How to stop being impulsive: 5 keys to achieve it

Several tips to avoid being an extremely impulsive person and live better.

Impulsivity can become a significant problem, both when relating to others and when managing our emotions and behaviors. For this reason, there are those who consider themselves overly impulsive people, 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 about how to stop being impulsive (bearing in mind that impulsiveness is a matter of degree).

Tips on how to stop being impulsive

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

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

That said, let's move on to the tips, keeping in mind that all of them must be adapted to the specific conditions in which each person lives, as each person is different.

1. Change your environment to change yourself

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. Therefore, the most lasting and significant changes come at least through changing the environments in which we move habitually and to which we expose ourselves so that their characteristics shape who we are.

Thus, in order to stop being impulsive, a person should strive to avoid exposure to contexts in which impulsivity is a frequent reaction to what occurs. For example, places with violence or physical dangers where a quick response to virtually any stimulus is demanded, or places full of elements that invite us to enter the vicious circle of obsessions or addictive behaviors.

2. Focus on your actions

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

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

3. Lead a healthy life

Much of the impulsivity may be due to stress.

The fact of being in a state of alertness produced by mental exhaustion, the feeling of having many fronts to attend to and tasks to finish, or the sensation of being in a hostile place, can make us fall into impulsivity at the slightest reason for frustration, either by confronting a problem in an aggressive manner, or by evading responsibilities through distracting sensations (binge eating, urges to eat, etc.). (binge eating, impulse buying, etc.).

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

4. Keep addictions away

Addictions are a constant source of frustration, and that leads us to be impulsive.and that leads us to be impulsive. For example, if you feel an extreme need to go outside to smoke, you are much more likely to respond aggressively to someone who suggests something 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 into account their feelings, so that the filters of socially acceptable behavior do not apply here.

Changing these beliefs is fundamental, 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 impulsivity 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 impulsive. Thus, changing social circles will help us a lot to leave impulsivity behind.