Willpower
HUD finally signed the contract just for the bank, Wells Fargo to turn around and tell us that a Median FICO Score of 680 would be required for a manufactured home. That’s not a situation we can alleviate quickly, so now we have to retreat a little. We’ll go ahead and see how much of a loan we qualify for and then look for other houses in the neighborhood.
I know I’m taking the events on the chin so to speak, and I think Twin is getting there… but she is really upset. I react how I normally do in a crisis and tried to think of different ways we could move forward.
There was an interesting discussion on "The Conversation" with Ross Reynolds on KUOW this morning on the subject of Willpower. There was a couple of authors that just wrote a book on the subject and asserted that Willpower is sort of like a physical muscle, in that it can be strengthened and tire. In research they observed that decisions such as avoiding temptaion and picking one preference over another tax that "muscle." The best way to gain willpower, is to visualize or write down the progress you’re making on a goal. If I were to do that with the goal of kayaking a certain distance, I might make a list of the length and duration of all my paddles, set a sub-goal and acheive that. An easier situation to understand is if you’re trying to lose weight, writing down each time you step on the scale and the date. You look at that every day and you can see the pattern. If you still want to acheive that goal, you will push harder (willpower).
Interesting stuff.
In terms of myself, I can’t quite peg how much willpower I have. There are situations where I have insurmountable willpower, then I will be in a situation where I have none. A lot of my willpower socially is tempered. I may appear to give up on giving my opinion just to go elsewhere and vent. Large decisions are definitely taxing. With the house, or even with a car, I love to get into a situation, observe, and then leave the moment (or take a night to sleep on it). I can collect my thoughts and create some willpower and work through the decisions in quick order. I still think that means I have pretty weak willpower. It seemingly evaporates with increasing numbers of people or trivial situations where things to consider thoughtfully are innumerable.
This reflects probably the J in INTJ, A Gemini/Gemini trait accented by a Libra Ascendant and an Abstract-Sequential type person.
What frustrates me about my willpower, is that it will be very strong for a good long while, and then it will just disappear completely. I have a hard time remotivating myself to accomplish something. I’m dealing with that with school right now. I’m going through the motions of doing homework, just to make sure it is turned in on time.
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I always turn it in at the last minute, or do it on the last day it’s due. I just don’t have the want or willpower anymore to insist I work on something in a timely manner so I’m not stressing about getting it done in a reasonable amount of time. Oh well.
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willpower as described by those people seems closely related to positive and negative reinforcements. For example, if you lose a pound of weight, and experience a positive emotion you are more likely to repeat the habits that resulted in the loss of the weight and the positive emotion (positive reinforcement). If you don’t lost weight, you may use negative reinforcement to avoid the feeling of
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failing to lose the weight. Or the person may give up altogether to avoid the dissonance that comes with negative feelings that resulted from not achieving the goal.
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Willpower figured in more so to the negative experiences than that of the positive. As for choosing between two things, say cake or pasta, i don’t think we are entirely in control of those things, there is research that suggest that our unconscious mind makes the choice long before we are conscious of it. so you may have “willpower” but that doesn’t mean one is entirely “free to will”
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I’m sorry about the house situation. I don’t blame Twin for being upset. Hopefully though things will work out for the best. One door closes and two more open, or so they say. My willpower varies depending on the situation and circumstance. I could probably do with a bit more of it, but I honestly don’t feel like putting in the effort. There are a lot of self improvements I could take on. That one seems pretty low on the list.
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Sorry about the house situation. Weve been trying to buy ours for 4 months now (short sale) Wells is the bank too. It was like everytime we took a step forward we had to take 2 steps back and get dissapointing news. Its hard to not emotionally invest yourself. It’ll happen though, you just may need more time.
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I’m sorry about the house situation!! 🙁
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you should pickup a copy of Sam Harris’ book FREE WILL, it is not a major book on the subject, but it does go through some of the major position on Free Will, there is also a great book on Consciousness by one of my favorite philosophers. His writing style is very good and clear and understandable. If you are interested in the subjects i think you’ll find the books enlightening, if not interesting
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Colin McGinn ” The Mysterious Flame: conscious minds in a material world”
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few more things: that sucks about the house and I will have a look for that podcast, thanks for giving me the heads up.
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You and I think alike with respect to dealing with an obstacle, move on and figure it out. RYN: you dont have to fit in, you just have to have fun! 🙂 My new b/f is not going to match either, he’s going to be wearing his AZ Wildcat Gear… and neither of us have tattoos or piercings…but we do smoke. 🙂 Im sure you’ve already gathered that though.
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