Jun 032010
This explains so much:
Psychologists have discovered that self-control is an exhaustible resource. And I don’t mean self-control only in the sense of turning down cookies or alcohol, I mean a broader sense of self-supervision—any time you’re paying close attention to your actions, like when you’re having a tough conversation or trying to stay focused on a paper you’re writing. This helps to explain why, after a long hard day at the office, we’re more likely to snap at our spouses or have one drink too many—we’ve depleted our self-control.
read the rest of the study here
And I thought it was just me.
wow, that actually makes alot of sense. esp what people usually go through during their days, it’s understandable how there is little self control. let alone patience, for continued unwanted “stimulation” from home and family.
Now, the question is, does that fall on the fault of the person, or society as a whole for creating and supporting this type of atmosphere?
Oooh. What an interesting article! Thank you for sharing.
So that’s it!
I knew something was gone after a hard day at work, but I could never put my finger on it. Yes, my energy was way down, but I could still play catch in the backyard — but god forbid we should lose the ball. Yes, I might be hungry, but sometimes I wasn’t. I may have felt poorly treated during the day, but it wasn’t that bad — and talking about it brought only scant relief. And so on. I didn’t have a clue it was my self-control that was directly exhausted.
Thanks, once again, for sharing the knowledge.
I read an article about this topic on Livescience some months back. I’ve found that I can retain a little more of that self control by not agonizing over decisions that don’t really matter that much, such as what kind of coffee I want to order.
Making decisions requires concentration and judging the effects of the choices we see, using up some mental energy. By recognizing situations where the available choices have little difference to me I can reduce the time I spend considering which choice is better and save that energy for something that matters more to me.
This mostly applies to food items for me, but I’m a very… un-picky eater, so YMMV and all that jazz.