Discipline or Regret? How to Have More Willpower

Discipline weighs ounces, but regret weighs tons. Here are 3 tricks to delay gratification and make better choices.

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The Pleasure Principle

Giving in to pleasure is not your fault. You're human and you’re wired that way.

Seeking pleasure made sense on an evolutionary level, when our ancestors lived a more day-to-day existence. Back then, nobody felt guilty about eating between meals or sleeping in. You did what you could to get through the day.

But today we have to adapt and outsmart all the modern-day pleasure temptations, many of which are harmful to us.

Leveraging Pain and Pleasure

Generally speaking, humans respond more to avoiding pain than seeking pleasure. And you can use this to your advantage when deciding to delay gratification.

Let's use the snooze button example again. In that moment of temptation, remind yourself of the all the pain you'll get from sleeping in: feeling stressed out, skipping breakfast, etc.

Conversely, you can remind yourself of all the pleasure you will gain by getting up on time: a more relaxed morning, a greater sense of control, etc.

So, pain and pleasure can be leveraged to your benefit. The following are three techniques to use in those moments when you need to delay gratification and have more discipline.

1. Picture a Scale ⚖️

The next time you want to procrastinate, skip exercise, or whatever, literally picture a scale in your mind.

On one side of the scale is short-term discipline. On the other side is regret. Which one weighs more? Pretty much 100% of the time it's regret, isn't it?

Regret lasts longer and weighs on you more. So, in your mind's eye, picture the scale tilting. Discipline weighs ounces. Regret weighs tons.

Here's something else to think about: discipline is temporary, and regret is forever. Don't get me wrong, I'm not suggesting that you unduly punish yourself with regret. What I'm saying is, remind yourself of the weight of your actions before you make a decision.

2. Use a Timer ⏰

Another technique is to use a timer when you want to do something that's not pleasurable in the short-term but will indeed bring you a bigger reward later.

Personally for me, using a timer has been a game changer. I use it to defeat procrastination. I'll set my timer for 10 minutes and start a task I've been putting off.

The timer acts as a stand-in for my willpower. I roll up my sleeves, do the work, and before I know it, the timer beeps and I'm free to do something else.

Learn more about procrastination in my blog post, Pre-crastination, the Antidote to Procrastination.

3. Visualize Your Future 🔮

The third technique is to visualize your future self benefiting from your decision to be disciplined.

Let's say that you have a fitness goal which includes going to the gym. One day you wake up and don't feel like going to the gym. You're tired, grumpy, and you rationalize not going.

In that moment, picture yourself in the gym getting strong and fit, getting better posture, and feeling proud of yourself. Focus on all of the pleasure you'll gain. Then, as quickly as you can, without debate, get to the gym.

Use this visualization technique for other disciplined decisions as well.

In Summary

You can get more willpower. Instead of having pain and pleasure use you, you can use them... to your benefit.

Leverage pain by reminding yourself that discipline weighs ounces and regret weighs tons.

Leverage pleasure by visualizing of all the joy you'll gain from your disciplined decisions.

Mastering one's primal pain-pleasure wiring is not an easy task. In fact, you'll never "master" it, rather, it's an ongoing process of slowly but surely sculpting your discipline 💪 for greater rewards. 🎁