Will Power VS. Want Power
Jul 10, 2008 Seven years ago, author Janice Taylor, permanently removed over 50 pounds of excess weight. She utilized 
weight loss as a vehicle for reinvention and transformation. Taylor has been featured in O, The Oprah Magazine, New York Times, New York Post, New York Daily News, Family Circle, Good Housekeeping, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Sun Times, Fitness magazine, Health magazine, CNN.com, Religion and Spirituality, has appeared on View from the Bay, San Francisco, Discovery Health, Naomi’s New Morning, Hallmark Channel, FitTV.
She is a Life & Wellness Coach, Certified Hypnotist, Neurolinguistic Practitioner, as well as the author of All Is Forgiven, Move On: Our Lady of Weight Loss’s 101 Fat-burning Steps on Your Journey to Sveltesville (May 2008) and Our Lady of Weight Loss: Miraculous and Motivational Musings from the Patron Saint of Permanent Fat Removal (Fall 2006.) Janice is also the creator of the very popular e-newsletter Kick in the Tush Club, and a syndicated blogger for Beliefnet .
Taylor leads workshops at a number of wellness centers across America, including Omega Institute, Rhinebeck, New York, The Crossings, Austin, Texas and Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health, The Berkshires, Massachusetts.Taylor is a member of the International Coach Federation, Association for Integrative Psychology, CIVA (Christians In the Visual Arts). She has studied at New York Society of Ericksonian Psychotherapy and Hypnosis, American Pacific University, NLP Center of New York and New York University. She is also a co-founder of artHARLEM, a grassroots Harlem, New York art organization.
If the cake calls your name, who amongst us has the willpower to just say, "No!?" We are more than likely than not to cave in and eat it! Want Power means that we want to lose weight enough to make sure that there's no cake in the house - that we want to be thin enough to go that extra mile - to do what it takes!
Do you know what you want?
Sometimes it is easier to know what we DON'T want rather than what we DO want. In order for you to build your want power muscle so that your want power is stronger than Popeye after a can of spinach, try this:
Before every shopping expedition, television show, meeting, phone call to family member; in other words, before every event or decision, ask yourself "What do I want?"
"What do I want?" Would you prefer to buy a black dress or a brown dress? Did you want to make low-fat pizza for dinner tonight or a mammoth chicken salad? Did you want to watch "Weeds" or "Big Love?" From the most mundane to the most serious of decisions, just pause and ask, "What do I want?"
Low-Wattage Light-Bulb Moments
I found this exercise extremely helpful. Almost every pause set off a low-wattage light-bulb moment. It became clear that I often went to movies that I did not want to go to in order to appease people who I really didn't want to appease. I ate at restaurants and ordered food that I really did not want, because I did not want to annoy anyone. I stayed places way longer than necessary. Connecting to these 'a-ha want' moments shed some light on my under-developed want muscle.
As these little wants connected to bigger wants, my want muscle grew stronger. I was able to get in touch with my gut feelings - my emotional state as well as the physical sensations that connected to really wanting something. My decision making process became a lot more fluid and stronger, and I began to clearly see what I wanted (vs. what I did not want).
What do you want?
New Point of View: There is no such thing as willpower only want power!
Spread the word, not the icing!
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