The WillPower Instinct:How Self-Control Works, Why It Matters, and What you Can Do to Get More of It by Kelly McGonigal, genuinely opens eyes on what will power is and self control is. During the process of reading there were many conflicting ideas going on in my head. My willpower challenge started off as being To stop eating candy, Later on, it turned into the end the overall procrastination in the most important task I have to complete. Finally, it turned into increasing the amount of sleep I get.The different ideas set in the book, led me to alternate in my will power challenge. Overall, this book aided me in realizing the what I really need to do, in order to have success where I need it. In the past, I believed that willpower and self-control …show more content…
In addition,I learned that in order to have self control you must possess self-awareness, which is “the ability to realize what we are doing as we do it, and understand why we are doing it.”(McGonigal 20). Self awareness is the initial phase in creating what you need .It is the center of your consideration, your feelings, responses, identity and behavior.In addition,it permits you to see the controls of your behavior in order to make the improvements you need.The text explains that you can improve your self control by tracking yourself. For instance, “After dance I was tired, so I decided to buy candy to energize me and when I got home, I realized I did not completely finish my homework”(WillPower Challenge Track Your WillPower Challenges 11/30/15). Tracking my choices helped me realize, that when I am tired or exhausted mentally and/or physically, I tend to indulge in candy and procrastinate in the most important things I have to do.Subsequently, I understood in depth that self-control is like a muscle, it deteriorates over time. The more you try to strengthen your willpower, you may be weakening your self control because of the amount of energy …show more content…
However this experiment allowed me to see that my future self is only going to be the person I make it, they won't they won't be any different if I keep on making willpower mistakes. The most significant Willpower Experiment to me was a “ Willpower Workout”. This experiment gave me a chance to to work on little things to enhance my self control and willpower. For strengthening my I want power I use my left hand to do little things. To strengthen my willpower I meditated for 5 minutes everyday and to strengthen myself monitoring I try to eat less candy. Even though some of these cats do not directly relate to my willpower challenge, I use them in a way so they
In my own words, I believe that self-control is a deliberate attempt to change the way one thinks and acts about something. For instance, during the month of March, I am on a restricted diet to try to find food triggers to my daily migraines. When I first started, I had to remind myself constantly that at breakfast I wasn’t going to grab a glass of milk, or at lunch, that I wasn’t going to make myself a sandwich. I didn’t realize how hard this was going to be when I first started. There are still times, 15 days after starting, that I am reminded by my mom or dad that I can’t eat certain foods or that I have to pack my own dinner because where we go for dinner won’t have food that I can eat. Every day, I am retraining my mind at how I look at food. I am having to constantly shift my mind away from the long list of food I can’t eat and focus on food that I can. The way that I shift my thoughts of food, is similar to how Erica in Brooks’ book had to shift her thoughts to focus on her tennis match going on. It is a constant rewiring of how the brain looks at the world around us. This process is not easy, and takes a lot of work and time. However, as time progresses, it does get easier. Growing up, I missed a several years of my childhood due to tragedies that occurred. Going through the aftermath of some of the hardships I was facing, I developed an isolated mindset. I thought that if I didn’t get close to people, than I couldn’t get hurt by them as well.
Skinner, Ellen A. Perceived Control, Motivation, & Coping. Thousands Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Inc. 1995.
According to Brenda Allen in the chapter “Power Matters,” she mentions that there dominant ideologies of identity that “reflect perspectives and experiences of ruling groups, whose members construct and circulate beliefs that will most benefit them.” We live in a country where there are dominant ideologies of organizational hierarchy, which “arranges job positions in a stratified structure, with power flowing from the top down.” This exemplifies the ideology of domination, which is a belief system in America that the “superior should rule over the inferior” (32). This ideology is so embedded into our system that most people believe it is natural. The American society we live in values patriarchy, white supremacy, heteronormativity, and a specific culture of wealth and poverty; any identity that falls outside of these dominant ideologies is marginalized and placed in the lower strata of social power.
One of the most important habits in life is being proactive. For example, you choose if you want to be a proactive person or a reactive person. The book states, “Each day you and I get about 100 chances to choose whether to be proactive or reactive.” Proactiveness is blaming problems on oneself instead of another person. You are responsible for making mature decisions that help rather than hurt personal growth. To be proactive is to take charge of your own life as author Sean Covey states, “ You are in charge of your own life, nothing else is really possible.” It pays to be proactive, but it takes effort and time since it means making things happen for yourself- not waiting.
Low conscientiousness is associated with impulsive behavior as well as carelessness and apathy. Provided that low conscientiousness is connected to impulsive behavior, Gregory Smith and Leila Guller (as cited in M. Mikulincer et al., 2014, p. 333) explain that lack of planning and perseverance are two traits low conscientious individuals have that may be correlated with rash thinking and impulsive actions (e.g. ., walking alone at night, cheating on an exam, drinking and driving). This type of behavior can lead to “maladaptive drug use” and other risky behaviors such as risky sexual behavior and smoking (M. Mikulincer et al., 2014). Lack of planning is defined as a lack of precaution or forethought and does not refer to anything caused by intense emotions or sensation seeking. Additionally, G. Smith, S. Fisher, M. Cynders, A. Annus, N. Spillane and D. McCarthy (as cited in M. Mikulincer et al., 2014, p. 334) lack of perseverance refers to the “inability to remain focused on a task” and may be related to impaired school or occupational functioning. Also, low conscientiousness has been linked to peer-victimization and rejection due to poor self control (i.e. externalizing and attention difficulties) (M. Mikulincer et al.,
“Self-concept consists of knowledge, views and evaluation of the self, ranging from miscellaneous facts of personal history to the identity that gives a sense of purpose and coherence to life” (McCrae and Costa, 1996). With self-concept, we learn who we are by observing ourselves and using our cognitive processes to judge and evaluate our behaviour. However, with self-regulation, we are able to use this knowledge and judgment and apply it to future situations and so predicts behaviour and says a lot about our personality. If we are willing to cognitively analyse past situations and apply it effectively to future situations, this means we are changing our behaviour, thus changing our
“Energy and persistence conquers all things.” (Benjamin Franklin). Persistence is a characteristic that doesn’t allow someone to give up when doing something challenging. This is a great quality to have when trying to achieve anything you engage in, because along the way you will face many challenging things that will make
Without this ability there will be no need or want to perform any task that is given. Pushing threw a hardship with motivation can also build someone up. It can increase their confidence as well as their goals. But this cannot always be accomplished without the correct support. From the person building it from within to the person giving the rite balance of reinforcement or room to fail. There is a very fine line between the two. Find your motivation to make it threw to you dreams. Sometimes you might have to pick up a job in order to provide to yourself or others but if you can’t keep your motivation then you will never be able to continue on to the bigger greater things life has to offer. It will better prepare you to deal with life and its everyday challenges. You have to embrace the good and bad and stay focused on you goals. If you fall pick yourself back up and keep going. Be confident in your dissensions. More or not I found if you stand up for what you believe in and do the right thing, you will become a lot more satisfied with life. You may not go as far as you wanted but at least you know you did the right thing. At the end of the day I’ll go home happy with myself
The determination to take a full time course-load, work a full time job, and meet personal goals requires a tenacious will power. In addition to all of this, a lot of my time and energy goes into teaching my daughter, Lynasia, to read and color and play, like a two year old sh...
The second learning was related my goal to put myself first. This was much harder to follow and commit to doing as was meant in the action plan. The most difficult part was to speak out when I felt that now I needed to do something that was not in line with my objective. And even more difficult was when these events happened in my family environment (with people you care). One example in my action plan weekly note illustrates quite well the challenge. “During the week we had a moment when Katri (wife) invited her sister’s son to stay over the night, without consulting me (and she knows that I need to study). I felt overruled since I was in pressure to study during the night and it is not possible when youngsters hang around. I raised the topic
Self-discipline is that of an individual to choose the hard right over the easy wrong when nobody
Myers (2010) defined self-control as ‘the ability to control one’s behaviour and desired and delay gratification for later rewards’. Research findings in the social sciences, pedagogy and education argue that there is a strong relationship between self-control and academic achievement, with a lack of self-control considered as a factor in declining achievement (Tangney, Baumeister & Boone, 2004). Adolescents who believe that they can achieve well in schools tend to have a high internal locus of control and persist with school tasks. The reasoning is that an internal self-control has the ability to suppress an instant gratification towards a lasting outcome of desires (Myers, 2010).
Park, C. L., Wright, B. E., Pais, J., & Ray, D. M. (2016). Daily Stress and Self-Control., 35, 738-753.
I know in the back of my mind that I need to eat healthier and exercise more, but I never actually put my thoughts about it into action. I need to keep myself in the right mindset to accomplish my goals of making myself healthier. I often will get distracted and forget all about what I had planned on doing; I need to focus. I think also having someone else there to push me and make sure I keep at the good habits will keep me from straying away. I feel like I have plenty of time to go and exercise or think “Oh, I can eat something healthy during my next meal.” However, the next thing I know, the day is over and I didn’t keep to my word. It’s a lot harder than I realized, and I’m still trying my best to get better at
5. (a) volitional traits: volitional traits include will power, interests, character and adjustment. Some people have firmness of determination while others are unstable in their determination. For an integrated person strong will power is very much needed. Strong will power helps to face struggles and conflicts. If the will of a person grows weak, he loses