INCREASING POWER OF THE WILL

From Self-Development and the Way to Power, by L. W. Rogers (18)

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Mighty, indeed, is this force when aroused. But a person may be easily
deceived about his will. He is likely to think that his will is much
stronger than it really is. He may say to himself, "Oh, yes, I would
go through anything for the sake of the higher life and spiritual
illumination." But that is no guarantee that after a few months of
monotonous work he may not abandon it unless he adopts the wise plan
of strengthening his will as he moves forward. Let him begin this by
testing his present strength of will, but let him not be discouraged
by the result. He should remember that whatever he lacks in will power
he can evolve by proper effort.

To find out whether he really has much strength of will a person may
begin to observe to what extent he permits his daily plans to be
modified, or entirely changed, by the things that run counter to his
will. Does he hold steadfastly to his purpose or does he weakly
surrender to small obstacles? Has he the will power to even begin the
day as he has planned it? The evening before he decides that he will
rise at six o'clock the next morning. He knows there are certain
excellent reasons why he should do so and he retires with the matter
fully decided. It is positively settled that at exactly six o'clock
the day's program shall begin. But when the clock strikes that hour
the next morning he feels strongly disinclined to obey the summons. It
involves some bodily discomfort to rise at that moment and he
concludes that, after all, perhaps he was a bit hasty the evening
before in fixing upon that hour! Whereupon he reconsiders the matter
and makes it seven; and when that time arrives he generously extends
it to eight o'clock. The hour, of course, is unimportant. But whatever
may have been the hour that was previously determined upon the keeping
of that determination is of the greatest importance and the failure to
put the resolution into effect is evidence of the possession of a weak
will.

Now all this proves that such persons have very little real will
power, for they permit the desire for trifling bodily comfort to set
their plans aside. Such persons are still slaves to the physical body
and weakly permit it to upset carefully outlined programs. They are
not yet ready for good work in occult development, where real success
can come only to those who have steadfast strength of purpose.