<ul><li>Factors such as negative mood, fatigue and alcohol play a large part in self-control failure.</li><li>Previous effort is one especially well studied factor that decreases self-control. All else being equal, a second self-control attempt after an initial one is more likely to fail than one that comes after a relatively restful period when no self-control was exercised.</li></ul>

Why we fail at self-control

Self-control is not a quality that remains stable throughout a person’s life, similar to IQ or personality. A person’s level of self-control tends to wax and to wane over the course of the day. Self-control is less like a mental capacity such as intelligence and more like a fluctuating resource such as physical energy.

Self-control is not fixed

<ul><li>Self-control is indeed a resource, but a renewable, psychological one.</li><li>Goals that are motivated from within—for reasons that are personally important to us—are more likely to succeed than those that are motivated from without.</li><li>Succeeding at self-control is more about the desire rather than the ability to do so.</li></ul>

Understanding self-control

Around this time each year, my family and I, as well as Jews around the world, celebrate Passover. Like many Jewish holidays, this one features a range of symbolic foods and eating a large meal. And like many Jewish holidays, this one ends with me fielding the mostly rhetorical question from my relatives, "Why did I eat so much?"

Understanding self-control

The one thing all people with strong self-control understand

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