Impulsivity is the predisposition to act quickly and without first thinking about the negative consequences of one’s actions. In some contexts it is useful, because sometimes stopping to think about what decision to make is counterproductive; However, there are those who systematically always fall into impulsiveness, which is a problem.
Impulsive people have real problems behaving appropriately to the demands of a given social situation, which decisively affects their mental health. For this reason, psychology professionals have established a series of guidelines that are used in psychotherapy but that, in their simplified version, They can be applied by impulsive people who want to improve their maladaptive habits.
How to avoid falling into impulsiveness again and again?
These are some general tips to avoid falling into impulsive behavior patterns again and again.
1. Identify the origin
Identifying at all times the origin or trigger of our impulsivity is essential to learning to control our behavior and behave correctly in any social context in which we find ourselves.
This identification of situations, contexts, stimuli or moments in which we are more prone to act compulsively will allow us to know ourselves better and It will help us solve our impulsivity in its most initial stage.
This identification can be done in many ways, the most common is to write down all the triggers that cause impulsivity in us on paper, and it will allow us to avoid any critical situation or work to overcome said problem.
2. Learn relaxation mechanisms
If you are one of those people who has impulsivity problems, another strategy that can help you improve your problem is training and learning in various relaxation techniques.
Some of the most common relaxation mechanisms that we can learn are Mindfulness or full attention technique, yoga or progressive muscle relaxation.
3. Take deep breaths
Learning to take deep, conscious breaths at specific times is one of the best ways to relax and take control of the situation at almost any moment.
Deep breathing typical of Mindfulness helps us reduce heart rate and stay calm enough to react adaptively to any situation.
4. Create action guidelines
Establish clear and structured behavioral guidelines in advance to carry out in stressful situations that can precipitate us towards impulsivity is a very good way to train ourselves at a behavioral level to overcome impulsivity in the long term.
These guidelines are a set of actions that we must memorize and put into practice in case we go through an episode of impulsiveness; so we will know at all times what to do if this happens and over time we internalize each of these actions until they become a natural response.
5. Implement healthy lifestyle habits
Healthy lifestyle habits put into practice daily will help us have a more relaxed and controlled life, with which we can more safely avoid any type of impulsiveness on a daily basis. This is because The better we are physically, the less vulnerable we will be to stress and anxiety.
These lifestyle habits are very diverse and include sleeping an adequate number of hours to rest properly, getting up and going to bed at the same time every day, having a balanced diet, and engaging in frequent physical activity.
6. Avoid unnecessary stressful situations
Once we know what situations make us lose control and what the main triggers of our impulsivity are, we must avoid on a daily basis all those situations that make us feel stressed.
This can also be achieved by maintaining an organized daily or weekly task schedule that allows us successfully complete all our obligations without haste but without pause and without giving in to very short-term goals that would overshadow medium and long-term goals.
7. Keep an emotional diary
As indicated, daily writing down the situations or triggers that push us to be impulsive can be a good way to get to know ourselves and begin to overcome our problem.
This strategy is known as “emotional diary” and consists of detail negative and positive feelings in writing that we can feel during emotionally intense periods, to recognize them and learn to understand and/or overcome them.
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