{"id":15623,"date":"2020-10-02T12:05:00","date_gmt":"2020-10-02T16:05:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=15623"},"modified":"2020-10-12T18:05:29","modified_gmt":"2020-10-12T22:05:29","slug":"strategies-for-self-control","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/strategies-for-self-control\/","title":{"rendered":"Strategies for Self-Control: Encourage Better Choices"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

What are some strategies for self-control? What is the difference between internal and external self-control?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Strategies for self-control are tactics used to encourage better behavior or restrain yourself from bad habits. Strategies for self-control may be imposed by you or by others on you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Keep reading to learn about internal and external strategies for self-control.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

External Strategies for Self-Control<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Coextensive with our two systems of thinking, the Automatic and the Reflective, are two discrete selves: a \u201cPlanner,\u201d who attempts to organize our lives rationally so that we avoid temptation, and a \u201cDoer,\u201d who\u2019s easily swayed by momentary feelings and desires<\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although Planners can be quite effective at restraining Doers\u2014by buying smaller packages of sweets, say, or placing the alarm clock where a Doer can\u2019t hit the Snooze button\u2014sometimes they need help from external sources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Informal Bets<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

One of the strategies for self-control a Planner might employ is to use financial incentives<\/strong> to encourage a preferred behavior.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, two economists in graduate school discovered they were putting on weight and decided to make a bet: If either one of them failed to lose 30 pounds over the next nine months, the one who failed would pay the other $10,000. Both met their target weight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Government Intervention<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

When it comes to life-threatening temptations\u2014smoking, drug use, drunk driving\u2014people susceptible to those temptations may want the government to help them control themselves<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are many levers a government can use to rein in dangerous behaviors. So-called \u201cSin\u201d taxes, for example, on items like cigarettes and alcohol, are one; outright bans, like those on recreational drugs, are another.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Market Methods<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The private sector too can benefit Planners in their battle against Doers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One example is the Christmas Club savings account, which saves Doers from not having enough money for Christmas giving. Depositors open the account around Thanksgiving and commit themselves to small weekly deposits throughout the year. The money can only be withdrawn the following year at Christmas time, thereby guaranteeing the depositor a pool of funds for buying gifts or donating to charity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Of course, the private sector is as happy to enable Doers as help Planners<\/strong>. While banks offer Christmas Clubs to help Planners save, they also offer credit cards at high interest rates, which can really get an impulse-buying Doer into trouble.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Internal Strategies for Self-Control<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

While some Planners lean on external methods to help keep their Doers in check, others adopt internal <\/em>strategies. A primary example of an internal method of self-control is \u201cmental accounting\u201d\u2014the process whereby individuals or households designate funds for particular uses<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mental Accounting<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Economists conceptualize money as \u201cfungible\u201d\u2014that is, useful for a variety of consumption activities. But, through mental accounting, the Planner part of our personality curtails money\u2019s fungibility\u2014it earmarks specific amounts for specific purposes<\/strong>. Mental accounting strategies for self-control will be familiar to anyone who has looked at their monthly paycheck and mentally deducted their recurring expenses\u2014rent, credit-card payments\u2014to see if they can afford the new device they\u2019ve been coveting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The problem is that we\u2019re not all equally adept at violating money\u2019s fungibility<\/strong>. To take an extreme case, a compulsive gambler will see his or her \u201crent\u201d funds as perfectly usable at a casino.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What are some strategies for self-control? What is the difference between internal and external self-control? Strategies for self-control are tactics used to encourage better behavior or restrain yourself from bad habits. Strategies for self-control may be imposed by you or by others on you. Keep reading to learn about internal and external strategies for self-control.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":15968,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[42,9,43],"tags":[132],"class_list":["post-15623","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-motivation","category-psychology","category-self-improvement","tag-nudge","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"\nStrategies for Self-Control: Encourage Better Choices - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"If it was easy, everyone would be healthy and rich. So why are bad decisions so much easier? Strategies for self-control can help. 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