I hope you all had a wonderful weekend (and Monday). My recent days have consisted of updating my resume, creating a CV, and applying for remote writing work! Hey, if you have any ideas for me reach out!
Recently I have really pondered how I could increase my self-control; I feel like I get angry pretty easily nowadays! Some days, taking a breath and walking away just can’t happen you know? So, I kept doing some digging on the subject and here is what I have learned.
The Types of Self Control
First off, I learned that self-control has different types and isn’t one that encompasses all type of thing.
· Impulse control is when you can stop and think before acting on something.
o Without this, blurting things out could be a possible issue you could have.
o You could also act instantly, or near instantly, on a thought before thinking it through.
o Being aggressive and overreacting to a situation could also be an occurrence of this lack of impulse control.
o Procrastinating important things could also be something you face.
· Emotional control is when you can manage the feelings you have.
o Without emotional control you could give up easily when you get frustrated or when things aren’t how you want them to be.
o Calming down to do important tasks could be a difficulty as well.
o Having loud and large reactions when you are mad or even happy could be a sign that you lack this control as well.
o Small challenges and difficulties could have you overreacting to a situation.
· Movement control is when you are able to control how and when your body moves.
o Increased activity and restlessness could be a sign of a lack of movement control.
o Being unable to sit still for certain periods of time.
o Standing up or walking around at inappropriate times could also be an indicator.
o Excessive fidgeting with your hands.
Learning and Practicing Self Control
- Firstly, self-awareness is a great tool to help you practice and learn this skill.
o Remember, a skill is something that can be honed with time, and self-control is no different. It is a skill that you can acquire and learn very well.
- Regular exercise can increase self-discipline and help you regulate your behaviors as it is essentially forcing repetition in willpower.
o Something like this actually makes you do other healthy things in your life like reduced stress-eating, drinking less caffeine, and helps regulate your emotional control.
- Increasing your motivation can also help greatly while trying to practice your self-control. I did a post about helping with your motivation, which you can find here.
o Motivation is essential to help you reach your goals, learn a new skill, or even a new language (I am in the process of learning Hebrew!). It also helps you stay on track to get where you want to be.
- Sleep is another essential! I have talked about the importance of sleep before, in so many aspects the lack of it can just break you.
o Scientifically speaking, not sleeping can impact brain function and decrease your reasoning skills and your emotional regulation.
- Setting goals can also help! I feel like I have talked about this a lot actually, and it truly is a game changer.
o Making your goals SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, Time-Bound). This gives you steps to work on so there are easier decisions to make, and following your plan helps with your discipline.
- Avoiding your temptations can be especially helpful when you first start, and even after really.
o If you are trying to control a smoking problem, stay away from smokers while they smoke or all together. If you are trying to control a stress-eating thing, get your go-to snacks out of sight or in the garbage!
- Practice using your self-control on smaller things regularly to establish a habit and resilience!
o If you do this repeatedly with even the smallest things, you work this area to become stronger for the bigger things.
- Keep the consequences of not practicing self-control in mind.
o When you are feeling weak, remind yourself about the last time you lacked the control you needed. Or what could happen if you don’t keep self-control in your skill pile.
Final Thoughts
We all may come to a point when we realize that self-control in even one area of our lives would be crucial for our next steps in life. Think about what would happen if you didn’t try to work on this for you, your family, your friends, husband, wife, girlfriend, boyfriend, children, etc. Anyone in your life could be affected by a lack of self-control.
But the thing is, you could be impacted even more so. Diminishing your self-worth and esteem, your work ethic, whatever it is, it could just get worse. And that would be a crappy thing for sure!
Best regards,
~TKNott~
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