Coaching practices for Positive Affect Self Control

Describe almost anything you are working through and IX Coach finds the practices whose real-world fit is closest. For Positive Affect Self Control, these are the strongest matches in the current practice library.

Does this sound like the set of challenges you might be facing?

• After a long stretch of gritting my teeth I’m completely tapped out, and what actually brings me back isn’t more grinding
• I keep trying to white-knuckle my way past the same temptations sitting right in front of me, losing more often than I win
• The second I slip up I tear into myself, and that "I’ve blown it, I always do this" feeling is exactly what turns one bad choice into the whole day, the whole week gone
• I burn through all my willpower resisting the temptation that’s sitting right in front of me
• The junk is right there in the cupboard and the app is one tap on my home screen, and I lose the same little battle a dozen times a day because the temptation is constantly in front of me

Practices that may help

1. Use positive emotions to restore self-control capacity
   Induce positive affect after a demanding self-control period to accelerate recovery.
   Self-Regulation Failure and Ego Depletion
2. Remove temptations from the environment rather than resisting them
   People with good self-control succeed by avoiding temptation, not by resisting it.
   Self-Regulation Failure and Ego Depletion
3. Respond to willpower failures with self-compassion
   Self-criticism after lapses undermines future self-control; self-compassion predicts better recovery.
   The Willpower Instinct: What Self-Control Actually Is
4. Remove or modify the cue rather than resist the response
   Eliminating or changing the environmental stimulus is more effective than relying on willpower to resist it.
   Stimulus Control, Made Practical
5. Reduce the demand on willpower through environment design
   The most reliably self-disciplined people resist temptation less — they encounter it less.
   The Willpower Instinct: What Self-Control Actually Is
6. Self-regulation
   Manage disruptive impulses and moods so you respond by choice rather than reflex.
   Emotional Intelligence, Made Practical
7. Build perceived control by focusing on your sphere of influence
   Control in hardiness is not about controlling outcomes — it is about acting on what you can influence and accepting what you cannot.
   Psychological Hardiness, Made Practical
8. Engineer the temptation out of reach
   Don’t out-wait the temptation — arrange your environment so the choice rarely arises.
   Delayed Gratification, Made Practical
9. Recognize overcontrol signals in your own behavior
   Notice the specific behaviors that signal you are controlling more than the situation requires.
   Radical Openness: The RO-DBT Approach to Overcontrol and Loneliness
10. Track your temptation-to-confidence ratio
    Confidence in your ability to resist temptation must outpace the pull of the old behavior.
    The Transtheoretical Model of Change, Made Practical

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