Why should you stop the pump will power

For a long time the most strong-willed and gathered the envy of those who easily gives in to temptations. It was believed that high self-control and the outstanding strength of will are connected with each other and lead to a mandatory success. However, the idea that people restrain impulsive outbursts and resist the temptation through the efforts will become a myth.

Scientific tests prove that these concepts are not related to each other and do not necessarily lead to success.

Willpower and self-control - it's not the same

There are two ways to measure the level of self-control. The first - pass questionnaire, consists of statements such as "I'm good to resist temptations" or "I'm not keeping secrets," and agree with them or refute them. This is a simple method that fairly accurately evaluates the potential for success in life.

Intsliht Michael (Michael Inzlicht), a psychologist at the University of Toronto who studies self-control, believes that people who scored more points in the questionnaire, did not

overeat, Learn better and generally happier. Analysis of responses 32 648 respondents spent in 2012, showed that between success in life and a high score in the test is really there is a connection.

The second way to measure the level of self - conduct behavioral test. In a classic study, psychologist Roy Baumeister (Roy Baumeister) examinees forced to resist the smell of freshly baked cookies.

Today psychologists use a puzzle based cognitive conflicts laid. Participants were required to use willpower to solve them. For example, the essence of the popular puzzle game based on the experiments of the psychologist John Ridley Stroop, is that subjects show the names of colors, painted a different color: blue, red, yellow. The task - to name the color, which is painted the word, ignoring written.

Over the years, Michael Intsliht believed that self-control questionnaire measures the same as the behavioral tests on willpower. It turned out that there is. He and his colleagues conducted two tests among 2400 people and realized that there is no connection between them. People could argue that easily resist temptations, and it does not deal with the puzzles.

Self-control - it's not a skill

In 2011, in the Journal of the nature and features of social psychology (Journal of Personality and Social Psychology) the results of the study were publishedEveryday temptations: an experience sampling study of desire, conflict, and self-controlConducted among 205 people for seven days. The subjects were given phone numbers, randomly asking them about the desires and temptations, which subjects might be experiencing at the moment, as well as self-control.

A week later, scientists came to a surprising conclusion: those who, by his own admission, it is best mastered the skills of self-control, in principle, less experienced temptations. In other words, those who have the best control of himself, we have to control themselves rarely.

Michael Intsliht and Marina Milyavskaya confirmed and extended this idea by conducting the same experiment of 159 students the Canadian McGill University. It turned out the high performance demonstrated by the results of the semester are not the ones who managed to control myself better, and those who had fewer temptations. Moreover, the more the students were trying to restrain yourself, the more tired they feel. They did not achieve the desired, and only wore down himself diligence.

The different people with high levels of self-control from the rest

So who are these people who are not proymosh freshly baked cookies? They have a lot to learn. Researchers offer to take note of the following facts.

1. They enjoy activities that most of us avoid

Healthy eating, training or physical exercise for self-masters are not a burden, but a pleasant pastime. They know the difference between "want" and "must" and go for the goals that they want achieved.

If you hate running, but you need to get in shape, you are unlikely to last long on the treadmill. Choose something that you really like.

2. They have healthier habits

In 2015, psychologists Brian Gall (Brian Galla) and Angela Duckworth (Angela Duckworth) published in the Journal of the nature and features of social psychologyMore than resisting temptation: Beneficial habits mediate the relationship between self-control and positive life outcomes large-scale study in which more than 2 000 participants passed the six tests. It turned out that those who are easy to resist the temptation, also have a lot of good habits: they exercised regularly, eat a healthy diet, good sleep and study.

"People who own them, arrange life in a way that was originally to avoid situations in which you need to control yourself", - said Brian Gall. Structuring of life - it's a skill.

People who are doing the same in one and the same time - for example, jogging or meditation - reach goals faster. Not because they are an excellent command of themselves, but because they have built so my schedule. It's all about planning.

Famous Marshmallow Test, Conducted by Walter Michel in 1960 and 1970, confirms this. In the experiment, children were asked to eat one zefirku now or wait a little bit and get another one. Children who are able to sit and wait for a second goodies is not necessarily good to resist the temptation. They are simply better strategic thinking involved.

In 2014, the New Yorker magazine wrote that the children in the test had to change their attitude to lay before them a treat to deal with temptation. They found a way to not look at the delicacy or imagined that before them is something else.

3. Some people just have less temptations

Our character is partially dependent on the genes. Some of us love to eat, others adore gambling or to go shopping. High level of consciousness - a character trait also inherited. Her owners studying diligently and look after their health. They just got lucky: they won the genetic lottery.

4. Wealthy easier to control himself

Children from poor families are much worse than the control itself, passed the test with marshmallows. There's a reason. Borkman Elliot (Elliot Berkman), a scientist from the University of Oregon, believes that people who grew up in poverty, more than focused on immediate rewards than on long-term, because when you're poor, the future looks uncertain.

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Anyone who has ever sat on a diet knows that willpower does not work in the long run. In addition, the lack of self-control is often confused with the moral fall. We believe that the weak will power does not allow us to lose weight, although the whole thing in genetics and our congested calorie diet. we blame dependent that they do not know the steps, but they can not control themselves.

You can use the power of the will, to, for example, does not return to the bad habit. But rely on it in achieving objectives - that still rely on the handbrake when you are driving a car. You have to concentrate on what pushes you to your goal, and not to deal with the obstacles that arise along the way. Willpower sometimes works in such a way that you, on the contrary, lose.

It is time to recognize that the obsessive attention to self-control keeps us from finding methods that really lead to success.