Akrasia (ἀκρασία) is from Ancient Greece and refers to a “lack of self-control” or a tendency to “act against one’s better judgment.” Akrasia is when you KNOW what you SHOULD do… but don’t. Either because of a lack of impulse control or yielding to a lower-level desire, allowing one’s rational self to be overruled by the heat of emotion, to be passion’s slave.
Today we call akrasia procrastination, or self-sabotage or even out and out stupidity, the willingness to give up what matters most in the long run for what we want in the immediate moment. The psychological term is ‘temporal discounting’: the tendency to allow immediate gratification to outweigh longer term gains, continuously overvaluing the present over the future.
Obviously, self-control is key to many forms of success; yet how does one acquire such an ability? I would suggest that ounce for ounce, desire is stronger than discipline, likewise ‘want’ often overpowers ‘will’. Solution? Visualization, journaling, deep self-awareness and focus: terrific ways to program your mind and direct your emotions. I’ve trained myself to value security and safety over pleasure, to find joy and gratification in growth and learning, fulfillment in mastering my craft, satisfaction in building, teaching, and leading.
The road to achieving even partial self-mastery will always be a lifelong journey, far, far from an overnight process, yet it is a path than anyone can embark upon, and the rewards are many.
Closing Quotes:
“How is it possible to know what is best, yet fail to do it?” – Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, Book VII
“A prudent man considers the future as well as the present; a foolish man, the present only.” – Adam Smith, 1723–1790
“If there is one thing that marks families with money in the long term it is this: delayed gratification.” – Bill Bonner, b. 1948
“Delaying gratification is a process of scheduling the pain and pleasure of life in such a way as to enhance the pleasure by meeting and experiencing the pain first and getting it over with. It is the only decent way to live.” – Scott Peck, The Road Less Traveled
As always, I share what I most want and need to learn. – Nathan S. Collier
Note: Every effort has been made to properly source any 3rd person material. I am, however, a voracious reader. If anyone finds any unattributed material, pls let me know asap and I will be delighted to give credit where credit is due.
“All intelligent thoughts have already been thought; what is necessary is only to try to think them again.” – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, 1749-1832
