A while ago, I found myself in a situation that tested me in an unexpected way: I needed to undergo a CT scan. For most people, it’s a routine procedure. But for me, someone who is slightly claustrophobic, it felt like stepping into a personal nightmare.
On my first attempt, panic completely took over. The moment I slid into the scanner, the walls felt like they were closing in. My breathing became shallow, my chest tightened, and I felt powerless. Thankfully, the nurse noticed the rising panic and quickly pulled me out of the tube. I felt like quitting, but stepping away wasn’t a choice I could make.
With the nurse’s encouragement, I tried again, this time armed with a simple strategy. I focused on slow, deliberate breaths. I counted them. I anchored myself in the moment. And little by little, the panic eased. The tension was there, but I managed to stay still, and the scan was completed.
That experience reminded me of something important: willpower isn’t about never feeling fear. It’s about acting despite it.
What Research Tells Us About Willpower
Willpower is often likened to a muscle; it can be strengthened, but it also becomes tired. Psychologist Roy Baumeister and colleagues have shown that exerting self-control draws from a limited pool of mental energy, a concept known as ego depletion. This explains why pushing through fear or discomfort can leave us feeling utterly drained afterward (Baumeister & Tierney, Willpower: Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength).
The good news is that it isn’t set in stone. A review in Frontiers in Psychology highlights that effortful control, closely related to willpower and executive functioning, can actually be improved over time through practices ranging from physical training to cognitive exercises and mindfulness. In other words, we can build our capacity to stay steady under pressure.
Breathing is one of the simplest and most effective tools for relaxation. Harvard Medical School and Time magazine have both reported how conscious breathing techniques calm the nervous system, restore clarity, and support emotional regulation. Some organizations even bring this into the workplace, and the results are striking: better focus, stronger morale, and greater resilience during stressful times.
Mindset matters too. Research from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) found that individuals with a growth mindset, in other words. those who believe abilities can be developed, exhibit significantly greater willpower, passion, and persistence compared to those who view their traits as fixed.
Finally, resilience itself operates on two levels. Studies on workplace resilience show that, individually, it’s about emotional regulation, flexibility, and self-belief. Collectively, it comes down to culture: not just what a team does in times of stress, but how it responds and supports one another.
This Is Business in the Same Tunnel
In business, we face our own “claustrophobic moments”:
- Transformations with unclear paths.
- Resistance to new ways.
- Market shifts happening faster than our comfort zones can contain.
- Tough choices whose payoff lies well beyond immediate ease.
Like in that scanner, our first instinct usually is to retreat. But growth demands something else; it demands holding steady, breathing through the discomfort, and staying with the process until it’s done.
Techniques That Translate
The same simple tools that carried me through the scanner also work in business life. Breathing helps us pause and regain clarity in the middle of chaos. Purpose reminds us why we’re doing something, not just what we’re doing. And breaking challenges into small steps keeps us moving forward without being overwhelmed by the bigger picture.
The Real Cost of Showing Up
Using willpower doesn’t leave you unscathed. After the scan, my hands were shaking. I felt like crying. My body felt as though I had just run a marathon. Even hours later, my breathing was still shallow. I had to stop and gently remind myself: It’s over! You’re safe now.
This matches the research: exerting self-control leaves a residue, both cognitive and emotional fatigue. It’s no surprise that it felt like I’d been through a triathlon of fear.
When (and When Not) to Use Will Power
One thing I realized after the scan is that willpower isn’t a tool for everything. It’s powerful, but it’s also limited. Like a muscle, it can be trained and strengthened, but it can also get tired.
When willpower works best:
- Pushing through fear or discomfort for something important. Whether it’s lying still in a scanner or having a difficult conversation at work, willpower helps you stay aligned with your bigger purpose.
- Short bursts of resistance. Willpower shines in moments where you just need to get over the hump, such as resisting panic, delaying an impulse, or staying steady until the moment passes.
- Building habits. At the start of a change, when you’re establishing a new behavior or leading others through uncertainty, willpower provides the initial momentum until routines or systems take hold.
When will power is not enough:
- Long-term change without support. Research indicates that relying solely on self-control can lead to burnout. That’s why organizations can’t expect people to “just cope” with endless transformation; systems, structures, and culture must support them.
- Ignoring real limits. Sometimes fear or exhaustion is a signal, not an enemy. If I had forced myself through the first attempt without the nurse pulling me out, it might have ended badly. In business, too, forcing through at any cost can damage people and results.
- Deeply ingrained patterns. For long-standing challenges (like culture shifts or personal habits), willpower can spark the start, but you need strategy, accountability, and support to sustain it.
In other words, willpower is a bridge, not a destination. It carries us across difficult moments, but we shouldn’t expect it to hold the entire weight of transformation. The real strength comes when willpower is combined with systems, routines, and community support.
The Lesson (and the Hope)
Willpower costs something, but that doesn’t make it a weakness. It makes it real. Every breath, every purposeful moment, and every belief in growth helps rebuild our reserves. When organizations encourage resilience and emotional awareness by supporting practices like mindful breathing, a growth mindset, self-care, and coaching, they create workplaces where willpower doesn’t just get used up; it gets renewed.
Using willpower doesn’t mean we emerge untouched. We come out through. It might leave us tired, shaken, trembling, and short of breath. But we also emerge stronger, more grounded, more ready for what comes next.
Whether inside a medical scanner or inside an organization, willpower is the quiet force that carries us from where we hesitate to where we stand tall.
