How Does Willpower Work?

[Elisabeth]

What is willpower within our psyche? And how to best use it. Is desire an emotion? Is motivation distinct from desire? Why do we do the things we do?

Puzzled about where motivation comes from and how does it interplay with willpower.  I always (well no, not always, only the few last years) thought that motivation comes from emotions. What we desire, we do. Sometimes we have conflicting desires like achieve something but be lazy now, and then it only comes to what is stronger in the moment. Rationality also has some saying in what we do in the end since we use it to evaluate consequences, but it's hardly defining.

 I told my therapist and she said that having goals and using willpower is distinct. So where does willpower come from? Is that a separate cathegory within our psyche? Is that something arising from the interplay between thinking and feeling? 

[Progress]

I wish someone would answer this.