compensating by willpower

A job situation, a difficult state, a disliked behavior, an (alleged) inability, a life situation – there´s a lot, we don´t like, what makes us unhappy, what we don´t want. Thus it´s not uncommon that we use willpower in order to change it – according the idea:  If I only try hard enough, I will make a career, I will recover, I will become a good negotiator, etc.

Willpower is needed for change, but not the only or most important key. For change also acceptance and letting go, trust and humility, caretaking and self love, freedom and guts, thinking and feeling as well as planning, acting and patience are required.

If you want to change and have a strong will for it, what do you try to replace by that willpower?

Or is it the other way around: Do you try to replace the real will by one of the other aspects?