Building self-control can be challenging, but it is possible to create change in your life and manage impulsivity. Feeling more in control of yourself and your actions can lead to feeling more in control of life, feeling more empowered about who you are, and helping boost your feelings of self-esteem.
Self-discipline. Let’s be honest. For most of us, it’s a work in progress wrapped in good intentions, procrastination, and feelings of failure. But it doesn’t have to be. Self-discipline, like everything else, is a practice. Not every day will be perfect, but each day — with its failures and small wins – is progress, and that’s what self-discipline is all about.
Recognize impulsive thoughts:
Having strategies to help you resist temptation in the moment will help you build self-control. Start by making a list of the behaviors you’d like to control and the situations that often trigger the behavior.
Place time restrictions on impulsive thoughts:
Creating space in your thinking will help you re-evaluate your actions from a more rational viewpoint. This will also help you learn how to create a delay in your actions instead of just acting upon your urges.
Find a healthy distraction:
You’ll find it harder to avoid the urge if you simply sit and fixate on it. Instead, recognize the urge and actively try to distract yourself with something else. This can help distract your mind from the urge or craving and give you the space to truly decide if you want to act on that urge.
Organize your workspace:
Whether you’re doing work in your office or studying at home, having a clean space can help you focus and get your work done with much more concentration. Remove anything that can distract you from your work and isn’t relevant to the task. Clean off your desk to include only the things you need to work, leaving just a few photos or mementos to help you relax a bit.
If you don’t need your phone to do your work, put it away for a few hours. Don’t let it clutter your space and distract you.
Make a to-do list:
Making a to-do list at the beginning of every day or week can make you feel more focused and motivated to continue your work. If you make a list of all the things you have to do, no matter how small, you will feel more accomplished when you check those items off your list and move on to the next task.
Prioritize your tasks. Put the most important or hardest tasks first. It’s better to save the easier or more manageable tasks for the end of the day, when you’re more tired and less compelled to complete the hardest tasks. If you put off the hard tasks until the last minute, you’ll be dreading getting them done all day.
Make a list of the habits or behaviour you want to control:
If people in your life have made suggestions about your habits, take those suggestions into consideration. Remember that true change comes from the inside so also listen to your intuition and honor how you feel as well as feedback you have received from people in your life. You have to be committed to making change and building self-control in order to truly change your behaviour
Give yourself a time limit for each task:
Managing your time goes hand in hand with making a to-do list. Next to each item on the list, write about how long it’ll take you to accomplish each task. Be realistic about this estimate. Then, try to complete each task within the confines of each time limit. This will make you less likely to slack off or text your friend for an hour instead of actually getting anything done.
You can break up more time-consuming tasks with shorter, easier tasks. That way you won’t be overwhelming by too many tough tasks in a row. You can think of the shorter tasks as a mini-reward.
Motivate yourself:
Maintain clear reasons for yourself why you want to control the behavior and remind yourself of them continuously. Try to find your inner motivation and journal about it. You could also keep a list of reasons on a small piece of paper in your wallet, or program a reminder on your phone. For example, say you’re trying to develop self-control about smoking cessation. You could write down the cost of buying cigarettes, the effects on your health, the smell, caring for your teeth, etc.
Develop new hobbies:
Getting lost in a new found hobby such as cars, puzzles, motorcycles, sports, or painting—among countless others—can be a wonderful distraction as you practice self-control. Part of changing behaviour is replacing that behaviour with something that is healthier and not vulnerable to impulsivity. There are many resources on the web that you can access to get yourself started, such as Facebook, Instagram or social media groups where you can