How to stop being impulsive: 5 keys to achieve it

Impulsivity can become a significant problem, both when it comes to relating to others and when it comes to managing our emotions and behaviors. For this reason, there are those who consider themselves to be too impulsive, and look for ways to put a limit to this tendency to get carried away.

In this article We will see a series of tips on how to stop being impulsive (bearing in mind that impulsiveness is a matter of degree).

• Related article: "Impulsive People: Their 5 Characteristic Traits and Habits"

Tips to stop being impulsive

Any psychological change requires at least two things: time and effort.. This is because behaviors are not like purely biological processes, some of which can be changed in a matter of minutes by introducing a substance into the body; psychology is fundamentally changing habits and routines, and that requires continued practice.

So, knowing how to stop being impulsive implies being aware that this change will not happen overnight and requires commitment and effort, which always causes a minimal amount of discomfort when stepping out of the comfort zone.

That said, let's look at the advice, keeping in mind that all of them must be adapted to the specific conditions in which each one lives, since each person is a world.

1. Change your environment to change you

Something that many people do not understand is that individual psychological changes do not occur in isolation from the environment, but rather maintain a bidirectional relationship with it. For this reason, the most lasting and significant changes come at least through changing the environments in which that we move in a habitual way and to which we expose ourselves so that their characteristics shape how we are.

So, to stop being impulsive, a person must seek avoid exposing yourself to contexts in which impulsiveness is a frequent reaction to what is happening. For example, places with violence or physical dangers that require a rapid response to almost any stimulus, or sites full of elements that invite us to enter the vicious circle of obsessions or behaviors addictive.

2. Focus on your actions

The main theoretical model used to explain how self-control works in humans indicates that the control of actions It is related to the regulation of emotions and thoughts.

Therefore, one factor that can help you stop being overly impulsive is to focus on not giving in to physical outbursts. Be clear about this objective at times when the temptation to perform a harmful action appears.

• You may be interested in: "Self-control: 7 psychological tips to improve it"

3. Lead a healthy life

A good part of impulsivity can be due to stress.

The fact of walking in a state of alert caused by mental exhaustion, the feeling of having many fronts to attend to and tasks to finish, or the feeling that you are in a hostile place, they can cause the slightest reason to get frustrated to fall into impulsiveness, either by facing a problem in a aggressive, or through the evasion of responsibilities through sensations that distract us (binge eating, impulse shopping, etc.).

Thus, the most common solutions to reduce stress and anxiety usually result in a reduction in impulsivity, and among these, it is worth noting the maintenance of a balanced diet and sleep schedules suitable.

• Related article: "Compulsive overeating: abuse and addiction to food"

4. Keep addictions away

Addictions are a constant source of frustration, and that leads us to be impulsive. For example, if you feel an extreme need to go out to smoke, it is much more likely that you will respond aggressively to someone who proposes something to us that would delay that cigarette date.

5. question your beliefs

There are beliefs that predispose us to be impulsive in some contexts. Ideas that dehumanize certain people, for example, invite us to treat them as objects, that is, not to take their feelings into account, so that socially acceptable behavior filters are not applied here.

Changing these beliefs is essential, and this is something that can be done, for example, through cognitive restructuring in psychotherapy.

6. Surround yourself with non-impulsive people

Finally, this element is also very relevant: stay in a context in which impulsiveness is not a constant throughout the world.

We are partly what we see on a daily basis, so constantly interacting with impulsive people will make us tend to be more so. In this way, changing social circles will help us a lot to leave impulsiveness behind.