Good intentions are simply not enough. We are all human and most of us are notoriously poor at following through with our plans. We want to lose weight, but we love to eat. We want to start a daily morning meditation, but sleeping just 10 more minutes sounds so much better. We want to work out every day, but happy hour with our friends is much easier and more fun.
We could all use a little more self-control and even the ones amongst us who are great at exercising self-control on a daily basis have some hot triggers and special circumstances that makes us lose control and start to behave irrationally.
But keep in mind, so much of our success and being able to achieve our goals depends on good habits, self-discipline and self-control. Sure, it may be easier said than done, but there are a lot of different strategies you can implement to improve self-control and build good habits.
Here are our TOP 10 ways to boost self-control and develop better mental and physical discipline.
#1 Learn to Manage Stress
In order to be able to boost our self-control we need to learn how to manage our stress levels. When we are under high levels of stress we use most of our energy to act instinctively and make decisions based on short-term results and our prefrontal cortex loses the battle for energy. Whenever you feel stressed out, stop for a moment, take a few deep breaths and allow yourself to calm down and relax in this moment. Generally though, make sure that you eat well, exercise regularly and get enough good-quality sleep to improve your cognitive function, focus and overall health and with that it will be a lot easier to exercise self-control.
#2 Remove Temptation
We only have so much willpower and self-control in a day that it is impossible to constantly resist temptation. So the best way to resist temptation is to remove it altogether. Keep in mind, we are not wired to consistently resist temptation and beating ourselves up over the fact that we don’t have enough self-control doesn’t get us anywhere either. So instead of struggling to resist temptation, a much smarter choice is to remove the temptation and with that set yourself up for success. And it allows you to exercise self-control on things that are truly important and matter to you.
#3 Forgive Yourself
On your journey to boost self-control, you are going to fail from time to time, that’s just a natural part of life. Forgive yourself for not being able to continuously exercise self-control and don’t waste your time and energy beating yourself up over it. Keep in mind, about 80% of achieving success is in your attitude, so keep it positive, stop worrying about mistakes and keep going. Churchill already said: ‘Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm.’ Learn how to work happily on improving yourself, keep building your self-control and you will be able to achieve even the most ambitious goals.
#4 Prioritize
Keeping our priorities straight is essential to stay on track and not feel overwhelmed by the sheer amount of things we need to get done. Make a to-do list for every single day, for the week as well as the month and do the best you can to get things done. The good news about having a to-do list that emphasizes your priorities is that you can easily track your progress and you feel more in control. And an added bonus is that you get more organized and don’t get stressed out or waste your time and energy on things that aren’t important.
#5 Get More Sleep
Getting enough good quality sleep is essential for being able to boost our self-control, because it makes our prefrontal cortex more efficient. Sleep deprivation, meaning that you get less than 6 hours of sleep a night, puts our body and mind under chronic stress and impairs our ability to function at our best. And we have less energy available in our day and particularly the prefrontal cortex gets hit hard in the fight for energy, so we lose control. Recent research reveals that people who get 6.5 to 7.5 hours of sleep a night are the most productive and live the longest and happiest.
#6 Meditate
Scientific research has proven over and over again that a regular meditation practice has the ability to increase our willpower and self-control reserves and helps us to improve our self-awareness, attention and focus, while at the same time lowering stress levels. And the best part is that you don’t need a lifetime of practice to get the benefits of meditation. Just eight weeks of a daily, brief meditation will dramatically improve your self-control.
#7 Exercise
Another great way to train our brain to be able to exercise more self-control is to work out regularly. Unfortunately it is often undervalued or ignored, but physical exercise makes us more resilient to stress and with that gives a big boost to self-control. And the good news is there isn’t one particular way to work out that is better than another. You can choose whichever exercise works best for you whether that’s a more mindful practice such as yoga or intensive physical training such as HIIT. While it remains a mystery why exercise is so beneficial for self-control keep in mind, any kind of physical activity requires discipline and self-control and training yourself this way will spill over into any other area of your life.
#8 Watch Your Nutrition
What we eat has a huge impact on how much energy is available for our prefrontal cortex and with that our self-control. Sometimes it is as simple as staying away from processed foods and switching to a more plant-based, wholesome diet. This can make all the difference already and can improve every aspect of self-control. And the best part is that good nutrition doesn’t just improve your self-control, but it will make you feel better overall as well.
#9 Know Yourself
In order to be able to exercise self-control, we have to know ourselves and our emotions and impulses. Know which situations trigger you to lose your composure and patience and make you act in an irrational, emotional way. Self-awareness and self-knowledge are the key to being able to become emotionally intelligent and with that increase your ability to exercise self-control. Keep in mind, self-control doesn’t just mean you can resist the temptation of eating a cookie, it also means that you can keep disruptive emotions in check.
#10 Automate
Every decision we make, no matter how small it may be, depletes some of our self-control, which leads to decision fatigue and ultimately poor decisions. The simple solution is to automate some aspects of your life, so you don’t have to make too many unnecessary decisions. Just think about Steve Jobs, who always wore 501 jeans and a black turtleneck. Or President Obama who only wears grey or blue suits. It’s a way to eliminate some of their decisions to be able to have will-power and self-control left over for the important decisions in life.
To effectively control our urges and make sound decisions, we need to take care of our prefrontal cortex, which is associated with things like decision-making, willpower and self-control. Getting enough sleep and feeding our brain with good-quality food is on top of our list of looking after our prefrontal cortex, but keep in mind, our self-control and willpower get depleted throughout the day and we need to look at it like a muscle. We need to train it, but it gets exhausted by overuse and if we don’t use it, it atrophies.
ENHANCE YOUR ABILITY TO EXERCISE SELF-CONTROL
Joschi & Monika
#BoldNaked