A Peep Into Self-Management

Behaviour makes the difference.

- I. M. Soni

When Robert Frost wrote The Road Not Taken, he may not have had self management in mind. Yet, the message of his poem surely applies to our present quest.

In describing the mechanics of self-control, you have a choice – a choice between a self-managed lifestyle and whatever our present orientation might be. The self managed life style is by all criteria the less travelled road. Most people do not even approximate their potential for self-management. They engage in behaviours that are hazardous to their health, fail to attain important personal goals, and generally experience much unnecessary frustration.

Effective self management is simply not the prevailing life-style.

The individual who responds calmly to an emotionally charged situation is said to have a high degree of self-control.

The chain smoker who abruptly gives up the habit after year of smoking is revered for his remarkable will-power.

The average person tends to believe that behaviour can be changed merely by "putting one's mind to it". Unfortunately, these lay explanations are seldom illuminating. They seem to imply that people possess some inner repository of strength that allows them to transcend problems. If this were so, it would make yourself get upset, "Pull yourself together," or "You must get better organised". But these suggestions usually are profoundly ineffective.

What people often label as willpower is simply a set of unspecified, yet workable, self-management procedures. The ingredients usually remain unspecified because most people do not have the skills to analyse what influences their behaviour. They can be exerted.

The objective of this article is to specify the unspecified, thereby providing some useful hints for exercising will-power, self-control, self-management, or whatever you prefer to call it.

SELF-CONTROL