I have no self control.
If there is ice cream in my house, I will eat it.
If there’s a jar of almond butter in the cabinet I will also eat that. Maybe on top of the ice cream.
For that reason we don’t keep that stuff in the house, unless we purposely go out and buy it for a treat.
(not a “cheat”, BTW, I am over using that term. You should always be able to treat yourself)
Self control is like this mysterious thing that everyone tries to have, work on or fight.
Why?
Emotion trumps logic all the time.
If you “want” to eat ice cream, that will beat the crap out of all the “why I shouldn’t” answers you could ever come up with.
So screw the self control. Don’t try to fight it because you will 99.9% of the time lose. And if you don’t lose, you will make yourself miserable in the process.
What to do instead?
Set yourself up so that you don’t have to beat self control. Align your environment and your lifestyle to support what you want instead of fighting against it.
This applies to food, fitness and just life in general.
If you don’t want to eat crappy food, don’t have it in the house. If your husband repeatedly buys it, you have to have the conversation with him about what you’re trying to accomplish and ask him to get on board.
If you are a repeated snooze-button hitter, put your alarm clock on the other side of the room so you will get up (trust me, it works).
I’ve been trying to read more each day. Stuff that motivates me and puts me in a good head space. I get overwhelmed if I try to make myself read for 30 minutes each night. Not happening.
So I commit to reading 2 pages every day. That turns into at least 5 usually but at least I did something that aligns with my goals and changes my habits slightly.
If I was relying on self control and will power to “push through” and read 30 minutes a day, some days I would and then some days I wouldn’t do any. That doesn’t change my habit. Small increments each day is what makes progress.
So figure out the things that are getting in your way. Are you trying to push through them and beat them through sheer will power?
If so, instead make a list of all the things where you try that tactic and then figure out how you can change your environment or your lifestyle around that thing.
Now I know your next statement is going to be “but some things I can’t change.”
That’s true. But you can change how you react to them. Your attitude is always a choice. That’s another email for another day but there are plenty of things RIGHT NOW that you can adopt a new way of thinking around.
Let me know how this goes for you, I’d love to hear what you’re working on.
Have a great week,
Callie