Article:-
Temptation is everywhere. It’s cold this morning and I’m tempted to stay in bed and not go to the gym. I have friends over and I’m tempted to order a lot of pizza instead of eating the healthy food I have at home. I’m feeling a bit depressed tonight and I’m tempted to eat all that chocolate I have in the pantry instead of sticking to my healthy way of eating. Sound familiar?
This kind of flawed decision making is a normal part of human existence. All of us, regardless of our intelligence, are tempted to think of the short term rather than the long term. That warm bed is here NOW and the benefits of the workout will only come much later. That chocolate will taste great NOW and the harmful side effects will be hard to detect. It’s not hard to see why people succumb to temptation when the benefits are so immediate and obvious while the damage is so subtle and long term.
So here are a few ways to make it easier on yourself to resist temptation:
Give In
you can resist temptation by giving in occasionally. for example chocolate, in small amounts, it can be a fine part of a healthy diet. So rather than try to avoid it completely, treat yourself an occasional piece of chocolate. This keeps the eating under control and it also eliminates temptation by reducing craving.
Remove the Temptation
If you’re a recovering alcoholic, do you keep beer in the fridge? If you’re trying to quit smoking, do you keep cigarettes in your pocket? So if you’re trying to eat healthy, why are you keeping 2lbs of bacon and 3 bags and candy in your house? Remember, temptation is a lot harder to fall prey to if it’s less convenient. If I’m craving chocolate right now it would be much worse if I actually had some here within immediate reach. Make it so you have to work a bit to succumb to your temptation and you’ll see how less frequently you do it.
Make A Public Commitment
Yep, peer pressure works so why not use it for us? Make a promise and make it public that you will be at the gym every morning this month. By telling your friends and family about it, you’re less likely to break that promise. I know it sounds a bit shallow, but promises made to others are less likely to be broken than promises made to yourself.
Make It A Group Effort
Similar to the public commitment idea, make it harder on yourself to give in by working with your friends. For example, if it’s just you that’s supposed to be at the gym in the morning then it’s easy to give in to that warm bed. However, if you’re supposed to meet a friend there then it’s much harder to not show up.
Remind Yourself
Keep a reminder of why you want to live a healthy life with you. Could be a picture of your kids, a picture of that mountain you hope to climb or even a picture of you from a year ago when you weight 60lbs more. Whatever it is, keep it on you and take a look at it when you’re tempted to do something dumb. That item will remind you of the actual benefits of a healthy life.
20 Minute Rule
If you’re tempted to do something stupid, wait 20 minutes and see what you think then. In most cases, you’ll see that the temptation was momentary and you can now make a good decision.
Explanation:-
This is how to resist simple temptations such as food but most of these tips could work for other temptations as well. For example if you want to stop smoking, if you start smoking once a day instead of a full pack you might reduce to once a week to even once a month until you stop completely. And if you stop buying cigarettes and leaving it within easy reach it might be harder to purchase and you'll probably purchase it less often. Also, if you keep a picture of someone that died because of smoking or someone that lost their heir or is really sick because of smoking you might stop your self after you see it. same as the group effort or the public promise. And the 20 minute rule is the most accurate, if you wait 20 minutes before smoking each cigarette you might not be as tempted by that time and probably even forget to smoke it.
One time, in my early teenage years, like most teenagers i didn't know which friends to choose. So I had friends who had very bad impacts on me,first he taught me to skip with out parents permission then stop doing school work, and much more. I always followed what he said and never thought of it as a bad thing until one time he brought a cigarette and was convincing me to smoke with him. But for the first time I thought of my actions and decided for my self to not do it. I tried to stop my friend to but he wouldn't even talk to me anymore, however I fought the struggles i faced to not smoke.
Temptation is everywhere. It’s cold this morning and I’m tempted to stay in bed and not go to the gym. I have friends over and I’m tempted to order a lot of pizza instead of eating the healthy food I have at home. I’m feeling a bit depressed tonight and I’m tempted to eat all that chocolate I have in the pantry instead of sticking to my healthy way of eating. Sound familiar?
This kind of flawed decision making is a normal part of human existence. All of us, regardless of our intelligence, are tempted to think of the short term rather than the long term. That warm bed is here NOW and the benefits of the workout will only come much later. That chocolate will taste great NOW and the harmful side effects will be hard to detect. It’s not hard to see why people succumb to temptation when the benefits are so immediate and obvious while the damage is so subtle and long term.
So here are a few ways to make it easier on yourself to resist temptation:
Give In
you can resist temptation by giving in occasionally. for example chocolate, in small amounts, it can be a fine part of a healthy diet. So rather than try to avoid it completely, treat yourself an occasional piece of chocolate. This keeps the eating under control and it also eliminates temptation by reducing craving.
Remove the Temptation
If you’re a recovering alcoholic, do you keep beer in the fridge? If you’re trying to quit smoking, do you keep cigarettes in your pocket? So if you’re trying to eat healthy, why are you keeping 2lbs of bacon and 3 bags and candy in your house? Remember, temptation is a lot harder to fall prey to if it’s less convenient. If I’m craving chocolate right now it would be much worse if I actually had some here within immediate reach. Make it so you have to work a bit to succumb to your temptation and you’ll see how less frequently you do it.
Make A Public Commitment
Yep, peer pressure works so why not use it for us? Make a promise and make it public that you will be at the gym every morning this month. By telling your friends and family about it, you’re less likely to break that promise. I know it sounds a bit shallow, but promises made to others are less likely to be broken than promises made to yourself.
Make It A Group Effort
Similar to the public commitment idea, make it harder on yourself to give in by working with your friends. For example, if it’s just you that’s supposed to be at the gym in the morning then it’s easy to give in to that warm bed. However, if you’re supposed to meet a friend there then it’s much harder to not show up.
Remind Yourself
Keep a reminder of why you want to live a healthy life with you. Could be a picture of your kids, a picture of that mountain you hope to climb or even a picture of you from a year ago when you weight 60lbs more. Whatever it is, keep it on you and take a look at it when you’re tempted to do something dumb. That item will remind you of the actual benefits of a healthy life.
20 Minute Rule
If you’re tempted to do something stupid, wait 20 minutes and see what you think then. In most cases, you’ll see that the temptation was momentary and you can now make a good decision.
This is how to resist simple temptations such as food but most of these tips could work for other temptations as well. For example if you want to stop smoking, if you start smoking once a day instead of a full pack you might reduce to once a week to even once a month until you stop completely. And if you stop buying cigarettes and leaving it within easy reach it might be harder to purchase and you'll probably purchase it less often. Also, if you keep a picture of someone that died because of smoking or someone that lost their heir or is really sick because of smoking you might stop your self after you see it. same as the group effort or the public promise. And the 20 minute rule is the most accurate, if you wait 20 minutes before smoking each cigarette you might not be as tempted by that time and probably even forget to smoke it.
One time, in my early teenage years, like most teenagers i didn't know which friends to choose. So I had friends who had very bad impacts on me,first he taught me to skip with out parents permission then stop doing school work, and much more. I always followed what he said and never thought of it as a bad thing until one time he brought a cigarette and was convincing me to smoke with him. But for the first time I thought of my actions and decided for my self to not do it. I tried to stop my friend to but he wouldn't even talk to me anymore, however I fought the struggles i faced to not smoke.
