27. Volition

Also Merry Christmas 🎄

Here's a note from the heart 🫀

Thank you for reading!

To think someone values what I write makes every day feel like Christmas.

But every day isn't Christmas, which makes today special.

I hope your holiday is full of love! ❤️

The last 27 days on this quest of sharing 33 life lessons from 33 years of life have challenged and inspired me to think deeper about what I'm up to and what I've learned along the way.

While I was confident in my commitment to the workload, I was uncertain how a daily email would be received.

I'm grateful to share that I've gained more subscribers than I've lost over this time period. Thank you to all who have read any at all, and to those who read daily, I am so appreciative. 🙏

I am looking forward to carrying this momentum into 2023 and finding new ways my work can make a meaningful impact on others.

Now to today's life lesson, Volition:

Volition is the faculty or power of using one's will. It's not as common of a word today as action or willpower, but certainly belongs in the conversation for anyone who aspires to make a positive difference in the lives of others.

Here's a fun fact about me: I love collecting antique personal development books. When my wife and I go antique shopping, I search through the books to see if I can find some wisdom lost to time.

Occasionally I get lucky, like I did with “The Power of Will” by Frank Channing Haddock.

In the book, he distinguishes Will and Volition in the following way:

The Will is “the Soul itself exercising self direction”…When person employs this instrumental power, it puts forth a Volition.

A Volition is the willing power in action. All Volitions are thus secondary mental commands for appropriate mental or physical acts.

Obedience of mind or body to Volitions exhibits the power of the Will.

In other words, the strength of a person's will is dependent on one's obedience to particular volitions.

If we are to strengthen our willpower, then we should pay great attention to our volitions.

My will to build muscle depends on my volition to lift the weight again and again.

My will to write every day depends on my volition to put words to a page.

The subject of self-mastery is of great interest to me as I believe it is a core component for how we can self-directed our lives.

One book, podcast, or blog post won't lead to mastery either. It takes a truthful assessment and daily commitment to doing the work it takes to achieve that result, whatever it may be.

For me, the result I'm looking for should lead to a place where I am more wise, loving, courageous, hopeful, gracious, creative, and energized.

So what are your volitions saying about the power of your will?

What do you want it to say?

2023 is still a few days away…why not start today?