should bring joy and pleasure.
3. Create such conditions for the child that it would be more profitable for him to decide and do it himself than to throw responsibility on his parents.
4. Find the pluses of the child and tell him about them. Praise more often. Learn to notice any positive change in his behavior. If there is nothing to praise - come up with some reason.
5. Encourage initiative. For example, consult with your child more often, ask his opinion. After all, there is certainly something in which he understands better than you.
6. Teach your child to be more accepting of mistakes. For example, talk about your mistakes. Let him understand that it is okay to make mistakes. Mistakes give us valuable experience in life.
7. The life motto is "you can", "try - the result will be", "I believe in you."
8. Remind your child often of his past and present successes.
9. Another way to “revive” a child is to sign him up for training. Trainings for children and adolescents help to find the core in the child, help him understand and accept himself, and as a result, those around him. When choosing a training, it is important to understand that not every specialist will be able to find an approach to your son or daughter, and it is better to contact a trusted center with highly qualified specialists.
Willlessness (boy)
Real life examples
Will paralysis?
Son ... Capable, gentle, kind ... Lies, steals ... He studied through a stump-deck, but in Last year I strained my studies with my exhortations and received fives in physics and mathematics and entered the university myself. I flunked the first session - I just didn’t go to tests, and all the time I lied that everything was fine. Feeling that he lacks vitality, will, sense of responsibility. Cannot complete any task, be it reading a book, exercising regularly, etc.
I don’t know what to do, he doesn’t want to upset me in words, that’s why he’s lying. In fact (in my opinion) stuck in the inability to perform meaningful actions (I understand that it sounds harsh in relation to the child) Paralysis of the will? Is it being corrected?
"Gone"
I can’t influence my son, and I can’t accept his way of life either. He is already (or only? ..) 16, and he repeats only one thing, "Lost." while walking full swing self-destruction: studies are abandoned (only listed in the 11th grade), and joys are only from sleep, food and computer games. With his "knowledge" I already doubt the end of school, not to mention further studies.
Opinion
When they tell me that my son does not want to do anything, I think: they finished their studies ... So, he tried so hard at school, they shouted at him about the lessons so much, they also drove him to a music school that the guy did not have time to find his favorite pastime, his favorite work. I did not have time to reach this work to pleasure. I did not have time to turn this pleasure into a need.
There is only one favorite thing left: to do nothing. The easiest thing and the easiest pleasure. It turned out to be an abnormal person.
My brother Alexander from childhood loved all living things, in the forest he became a different person - skillful, dexterous, tireless. Would be an excellent huntsman, forester. But at school and at home they shoved into him - with abuse - algebra, history, German. Bird language is not taught in schools. And by the age of fourteen, his favorite thing was doing nothing. Who is guilty?
Why do we so daily care about the success of children's studies and do not care about the success of the child's soul? When they say: the main thing is that my child is happy, I want to clarify: happy or "like everyone else"?
In the view of most people, a strong-willed person is a person who knows how (or has the ability) to overcome the difficulties that arise on the way to achieving the goal, or who is bold, courageous, resolute, i.e., does not lose self-control in dangerous situation. It is assumed that if a person is strong-willed, then he is strong-willed in everything.
Unfortunately, such views are expressed even now. For example, when you read an article by Yu. B. Gippenreiter (2005), it seems that the Soviet era has not yet ended. And a socially mature person is equated with a "strong-willed" person, although not every "strong-willed" person is socially mature.
If we briefly formulate the intuitive understanding of the will in a broad sense, then we can say that we call a strong-willed person a person who successfully realizes his high, socially significant motives.
As you can see, there are only two criteria here. Firstly, the success of the activity, which is determined by the charge of energy and striving for goals. Secondly, the height of socially significant motives. This meaningful characteristic of motives as a necessary criterion strong-willed personality, according to A. N. Leontiev, allows you to distinguish strong-willed people from fanatics, drug addicts or criminals who are able to show stubbornness, perseverance and even creative ingenuity to obtain the object of their desire. Gippenreiter Yu. B. 2005. S. 17
Then a reasonable question arises: how to form a “volitional personality”?
And here, giving an answer to this question, Yu. B. Gippenreiter unexpectedly comes into confrontation with the attitude that existed in Soviet times: "You are a member of the Komsomol, you are obliged." She defends the position that coercion and self-coercion are contraindicated for the formation of a strong-willed personality. Thus, she writes: “Life shows that coercion of oneself or another, as well as manipulations with one’s own motivation (persuasion, arguments, intentional giving of meaning) can quite work in certain specific cases: actions will (better say, can) be performed. However, the impact of these measures on the motivational sphere of the individual as a whole remains a big question. Numerous facts of “educated disgust” look warning. Let us refer only to the well-known examples of diligent girls who, having passed the final exam at a music school with excellent marks, close the piano lid so that they never approach it again. But before that, for 8 years, they “voluntarily” exercised for several hours a day! A local gain often turns into a personal motivational loss. Perhaps that is why the problem of lack of will continues to disturb humanity" [p. eighteen]. And further: “... Authoritarian methods of education and training cause particular damage to the development of the individual. Under strong pressure, coercion or threats, a person begins to send and master the required behavior without experiencing its connection with his own interests, desires and goals. Such forms of behavior remain psychologically alien formations, become incorporative, but not assimilated and not integrated by the individual. Moreover, the prevalence of the “I must” attitude (as the incorporation of the external “you must”) means the emergence of an internal instance of strict control and self-coercion ... In such cases, the main energy is spent on fighting one’s own desires or unwillingness, on self-overcoming. It is noteworthy that a number of authors (among them K. Levin, R. May and others) identified the functions of this instance of self-coercion with willpower ... thereby questioning the traditional opinion about the value of such “power”, which is expressed in actions “through clenched teeth." Excessive development of the same instance leads to the formation of a complex of traits, which is described in the literature as a “rigid character”” [p. 22]. If you follow the ideas of Yu. B. Gippenreiter, that first of all you need to focus on what I am interested in, what my needs are, then it becomes incomprehensible, due to which athletes achieve world records, musicians achieve the highest performing skills, etc. n. Do they not show daily self-coercion (or volitional effort) performed in order to satisfy their need and interest in the business they are engaged in? Of course, it is impossible to carry out any business only on self-coercion, but even without it, success in most cases cannot be achieved. Therefore, it is no coincidence that people who are capable of self-coercion are recognized as strong-willed. However, are there "generally" strong-willed or weak-willed people?
Psychological portrait of a strong-willed person
Everyone is familiar with the states of mobilization of the will and its weakening. We either experience a decline, a weakening of the will, or we mobilize our efforts and show perseverance and strength. Some forms of behavior eventually become habitual and turn into qualities of character.
A strong-willed person has a number of characteristic qualities.
How does strong will manifest itself in character? What qualities are volitional? How does indifference manifest itself?
In a number of strong-willed qualities, purposefulness is in the first place. Purposefulness is:
- Ability to set clear goals and objectives
- the ability to plan their actions;
- the ability to carry out the planned, to subordinate oneself to the achievement of the goal, for example, to observe a strict regimen, if necessary, to achieve the goal, etc.
Aristotle said: "A goal is that for which something is done ... everything else is done for its sake."
The more distinct a person's goal is, to which he aspires, the more persistent he is in overcoming obstacles, the more purposeful he is.
But people differ in their perseverance in overcoming difficulties. It happens that a person does not bring the work he has begun to the end. Some enthusiastically start to work, but quickly cool down. The stronger the obstacles, the more intense the volitional effort should be, the stronger the will is required from a person.
If this quality is absent, then according to A. I. Pushkin:
“There is no goal in front of me:
The heart is empty, the mind is empty,
And makes me sad
The monotonous noise of life."
Goethe said:
"What do I mean, if I do not reach the goal,
The crown to which the human race aspires,
To which I myself aspire with all my soul?
The next important volitional quality - perseverance - is the steadfastness of the will, which is shown by a person who has set himself distant goals. In order to fix distant goals well in the mind, it is necessary to reflect them in specific tasks. The desire to achieve distant goals forms a strong and steadfast will in a person.
Persistence is closely related to such personality traits as endurance and patience. They should not be confused with humility, lack of initiative, weak-willed submission to the force of circumstances or someone else's will. Patience, endurance are always associated with initiative, active in achieving the goal and overcoming troubles. A patient person knows why he endures something.
Such a strong-willed quality as self-control is vital. It is important in life and in any work, especially for those whose work is connected with communication. No matter how excited a person of such a profession is, complete control of his voice, facial expressions and pantomime is his professional duty.
Self control is:
- in the ability to maintain clarity of thought, that is, to remain attentive, focused on the work performed, despite the action of confounding factors. This is the ability to prevent "defeatist" thoughts and negative ideas under the influence of failures, interference, and mistakes;
- also in the ability to control one's feelings: it is easy to increase the emotional tone in a state of confusion, apathy, fear, etc.; reduce the level of emotional arousal with excessive joy or excitement, pain, indignation, etc.; and in case of success, not to show excessive self-confidence, carelessness, a sense of imaginary superiority and other undesirable experiences;
- and in the ability to control one's actions: to control one's movements in the event of fatigue, the appearance of pain, dissatisfaction with oneself and other unfavorable internal states; in conflict situations keep yourself from unethical acts - bickering, rudeness, etc.
Kipling's poem "The Commandment" comes to mind:
"Take control of yourself in the midst of a confused crowd,
Cursing you for the confusion of all,
Believe in yourself, against the universe,
And unbelieving let go of their sin;
Let the hour not strike - wait without getting tired,
Let liars lie - do not condescend to them;
Know how to forgive and do not seem to forgive,
More generous and wiser than others.
Know how to dream without becoming a slave to dreams,
And to think, thoughts are not deified;
Meet success and reproach equally,
Stay quiet when it's your word
Cripples a rogue to catch fools,
When all life is destroyed and again
You have to recreate everything from the basics.
Know how to put, in joyful hope,
On the map everything that has accumulated with difficulty,
Lose everything and become a beggar, as before,
And never regret
Know how to force the heart, nerves, body
To serve you when in your chest
For a long time everything is empty, everything burned down
And only Will says: “Go!”
Remain simple, conversing with kings,
Stay honest when speaking to the crowd;
Be direct and firm with enemies and friends,
Let everyone, in their hour, reckon with you;
Fill every moment with meaning
Hours and days inexorable run, -
Then you will take possession of the whole world,
Then, my son, you will be a Man!"
The following two qualities can be erroneously assessed as positive.
“Stubbornness is a weakness that looks like strength” (V. A. Zhukovsky). Stubbornness is a quality different from perseverance. In this case, perseverance is implied in the implementation of decisions taken without sufficient grounds. A stubborn person defends his opinion contrary to logic, reasonable arguments and facts. “The stubborn one does everything in his own way, does not listen to anyone's advice, and soon becomes a victim of their delusions." (Aesop).
If a stubborn person determines the purpose of the activity, re-education into a persistent one is carried out.
Compliance is such a quality of the will, which is determined by a slight change in the decision taken under the influence of other persons. It is the opposite of directness. If it is difficult to convince a stubborn person of anything, to convince a pliable person, on the contrary, is very easy. Despite the fact that for a malleable person the opinion of other people can become a determining factor in making a decision, he still makes the decision on his own.
Re-education of this quality does not mean a transition to harshness, rudeness in behavior. You can be firm and polite in dealing with other people.
If a decision is given to a person in a ready-made form from the outside (and it is accepted without criticism), then they speak of such a quality as suggestibility. Suggestibility, as well as compliance, does not prevent a person from being, for example, a good worker. However, it is believed that this trait needs to be re-educated in order to save a person from possible harmful influences. Reeducation in this case is recommended to be carried out by strengthening the will and the formation of critical thinking.
For a person, such a strong-willed quality as decisiveness is very important. It is defined as the ability to quickly assess circumstances and make certain decisions, and, having accepted them, do not hesitate, but act confidently.
Decisiveness is an important quality when the situation does not tolerate delay, it requires a quick response.
If a person has enough time, but he still does not make a decision or changes it to the opposite, they speak of a particularly negative quality of will - indecision.
If it is necessary to quickly make a decision and act, and a person is not able to do this, they speak of a state of confusion. A confused person either stays idle or starts different actions and doesn't finish them. (“Speed is needed, but haste is harmful” (A. V. Suvorov)) These actions can be opposite in meaning. Instead of calmly analyzing the situation and making a decision, he can change decisions.
The considered volitional qualities are manifested in each person in certain situations, but they can also be a personality trait. Therefore, it is important to know exactly how a person behaves in a decision-making situation most often: hesitates, or makes decisions quickly; thoughtlessly, and then quickly changes them, or makes thoughtful and accurately executed decisions.
There are also such qualities of will as:
Diligence - is manifested in the diligent and systematic execution of decisions. An executive person feels the need for the complete completion of the work begun.
“As they often say in business: I still have time.
But I must admit that
What do they say, asking not wisely,
And with my laziness.
And so, if there is a case, finish it as soon as possible,
Or after grumbling at yourself, not in case,
When it catches you by chance. (I. A. Krylov)
Discipline is the ability of a person to act in accordance with norms, rules and laws. A labor discipline stands out, which develops perseverance, determination, the ability to overcome one's impulses. Thus justified exactingness, strengthening discipline, thereby strengthens the will. Here we are not talking about the so-called "stick" discipline, which is based on fear. Discipline should be based on understanding the motives of human behavior and actions.
Also stands out Group volitional qualities associated with behavior in a situation of danger - these are personality traits such as courage, bravery, courage, courage. And the opposite of them - cowardice, timidity are considered a manifestation of lack of will.
Different forms of fear in different ways, but always negatively affect the activity.
In the fight against fear, it is recommended to use the following general rule- the more primitive and biological the emotion, the less it can be eradicated with the help of words. You cannot persuade a person to be non-fearful. But emotions are easily superseded by each other. It is enough to make a frightened person angry for him to be frightened. If angry human laugh, he will stop being angry.
But danger can also cause positive emotions of sthenic excitement. Sthenic, not pronounced fear can tone the cerebral cortex from the subcortex and, in combination with critical thinking, manifest itself as “reasonable fear” in the form of fear, caution. “With prudence, be in danger,” said the sage Bias.
How much cowardice, timidity and timidity - negative traits personality, so caution is considered a positive trait.
Such a reaction to danger as a reasonable excitement associated with the activation of conscious activity at the moment of danger is also considered positive.
The relationship between the degree of activity at the moment of danger and feelings is determined: the more active a person is in a dangerous situation, the easier it is according to the subjective content of his experience.
A. Suvorov said: "Danger is better to meet than to expect on the spot."
There are various forms of overcoming fear - fearlessness, which differ in their manifestations. This is courage, bravery, courage, courage, heroism.
Even Plutarch said: "The beginning of victory is courage." With the manifestation of courage, fear remains, but activity is determined by thinking and volitional decisions. Such a person is considered brave, who knows that there is danger ahead and still goes for it. He knows why he suppresses fear, what goal he achieves by acting contrary to fear. Courage consists in the ability to suppress the feeling of fear: when a person in conditions of real physical danger experiences a desire for risk and a desire to move on to action. Under these conditions, he mentally disconnects from experiences, fear and focuses entirely on action. Courage is shown in various types activities: “bold thought”, “bold solution of the problem”, etc. Helvetius said: “Often it is courage that we owe the discovery of the greatest truths”; Goethe: "Every artist has courage, without which talent is unthinkable."
Courage is associated with sthenic emotional experiences of excitement in times of danger. A brave person likes the feeling of danger. His experiences are sthenic, his activity is not disorganized. But it's good when courage is based on reasonable risk: insane courage is as pernicious as insane fear. It is recommended to cultivate courage by reasonable risk: by taking risky actions and experiencing the satisfaction of their successful implementation.
In the formation of courage, they warn against the following extreme: they are advised to ensure that courage does not turn into a negative form of fearlessness - prowess. Prowess is defined as courage that has reached the level of affect, which is characterized by the loss of critical thinking.
Psychology says that the cultivation of courage is the cultivation of faith in one's own strength and technique. This is the education of confidence in the high probability of successfully completing any risky, but feasible task.
There is a pedagogical recommendation - to carefully choose the moment at which you can allow a person to take risks for the first time. You need to be sure that, according to the level of his knowledge, skills and experience, he is prepared for this risk and can independently cope with the situation.
Courage stands out as the opposite of prowess. Courage is understood as the ability to act. A person who defends personal interests can be brave and bold. Courage is manifested in the achievement of the goal, which is perceived as a common cause. In a brave person, fear is overcome by a sense of duty, which is associated with the worldview, beliefs of a person.
A brave person, going towards danger, is tense, a brave person is excited, and a brave person is calm.
Courage is defined as the highest, most complex shape fearlessness.
“And whoever meets danger with courage,
Togo, the thought is clear, and the language is firm. (Sophocles)
Goethe says: “If you lose good, you lose a little! Lose your honor lot you will lose! If you lose your courage, you will lose everything, it would be better not to be born at all.”
Courage summarizes a number of aspects of a person's personality. In different situations, one or the other of these sides predominates. Courage manifests courage, courage, courage, as well as responsibility, patience, resourcefulness, determination, self-control, consciousness, self-righteousness, worldview, initiative, firmness of will (defined as resistance to the power of a single blow) and fortitude of will (defined as resistance to a number of subsequent hits).
As an example of courageous behavior, one can cite a case from world history - the philosopher Socrates calmly looked into the face of death, forgiving his enemies.
Heroism is defined as a concept that goes beyond psychology and has a social content. Heroism shows a high level positive emotions when performing feats of public importance.
Fearlessness, expressed in courage, courage, courage and heroism, is a clear manifestation of a person's control over his emotions, an example of strong-willed behavior.
So, now you can imagine the image of a strong-willed person with such qualities as:
- purposefulness
- perseverance
- patience,
- endurance,
- self-control
- decisiveness
- performance,
- discipline,
- strength of will
- fortitude,
- caution
- reasonable passion
- courage,
- courage
- courage
- courage;
And its opposite, the state of lack of will, manifests itself in such qualities as:
- stubbornness
- compliance,
- suggestibility
- indecisiveness
- cowardice
Hello, dear readers! I have a friend who decided to leave the construction site in writing. Not that the richness of the language, but even the level of its literacy always left much to be desired. And yet, he managed to publish his own book, gain some authority in this area and even become successful in this industry.
Volitional character is a skill, regardless of real difficulties and obstacles. Perhaps he is not engaged at all. However, he enjoys the process and makes substantial profits from each piece sold, which sells like hot cakes.
Today we're going to talk about willpower. How these qualities help in life, is it possible to develop it and learn more about this trait in general.
What kind of person is this
Most people set various goals for themselves, but do not go beyond stories about their own. Willpower is what distinguishes a strong person who achieves results. Ignoring difficulties, sometimes even logic and reason, a strong-willed person goes to realize the tasks that he has set for himself.
If a door is closed somewhere, he will try to find a window, dig a tunnel, or rebuild the whole building to crawl inside. Most people cope with a single difficulty, but each subsequent one will destroy, reduce the degree of desire and reinforce the feeling.
A strong-willed person has character traits that do not allow him to leave the chosen path. If you want to create a new image and become strong-willed, I can recommend you a training book Vasily Ralko "Willpower 2.0".
How to understand that there are prerequisites
How to understand that you have the potential to become a person? Firstly, it will be easier to understand which ones need to be developed, and, secondly, it will give. Perhaps you will realize that you will not have to work so much.
The first sign is independence. You don't need other people to get things done. No, of course, we live in society and depend on others. However, independence presupposes that you are able to find right person who will be ready to help you and perform the functions assigned to him, regardless of his desire.
Next comes resilience and self-control. Obstacles do not piss you off, you are calm even at the moment when everything goes against your will. You do not get upset too much and these emotions do not unbalance you, they do not slow down your further activity and certainly do not paralyze.
- also the quality of a strong-willed person. Don't care about other people's opinions. You are doing the right thing, professionally, best of all. Nobody can convince you.
Initiative, commitment, discipline make you act. You do not need additional motivation, not paying attention to laziness, you can organize your work, think over a plan and strictly follow it.
Not always everything happens quickly, sometimes you need patience to achieve the result. It did not work out this year, so we must continue. This is the only thought that helps to get up in the morning every day.
If you have found at least one of the above qualities in yourself, then you have already completed the plan to create your new character to a small extent. I hope it helps to deal with all the others. I can recommend a book Kelly McGonigal Willpower. How to develop and strengthen to cope with the rest of the work was much easier.
I hope you have the perseverance. Do not forget to subscribe to the newsletter to know more about yourself and keep motivated in creating your new self. See you again and good luck in your endeavors.
