During these days of teshuvah, there is a big emphasis on overcoming the yetzer hara – like two Sumo wrestlers grappling to get the upper hand in a match.
We might win a battle here or there, but is this an effective way to long-lasting change or teshuvah?
Benjamin Hardy an organizational psychologist and the author of Willpower Doesn’t Work stresses three things for success in the workplace:
- Remove all distractions.
- Downtime leads to creativity.
- Change your environment — surround yourself with different people and ideas.
Hardy also states that willpower is like a muscle in that it gets stronger with repeated use, however, it weakens when used too much. Willpower is not the best tool in our teshuvah toolbox.
Removing counter-productive behaviors, activities, or distractions from our lives as well as developing an environment or friend core more conducive to higher goals are much more effective tactics in making long-lasting change and teshuvah.
The most powerful and most effective approach is to ask G-d for a “full and complete desire” for the tactics listed above, and well, everything good.
Yitzhak Sasson 