The magic was never in willpower, but in intelligence, in searching for and finding the lever and the solid place to rest it.
The problem with most people who want to change themselves is not that they don't want to change, but they want to change a single thing, a single aspect of their lives. It doesn't work that way. Changing yourself is like solving a Rubik's Cube; every desirable change comes with undesirable consequences. You can't stop at one change, for a single change is never desirable; it is the whole which is desirable. Move one piece, and then another, and then another; a single change in your life requires a transformation of your entire life.
No trait rests in isolation, and you aren't a collection of variables to be individually tweaked until each rests at the optimal position.
