High Performance Reset 1: The Battery vs. The Motor – Why Your "Willpower" is Lying to You
The Battery vs. The Motor – Why Your "Willpower" is Lying to You
By Jason Shelfer: Host of The Living Lucky® Podcast
If you’ve been following the Living Lucky® journey, you know we are obsessed with the Quantum Leap. We love the explosive 13-month sprints and the "Impossible" goals. But today, I want to talk about the person behind the wheel of that sprint.
You know the one. The person who identifies as "The One Who Never Quits." The high-achiever who eats stress for breakfast and washes it down with a triple-shot of "I’ve Got This." Jana and I have lived in, or at least visited, that headspace for decades. We’ve used it to build businesses, dive the Great Barrier Reef, and reach the World Stage. But through twenty years of our own Spiritual Curriculum—and thousands of hours coaching others to do the same—we’ve discovered a cold, hard truth:
Willpower is a battery, not a power plant.
We’ve all been there. You start the day like a high-performance Tesla—silent, sleek, and full of torque. You have your "to-do" list squared away and your vision board polished.
But by 3:00 PM, after sixteen meetings, a dozen "urgent" emails, and a fire-drill from the boss, something shifts. You find yourself staring at a bag of stale potato chips in the breakroom like it’s a five-star meal. Your patience for your team is thin, and your "big picture" goals feel like a heavy weight rather than a North Star.
That is your Willpower Battery hitting 2%.
Jim Rohn used to say, "Motivation is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going." But we take it one step deeper: Identity is the motor that creates the habit.
Stop Willing, Start Being
When you rely on willpower, you are constantly "draining." You are forcing yourself to do things that your current identity hasn't made automatic yet. Every time you have to "force" yourself to hit the gym or stay calm in a crisis, you are pulling from a finite energy source.
Identity, however, is a motor. It doesn’t drain; it runs.
Compare these two people:
The Willpower Approach: "I am resisting this cigarette because I am trying to quit." (Battery drain: Critical. Every minute is a battle of self-denial).
The Identity Approach: "I don’t smoke." (Battery drain: Zero. A non-smoker doesn't need willpower to walk past the tobacco aisle; it’s simply not who they are).
If you want to achieve the "Impossible" without self-destructing, you have to stop "willing" yourself across the finish line. You have to engineer an internal motor that operates as your "New Normal."
Don't get us wrong—Jana and I haven't "figured it all out." We are still in the workshop every single day, recalibrating our own motors. We’ve just realized that if we want to keep “Living Lucky®" by design and not by chance, we have to protect the machinery.
To start shifting from a battery-powered life to a motor-driven existence, try these two tools this week:
The Win Journal: At the end of the day, don’t just check off tasks. Collect 3 "Micro-Wins" that reinforce who you are, not just what you did. (e.g., "I was the person who stayed calm in the board meeting," vs. "I finished the meeting.")
The Energy Audit: Identify one task that consistently drains your battery. Instead of trying to "tough it out," ask: "How would a person who finds this easy handle it?” Shift the identity first; the activity will follow.
Until then, consider: Are you running on a battery that needs a recharge every ten minutes, or are you building a motor that generates its own power?
Start Living Lucky® today by choosing who you are over what you do.
