Book: "Self-control".
All the long-term goals and projects that we have in life require us to choose intelligently the actions that lead us to achieve those objectives. Always making the best decision regarding our actions is always a matter of self-control, it plays an important role in our successes or failures. With self-control we can keep in mind what our long-term goals are and it reminds us of the actions we must take to be consistent with those goals: studying instead of watching television, choosing healthy food instead of junk food, they are clear. examples that demonstrate that self-control is key to success.
Self-control is something innate in us, we have two survival strategies in our brain:
- The basic instincts (Irrational): that served us in ancient times as an instrument to detect dangerous situations and save ourselves from predators. Our ancestors, instead of making a critical analysis of each unusual sound, the immediate reaction was to flee and thanks to this our species was able to preserve itself.
The irrational part of our brain inherited from our ancestors is responsible for our desires and temptations that seek immediate gratification, also known as the incentive system
- Rational: which allows us to control our primitive instincts and have long-term goals. The prefrontal cortex of our brain is the part responsible for our logical decisions and self-control.
Both are essential for our development, our lives would be very dysfunctional if we lacked either of them.
A well-known case of this dysfunction was that of Phineas Gage who in 1848 worked as a worker on the railroads. Gage led a group that was detonating rocks for the construction of railroad tracks, in this work Gage suffers an accident where a rod approximately one meter long and 3.2 cm in diameter pierces his skull. Surviving this accident at the time seemed like a feat, but he not only survived the accident, he remained conscious throughout and two months later appeared fully recovered; However, as a result of this accident, his personality changed completely, since his prefrontal cortex had suffered serious damage. Before the accident he was a hard worker, afterward he was an irregular worker, he fought with his colleagues, he thought about future plans, but he never carried them out. The part responsible for self-control had been completely distorted.
Currently there are some things that cause temporary damage to our brain, things like being intoxicated by the effect of alcohol or sleeping fewer hours than recommended; it makes our prefrontal cortex lose its reasoning capacity and in this state the self-control we have is seriously diminished. And at that time we tend to choose the less healthy options or watch television instead of working on our projects, however it is possible to have greater self-control. Studies have shown that meditation and exercise done consistently, even for short periods of time, can increase the size of our prefrontal cortex, which will help us make decisions in a more rational way with our long-term goals in mind. .
Usually when we break the diet we have been doing or stop going to the gym or relapse into the habit we were trying to quit, we might think that if we feel guilty this will help us resume our actions and focus again on our purpose; However, scientific studies have proven that guilt makes us release stress hormones from our brain that make us feel bad. At that moment our brain wants to feel better, which is a very vulnerable moment to fall again and continue having that unwanted behavior. . The best thing in case of falling back on a purpose or a goal set is to be aware of the way our brain acts. This awareness can give greater self-control that, accompanied by meditation exercises and a little physical exercise, can provide greater reasoning capacity for society. We can acquire self-control but we can also acquire temptations and bad habits, since we are social beings who tend to do what other people do according to the society in which we are surrounded or the family to which we belong, so we can improve or worsen our self-control.
In the book it is described as a kind of "epidemic" if we belong to a social group where most people exercise and eat healthy. Our probability of changing our habits is much greater than if we belong to a group where what is considered normal are bad habits like smoking.
On the other hand, television can also influence us more than we think. On many occasions discouraging reports have been seen where they tell us how our society reads less and less or that only one in ten people exercises. These types of reports instead to promote a change of consciousness in society, creates the opposite effect, if we are a person who is not used to reading or we do not exercise and we see a report like this, we can consider that our behavior is normal in quotes and we are not going to do no effort to change our attitudes. The problem is that in most cases what is considered normal is not good, for this it is best to change paradigms, not to take the examples we see on television daily but to go to other sources that They can provide us with some inspiration and in this way we can change in a positive way.
I have also been before in the place that you are now. When I started my dream of starting my own Medical Clinic and was the CEO, I didn't know how to fulfill my responsibilities at work and be present at home with my family at the same time. However, after making changes in my productivity, goal setting, and leadership, I was able to move my company forward through an economic downturn in which the country was immersed and obtain positive results; and all while getting home in time to have dinner with my family each night.
Now I teach the same principles that helped my leadership, along with my team, here at CIME Academy.
If you want to know more about our training proposal in aesthetic medicine, we encourage you to contact us. We will solve your doubts and advise you on what you need.
Dr. Manuel Rubio Sanchez
aesthetic doctor
