Learning To Interrput Your Impulses Or Obligation Calls
I think, there is hardly a person in the world who is not familiar with the following situation. Early morning, your alarm clock is ringing, you wake up and the first thought that comes to your mind is something like this: “Oh, no! It was such a great dream that I was seeing… I’ll stay in bed just two minutes more, nothing is going to change for just two minutes…”
Or, there’s another typical situation. You are watching your favorite Martha Stewart or Ellen DeGeneres Show. You look at your clock and see that it is time for you to start getting ready for going out for a meeting, for a lecture or for a party, but you enjoy watching the show so much and can’t find motivation to give up watching. This is a typical fight between the things we have to do and the things we truly enjoy doing, and it’s a habit of many typical latecomers to make a choice rather for the things they enjoy doing.
On the other hand, this fight does not have to be between the things we like and dislike doing. Sometimes such issues as obligation, duty, or even our instincts can come about. For example, some women can be late because they got set up for cleaning the apartment and do not want to be interrupted by anything else until the work is done. Or some bosses who tend to stay in the office long after working hours and go on working on one or another projects together with their subordinates. These people can’t stop their activities in the midstream because house cleaning or work supervising are really important things that should be done.
Therefore, those chronic latecomers who tend to listen to their impulses and mostly go in for what they enjoy or are obliged to do should learn interrupt their impulses. Sometimes it is connected with being more disciplined, sometimes it is connected with training their willpower. If you are the one who can’t stop doing the things you enjoy, the way to train your willpower can be practicing stopping your favorite entertaining or relaxing activities for a short while in order for your brain to get used to the idea of the interruption. Doing this everyday can help you be more focused on the things you have to do instead of doing what you like doing.