No Self Control

I can sit down in front of the computer and two or three hours will go by, especially if it's late and the kids are in bed.
I can't walk past a bookshop without buying.
I can't walk past a fish'n'chip shop without buying.

I have a pile of washing three feet high (and rising).
I have an in tray full of paperwork which probably needs looking at (at the very least)
I have yet to write that novel I was going to write in the sixth form about how terrible girls are.

How's your self control?

Haven't had a drink in 7 days, a cigarette in 30+ hours. Want to go to the gym but I hurt my foot at work.

I'm doing okayish.

Terrible. Spend all my free time pissing about on the internet instead of doing the educational/creative things I mean to. Place is permanently a tip. Buy packs of unhealthy snack food thinking they'll last me all week and eat them in one sitting. Drink way too much Coke and occasionally manage to give it up for a week before convincing myself that I'll have just one, except then I'll be back to drinking it every day. And I dread work every day because I am way behind on the important tasks because I just can't seem to focus my brain-rays to see how to start them.

I was talking to a friend of a friend who's a child psychologist and for some reason he said something about "you know how it is when you've got a task to do and you've promised yourself something nice as a rare treat for the end of the task" and I must've looked not quite empathetic and he got incredulous that I was unable to do this thing -- I buy myself nice things for no reason ALL THE TIME, and if I buy myself a post-task treat then I will have eaten it (or whatever) by 10am and still be staring blankly at the unstarted task for the rest of the day. I thought this was, well, kind of shitty but not wildly abnormal, but he was horrified like I'd admitted to something depraved and alien.

tl;dr precis: yeah, if I had any at all maybe I'd manage to keep ILX posts readably brief, what do you think?

I know it looks, from my behaviour on ILX and the like, that I have none at all. But I astonish myself sometimes how much I do have. Because the unfiltered stuff is about 10x the stuff that gets through. But that's maybe a different kind of self control - the urge to say things you perhaps shouldn't.

I guess, the internet I have very little self control about.

WRT doing things, mostly I'm OK. I'm slow at starting things, but once I get going, I power through things. It's all about establishing flow. I have no problem with writing novels and painting paintings and recording albums and stuff. Doing stuff with them afterwards? Forget it, I've lost interest.

The only way to stop yourself from the compulsive things is just not to even start. Like, don't even kid yourself "I'm just gonna go in this record shop for ten minutes and look around..." Accept the fact that you have no self control and don't even go in.

I'm not actually sure 'how much' self control I have or don't have in a general sense. What I do know is that it is the times when I lack self control are the occasions when I'm harshest with myself, the most self-critical. I'm not sure if that means anything, or if that's unusual.

The only way to stop yourself from the compulsive things is just not to even start. Like, don't even kid yourself "I'm just gonna go in this record shop for ten minutes and look around..." Accept the fact that you have no self control and don't even go in.

So OTM! I think this is peak self-control, actually. If I know I'll buy something if I leave the house: stay in the house. If I know I'll fuck around on the internet when I want to get a project done: don't turn on the computer. If I know in a dark, dark, dark moment I might be inclined to kill myself: don't keep guns, ropes, etc. in the house. If I know I'll drink too much if I start making gimlets for myself at home: don't keep liquor in the house. etc.

Tho I really want some fish & chips now.

Also btw 'No Self Control' is the best track on Peter Gabriel 3.

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/39/120171379_e98f44c851.jpg%3Fv%3D0

Also btw 'No Self Control' is the best track on Peter Gabriel 3.

― baleen, the krill queen (Abbott), Sunday, June 21, 2009 12:50 PM (24 minutes ago)

First thing I thought of.

"She's Lost Control", Joy Division

Again?

http://img41.imageshack.us/img41/7930/sonofbazerkchangethesty.jpg

The Unbeatable and Mister Dynamite are obviously shopped. But I am afraid Sensational has actually been decapitated. Someone call the cops.

"you know how it is when you've got a task to do and you've promised yourself something nice as a rare treat for the end of the task"

I am sitting in front of the computer eating a double rollo desert which I bought to reward myself for the pile of ironing I've got to do. Have I done the ironing? Not even started.

I'm sort of all or nothing in terms of self-control. If I really set my mind to it, I have can have an astonishing amount but that's only if I'm really committed to something. I guess diet/exercise plans are a good example of this.

One thing I'm not great at controling is my emotions. This isn't really anything problematic per say because I'm generally a pretty even-keeled person but I tend to wear my heart on my sleeve. I'm ok with this though because I'd rather be true to myself than surpress or hide important parts of who I am/what I feel.

OK one thing I'm really bad at is making myself do things I absoltutely no interest in doing. The most extreme example of this is how I failed a course in college because it was awful and I just couldn't force myself to go. I would walk by the bldg every T/Th and just go home. I went twice all semester and have a big fat "F" on my transcript to show for it. So self-control in terms of making myself do things I dislike = almost non-existent.

I have no idea why I hyphenated two things unnecessarily there. weird.

xpost - Abbott, but how do you deal with not turning on the computer (so as to not waste time on the net) when more and more of any kind of project uses the computer? This is a serious problem for me...

This is what happens to me. Mrs. T says "book some tix" or "what's the weather like tomorrow", and I immediately go online and end up two hours later ranting at some local newspaper comments page...

The battery has died on my laptop, and it can't keep itself alive between plug-ins. I had hoped this would stop me from going on just to fanny about, but thus far I'm just spending all my time starting it up eight times a day

there are many benefits for that too:
no self control is crucial for our never ending need for escapism, daydreaming and laziness of humans
without it - life is worse and we are robots.

My self control's all right for little things, but I have a lot of trouble with big projects (like going through all my possessions, deciding what to get rid of, and packing up the rest for a move). I'll do it for about 5 minutes, get overwhelmed, and give up. Also, things relating in any way to social anxiety: I've been on the computer for a couple hours today, but I've been late returning an email for about a week because some low-level nervousness stops me from actually starting it.

xp
Yes, I mostly don't have a problem with it but it does get in the way of stuff sometimes. I think I'm noticing it more at the moment because Mrs T is away and so I have absolutely no boundaries.

but it seems that you do have boundries - you said you are doing it because she's away.
but she'll be back, and so is the self control

maybe not "because" but you know what i mean

This is what happens to me. Mrs. T says "book some tix" or "what's the weather like tomorrow", and I immediately go online and end up two hours later ranting at some local newspaper comments page...

Me too. Except not your wife. My wife. I sat down 3 hours ago to work on a piece of writing and have absolutely nothing to show for it except a deeper understanding of BC's current EMT strike. Also, have a little headache.

I'm dancing around the room doing Elvis karate singing JD's "She's Lost Control"

...when I should be working on this logic gate/mixer gubbins

I just read the entire Death to Smoochy thread.

I'm still here and I started this thread 4 hours ago! Arrrggggghhhhhhhhhhh....
(i have done a few things inbetween, Mrs T- if you're reading - the kids have been fed and watered and are in bed, etc...)

I'm now going to watch 1, singular, episode of Seinfeld before doing the ironing.

I lack self-control. Proof: I still haven't taken my driving exam. Actually, that has more to do with my inferiority complex. But, I do think I lack self-control or I wouldn't be sitting here still checking ILX and various other sites when I told myself I'd read some more Sookie Stackhouse about two hours ago. :-( (I did finish a hat so I guess I am semi-self controlled?)

I lack self-control....

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Yes, you do. Damn, I'm still sitting here.

I generally have problems with self-control and will-power - not like I have no will-power but I do give in to temptation pretty easily. I was just reading a review of a new book about self-control and it pointed out that self-control is basically about being willing to think about the future instead of the present, and it made total sense because I am also really bad about long-term planning, and maybe this is obvious but to me it was an epiphany that these two issues are related. Guess I have to force myself into more long-term planning/goal-setting.