Surely just one more chocolate/drink/email doesn’t matter?
How many times have you thought this and then afterwards felt paralysed by your lack of self-control?
You resolve to be different but next time it’s the same story.
So what’s going on? And what do we do about it?
Research has shown that we have a tendency to do what’s easy and at hand rather than make the effort to what we really want to do. We can use this knowledge to change our behaviours.
Try these 2 simple but powerful techniques together to strengthen your self-discipline and get back in control.
1. Put barriers between you and your vice!
When I was going through my chocolate hobnob phase I didn’t keep any biscuits or chocolate in the house so when I got the urge for a hobnob (or 20!) there was nothing at hand and I had to go out to the local shop. The thought of going out to the local shop was enough for the urge to pass and no hobnobs were consumed. On the occasions I bought hobnobs by mistake I gave them away or binned them when my self-control felt strong. There were occasional lapses but I persisted and my hobnob addiction is history.
Paul was trying to break the habit of watching tv in the evening. In the morning he took the batteries out of the tv remote and but both in different rooms in the house. The delay caused by fetching the remote and batteries and putting them together was enough for him to think about what he was doing and to question if he really wanted to watch tv.
If emails are distracting you from getting on with the important stuff consider what you can do to make it more difficult to see them eg switch off the email reminder or close down Outlook for an hour.
2. Make new habits easy to engage in.
Instead of ogling the TV every night Paul wanted to be at the gym. So in addition to putting the remote and batteries in different rooms he put his gym bag, packed and ready for the gym, on the sofa. So as he sat on sit sofa to watch TV he found no remote and instead a gym bag. This made TV difficult to watch and the gym easier to do. And it worked!
When I was trying to get into the habit of running in the morning I found that the snooze button kept winning and then it was too late to run. I tried to make the running easie
r to engage in by putting my running shoes and kit right by the bed. Then the first thing I saw as I reached for the snooze button was my running kit. And guess what… the morning run happened!
If you struggle to find time for a lunch break consider booking a ‘meeting’ with a colleague to go for a 20 minute walk outside every day. The combination of a meeting and a fr
iend will make it easier to ensure that you have a break and then are able to work more effectively in the afternoon.
Try it today! Work on changing one bad habit at a time and enjoy the new you!
Support for managers and leaders 