hey everyone and welcome to top think today we're going to learn about 12 psychology tricks to build
self-discipline now let's begin number one replacement activities self-discipline is
the practice of resisting temptation if you can resist temptation you can gain control over your
habits your productivity and your lifestyle but how do you train your brain to ignore all the
temptations in your life all right let's say you want to reduce the number of hours that you spend
on social media normally you scroll through social media during your downtime if you want to increase
your self-control then you replace your social media with a different pre-selected activity
so every time you feel like scrolling through your feed you do your replacement activity instead read
a book talk to a friend do some deep breathing exercises you can choose whatever replacement
activity you want but the goal is to channel your negative urges into positive habits over
time those positive habits will feel more natural and your vices they will fade into the background
number two the hot and cool system self-control is a hot and cool system when you're hot your
brain is swept up into passionate impulsive emotions in this state of mind people make
reckless decisions without considering their long-term consequences when you're cool your
brain thinks slowly and logically it weighs the options and it makes safe educated decisions
most people struggle with self-discipline because their hot system makes all their choices for them
their emotions get the best of them and their impulses take over but your hot system loses its
power over time if you can resist that temptation for a few extra minutes then your cool system will
come to your rescue and your decision-making will improve significantly so if you want to
build your self-discipline then empower your cool system to make smart long-term decisions
all right let's say you're about to spend money on a new computer your hot system gets excited
and your emotions take hold when you feel yourself getting excited just force yourself to step away
take a 15-minute break during those 15 minutes your cool system will take over
once you're cool you may discover that a big purchase is not as smart as you thought
number three stress control the hot and cool system is moderated by
time but it's also moderated by stress when you're experiencing higher levels of stress
your hot system takes control this comes from a 1999 study in the psychological review
researchers found that stress offsets the delicate balance between your hot system
and your cool system in other words when you're stressed you're more likely to make reckless and
impulsive decisions by regulating your stress you can actually improve your self-control so
whenever you have a difficult decision to make just take advantage of simple
stress-relieving activities like stretching or meditation these exercises can decrease your
stress which ultimately improves the quality of your choices number four environmental impact
alright let's say that two people are trying to live more disciplined lives both people
want to increase their productivity one person practices their new productive habits in a library
the other person practices their habits in a movie theater who do you think is going to find more
success your environment plays a huge role in your self-discipline so if you put yourself in tempting
situations it's far more difficult to make good choices so use your environment to your advantage
number five disciplinary fuel according to some scientists you can almost instantly
increase your self-control with one simple trick a 2007 study in the journal of personality and
social psychology found that willpower has a strong association with cellular energy
in other words if your body doesn't have enough fuel your willpower decreases
so how do you give yourself a big boost of willpower you supply your body with the fuel
it needs to make smart choices before making a decision or tackling your work enjoy an energy
rich meal refuel your body and give your brain the energy it needs to stay in control
number six one small step oversized expectations can ruin your self-control if you're intimidated
by the obstacle in front of you then it feels impossible to be productive luckily there's an
easy way to trick your brain into overcoming any obstacle if you want to start working don't worry
about all the responsibilities on your plate don't think about the mountain you have to climb focus
only on the first step so whenever you encounter a new challenge start with a small and simple goal
that goal is all you need to worry about because once you accomplish that goal once you take that
first step you can take a second step and then a third and before you know it you've overcome
that huge intimidating obstacle you've climbed that mountain and you did it one step at a time
number seven faulty excuses do you make excuses for your lack of self-control over time you've
taught yourself to justify your bad habits but your excuses aren't as bulletproof as you think
just take a minute to think about why you aren't accomplishing your goals what excuses do you tell
yourself when you're feeling unproductive alright let's say you want to read more books your goal
is to read one book every month but you haven't made any progress so you tell yourself after a
long day of work i don't have time to read and that excuse justifies your lack of self-control
but is your excuse really true just think about what you do after work you may spend those
hours watching tv scrolling through social media and just wasting the afternoon away
couldn't you sacrifice a sliver of your time to read a new book building self-discipline doesn't
happen all at once you have to start with small chunks of time let's say 30 minutes each day
now that may not sound like much but every chunk puts you one step closer to your goal
number eight linguistic sabotage your language can increase and decrease your self-discipline experts
found that people who over emphasize willpower and self-control experience deficits in both so the
more you concentrate on your lack of self-control then the harder it becomes to make good choices
for example you might say i make bad choices because i don't have enough self-discipline this
language creates a passive self-defeating mindset instead you might say i make bad choices because
i'm putting myself in harmful situations this time you're giving yourself control over your choices
and your environment you're empowering yourself to make changes and that's how you build self-control
number nine discipline depletion self-discipline scientists explain is like a muscle
it gets stronger the more you train in practice but muscles do get tired if you practice too much
you experience fatigue in the same way there's a limit to how disciplined one person can be if
you try too hard you may experience depletion you lose the energy required to make good decisions
even though your heart's in the right place too much enthusiasm may come back to bite you so if
you want to build self-discipline then work on your bad habits one at a time and give yourself
a break every once in a while you can't expect a hundred and ten percent every second of the day
disciplined people have self-control to make smart long-term decisions but they also have
the self-awareness to relax recover and reward themselves for a job well done
number 10 advanced decisions self-discipline is limited so how do you make good choices without
depleting your energy smart decision makers avoid impulsive decisions by making their choices
in advance all right let's say you want to increase your productivity at work
but you find yourself picking up your phone more often than you should it takes a lot of energy
to resist this continuous temptation so a smart decision maker would save themselves the trouble
they would eliminate this distraction by leaving their phone at home this technique takes advantage
of your hot and cool system by making planning in advance you can make decisions when you're cool
and that way when you're hot all your temptations are already off the table you can also plan ahead
to reduce the number of decisions that you make each day you may not even realize it but
you make hundreds of little choices on a daily basis and that consumes a lot of energy if you
eliminate those small decisions then you'll save extra energy for the moments that matter most
number 11 habit measurement do you know how much time you spend on your bad habits
you may be wasting hours every day on meaningless activities but it doesn't feel like hours you
engage with these distractors in short bursts many people for example pick up their phones
hundreds of times every day you check messages and emails you check the time the weather and the news
and by the end of the day you've spent four or five hours on your phone to save yourself hours
of wasted time try measuring the time you spend on your bad habits if for example you pick your
phone up too often there are applications you can use to calculate just how much you're losing these
measurements are great motivators they force you to take responsibility for the time you're wasting
you're much more likely to avoid your bad habit when you're conscious of the damage you're doing
so start measuring your bad habits today because chances are you've wasted enough time already
number 12 consistent performance some days you'll set records and empower
your personal growth other days you'll do just enough to get by but that's okay
whether it's a good day or a bad day there's only one thing that matters you showed up and
you tried to build self-discipline you don't have to function at the top of your game every
single day what really matters is consistency if nothing else make sure you always follow through
even if it isn't your best work even if you're tired and unmotivated if you want to increase
your self-control then you need to show up at your best and at your worst hey thank you
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