Self control is something we all know we should have but it’s not always easy to actually put into practice.
There are lots of areas where we could exercise more self control – impulsive behavior, anger management, habits, weight loss and more.
Willpower doesn’t last long (if at all) so check out these ideas to help you exercise more control in your life.
Become more aware of your actions
So much of what we do is habit:
That biscuit with the mid-morning cup of coffee (and the coffee itself), starting our exercise regime “tomorrow”, the times we eat, the things we do during the day, the list goes on.
Start taking more notice of the things you do and when you do them.
One relatively easy way is to use a spreadsheet – put down what you did the majority of the time for each 15 minute slot during the day. It’s best to do this at the time because our memory plays tricks with us, so completing it at the end of the day won’t be accurate.
It varies from person to person but usually it only takes a day or two of doing this exercise for some home truths to leap out at you.
You can then focus on them by tackling one thing at a time. It’s only superheroes and movie stars who can multi-task on this kind of thing so keep it simple.
Learn to pause
Some things we do on impulse.
It could be that cup of coffee that you have to drink before you’ve even brushed your teeth. It could be devouring a pack of Doritos while you’re watching an episode of something on TV. It could be verbally lashing out at someone who annoys you.
You’ll know what your problem areas are.
Again, pick off one at a time. Ideally the smallest one because a quick win works on lots of levels. Apart from anything else, it gives you the enthusiasm to go for the next one.
Pausing before doing something you habitually do is a simple way of exercising some more self control. It doesn’t mean you’re going to do without. It just means you’re giving yourself a bit of time to think about it.
Sometimes that means the issue will pass and dissolve on its own. Other times it means you might reduce whatever it was you were going to do. You’ll find out soon enough and figure out whether you’ve done enough to control yourself more or if you need to keep working on things.
Sleep on a regular schedule
Sleep is important but something we often take for granted.
If you don’t have a regular bed-time schedule then you’re playing havoc with your body clock. That’s why shift workers can often have problems and if you’re one of them, you may need 2 or more sleep schedules depending on when your shifts fall.
But if you haven’t got that excuse, commit to a regular sleep schedule. Your body will appreciate this and will reward you in other ways, including making you a bit more relaxed the rest of the day because you’ve had a good night’s sleep at last.
Do a short bit of exercise
I don’t mean going down to the gym for an hour or doing a park run.
There’s a thing called high intensity interval training (HIIT) where you do short bursts of quite intense exercise so your whole exercise routine can be over and done with in a handful of minutes.
HIIT can be done anywhere – you could even run (hard) on the spot or use a staircase to do step ups so it doesn’t need special equipment.
Exercise sends endorphins round our body – they’re our own “feel good” mechanism which helps with everything else we do.
Take up meditation
Meditating chills you out and helps you relax more.
There are lots of different ways to meditate – from sitting down, focusing on something like a candle flame, through to breathing and guided meditations.
But my personal favorite takes just 12 minutes because it’s a mixture of high tech wizardry and scientists figuring out what meditation actually does to our brains.
It’s called binaural beats meditation but you don’t need to be geeky to use it. All you need to do is sit or lie down, put on your headphones and chill to the track for 12 minutes.
Anyone can do that which means anyone can meditate.
Listen to a hypnosis track
Much like the meditation method I just described, this is a hands off way to get your self discipline under control.
If you’ve struggled to get yourself under control and can’t figure out what you’re doing wrong, don’t worry. It’s not your fault.
So many of the things we do are part of our subconscious programming and self control normally falls into that category.
All you need to do is find somewhere you won’t be disturbed for a while (that can be the most difficult part but most people can manage it after they think about how to do it for a while) then play yourself the self discipline hypnosis track. It takes care of everything else and the results are normally well beyond what you can achieve on your own.
That biscuit with the mid-morning cup of coffee (and the coffee itself), starting our exercise regime “tomorrow”, the times we eat, the things we do during the day, the list goes on.
