Self Control - The Real Measure of Success?

Self control, or self discipline, has been shown to a good anchor in the SW fiction and stoic attributes of authoritarian professionalism or even the emergence of wisdom itself - but does it have real depth of relevance though, or is it just a theatrical stubborn compulsion for control!?

A study done a few years ago in NZ, the Dunedin Longitudinal Study, turned out to be a bit of a landmark study earning a few awards etc and having its results replicated in other parts of the world apparently. What did it find!!!?

The 'main' indicator in childhood of a persons future success was not wealth, IQ, race but.... capacity for self control :blink:

The kewl thing about this is self control can be taught to some extent. Some people might be better at it, but most everyone can improve. How do you use self control, and do you abuse it as part of your own character profile!? You don't have to answer here... but it might be a great thing for us all to think about and perhaps improve.

Importantly though, its probably not the amount of time someone is exerting self control, but the capacity to exert maximum self control as required.... as a tool rather then an ongoing state of denial.

Especially in learning during childhood its probably vital to have pretty free play time allowing the kid to exercise both states and developing some moral framework for themselves about how to apply it effectively. After all we're all kids on the inside no matter how many years we've been around!!

Study; http://dunedinstudy.otago.ac.nz/

Last 15 minutes is more interesting then the first 20;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-JbhIJ6KDU

Very very interesting video. Great indicator that one does not need to be a zen master to have useful control. Further a great sign that emotions and other nebulous concepts like discipline other mental states are great tools but we should remember they are a tool not an end in themselves. Well unless we want them to be but awareness of that is key.

This was such an interesting study!! In part inspired by the Stanford Marshmellow experiment they did sometime ago (in the 1960s I believe?) The findings were essentially that children who could control themselves and allow delayed gratification were found to be more successful, competent and with a higher EQ than kids who ate the marshmallow straight away.

Brenna wrote: This was such an interesting study!! In part inspired by the Stanford Marshmellow experiment they did sometime ago (in the 1960s I believe?)

Yep, the Stanford Marshmallow experiment proved that children with self-control had higher test scores (SAT/ACT), lower BMI, higher educational attainment.
Delayed gratification is a part of the first 3 habits of highly successful people. Even outside of it's spiritual/personal benefits, self-discipline is an effective tool for achieving goals that are.

a persons future success

Who determines a person's success. People with more self control?

My self control is a lot less than most and more than sum. (I am a spontaneous creature) Could I be more, (successful, buy what standards) more what, more something or another, well yes. Should I be? Do I want to be? I guess it's all about being happy with your life.

I'm sure I would have eaten the marshmallow.

Rickie wrote:

a persons future success

Who determines a person's success. People with more self control?

I think they asked questions of them, and about them (from others), and looked at some metrics like income etc to define 'success'. They also included measures of happiness in there too from the glance I had at it.

Rickie wrote:
Who determines a person's success. People with more self control?

My self control is a lot less than most and more than sum. (I am a spontaneous creature) Could I be more, (successful,

Do you feel like you're successful?

I'm always a work in progress. Not upset with where I am: but have more places to go, more things to do, more things to learn, more way to expand and grow, well besides my waistline. I define success as an explorer would.

I think in regards to measuring success, it's easy to look at someone's education and paycheck to figure out "success." Those factors aren't exhaustive by any means. Having self-control just enables you to reach whatever goals you're searching for

Rickie wrote: I'm always a work in progress. Not upset with where I am: but have more places to go, more things to do, more things to learn, more way to expand and grow, well besides my waistline. I define success as an explorer would.

Then go by that


One of the difficulties when it comes to psych studies is that the level of whats "normal", "successful" "correct" etc is difficult to define. Even functional is a difficult concept to agree on. Thats why I prefer to use things like EQ as a measure of "success" as a person, among other things, because its a lot less dependent on peoples view of success as a whole.

Not a perfect system, but works for me