What happened to your new year resolution?

In an earlier post, I had proposed to write more about why we fail to follow up on our New year resolutions.

  There are three kinds of people when it comes to resolutions: The first kind who still believe in resolutions, the second kind who stopped believing in resolutions because it didn't work out for them, and the third lucky group who probably wouldn't read this blog - those disciplined kind with enough self-control to achieve their resolutions. I’m definitely not in the third group.

 Now what has self-control got to do with resolutions?

  When resolutions are made, they are often in different realms, like doing more exercise and following a new diet plan. You might think there is a connection between exercise and a diet plan. Yes there is, but a Big No when it comes to resolutions. Often two or more resolutions are packaged as if it is a combo meal at McDonalds.

  You say, ‘A veg burger please’

  The vendor says, ‘ Do you want Pepsi?’

  You reply, ‘Ya, a Pepsi too.’

  ‘Sir, shall I make it into a combo? ’

  Without thinking much, you say, ‘Okay, Combo then.’

There you go, you went there to take a Burger, and finally ended up raking a lot more calories.  That’s how resolutions are made, one sticking on to the other. You are better served if you had struck to just the Veg Burger, so is with resolution, it is better to stick with just one resolution at a time.

What happens when you have more than one objective?

  Let’s say you start your day with some exercise early in the morning. As long as exercise is not a habit, you are exercising considerable amount of self-control to get up early in the morning and go for that jog. It is a different matter when it becomes second nature.

  Let’s say you have 100 self –control points in your kitty, and as you exercise, it comes down to 50 in one hour. Then you've to follow the diet, the diet is new for you, and there are some bland items on the menu. There you need some self–control again to stick to the tough new regimen. But you are not fresh, and your self-control score is on the wane. The waning self-control is a big bane, and that tempts you to drop your diet plan altogether. And that creates a ripple effect, your confidence on the other resolutions are affected, and eventually affect the attempts of developing the exercise routine. In the end, all the resolutions come down flat on your face, and you wait till the end of December to make your next plan.

So what’s the way to tackle this?

  The best way to handle the problem of waning self-control is to take just one resolution at a time. By having just one resolution or one objective at a time, you are allowing optimal consumption of self-control. When I say one objective, I mean one clear objective across different facets of your life, personal and professional.

  Even a tough deadline at office is going to impact the process of building a new habit, because even that takes up a lot of energy – in turn self-control and that means a lower self-control score. This is because, we have only a certain amount of self-control (Say 100) and the self-control score changes based on the activity you perform. (When does your self-control score reset to the highest value? That’s for another day.)

  Agreed we cannot control every external factor, especially when it is a professional commitment. Knowing that the external factors interrupt our good effort, it is only prudent to decide the execution time of your resolution; the new resolution need not be a New year resolution.

  For a successful resolution, we need to choose the most comfortable time, and assign the highest priority to it, no matter what. Awareness on how mundane chores impact your important habit-building activities will go a long way in overcoming the obstacles on the way.

 Go try this at home! Come back with success your story, Good luck.

Why eat curd and sugar before exams and why you should take your food on time?

    Exams are perhaps the most stressful periods in the life of a student. And many of us get nightmares or that jittery feeling of blank mind far too often as the exam date approach. In one of my earlier posts, I had mentioned that self-control is an exhaustible resource, and therefore we can assume that there is scope for replenishing it.

  As the exam nears, we tend to use up immense amount of self-control mainly by doing things that we don’t like: avoid watching TV, restrain from going out, and sit through hoards of unending text book pages. By doing things that we really don't want, we deplete our self-control, and as the self-control depletes, three things happen:

   We become irritable, prone to quick peripheral decisions, and begin to act with reduced perseverance. 

  In short, we tend to give up far too easily, something we don’t want when attempting a tough math exam. Imagine how unfortunate it is to give up just one step before the correct answer, like the proverbial gold digger who gave up digging one foot away from fortune.

  

 A way to replenish our self-control is the need of the hour, and how wonderful it must be to have a quick burst of self-control? What if I say a glass of sweetened water or sweetened curd does just that? Hard to believe? What if it is backed up by scientific evidence?

   To find a way to replenish self-control, the researchers(1) had to find out a way to determine the chemical substance that depleted with decrease in self-control. They found out that the substance, and it turned to be glucose. 

 How did they arrive at this conclusion?

  The difference in levels of glucose before and after various self-control experiments pointed in the same direction, a definite depletion in the level of glucose.

  A simple experiment of forcing someone to make a chain of tough decisions resulted in high glucose depletion compared to relatively lower glucose depletion from someone making a chain of simple decisions. Making tough decisions, decisions that has clear consequences, can deplete self-control considerably; for we use up a lot of self-control when we take tough decisions. 

  No wonder we become irritable and unsympathetic after a long day of small and big decisions at office, we have used too much of self-control, and our glucose levels are so low that we bark at the first person on our way home, and that partly explains why we find it difficult to divide work and home.There is not enough energy to remain polite and civil, a mark of self-control. What we need to avoid altercation at home is a just bite of glucose. 

What does sweetened drink do to your brain and body?

    It turns out that a quick increase in sugar levels in a human body not only increases the energy levels, but increases the willpower as well - the ability of conscious control. With increased sugar levels, we become less irritable, and persevere more – an ideal mindset in an exam hall. 

  What happens when you take decisions on empty stomach?

   At empty stomach, the glucose levels are low and any intent of self-control is already out of the bloodstream, it makes sense to defer a big decision till a glass of sweetened water pushes up the glucose levels.

  We can’t possibly take sugar every hour of the day, in fact that can become a health hazard. Sugar intake can pump up energy levels quickly, but consistent protein intake can do the same job in a healthier way. A regular protein diet helps to curb the urge to take that quick bite of chocolate.

Enough of research, What do all these mean to me?

   It simply means that you should take your food on time, four meals a day no matter what. (which I’m trying hard to follow)  This will ensure that your self-control is at peak, and you don’t splurge your money or time on things that you will regret.

More to follow on self-control and why you didn't stick with your new year resolution (If at all you haven't given up on taking new year resolutions)

Researchers(1): Roy.F. Baumeister and fellow researchers 

What you didn’t know about self-control…

                       

  Have you ever felt that impulse to indulge in an ice cream when you are on diet? How long did you go without that ice cream? And I bet you had that coveted ice cream in the end. The self-control didn’t work for long, did it?

  People who are asked to make tough choices - such as choosing among many job offers, often find it difficult to focus on puzzles immediately after making that tough decision. Quite obvious, you would say, what’s so new about that? We are aware that our sense of equilibrium is at its lowest point just after a stressful event. But that’s not the reason why people fail to solve puzzles after a stressful event - they gave up too quickly, they did not try enough, they just lost their self-control.

  In an experiment^* conducted by researchers, two similar groups were picked as volunteers. Without revealing anything about the experiment, they were starved for five straight hours. The researchers then placed radish and freshly baked chocolate-chip in front of them. One group was asked to eat the radish, and only the radish, let’s call them the Radish group. The other group was not given any specific instructions; they were free to eat the radishes and the chocolate-chips, the Chocolate-chip group.

 A few hours later, all the volunteers were individually asked to solve an unsolvable puzzle, just that they did not know that it was unsolvable at that time. What do you expect to happen? The members of the Radish group lost their cool too quickly, they gave up immediately, and they were clearly agitated and displayed aggressive emotions. On the other hand, the Chocolate-chip group spent a little more time trying to solve the unsolvable puzzle, more importantly, they were found in a much more relaxed mood.

   What can we infer from this very interesting experiment? That human beings lose their cool when deprived of freshly baked chocolate chips? To some extent that is true, the Radish group had exhausted their self-control by using up all the self-control to avoid eating the tempting chocolate-chips. By the time the puzzles were given to them, they were mentally exhausted, and they had no intention of exercising high chemical consuming parts of their brain. The Chocolate-chip group,though starved for five hours, were in a better frame of mind, for they didn’t have to endure the urge to pick up the chocolate-chips.

  Next time you use up too much of self-control, remember that you are possibly entering a stressful zone because Self-control is an exhaustible resource. That doesn’t mean that you should never employ self-control, but do it as you would with spices, in moderation. And remember awareness is the first step to a clear and a calm mind.

 Reference: Chip Heath and Dan Heath: 

                    ISBN 978-0-385-52875-7