I told my little brother about a sort of epiphany I had recently. I said wow, I have so many things I need to and want to do – I wish I knew the right order in which I could meet my needs and also accomplish what I want all the time. His immediate reaction was something like yep, that would be the point of life, that balance we all strive to figure out.
When you’re lacking something you desire, you’re faced with a choice to work to obtain it or choose not to pursue it – the latter usually based on some other stronger will taking precedence. What’s problematic is that often this “choice” is not deliberate.
Multitasking, or juggling wills – if you will – in regard to need-meeting and prioritization, can be a huge skill in achieving more fulfillment than the average person.
You know how people say if you want something bad enough, you can have it – you just have to work hard and go get it? Really it’s not as much about this often elusive “effort” you put in – but about whether you’re aware of and in control of which wills you’re allowing on the front lines. Where are you actually expending your mental energy?
We all want many things every day, therefore our wills are constantly battling against each other for the top spot. Some wills are innate in most – survival for example – so we have the instinctual wills that drive us on those fronts.
For the individual, this idea is that you learn to become more efficient in managing all of your wills. The wills that are primary and shared, like to remain a healthy, functioning member of society in the world we live in should be on the back burner. We should not devote too much time or energy to meeting our basic needs.
But if we think about it, it’s hard, right? Our minds work inefficiently to meet basic needs (e.g. nutrition for just one example) where much of that lost time could be devoted to higher, more fulfilling pursuits.
If we’re trying a new restaurant, maybe we need to check a Yelp review or ten first. This is time and energy spent working on just one primary will. We’re in the grocery store, and we have to compare so many options, decide on price vs quality vs budget, brand name, etc. The consumerism and advertising, the seemingly infinite choices, have paralyzed much of our control over managing our wills efficiently.
If you can keep your basic wills in check, addressed and streamlined, you gain the freedom to expel more energy on wills related to personal growth and advancement.
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