With January coming to an end the question arises, have you had enough self-control to maintain your New Years’ resolutions?
A study at University of Toronto Scarborough suggests that although self-control can be hard to maintain, it may just be a frame of mind.
Psychologists view self-control as more than just the ability to focus and restrain oneself from action on impulses, emotions, and distractions. It is a limited mental process — one that can be exhausted when a person excessively restrains himself or herself without taking time to recuperate, resulting in a lack of self-will.
Michael Inzlicht, professor of Psychology at utsc says, “When people are fatigued they experience a change in motivational priorities such that they are less willing to work for the things they feel obliged to do, and more willing to work for things they like to do.”
It is often easy to give up when a goal seems tedious, especially when temptation is everywhere. However, when people truly enjoy maintaining their goals, they find it much easier to keep self-control. The key to conserving will-power is simply changing your mind set from a place of obligation to aspiration — instead of having to, wanting to.
With files from U of T News
