The New Science of Self-Control

Ever wonder why we are often most drawn to do the things we want most to avoid?

We have all felt the power of being caught in the pull of our own pictures.  The little fellow above has been told if he can only resist eating the delicious marshmallow in front of him he will receive another when the researcher returns.  Oh the temptation!  How long is she going to be gone?  Did she forget about me?  What if I just had a little lick?

If you think this is fun and games then you haven’t been grocery shopping lately. 

Have you ever wondered why they arrange grocery stores so you enter in the produce aisle?  It’s architecturally insane.  Who thought this was a good idea?  The most delicate items will end up at the bottom of the cart.  Marketers that’s who.  And these are not your parent’s poltergeists of purchasing.  These are number crunching, pattern predicting sleuths of psychology.  They know you better than you know yourself.

I have been fascinated by the evolution of applied neuroscience for almost four decades.

Research based on advances in technology in the last five years, have turned everything I thought I knew upside down.  It is exciting and more than a little disconcerting to realize why so many of our solutions, from improving engagement to reducing stress, are based on misunderstanding what REALLY drives our behaviors.

The New Science of Self Control

The New Science of Self Control reveals the sources, and solutions, to some of life’s most perplexing problems.

1-Why are we irresistibly drawn to do the very things we want most to avoid?

2-How do things like sleep, diet, and stress derail our self-control?

3-Why are guilt and shame the LEAST effective strategies for changing behavior?

4-A system for separating the pull of desire from the pleasure of peace.

5-Why behaving in principle may encourage misbehavior in practice.

6-What’s the difference between will-power, won’t-power and want-power?

7-When is self-discipline self-destructive?

8-Why don’t we “care” for our future selves through present actions?

9-Simple steps for overcoming temptation.

10-How to use dopamine to drive your discipline.

11-Understanding the evolutionary purpose of some very ineffective impulses.

12-How we can displace unproductive behaviors with re-energizing habits.

13-Understanding the role of self-awareness in impulse control.

Imagine a team not controlled by controversy, stressed by situations or distracted by discontent.  

1-We are all overwhelmed by too much to do and too little time to think but what if being aware of why we think the way we think could change all that?

2-What if understanding our chemistry could truly set-us-free?  Free from anger, resentment, guilt, and shame.  Free from manipulation, indignation and utter stagnation.

3-What would it be like to work in an environment free of fear.  Impervious to intimidation and actually excited about all the trial and error that comes with innovation.

4-How would the way you manage yourself, and others change if you knew for a fact that our brains don’t learn until we make mistakes?

5-How would your life, business, family, or job change if you could learn how to become undisturbable?

6-Would you believe that experiments with primates show they have better self-control than Harvard students?

7-Picture how different life would be if it didn’t take so much effort to be extremely efficient?

8-What if understanding our own evolution could make life effort-less?

Schedule your New Science of Self Control keynote, training or two-day intensive retreat.