Self-Control Increases Your Happiness

“Self-control is the capacity to alter and regulate predominant response tendencies resulting in  the inhibition of undesirable behaviors while promoting desirable ones to support the pursuit of long-term goals.”¹  Self-disciplined people are happier. Self-control enables us to manage competing goals. An observational study assessed 414 middle-aged participants on self-control and asked them about their life satisfaction both currently and in the past. The researchers found a strong connection between higher levels of self-control and life satisfaction.²

1. Tracy T. L. Cheung. Why are people with high self-control happier? The effect of trait self-control on happiness as mediated by regulatory focus. Front Psychol. 2014; 5: 722↩
2. ibid↩