On Self-Control

Most of us were taught early on that we were responsible for our actions, that as adults, we possess a free will with the power to choose between right and wrong. Of course, animals, children, and the insane are not held responsible for their actions; we view their behavior as being determined by natural forces, so they can not be expected to show self-control. But civilized adults should have the will power to behave in an ethical and moral manner. A belief in determinism is contradictory with the notion of a free will. If your behavior is completely determined by genetic nature, past experience, and present conditions, there is nothing residual left for you to make an autonomous decision. Indeed, it is not even clear how you could know whether a decision was really "yours." To be sure, you may feel that öyouò decided to do something, but perhaps the decision was actually determined by natural forces as surely as actions by animals, children, and the insane. One of the invaluable hallmarks of science is recognizing when a question cannot be answered empirically. If there is no way to substantiate the existence, or non-existence of free will, it is a matter of belief. Whether or not you are predisposed to believe in free will, you should understand how you control your own behavior.

Theorem of Self-Control
A person can control one's own behavior by
learning to emit and obey cue-producing responses.

A "cue-producing response" is anything you can do to tell yourself what to do. The most common cue-producing response is language. For example, when you buy something, you count out enough money to pay for it. When following directions, you tell yourself first to turn this way, then that. öVoluntary self-control is simply givingò öyourself orders and then obeying themò. This means that self-control is learned. Although it may seem that voluntary control of your fingers, arms, legs, and even the muscles used in speaking just "come naturally," you actually had to learn how to make your body do what you intend. Where you have not yet learned self-control, you can still learn! As with all habits, you learn self-control by practicing self-control. By all odds, the most important advice I can give anyone is this Never disobey yourself. If you tell yourself to do something, do it! If you tell yourself not to do something, don't do it! To make this rule practicable, you should never give yourself an order you can not obey. Always ask a lot of yourself, but never too much.