As the New Year rolls towards us, making resolutions it at the front of many people’s minds. The symbolic transition of one year turning to the next presents a compelling moment in which to reflect on what has passed, and what is yet to come! Indeed, the month of January was named for the two faced Roman God, Janus — a deity with the power to simultaneously look back to the past, and forward, into the future.
For others among us, a lifetime of stumbles in terms of willpower has left us far too jaded to cook up New Year’s resolutions! For those with first hand experience of setting out on a self discipline quests that ultimately failed, exploring some of today’s science on the subject might be just the ticket to rekindle resolve. Whether it’s actually managing to use that gym membership we just signed up for, establishing a habit of putting money aside, or resisting the urge to burn the metaphorical candle at both ends, digging into the hows and whys of what makes self discipline achievable may hold transformative power!
An Angel On One Shoulder; A Demon On The Other
Tracking back to early Christian mythology, most of us are familiar with the concept of having an Angel perched on one shoulder, encouraging us towards moral and well intentioned action. All the while, a Demon sits on the other, luring us towards sinful temptation. Freud drew on this imagery, casting the Angel as the Super-ego: the part of us that self-censors, and the Demon as the Id: our primal and instinctive selves.
Research from the University of Rochester, conducted by neuroscientist Ben Hayden, reveals that this ancient metaphor is not far from reality. By recording human brain activity using electrodes placed on the scalp, his team were able to identify that subsets of neurons in different brain locations act as the source for our good and bad desires. As we grapple with a call for willpower, these areas of our brain enter into battle, actually trying to inhibit each other! Hayden’s fascination was driven by a desire to help those struggling with self discipline, and so he was excited to discover that willpower seems to be something we can strengthen. Later investigation revealed that subjects who were flexing their self-discipline muscle during the study experienced a knock on effect in their daily lives, making better life choices without really knowing why.
Short Term Impulses Vs. Long Term Desires
Behavioural economist Dan Ariely has dedicated much of his life to understanding how and why we all make the decisions that we do. A portion of his work has focused on the human inclination to choose short term comfort over long term gain. What makes us decide to text while driving? Why do people skip taking their medication, hit the snooze button, or cut a second slice of cake? He argues that we, as human beings, are fundamentally wired to over-focus on the present moment, which is why issues such as Global Warming are so difficult to tackle — with no immediate threat, the instinctive response is to sit passively in our current relative comfort.
Framed by that thought, we can each view our would-be resolutions as our own Global Warming issue. Our intentions are strong, but when the moment arrives in which self discipline must be enacted, we are at our most vulnerable. Ariely shares that there are two tactics his research has found to be effective. The first is to implement a strategy called “Reward Substitution”. This means, in addition to the long term desire, and the short term impulse, we can choose to add a third element: an immediate reward that supports us reaching our long term goal. Self bribery, if you will! We must identify a positive action that we can gain enjoyment from now, that will satisfy our instinctive drive towards immediate reward. These actions could be taking a sauna each time we go to the gym, or setting aside time each month to visit a park that we love, after we put money aside to invest in our future!
The second tactic is called a “Self Control Contract”. Under this strategy, we anticipate conflicts of willpower before they arrive, and engineer a scenario that gives favour to the choice we want to make. Ariely highlights that in today’s world, we are five times more likely to shorten our lives through bad decision making than we were fifty years ago, simply because we are surrounded by vastly more appealing prospects for that Demon on our shoulder! We can, however, disable his (or her) effectiveness by bypassing or restructuring that vulnerable moment. A hilarious example of this is the SnūzNLūz alarm clock, which is connected to your bank account, and withdraws money to a charity that you hate each time you hit the snooze button! However, a self control contract strategy might be something as simple as not keeping sweets or alcohol in the house, or putting your phone on the back seat when you get in the car.
Expanding Your Self Discipline Capacity
Swathes of research tells us that in any given moment, willpower is a finite resource — but that we can maximise that resource, and increase it over time. Kelly McGonigal, PhD and author of The Willpower Instinct, shares that the prefrontal cortex — the part of our brain just behind our foreheads — is where decision-making and self regulation does it’s firing, and so looking after our brains is crucial. Nutrient dense foods, adequate sleep and stress management all have their part to play. In the meanwhile, Mark Muraven, PhD, of the University at Albany, and his colleagues, found that when we feel compelled to exert self-control — because of what others think of us, for example — willpower depletes much more rapidly. In contrast, when we are driven by a deep understanding of our own desires and goals, we have much greater willpower resilience. So, it would seem that connecting with ourselves and really asking why we want to achieve what we do, rather than simply identifying the want, can give us far greater momentum.
As an alternative to the Angel and Demon allegory, perhaps we should draw instead on the similar tropes of the Islamic Kiraman Katibin, named Raqib and Atid, or the Japanese Kushoujin, named Domyo and Dosho. In both of these examples, rather than the two opposing characters attempting to steer our actions, they are instead simply recording them — one the good, and one the bad. The threat of a lasting record of our missteps is far more in line with Ariely’s recommended self control contracts! What is certain is that human desire to be masters of our own will is as old as it is explored. Reaching back in time, ancient Babylonians made the first recorded New Year’s resolutions is the form of good-deeds promised to their gods! If humanity has been making such promises for almost four thousand years, surely there is value in the pursuit, and success to be claimed. With all this in mind, what transformations do you hope to make in the year 2020?
Mastering Self Discipline For Health, Wealth And Happiness
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