Covid 19 has brought about some profound changes in every one of us and in our lives. For one, it has made us think about the past, the present and the future. What would happen in future? How would things pan out? Would life be better or would it be worse? Would we go back to a life we were used to or there really is a new normal that we all must adapt to? Where are we and where would we want to be? and so on. Thinking out an event doesn’t necessarily give a solution or the means to find one, but it gives us a few pointers. There must be a will to differentiate between the immediate and the long term to make a difference to oneself and to others. However, we are all so enamoured by instant gratification that we seldom plan or act long term. We attach importance to only the immediate, which we expect to deliver instantly. Is it not the ability to delay or defer gratification which would predict success in our lives? Admittedly the pandemic has stressed our lives, disrupted our economic fortunes and displaced our social life. It has forced us to change our priorities so much so that some of us even went under a psychological shock and acted against our better judgement and will. Should we let this ‘Akrasia’ effect take a toll on us? If even occasionally, we can resist the pull of instant gratification, we could probably bridge the gap between where we are and where we want to be. In trying to overcome effect of akrasia, what we actually manage to do is to be neither here nor there. We simply procrastinate.
Is it ‘behavioural economics’ at play? Are we really worried about the effects of psychological, cognitive, emotional, cultural and social factors on our decisions? Or is it ‘time inconsistency’ that rules us? Are we worried that it can change our preferences over time in such a way that our preferences become inconsistent at another point in time? Does akrasia and procrastination then set in? Does this time inconsistency make us value immediate rewards more highly than future rewards? How then should our lives shape up post Covid?
When we make plans for ourselves, like setting a goal to lose weight or visit a friend whom we have not met in years, or write a book or learn a foreign language, we are making plans for the future and thinking about what we want to be in future and the brain sees a value in those long-term benefits. However, when the time comes to make a decision, we no longer make choices for our future, since we are in the moment and start thinking about the present. Research in human psychology says, ‘the self really likes instant gratification, not long-term payoff’. We might go to bed feeling motivated to make a change in our lives, but when we wake up, we find ourselves falling back to old patterns. How can we beat akrasia and live better, post Covid 19?
Can we lock our future thinking and behaviour? Can we re-design our future actions? Can we figure out what our “commitment device.” should be? Psychologists define it as a choice we make in the present that controls our future actions. Can we in some way eschew our bad practices and create new ones that will help us tide over the covid crisis? Staying at home, covid has forced some life style changes in us. For example, some of us may have gained weight through largely forced sedentary habits. We could reduce overeating by cooking less than what we need and may be purchase food in individual packages rather than in bulk. The extra time that we have had may have even forced some of us to surf casinos and online poker cites. We could voluntarily ask to be added to the banned list of such sites. The circumstances may differ, but the message is the same. Our commitment devices must help us design our future actions. We must find ways to automate our behaviour beforehand, rather than rely on willpower. We must be the architect of our future actions, not the victim of them.
It is always difficult to get started when we want to change habits. It is important to build the habit of getting started when we are beginning a new behaviour than to worry about whether or not we would be successful. If we want to overcome the ill effects of post Covid, we must reduce the friction of starting. According to researchers at Duke University, habits account for about 40% of our behaviours on any given day. Understanding how to build new habits and how our current one’s work is essential for making progress in our health, our happiness, and our life. So, we must start with an incredibly small habit and build on it as we go along. We could even break our habits into chunks as we build. If we slip, getting back on track is equally important. Every one of us must be patient and stick to a pace we can sustain. Above all, we must have an implementation intention which means, we must state our intention to implement a particular behaviour at a specific time. For example, ‘let me exercise for at least 30 minutes every day at so and so place, at so and so time’
We are fortunate to be living in a country that has its own Covid19 vaccination, not one but two of them. What is However, not so palatable is the pace at which people are opting for it. Suppose we plan the event and write down the specific date and time to get our Covid jab, there would be significantly more numbers following up through the coming weeks. Scheduling things ahead of time can make a difference.
Aristotle coined the term ‘enkrateia’ as the antonym of ‘akrasia’. While akrasia refers to our tendency to fall victim to procrastination, enkrateia means to be ‘in power over oneself.’ Designing future actions based on best practices, reducing the friction in starting good behaviours, and using implementation intentions are all simple steps that we can take to live a life of enkrateia rather than one of akrasia.