Inadequate Self-Control: Causes, Effects & Solutions - Essay Sample

Introduction

Inadequate self-control refers to the inability to regulate and alter responses to evade behaviors that are undesirable. It is the inability to regulate behavior that may lead one to temptations or failing to achieve goals (Brevers, 2018). It can also be referred to as the inability to resist urges or bad behaviors. Inadequate self-control is associated with various adverse effects on an individual. It may hinder an individual from achieving their long-term goals as well as destroying relationships with colleagues and friends. Moreover, inadequate self-control may make it difficult for individuals to achieve some common goals such as regular exercising, losing weight, not procrastinating, eating healthy, saving money as well as shunning bad habits. There are numerous causes that may make and individual to have inadequate self-control. One of the main causes is the self-control dilemma (De Ridder & Gillebaart, 2016). The self-control dilemma happens especially when an individual's long-term values and goals contradict with short-term temptations. The existence of dilemmas of such kinds reduces the significance associated with instant reward while, on the other hand, increases the importance of our overall value momentarily. The desire for unneeded or unhealthy food consumption versus the desire for long-term health maintenance is one of the most predominant self-control dilemmas. It is this dilemma that lures people to be subjected to self-control inadequacy. Some of the unneeded food indications may involve spending on some kinds of consumptions, for example, eating away from one's home (Lian, 2014). Therefore, habits such as eating away from home or consuming unhealthy meals are as a result of inadequate self-control. The focus of this paper is to examine various ways of combating self-control inadequacy.

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Delay Gratification

The quality of being patient to wait until you ultimately get what you need is a significant aspect that helps enhance self-control. Most people make a mistake due to inadequate self-control; this is normally associated with their inability to put gratification of their need urges on hold (Lian, 2014). For example, an individual who has been following a given diet may try to evade the temptations of involving in unhealthy foods. This kind of person has to delay the gratification until they are in a position to enjoy some occasional treat. This, therefore, means that a person has to give priorities to long-term desires at the expense of short-term desires. Scholars have attached a lot of importance on delaying of gratification as it helps in combating inadequate self-control and subsequently boosts the general life success.

Motivation and Monitoring

According to Brevers (2018), lack of willpower cannot be treated as the only condition that influences the attainment of an individual's goal. Lian (2014) claims that there is a need for one to have clear goals as well as having some motivation to change. Inadequate self-control is normally caused when one has the insufficient motivation and unclear goals. This is because one is most likely to meet some specific goals when there is some specific motivation (Lindner et al., 2017). Moreover, one needs to track his actions that are geared towards achieving certain goals. Monitoring of the behaviors and actions daily assists an individual to ensure that they are performing the right things that are necessary to enable them to attain their set goals

Practice Self-Control

It is a common happening that self-control may get depleted in the short-term. It is advisable to engage in regular activities that may need you to incorporate some aspects of self-control (Lindner, Nagy, Ramos, & Retelsdorf, 2017). This will help one in enhancing and boosting their self-control with time. The self-control may be viewed as a muscle that may easily get exhausted in the short-term due to vigorous exercise but gradually grows stronger as you continue to work on it with time (Lindner et al., 2017). In the same way, an individual can train with self-control to make even perfect after a given time.

Planning Ahead

Planning helps one to put into consideration some possible scenarios that may hinder their resolve. Planning will help an individual to come up with appropriate action that they will take when they find themselves in some given situations like temptations. Lian (2014) claimed that proper planning assists persons in boosting their willpower, even in scenarios where their ego might have been depleted.

Focusing on a Single Goal at a Time

People tend to be confused when they set several goals to accomplish. This is very discouraging and is, therefore, an effective technique. Concentrating willpower only in a given region may interfere with self-control in the remaining areas (Brevers, 2018). It is, therefore, prudent to select a single goal and put your focus on it. This will prevent confusion and hence help one to accomplish their goals with a lot of ease and sufficient self-control.

Focus on the Big Picture

One can enhance self-control through global and abstract or high-level thinking. This means that a person is most likely to strengthen self-control when they can form images or visualize ideas as they are presented (Heller & Ullrich, 2017). For instance, when a person works on a long-term project, they may get discouraged by the numerous steps that may get involved in the development process of the project. Instead, one should always remind themselves of the ultimate goal and the result rather than the irritating steps. This will give an individual an urge and inspiration to continue without being hindered by the discouragements. In the process, one will have exercised self-control.

Prioritize Things

An individual need to prioritize on things to help them avoid confusion of making choices, especially during rush hours (Lian, 2014). This can be done by coming up with a to-do list for every week or every day. Prioritizing helps one to be in control of situations. It thus prevents things from getting out of control, a situation that may lead one to stress, disorganization, confusion, and hence lack of self-control.

Measure Your Progress

It is very easy to manage what is has been measured. One gets focused on their set objectives and goals by monitoring their daily progress. An individual thus becomes an expert on their behavior by monitoring their progress (Lian, 2014). This, therefore, makes a person's behaviors and habits easy to manage and consequently helps one to combat self-control related issues.

Develop Good Habit

In most cases, people do things in the auto-pilot way. That is, by default, they do things according to habits. Brevers (2018) argue that things that people do daily are similar to things that they have done before. He further claims that once a person forms a habit, then the actions thereafter will start developing on the habit in a more productive way. However, one may turn to the old bad habits, especially when they break loose from willpower or when subjected to intense stress. This may make one go back to actions that draw them back to instant gratification like drinking alcohol (Lian, 2014). It is therefore of great importance that an individual develops new good habits. After developing new habits, an individual will subsequently find themselves developing on the habits in a way that helps them boost their self-control.

Use the If-Then Method

One of the effective ways to overcome self-control inadequacy via the use of a technique that is commonly referred to by psychologists as "implementation intention" (Lian, 2014). The technique is always expressed in the form of an "if-then" statement. The statement assists individuals to come up with solid plans for situations that may hinder their resolve. This is because a person will always have an appropriate measure to put in place for the occurrence of each and every action (Lindner et al., 2017). The if-then statement is also very significant as it can help one to evaluate a situation quickly and hence come up with an appropriate solution to problems at hand. The if-then statement thus helps an individual to exercise self-control hence making them live a healthy and comfortable life. A scenario where if-then statement can be used maybe when an employee is tempted to engage in corrupt activities within their institution. They may say, "if the boss realizes that I am engaged in corrupt deals, then I may risk losing my job." The statement present and individual with an opportunity to evaluate the outcome of action hence taking necessary measure to help them avoid any risks associated (Brevers, 2018). Research has discovered that the implementation intention helps in overcoming problems associated with the inadequacy of self-control.

Conclusion

Inadequacy of self-control has negative consequences and may hinder individuals from accomplishing their resolves. One of the main causes is the self-control dilemma. One needs to come up with an appropriate measure to help combat the adverse effects associated with inadequate self-control. Techniques such as delaying gratification, motivation, and monitoring, practicing self-control, planning, focusing on a single goal at a time, focusing on the big picture, measuring progress, prioritizing on things, developing good habits, and using if-else statements may ultimately provide a solution to the problems associated with inadequate self-control.

References

Brevers, D., Foucart, J., Turel, O., Bertrand, A., Alaerts, M., & Verbanck, P. et al. (2018). The impact of self-control cues on subsequent monetary risk-taking. Journal Of Behavioral Addictions, 7(4), 1044-1055. doi: 10.1556/2006.7.2018.97

De Ridder, D., & Gillebaart, M. (2016). Lessons learned from trait self-control in well-being: making a case for routines and initiation as important components of trait self-control. Health Psychology Review, 11(1), 89-99. doi: 10.1080/17437199.2016.1266275

Heller, S., & Ullrich, J. (2017). Does Power Increase Self-Control? Episodic Priming May Not Provide the Answer. Collabra: Psychology, 3(1), 3. doi: 10.1525/collabra.48

Lian, H., Brown, D., Ferris, D., Liang, L., Keeping, L., & Morrison, R. (2014). Abusive Supervision and Retaliation: A Self-Control Framework. Academy Of Management Journal, 57(1), 116-139. doi: 10.5465/amj.2011.0977

Lindner, C., Nagy, G., Ramos, W., & Retelsdorf, J. (2017). A new perspective on the interplay between self-control and cognitive performance: Modeling progressive depletion patterns. PLOS ONE, 12(6), e0180149. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0180149