5 Simple Ways of Improving Your Self-Control

I would like to bring you a short article that gives some tips on improving your self-control . Below is a short synopsis of the full article.

1. "Drop a small bad habit"
This may something like never remembering to put the cap back on the toothpaste. Just try to develop this one act of self-control and you will be better off.

However, the author of this article seems to think "Other examples include giving up a regular afternoon snack, pressing the snooze button on the alarm clock, or having one too many coffees a day" which in my opinion none of these are small habits! I spend a lot of time and grief trying not to press that damn snooze button in the morning! At this blog we are working on all habits, because what is small to you may be a mountain to climb for me!

2. "Learn something boring but useful."

Now this is an exercise I can really get behind. If we all resolved to go home today and read ONE chapter in a manual we have (for the DVR recorder, for the digital camera, for the exercise bike, etc.) I bet we could all learn something really helpful in making our lives easier or more efficient! In fact, if you decide to do this, please leave a comment on what you wound up reading and learning so that you can be an inspiration to others!

3. "Do something you know you should every day for a week"

This is a toughie! If I could do something every day for a week, I feel like I would already have a new habit! The author says if we miss a day you have to add one 2 more days of doing it at the end of the week. Now what could I do to follow this task? And also, after a week should you let yourself stop doing it, even though you know it is something you should be doing every day?

4. "Set yourself an achievable, but difficult goal with a date for reaching it"

I don't know how this is a simple exercise for building self-control. Everyone should be doing this as they try to make it to a goal, but this is not what I had in mind when I said a simple exercise. Maybe, to make it simpler, it could be, to lose 2 pounds by March. Thats not too bad.

5. "Have a month where you ban yourself from putting anything off"

????? This is bizarre to me! If the readers of his article could accomplish this, are they really the people who are going to be reading this article? Although I am grateful for this writer in publishing these 5 Tips, I think this last tip may go a little too far for his audience. Maybe they are meant to be progressive tips, after you accomplish one you are ready for the next. However, I think they give someone struggling too much too soon. If you read this and think, that would be impossible for me to do, don't get discouraged! Everyone is at a different place. Like the author of the article I wrote about last time said, everyone's muscles are in a different place and someone is able to lift 10 pounds and another person is able to lift 100 lbs. Thats okay as long as you are working towards something.

To read this article in full, please go here: http://www.paulstips.com/brainbox/pt/home.nsf/link/21082006-Five-simple-exercises-for-improving-your-willpower

And although I had some negative comments to say, remember to thank him because it is very nice of him to go through the trouble of writing up his opinion on how to improve your self-control. He had some great points although some were a little harder to do than others.