Wish you could have more self-control? Well, neuroscientists have discovered a simple way in which you can practice using self-control on a daily basis, building it up rather like you do with a muscle.
How does this work? The late neurophysiologist Benjamin Libet was fascinated by the question of whether humans have free will. He led experiments to understand the mental timing involved when someone does a voluntary act. He chose a simple task—the lifting of a finger.
The result of the research showed that, half a second before the voluntary movement of the finger moving, the brain sends a signal related to the action about to occur called an action potential. The brain decides, “I will move my finger,” 0.3 seconds before you are aware of it.
At this point, there is a further 0.2 seconds where you are aware that you are about to move your finger, and you can intervene in the process and stop the move. Now this is the exciting part: For every move you make, you have 0.2 of a second where you can actively, consciously intervene in the process and choose a different response.
Viktor Frankl, Austrian psychiatrist and concentration camp survivor, was spot on when he wrote, “between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.” Now 0.2 of a second may not sound like much, but in brain terms, it is a decent amount of time.
Every time you make a decision, you have 0.2 of a second to choose a different response. Wow! Our ventro-lateral prefrontal cortex can step right in and intervene in the limbic process.
So, if we can do it, why don’t we do it all the time? Well, it takes considerable energy and attention to leverage that 0.2 of a second choice point. That’s the bad news. The good news is that neuroscientists have discovered a way for you to practice what we call your “Choice Point” in a relatively simple way on a daily basis.
Separate research by Dr. M. Lieberman, Dr. Eliot Berkman, and Dr. Thomas Denson has found that the neural pathway for motor regulation is the same neural pathway used for emotional regulation. That is, the brain uses the same neural pathway to do a physical activity as it does to do an emotional one.
Therefore, for example, if you practice intervening in picking up your cup with your right hand by using your left hand instead, this simple act requires a conscious intervention in your routine activity and is a way that you can exercise your choice point. By practicing on a motor response you can improve your ability to improve on an emotional response.
For instance, exercising your Choice Point can help you not to lose your temper. Just as Roger Federer practices on a basic tennis court everyday—and then performs at Wimbledon only a few weeks a year—so can you practice exercising your Choice Point with a simple task every day, such as using your other hand to pick up a drink, open a door, grab the remote or brush your teeth. So, when the pressure is on, you have improved your self-control and are more equipped to use it in an emotional situation.
Editor’s Note: This post is adapted from chapter 1 of Choosing Change: How Leaders & Organizations Drive Results One Person at a Time, published by McGraw Hill.
Resources
- D. Rock, Your Brain at Work, (NY: Harper Business) pg 54-55.
- M. Lieberman. “The Brain’s Braking System (and how to use your words to tap into it),” Neuroleadership Journal 2: pg 9-14 (2009).
- R. Waugh, “The secret of controlling your anger?” Daily Mail, March 9 2012 www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2112079.
