Will Power.

I've always been somewhat amused by the idea of "will power." I'm lazy in many respects, but there are other aspects of my life that I don't like to wait on. When I was in grade 12, I used to weigh 170 lbs. For a height of 5'9", that was considered obese. It eventually got to a point where I was fed up with my image. I decided to run every day for 30 minutes and eat healthier. In 2 months, I dropped from 170 to 145 lbs and I'm maintained my weight there ever since.

Ever since I decided to take my weight issue into my own hands and eliminate it, I have a hard time hearing others talk about how much they want to lose weight but not doing anything about it. I knew a guy who told me he wanted to lose weight very badly, yet I used to see him eating two slices of pizza, an order of fries and a litre of juice from Pizza Pizza for a single meal. There's more calories in that one meal than you're supposed to have in a full day. It's an enigma to me how someone can contradict himself like that.... But not really (See what I did there?). I haven't worked out for about 6 months and it's now at the point where I'm way too lazy to start up.

The reason I had the drive to continue working out every day in grade 12 was because I had gotten to the point where I wasn't going to take no for an answer. It took a lot to get me to that point. I'm happy with my body image now because I know what I used to look like and how far I've come. Unfortunately, I use this as an excuse to avoid working out. I've become the very person that puzzled me. I don't feel the necessity to work out, but I know that it would only be beneficial to me.

I've been a lot better with my work ethic this year than I've ever been before, but I have also noticed myself slowly losing the drive to do my work. Fortunately, I have a few projects I'm working on that have refuelled my passion to work hard. However, I understand that I need to learn to continue to work hard even when I don't have anything to work on. That's the difference between a professional and an amateur. "Being a professional means doing what you love even when you don't love doing it."

I speak about will power as if it's some external essence that can't be trained. It can be trained, it's just extremely difficult. Honestly, though, when is the right thing to do ever the easy thing to do? Discipline doesn't come easy, but it's the people who learn to discipline themselves that succeed in life, whatever your definition of success is.

With all the crazy decisions you have to make in life, it's hard to always keep in mind that you need to do what benefits you. Unfortunately, sometimes that involves putting work before pleasure. While it might hinder me temporarily (Cutting an hour out of my video game time to get on writing that sketch), it'll be much more beneficial to me in the long run and I'll have something to look back on and be proud about.

Your life is in your hands, even when it seems like it isn't. You just have to understand you can take control - then do it.

Anyway, that's what I think about that.

- Umed Abdullah