How to Practice Self Control
Do you constantly find yourself with a mountain of debt that you have a hard time paying off? Or excessive weight gain due to overeating? Or do you find yourself too dependent on other people to help you? If you answered yes, you might be suffering from lack of self-control, but you can help yourself by following a few simple steps, and selecting a method that works best for the self-control problem you have.
Having a healthy, balanced diet - If you constantly find yourself overweight, or eating to ease your stress, you have to develop a balanced diet and limit your intake of junk food. Not only does it avoid weight gain, but also junk foods are really just that. They provide no nutritional value, and the food you eat also play an important role in how your mind works. Eating healthy food will help clear your mind, and selecting your food intake is practice in self-control right there.
Keep a journal. Write your thoughts, daily habits which you want to change, into a journal so you can take the time to look back on it and monitor your progress. Writing it down allows you to think about what you have done, recognize patterns that may provoke you to resort to your old habits, and when you see this you can then decide what you can do about it.
Time management -Establish a daily routine that allows you to focus on important things that you need to do such as work or homework, and still have time to do things you enjoy such as exercise and relaxing. Having a set schedule balances your daily life, and helps provide discipline from working for too long or not exercising at all.
Avoid the stimulus. What things in your environment cause you to do self-destructive things? If you recognize the factors that lead to this, such as harmful friends, a certain bar, just stay away from it. Certainly, we have to be careful with the decisions we make, because certain things in our environment allow us to become more prone to self-destructive habits. If you notice that after work, you tend to go to a certain bar where you always end up getting drunk, establish new routines or patterns to break this off. Choose to hit the gym or grab coffee with friends after work instead of reverting to your old ways.
Do breathing exercises. Breathing techniques teach you to relax, stay calm and focused. If you find yourself getting upset or if your anger is getting out of control, sit down, relax, and just breathe. Breathing exercises can be used to redirect stress and slow down the heart rate, which people who lack self-control need in order to prevent themselves from engaging in the harmful activity once more. It also provides a channel for people to think about what they are doing, why they feel like reacting or responding in a certain way, rationalize their actions, and eventually stop.
Engage in group or community activities. Join a club, or an organization that does things together for enjoyment. If you enjoy gardening, join a gardening club. This kind of interaction will practice your competitiveness and social skills, how to have healthy involvement with peers, and to practice self-control in these situations.
Conscious effort -Catch yourself when you are about to get angry, lash out at another person, or do something irrational. Ask yourself why you really want to do that, and what good will it achieves. A conscious effort, more than anything, is important in developing self-control. It is the ability to stop oneself by rationalizing it to you, and then realizing that it is only harmful and not beneficial.
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