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Understanding self-control
- Self-control is indeed a resource, but a renewable, psychological one.
- 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.
- Succeeding at self-control is more about the desire rather than the ability to do so.
MORE IDEAS FROM THE ARTICLE
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.
- Factors such as negative mood, fatigue and alcohol play a large part in self-control failure.
- 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.
RELATED IDEAS
A lack of willpower is not the only factor that affects goal attainment.
- There needs to be a clear goal and the motivation to change. Having an unclear or overly general goal and insufficient motivation can lead to failure.
- You need to monitor your actions daily towards the achievement of the goal.
- You need to have willpower.
- Keep your sweets, don't throw them out.
- Drink a sugary drink.
- Avoid multiple resolutions.
- Control your environment.
- Use mindfulness and meditation.
So we should stop worshiping self-control and start thinking about diluting the power of temptation. Because resisting temptation either only has short-term gains or can be an outright failure.